Mobile Phone
Launch!
I’m happy to be launching a new blog that documents a new research effort just getting under way, a follow on to some of the work that I have been doing with the MacArthur Foundation Digltal Media and Learning initiative. After completing three years of ethnographic research on youth new media practice with an extended research team, I am taking a step back and trying to get a better sense of what has been happening in the field while I’ve been deeply immersed in the empirical work. I’ll be among a really great international group of researchers, who will be taking a few months to do reading on research and practice in the area of new media and learning, and also to visit different institutions and projects in the US and elsewhere that are innovating in this space. Along the way, we will be using this blog as a way to share some of what we are learning, and to solicit feedback on our work in progress. We will be posting book and article reviews and reports from our visits to various sites and conferences.
This work is one small piece of the broader effort of the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning initiative and its many partners to support the growth of a field of new media and learning. Our ambition its to help grow a field of research and practice that is grounded in deep knowledge of the changing landscape of new media, as well as in an understanding of innovation in educational and design practice. Just as we hope our earlier research on youth new media practice can inform the research community as well as practitioners in education and technology development, so we hope this review of work in the field can help inform a wide range of stakeholders in this field.
Book Review of Mobile Communication and Society
With mobile phone usage now reaching almost fifty per cent of the world’s population, there continues to be an urgent need to understand the impact and influence of mobile communication practices across the globe. Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective examines contemporary mobile communication and the transformations which the incorporation of mobile phones in society. Co-authored by Manuel Castells, Mireira Fernández-Ardèvol, Jack Linchuan Qiu and Araba Sey as a project by the Annenberg School Research Network, the book synthesizes a range of qualitative and quantitative research on mobile phones in an effort to “construct an empirically grounded argument on the social logic embedded in wireless communication, and on the shaping of this logic by users and uses in various cultural and institutional contexts” (4). Framed within the rubric of Castells now famous notion of the “network society”, the authors divide the book into eight, topically oriented chapters. The book begins with a survey of the global mobile phone infrastructure and differences in the diffusion and adoption of wireless communication in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. The authors then turn to the everyday, mundane changes in family and work life, time and new language practices in different national and regional contexts. They conclude by returning to broader questions about societal changes spurred and/or extended by mobile communication, such as the rapid uptake of mobile phones by youth, in the developing world, in social movements and in global development agendas.
While there is much in this collective volume that will be worthy of attention for readers in a range of academic disciplines, telecommunications companies as well as a variety of government and non-governmental organizations, one of the key contributions of Castells, Fernández-Ardèvol, Qiu and Sey’s analysis revolves around their attention to infrastructure and the forces that shape an individual’s ability to participate in what the author’s term the “mobile network society”. More than a simple matter of access, the co-authors identify and explore factors which they view as critical to understanding patterns of adoption and appropriation. For example, in their introductory chapters they focus upon the role of geography and population density in shaping the rapid uptake of mobile phones across a range of island nations, such as Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, and even less affluent countries like Jamaica and the Philippines. They also draw connections between geography and population density and the relative prominence of mobile phones in urban areas. By contrast, larger countries such as the United States, China and South Africa which possess vast expanses of land and relatively disperse rural populations face a range of challenges which impact upon mobile phone penetration rates and, in turn, the ability to integrate the technological infrastructures underpinning basic adoption of mobile phones. This attempt to develop comparable concepts across national and regional boundaries is particularly useful given the scale and ambitions of the book.
