Mediatization of Craftsmanship: Danish Woodworkers on Instagram

This paper presents a study (work in progress) on the interweaving of professional craft and craftsmanship with media technologies and content. Grounded in mediatization theory, it focuses empirically on how Danish carpenters and woodworkers in the building industry use Instagram as part of their professional practice. A mixed methods approach is utilized: Firstly, a content analysis of Instagram posts from woodworkers is conducted to get a descriptive overview of posts and communicative practices. Secondly, exemplary cases are selected from this broad view for qualitative analysis to identify key positions/strategies and to discuss the possibilities and challenges of using Instagram in the context of professional craft. Being a work in progress, the paper presents the framing of the research and research questions, theory, methods, and preliminary findings.