Framing: Topic, Time, and Place

When Musgrave and Dauterman recall childhood experiences of computers use, their memories are defined by specific locations. The first thing Musgrave recalls about her earliest computer memory is its specific location: in a closet at her cousin’s house. This is a key detail for the audience not only because it may signal the status the computer occupied within the house, but also because the computer’s closeted location is what Musgrave remembers first and foremost about using it. The prominence of the computer’s location in Musgrave’s mini-narrative suggests that the confinement she points to may also work to instruct the audience about how to envision this experience: cramped, but social and pleasant. Dauterman’s earliest computer memory also focuses on the location of the computer, providing detailed information about the space in her home where her family's computer was located and suggestive analysis of how the computer’s location affected her attitude toward it. For Dauterman, the “scary” location of the computer discouraged her from using it, because she was afraid to go upstairs by herself. In the context of narrating her experience with computers, Dauterman uses the spatial frame of the “upstairs” to attach a sense of foreboding or intimidation to her earliest technology memories.