Billing and pricing structures, telecommunications standards, competition and regulation also emerge as central to the adoption and appropriation of mobile phones worldwide. From calling cards and pre-paid phones to the sharing of phones, personal SIM cards, use of the more cost-efficient texting, or SMS, as well as systems of credits and remittances, creative micro-economies emerge in response to the cost and economic models of payment. While professionals and businesses continue to be at the forefront of mobile phone adoption, Castells, Fernández-Ardèvol, Qiu and Sey suggest that many innovations in billing and cost emerge from the more marginalized sectors of society, such as migrants, who navigate considerable economic constraints and social challenges while working away from their homes and families. Drawing upon recent research by co-author Jack Qiu, the authors discuss the importance of mobile phones for rural-urban Chinese migrants. Although there remains a wide variation in the models and payment plans, they argue that migrants spend a large percentage of their budget on mobile phones and air time, which they attribute to the desire to maintain contact with family and others in their home towns as well as an emblem of status. In these instances, migrants often become one of the main drivers for cheap and flexible service innovations in the mobile telecommunications industry at the “bottom” of the market. Similarly, and perhaps more coherently than any other study with which I am familiar, Castells, Fernández-Ardèvol, Qiu and Sey also provide compelling evidence that youth have become important drivers of the mobile phone industry. Through an analysis of the development of the telecommunications industry and diffusion in different countries, they reveal how the industry began by marketing mobile phones to businesses but later discovered that youth (especially in Europe and Asia) rapidly appropriated the mobile phone. In response, the industry altered their established marketing strategies and began to cater to the demand of the global youth market. As they argue, this represents a significant shift away from previous models of technology adoption and innovation.
Like Castells’ network society thesis, Castells, Fernández-Ardèvol, Qiu and Sey believe that “wireless communication technology does have powerful social effects” which reflects “the networking logic that defines the human experience of our time” (258). Yet, they also acknowledge that social practices and institutions play an important role in defining the textures and possibilities of mobile communication in society. For example, whereas many accounts attribute the widespread use of texting in the Philippines to frugality, research reveals that many of the most prolific users of SMS are in fact professionals in the their 30s for whom cost of a message does not represent their primary concern (140). Similarly, work among low-income households in Chile completed by Ureta suggests that mobility and economic necessity may not fully account for the fact that low-income families tend to treat their mobile phone like a shared, family land line rather than a device which may help each individual in the family maximize their earning potential. Such beliefs also influence the imaginative potential of the mobile phone in everyday life. In contrast to recent work in the United States where young people assert the importance of the mobile phone in terms of its salience as a symbol of independence, mobility and autonomy from the strictures of parents and the family., Yoon’s study of teens and family in Korea reveals that “the adoption of the mobile phone plays a major role in reinforcing traditional structures of family, school, and youth peer group under the cheong networks” (148). Similarly, and with respect to gender, the authors note that, “relative to Europe and America, the Asian Pacific exhibits a traditional patriarchal gendered pattern of diffusion…even in Japan and South Korea” (44) as well as in African countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda and Cameroon. Such factors, what the authors refer to as the sociotechnical context, possess clear implications for participation and engagement. It also reveals a diversity of practices which possess the potential to challenge our assumptions about the totalizing influence of technology, as well as provide insights into creative innovations not often considered in the more comfortable living spaces of industry and academic life.
Together, the authors’ efforts to synthesize, consolidate and recognize patterns in a range of practices is ambitious in scope and brings to the fore the importance of a broad notion of infrastructure that takes into account different local, regional and national contexts alongside meaningful variations in different sociotechnical contexts. Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective is also a testament to collaborative work in that the author(s) various sets of regional and disciplinary expertise—Fernández-Ardèvol’s knowledge of Catalonia and the European literature, Qiu’s extensive work in China and Sey’s expertise in the African context and, of course, Castells’ ongoing contributions to conceptualizing broader changes in society – emerge as considerable assets to the book’s ability to analyze the mobile communication in a vast number of societies. Indeed, most books analyzing mobile phones and communication cross-nationally tend to compile chapters on different national contexts, which are tied together through introductory chapters. In its efforts to introduce and analyze material from Latin America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Africa alongside the more established literature on mobile communication practices in Northern Europe, East Asia (e.g. Japan and Korea) as well as North America, this book’s integrated analysis is distinctive. These cross-cultural (or perhaps more precisely, cross-national) differences underpin the need to think critically about our organizing categories when analyzing the adoption and appropriation on a global scale and illustrates the need for more empirical research during a period of rapid growth and change in the telecommunications arena, particularly in the space around new media and learning. And while I am skeptical that the notion of the “mobile network society” is a particularly useful term for conceptualizing mobile phone practices in the “network society” (the “network society” also being a contested concept--see, for example, John Postill’s recent article in New Media and Society, 2008), as research on the global dimensions of global communication continues, Mobile Communication and Society will clearly hold an important place as a work that theorizes, compares and captures the contemporary mobile telecommunications landscape.
