| In this dissertation, I combine methods from Technical Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, and User Experience Design to trace the social and creative practices of social web participants. Using actor network theory, I explore the concept of participation as social and creative practice that demands coordinative knowledge work enacted within a cultural space. Leveraging the insight gained from this research, I develop the user experience of participation as a research and design methodology that privileges the movement of people and information in order to structure and re-structure social connections.;I explore this methodology through three intersections between people and technology. The first is between the practices of digital participants within online cultures and the policies aimed at regulating their social and creative work. Second, participation is defined in the ways that local exigency of participants intersects with the implementation of regulations and policies through technological design. Finally, a third intersection appears when participants work to restructure their relationships to policies and technologies through coordinative knowledge work that uncovers and links information within digital ecosystems. |
