Abstract

In this paper, we propose the concept of cyberpositionality in order to reconceptualize our social positions in the hybridized and multidimensional realities of the digital age. Drawing deeply from critical feminist science and technology studies and feminist epistemologies, we articulate cyberpositionality as the fluid relationship between information systems and the cultural, social, and political dimensions of their users. We articulate three key tensions at the heart of cyberpositionalities: 1) Our digital positions are not neutral nor mimetic reflections of our analog social locations, 2) Time and place in digital systems have unique rhythms, 3) Digital social relations are always mediated and surveilled. We elaborate on each of these tensions, exploring implications related to ontology, geography, temporality, authenticity, and identity. We close with a call to invite other scholars to reimagine the complex entanglements of colliding digital and physical realities through the lenses of cyberpositionality.