Note: Please get in touch if you are carrying out research on mobile phones and mobile communication.
--Heather A. Horst
Mobile-Girls @ Digital. Asia
Lee, Dong-Hu, et al, Eds. (Paju, Korea: Hanul Academy, 2006)
The title is catchy, true to the point. It just grabs all the hot spots within current discussion of youth digital culture: mobile, girls, digital, and Asia, in a fashionable yet quite adequate form. As a cultural studies scholar who has been chasing newly emerging digital media culture in Asia, particularly, mobile screen culture in Korea, I am always hungry for this kind of scholarly works that deliver vivid pictures of everyday use of ICTs. In spite of recent academic and popular interest in the Asian innovation and uptake of ICTs, ethnography or cultural studies based research studies are still rare, though increasing, compared to the plethora of the in-depth analyses of technological innovation, macro policy and industry models of ICTs implemented in Asian techno-centers. Often, these attempts to unearth the secret of Asian success seem to consolidate its myth, the image of digitized Asia, leaving our urgent questions unanswered: what people actually do with these technologies? Meanwhile, the linguistic barrier delays the conversation between these sites and outside observers, limiting our access to local perspectives toward what is happening in their everyday lives. Personal, Portable, and Pedestrian (2005) is a nice exception that delivers rich textures of Japanese mobile culture captured by insiders’ eye to the global readers. Turning to Korea, I have to say unfortunately much of its stories still left veiled behind such renowned tags as ‘IT-powerhouse,’ ‘the most wired country,’ ‘online Gamers’ Heaven,’ and ‘digital Korea,’ though we recently see increasing numbers of English-written studies on Korean Social Network Sites (mostly, Cyworld), Game Industry (PC bang and online game), and mobile media.
Considering this situation, I am happy to introduce Mobile-Girls @ Digital.Asia, a timely and valuable work that well serves to fill the gap of knowledge. This anthology came out of the international symposium, “Mobile Practice: Girls’ Culture and Digital Mobile Media”(2005). Nine articles by fourteen Korean scholars from Women’s Association for Communication Studies (KWACS), the organizer of the symposium, and international scholars including Angel Lin, Larissa Hjorth, Abin Tong, and Laura Miller provide substantial ethnographical research findings of gendered mobile phone use (centered on SMS and MMS usage) in the Asia-Pacific region (Mostly Korea, but including Japan, Hong Kong and Australia). In terms of its theoretical orientation and methodology, this book resonates to what Personal, Portable, and Pedestrian achieved, the serious attention to locally specific yet globally resonant youth (particularly, girls) mobile phone practices. As the book is written in Korean and hence does not allow access to most non-Korean readers, the brief outline of contents might be useful to apprehend the range of works.
From the outset, the book acknowledges girls’ marginalized position in this region in terms of social/financial/political hierarchies and attempts to reassure that teenage girls’ mobile phone culture have played a significant role in diversifying and cultivating the mobile phone as a ‘personal medium.’ The book consists of three parts: Part 1: Korean Sonyeodeul (Korean word Sonyeo means girl), Gender, Culture and Digital Mobile Technology, Part 2: Digital Asia and Mobile Girls, and Part 3: Digital Sketchy of Girls’ Subculture: Networking and Dynamics. Three articles in the first part solicit out general theoretical issues of gender, technology and media use through the textual analysis of the commercial advertisement (Lee, Dong-Hu, “Gender Image in Mobile Phone Advertisement”), the assessment of the notion (and the discursive construction) of ‘Sonyeo’ as physical/social/cultural identity and its presence in the technological field (Kim, Ye-Ran, “ Sonyeoseong (Girl’s Identity) and Mediafication of Body: Mobile Communication Culture and Sonyeo Discourse”), and the empirical research of Korean women’s practice of mothering with the mobile phone (Kim Myeong-He, “The Reproduction of Mothering with the Mobile Phone”). While the first part attempts to map and address overarching theoretical issue of gendered mobile phone use in Korean context, the second part extends this discussion to the other Asia-Pacific experiences. In particular, Larissa Hjorth’s article is notable. In “Gendered Mobility: Customization and Gender in the Asia-Pacific Region,” she offers the comprehensive and detailed analysis of what she calls the “topography of personalization” drawn from her accumulated ethnographical researches of teenage girls’ practice of customization (from the decoration of mobile phone device to the use of favored features of the multimedia phone) in four different national contexts (Korea, Japan, HK and Australia).
