Hacking the Digital Video Recorder: Trajectories of Technological Design Through Networked Individualism.

This paper demonstrates how networked individualism has become an important component in the merchantability and design of new technologies. As co-production increasingly becomes a recognized lifestyle for technology users, industry will have to change the way new technologies are produced and marketed worldwide. I argue that the TIVO digital video recorder (DVR) is being co-produced by a small but committed group of loyal home DVR enthusiasts, who use online forums to disseminate hacking tips, in order to modify this new technology. I discuss how the DVR industry has responded to user innovations through designs that allow them to re-assert control over the technology. Industry has failed to recognize the culture of co-production among DVR enthusiasts by working to subvert the network potential of new technology. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]