A Social Life of 5G: Imagining, Contesting, and Fixing the Rollout of an Emerging Technology

This PhD research will seek to explore how people make sense and engage with the developing 5G mobile network (Baym, 2010). By approaching the transformative digital technology of 5G from a social science perspective, this research will explore how the main proponents of 5G narrate and envision this technology. Also, by using the current context and shifts in mobile networks as a proxy, it will explore how people may experience and negotiate increasing data speeds and interconnectivity. This research will also incorporate consideration of the material conditions of the 5G mobile network and how it is managed and maintained. By researching these areas, this PhD will provide an insight into how 5G may contribute to economic and lifestyle developments, and join a growing area of discussion within Human Geography about digital technologies.

Research Questions:
1) How the main proponents of 5G narrate and envision this technology and its effects, with a focus on how it is promoted to impact upon lifestyle and the economy.

2) How potential users might experience and engage with increased speeds from 'faster' information transfer and greater interconnectivity.

3) The material conditions of the 5G network, particularly regarding the local infrastructure and how it is managed and maintained.

Methodology
Research about the 5G network will follow a qualitative approach with purposive sampling. This research will be approached from the viewpoint that in order to gain an insight into ongoing and future technological developments, it is necessary to use the current context of communication technologies and previous shifts in mobile network technology as a window into exploring 5G (Eagleton, 1983; Fleming, 2010 in Schneider, 2015: NP). This research will therefore incorporate an analysis of the transition process between 3G (Third Generation) and 4G LTE (Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution) mobile networks. Similarly, in order to explore how people may engage with the 5G mobile network, the 4G LTE mobile network will be used as a proxy by gathering data about how people from the Exeter area use this technology. This will be undertaken by building upon the methodology from my undergraduate dissertation, whereby smartphone consumption diaries were used to provide an insight into how people use and ascribe meanings to technologies (Corti, 1993; Latham, 2010). This methodology will be further developed as Daisy gains a greater research understanding during the MRes Critical Human Geographies course at the University of Exeter.

Collaboration
Collaboration will be incorporated into this research by working with businesses in the Exeter Science Park. There are a range of businesses established in the park who work with digital technologies, and this diversity will enable the collaboration to feed into each of the three research objectives. The Science Park also has established connections with the University of Exeter and experience with research-business collaboration from the work of Routeshoot (http://www.routeshoot.com/routeshoot/) and the Innovation, Impact and Business team (https://www.exeter.ac.uk/iib/). The Exeter Science Park is therefore a highly suitable organisation with which to collaborate.