The third part is particularly interesting as it delves into the micro-level details of everyday life of Korean ‘Thumbelinas.’ Authors argue that Handphone (a Korean word for mobile phone) is an “affective digital technology” that allows high school girls to create and micro-coordinate their intimate personal networks in and outside of the surveillance of elders’ eyes as well as functions as a ‘personal memory box,’ the object of emotional affection (Kim-Go Yeon-Joo & Lee Ji-Eun, “Handphone as Emotional Media: Focusing on the Teenage Girl’s Daily Use of Handphone”), a creative and expressive tool for girls play culture in their use of ‘emotext’ (emotion + Text)(Lim Sook-Hyun et al, “Sonyeo’s Handphone Play”), and the central space for ‘chatting’ among their peers that increases the sense of intimacy and belonging to their community (Kim Eun-Jin et al, “Mobile Sonyeo’s Suda (Chatting)”).
Overall, each article makes numbers of interesting points. One of overarching themes I find notable is the position of youth mobile culture in a broader cultural context, which is often constituted and represented in terms of ‘conflict’ or ‘difference’ in the public imagination. Especially, Part 1 nicely raises questions on the ambiguous status of Korean youth who are called ‘Digital Generation,’ ‘Cyber Sinillyu (new human species: new generation),’ ‘Thumb tribe,’ and ‘Netizen (Net + Citizen).’ Korean youth, as far as digital technologies concerned, remains a contested terrain where the tensions provoked by the digital divide, mainly according to generational gaps, is intermingled with the celebratory expectation of its prosperity. I agree with this point that ambivalent representation of Korean youth in public and even academic discourse, both elevated to the future hope in techno-nationalistic Korea and at the same time condemned as a threatening force to the existing social norms (accused for their cyber delinquencies and different lifestyles), let the real picture of young peoples’ lived experience slip through.
Yet as much as I agree it is vital to account for the contextual specificities in interpreting the actual practices, I sense the potential drawback of context-determinism, as in the case when the socially constructed girls’ role is taken for granted as a given condition without further consideration of other variables. This could lead to another quanundrum that I find from this volume: the implied assumption of biological determinism. I would not see it problematic to argue girls’ mobile phone culture significantly contributed to constructing mobile technology as it is, as a personal medium that consolidates the intimate relationship. However, the simplistic assumption that girls want to continue, or in other words, favor to build their intimate relationship with whatever available technologies somehow seems to easily collapse the gender identity with the specific form of social relationship building (in the same vein, selection of research themes such as ‘mothering’ and ‘chatting’ may be questionable as it tends to preset the boundary of practices.) Even though these are in fact prominent practices of girls/women that have been widely observed and definitely deserve serious attention, we could also learn more from self-reflexive questioning, before hastily moving into this direction.
Finally, just as this book draws on the geopolitical boundary of Asia-Pacific, it is an ongoing challenge to define the ‘regional’ characteristics of mobile phone use, if any. To begin with, generalizing Asia as one entity is certainly problematic considering the unequal dissemination of digital/mobile technologies across the region. It is truly a few technological centers such as Japan, Korea and maybe HK that have spurred this hype of Digital(and Mobile) Asia. More importantly, what implications can we draw from thinking about specific ‘regionality’ in relation to the global and local mobile phone culture? This book does not explicitly answer to these questions. Larissa Hjorth’s article may be a suggestive example that presents the value of cross-cultural research in finding answers, as she provides a comparative frame against which locally specific girls’ practices acquire additional meanings. In the end, this is one of those questions that keep haunting/stimulating our international literature review team along the way.
