1. Assemblage Theory and Actor-Network Theory
A comparative, empirical case study from media sociology
Dr John Hondros
Media, Film & Music
University of Sussex

2. Background Amateur video makers use of Internet to distribute videos
Based on in-progress monograph, building on doctoral research and published article
12-month ethnography 2011/12 and 3-month ethnography 2016/17
Analysed using ANT and AT
3 groups studied:
California Community Media Exchange (public access TV)
Film and TV fans based around Vividcon convention
visionOntv (UK video activist group)
Submission 2018

3. Which ANT? Which AT?
ANT: Primarily Latour and Law, also some early Callon and others mostly for applications
Actors/actants, interests, translations, enrolment, agency as a property of the actor-network, black boxing, intermediaries and mediators, work, tracing associations
AT: DeLanda with some Deleuze and Guattari terminology reintroduced
Components, territorialisation (homogenizing and spatial, relative and absolute deterritorialisation), coding, molecular and molar, diagrams

4. Compatible
Various scholars attest to the close relationship between the two theories: Law (2009), Acuto and Curtis (2014), Harman (2007, 2014)
Others draw upon the conceptual vocabularies of both theories, treating them as compatible: Salovaara (2015), Rizzo (2015), Reid (2011), Bennett (2005)
Harman (2009, 2014) argues for important distinction, but this is a metaphysical interpretation of Actor-Networks that is inconsistent with how ANT is actually applied.

5. Complementary: visionOntv as illustration
VisionOntv complex socio-technological ecosystem
Produced videos
Hosted videos on YouTube, Blip and others
Linked via RSS to MiroCommunity
MiroCommunity embedded within Liferay into channels
Traffic sent to Liferay via links from Facebook and Twitter
Used many volunteers
Ambition to have their platform adopted by other activists and interconnect them

6. Complementary aspects
Processes that form, stabilize and destabilize arrangements
ANT: Interests, translation and enrolment useful concepts to analyse different aspects and stages of these processes, and help define relationships between the different actors, e.g. volunteers precarious enrolment
AT: Territorialisation focuses on spatial and homogenising aspects, while coding draws attention to linguistic aspects, e.g. volunteers training
Components
AT: Capacities, and how material or expressive
ANT: Mediators or intermediaries
Arrangements (Assemblage/Actor-Networks)
AT: Properties of assemblages emerging from the processes acting upon components
ANT: Tracing the associations that are created by those processes. Work.
AT: Diagrams add a virtual space to think about arrangements that complement ANT’s predominant focus on actuality, e.g. visionOntv moving away from video, “reboot”

7. Complementary aspects
Arrangements of arrangements
AT: Molar and molecular concepts facilitate discussions about assemblage hierarchies, e.g. levels of visionOntv’s project
ANT: Black box and masking useful concepts to address actor-networks becoming intermediaries, or ceasing to function as such, e.g. Blip-RSS example, pop-up studio
Other considerations
ANT: Many scholars applying to empirical case studies and developing theory
AT: Theoretically systematic

8. Conclusion
Broader approach helps theoretically saturate detailed case studies
More conceptual tools, applications, scholars
More perspectives, shades and nuances
More natural prose
Outstanding questions
What to call the arrangements?
Underutilized concepts in case studies: component roles (material v. expressive), spatial territorialization, coding, diagrams
Can they, and should they be harmonized (or Harmanized)?