Key Takeaways and Prospective Research

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter outlines the book’s key takeaways and future research trajectories, emphasising that Touch is a key cultural communicative aspect of social media relationships, and more broadly of digitally networked relationships. I summarise the key argument of each chapter, then drawing these arguments together, I locate and define the key aspects of “semeful sociabilities” as a means to map Touch of digitally networked social relationships and to describe the technological self as meaningful (semeful) and part of meaning-making processes. Mapping Touch is a means through which selfies and memes (as fundamental elements of everyday cultural communication and embodied networked practices) can be explored as meaningful cultural relationships, exposing the social, cultural and political realities of everyday socialities. Future trajectories for semeful sociabilities include application to a range of other memes and selfies, and to networked social relationships beyond visual. Furthermore, I propose that mapping Touch (to identify semeful social relationships) can provide insight into investigations and mapping of automated systems. Semeful sociabilities has the potential to identify and expose the semefulness (meanings) and impact of seamless systems and gain a better understanding of ourselves as humans as we design our technological futures.