Migrants, Mobiles, and Social Networks
As China has become an increasingly central actor on the world stage, and with the 2008 Olympics recently held in Beijing, there is a great deal of interest in this vast and diverse nation. China is undergoing numerous changes, not least of which is its rapid growth in telecommunications: it currently leads the world in both number of mobile phone subscriptions and Internet users, with roughly 616 million and 253 million, respectively, according to Chinese government statistics. In this post I will discuss one aspect of digital media use in China: how young rural-to-urban migrants in Beijing are using mobile phones as a crucial tool for building and enriching their social networks. My discussion here is based on a portion of my recently completed research in Beijing (Wallis, 2008), in which I was concerned with how young migrants, especially young women, engaged with mobile phones to create meaning in their lives in the city, and what economic, social, cultural, and structural forces enabled and constrained such usage within the dislocations and contradictions that characterize contemporary China. I was primarily concerned with what I call “socio-techno practices,” or the ways in which new communication technologies are integrated into existing social practices and at the same time open up new spaces or possibilities for their enactment.
To briefly provide some context, while rural-to-urban migration is common throughout the world, the role of the state in China makes migration there an interesting phenomenon. Prior to the government’s policy of “reform and opening” (gaige kaifang) in the late seventies, China’s household registration system (hukou) severely restricted people’s mobility and with few exceptions kept the rural and the urban populations separated geographically and culturally. Though substantially weakened, the hukou still serves as an institutional barrier that prevents those from rural areas from gaining full urban citizenship, and it works as a cultural barrier, helping to perpetuate myriad forms of exploitation and discrimination against rural “peasants” who migrate from the countryside to seek work in China’s cities. Deemed a “floating population” (liudong renkou), migrant workers are largely responsible for building the incredible infrastructure that has gone up in China’s cities in recent years, including Beijing’s National Aquatics Center (the Water Cube) and the National Stadium (the Bird’s Nest) that were on display during the Olympics. And though migrants also staff the shops, restaurants, and marketplaces that are now everywhere, for the most part they cannot participate in such modes of consumption and leisure enjoyed by China’s rising middle class (and elites). Young migrant women are often called dagongmei, meaning “working little sister” or “maiden worker,” a term that connotes a young, unmarried woman with low status and few rights. In the media and official documents, they are frequently portrayed as weak and vulnerable, even though they might not see themselves that way.
My study involved about 70 women and 20 men who were young (aged 16 to 25), single, and had journeyed to Beijing after finishing some or all of middle school. They were employed in restaurants, marketplaces, and hair salons, where they hoped to earn some income, learn some skills, and “see the world,” as they put it. They tended to earn rather low wages, and many worked 10 or 12 hours a day, some with one or two days off per month and others with no days off except during Chinese New Year. The women in particular occupied a very limited social space; usually their lives revolved around their jobs and their dorm or tiny apartment, which was often supplied by their employer. Their circumscribed place was further enforced by spatial and discursive power relations that construct the city as unsafe and unwelcoming due to their position as women and outsiders, marked by their accent, their build, and their mannerisms. Several women told me that though they might have a relative in Beijing, such as an aunt, uncle, or sibling, their friends (as opposed to co-workers) did not live in Beijing, and even when they had friends in Beijing, it was often hard for them to meet due to work schedules and distances (Beijing is a very large city and traveling by bus, as migrants do, is often quite time consuming).
So how does a mobile phone make a difference for them? Many of the men and women I interviewed had grown up without a landline in their family home. They also did not have one in their residence in Beijing, and their access to fixed-line phones at work was either non-existent or very limited. While there are pay phones and “call bars” all over Beijing, these are inconvenient and lack privacy. Perhaps it is not surprising then that the first “big” item bought by all the migrants I knew was a cell phone. Buying their first phone was such a significant event that nearly every participant in my study could tell me the date, time, and place of the purchase, who had accompanied them, the price, and how long it had taken them to save up enough money (usually several months). Often sacrifices were involved in buying a mobile phone and tough choices had to be made: a phone was bought instead of new clothes, a television, a bike, or even a precious train ticket home after months of being away.
As the first major item purchased with one’s urban wages, and one on which an inordinate amount of money is spent – often one or two month’s salary even when cheaper models are available, as also noted in prior research among migrant workers in China’s southern factories (Law & Peng, 2006; Yang & Chu, 2006) – clearly a cell phone has symbolic meaning. But more importantly, such telephonic “leapfrogging” makes a profound difference in migrants’ ability both to increase and enhance their social networks. In other words, it allows them to build up contacts in a manner previously unavailable and provides an important means for expanding their personal networks (guanxiwang), something extremely vital in a culture where personal relationships and bonds of reciprocity are often crucial for facilitating numerous types of social functions. Perhaps even more important than the expanded social networks enabled by the mobile phone, however, is the way the cell phone is used to enrich social relationships. Given the constraints on migrants’ time, the circumscribed social world they occupy in the city, and the far distances that often separate them from those with whom they are emotionally close, the ability to surpass these spatial, temporal, and structural barriers is extremely important. What I noted on many occasions was that many close friendships were maintained strictly through a mobile phone; that is, it is not mostly a “supportive communication technology” (Yoon, 2003) for relationships that are primarily sustained through face-to-face contact. It was instead what I call an “expansive communication tool,” used not only for maintaining ties with friends who are now spread all over China but also with those who although in the same city are nonetheless geographically unreachable.
For this reason, the connectivity provided through the mobile phone should not be underestimated. Connectivity means communication, which lies at the heart of the social world, and such connectivity allows migrants – often isolated, often discriminated against – an anchoring and inclusion in networks of sociality that are crucial to their well-being in the city. In this regard, the sheer convenience of the cell phone is also not a trivial matter (and it is interesting to note that not one of my informants ever mentioned safety as a reason for buying a phone). For most migrants, especially young women, the mobile phone is not just one more communication device added to a fixed-line phone and/or a computer with Internet access. It is their primary, if not only, means of keeping in touch with others. Certainly prior to the arrival of the mobile phone, migrant workers remained in contact with family and very close friends, through using public phones, writing letters, with pagers, and so forth. However, the transformation in ease and frequency of access facilitated via the mobile phone is hard to fathom for those of us who have been surrounded by ubiquitous telephony our entire lives. For China’s young rural-to-urban migrants, and most likely for other populations with similarly constrained material circumstances, inclusion in social networks via the mobile phone thus serves as a counter-domination tactic against such limiting and limited life conditions. Often studies of how marginalized populations use new communication technologies such as cell phones understandably put heavy emphasis on economic outcomes, yet the affective/emotional benefits for such groups are also extremely significant and a rich area for further exploration.
References
China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) (http://www.cnnic.cn).
China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (http://www.miit.gov.cn).
Law, Pui-lam, and Yinni Peng. “The Use of Mobile Phones among Migrant Workers in Southern China.” In New Technologies in Global Societies, edited by Pui-lam Law, Leopoldina Fortunati, and Shanhua Yang, 245-258. Singapore: World Scientific, 2006.
Yang, Shanhua, and Wai-chi Chu. ”Shouji: Quanqiuhua Beijingxia de ‘Zhudong’ Xuanze—Zhusanjiao Diqu Nongmingong Shouji Xiaofei de Wenhua he Xintai de Jiedu (“Mobile Phone: ‘Selecting Their Own Initiative’ under the Background of Globalization”).” In Jincheng Nongmingong: Xianzhuang, Qushi, Women Neng Zuo Xie Shenme (Rural-Urban Migrants: Situations, Trends and What we can do), 301-308. Beijing, China: People’s University Institute for Agriculture and Rural Development, 2006.
Yoon, Kyongwon. “Retraditionalizing the Mobile: Young People’s Sociality and Mobile Phone Use in Seoul, Korea,” European Journal of Cultural Studies, 6.33 (2003): 327-343.
Wallis, Cara. “Technomobility in the Margins: Mobile Phones and Young Rural Women in Beijing.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Southern California, 2008.
New Media Practices in China, Part 2: Mobile Phones
Mobile “Graffiti Advertising,” Beijing, 2007 ** Bandit Phone Display, Shenzhen, August 2008
As mentioned in my previous post, China’s mobile phone market has seen tremendous growth in a relatively short period of time. With the diffusion of cell phones in China, certain distinctive (though not wholly unique) traits of mobile phone use have emerged. The first is that although business people in China make voice calls frequently, the majority of mobile phone users, including youth, communicate primarily via text message. The sheer volume of text messaging in China is astounding. In 2007, 592.1 billion text messages were sent, for an average of 1.6 billion/day and a daily revenue of 160 million yuan (roughly US $21 million) (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/08/content_7581868.htm). In most cases, text messaging is not necessarily used for reasons of courtesy to those occupying the same public space (as in Japan). On the contrary, loud mobile phone conversations on public transport, in restaurants, and on elevators are not uncommon. I have even heard people answer their cell phones in movie theaters. Rather, one reason for the prevalence of texting is it is cheap: about US 1.4 cents per message.
Text messages in China are often self-written, but the use of pre-written messages is also common. These types of messages are widely available and can either be copied from inexpensive books for sale at kiosks and mom and pop stores or downloaded from the Internet, though most people merely forward messages they have received. The contents are usually jokes, sentimental poems, erotica, or holiday greetings. For example, during the 2008 Chinese New Year period, approximately 17 billion text messages were sent. Though people from all walks of life send pre-written messages, among the rural-to-urban migrant women I met during my fieldwork in 2006-07 there was a large reliance on such messages. One reason was in order to compensate for low literacy levels (especially difficulty with inputting characters) (Wallis, 2008). Another was to communicate emotions the women felt they could not properly express in their own words and to explore their sexual identity (Lin, 2005; Wallis, 2008). However, the flowery language of many such messages means that they are often disparaged by those who are more educated (Wallis, forthcoming). There is also a growing awareness in China that most pre-written messages are meant to cater to the tastes of lower social strata (Cartier, Castells, & Qiu, 2005).
Though most cell phone users in China use pre-paid cards due to their flexibility and convenience, mobile phone calling plans in China are not merely innocuous economic configurations based on rational market forces. Like so many other products and services that have arisen in the past decade or so, they bear distinct attributes intended to bestow status and to differentiate among users. One of the most noticeable examples of this distinction derives from mobile phone numbers themselves. First, cell phone prefixes are linked to a specific provider, with more prestige going to China Mobile. As the incumbent in the mobile phone market, China Mobile tends to offer better coverage and more service options in most areas (though the recent telecom restructuring might change this). Second, one’s number also reveals the type of service plan one has. For example, China Mobile’s “GoTone” brand provides subscribers with a variety of services, including international roaming, mobile Internet, mobile banking, MMS, GPS, and a “mobile secretary.” Beyond phone services, GoTone, as the package for “high-class customers,” also offers VIP clients “distinguished” airport service and a professional style golf club (http://www.chinamobile.com/gotone/profile/). On China Mobile’s website, the company boasts GoTone’s “intangible assets” that are “symbolized in success, self-confidence, and high taste” (http://www.chinamobile.com/gotone/profile/intro/). The blurb for the service even indirectly invokes the language of quality (suzhi) through comparing GoTone customers’ level and quality of “development” to its own. This information is not only available to subscribers or those who have perused China Mobile’s promotional materials. Because it is widely known that GoTone uses the 134 through 139 prefixes, these three-digit prefixes confer status on their users (This is perhaps somewhat akin to area codes in certain parts of the U.S., as in Los Angeles, for example, where a 310 area code, which signifies a Westside residence, carries more prestige than an 818 area code, which is used for phone numbers in the San Fernando Valley).
Regardless of provider or service plan, one’s mobile phone number itself is a mark of prestige. Unlike in the U.S. where numbers are usually randomly assigned to a cell phone subscriber, in China SIM cards with mobile numbers must be purchased separately in order to use a phone. Since mobile numbers in China are rather long (11 digits), numbers that have repeating digits are more expensive because these types of numbers are easier to remember. Numbers are also more costly based on whether they are considered lucky or unlucky. A phone number with a large amount of eights, for example, will be more expensive, and again confer status, since eight is an auspicious number in Chinese culture. On the other hand, a number ending in four (a homonym for death in Chinese) will be inexpensive and possibly create discomfort for a caller.
Mobile phones have now become a personal necessity for a vast majority of China’s city residents and they seem to be everywhere. Whole city blocks full of cell phone shops exist in cities as diverse as Beijing in the north and Nanning in the south. Urban metro stations, bus stops, and rooftops have all become display sites for ubiquitous cell phone advertising. Radio and TV shows, Internet portals, and advertising companies all vie for attention on and through people’s cell phones, and for those who don’t have the money to promote their services by such legitimate means, spray painting one’s mobile number on walls or sidewalks has become a new kind of guerrilla advertising (often for quasi-illicit services), as in the image above on the left.
Mobile users in China, particularly urban youth, tend to change handsets quickly. One reason is that the mobile handset industry in China consists of both global brands as well as a number of domestic manufacturers that release new models much more frequently than in other parts of the world. Another factor is that the heavy use of pre-paid phone cards means users are not locked into a contract with a particular phone. A recent trend has been the popularity of “bandit” phones (shanzhaiji), so-called because they fall into a grey zone in that they are not black-market phones, but they are not fully legal either. They are manufactured by small companies in southern China and are distinguished by being relatively cheap and loaded with functions. Sometimes they look like replicas of popular models, such as the iPhone, but come with a name such as “Hiphone.” Other bandit phones have cool or kitsch designs (see image above right). Bandit phones are popular among low-income groups such as migrants as well as trendy, geeky kids, but also among those who buy them to express a nationalist sentiment by not buying a global brand such as Nokia. Ironically, however, in purchasing a bandit phone, they are undercutting China’s legitimate domestic phone market (Zheng & Chen, 2008).
In terms of in-depth research on mobile phone use, thus far the focus has been on either the urban or the rural-to-urban migrant population, though exceptions where both populations have been included in the same study do exist, such as in the work of Fortunati, Manganelli, Law, and Yang (2008) and Yang (2006). This split in research design is in line with what are perceived to be vast gaps between these two populations in terms of material resources, life conditions, and opportunities. Both bodies of literature have found, not surprisingly, that young migrant workers in southern factories and “cool” (linglei) urban youth in Beijing voiced similar connections between owning a mobile phone and perceived social status or maintenance of “face” (Yang & Chu, 2006; Wang, 2005). In addition, gendered differences in preferences of mobile phone types as well as discourses about mobile phones have also been found among both groups (Yu & Tng, 2003; Wallis, 2008).
Perhaps because of the particular position they occupy within Chinese society, more in-depth research has been done on mobile phone use among rural-to-urban migrants than among urban residents. Cartier, Castells, & Qiu (2005) argue that “working class ICTs” such as the xiaolingtong (“Little Smart”), a less expensive mobile phone with limited geographic mobility (it runs off the fixed-line telephone system), as well as pre-paid calling cards enable migrants to become part of the “information have-less” (as opposed to have-nots). Recently, the popularity of Little Smart phones seem to be declining as the costs of standard mobile phones also decrease. Cell phones have become crucial tools for migrants, who often have minimal access to landlines outside of public call bars (huaba), to maintain as well as expand their social networks (Chu & Yang, 2006; Law & Peng, 2006). Dating via the mobile phone – where a relationship is initiated and sustained through text messaging and voice calls with a face-to-face meeting not taking place for several months – has also become a common feature of mobile phone use among young adult migrants (Law & Peng, 2006; Wallis, 2008). In using mobile phones to autonomously establish intimate relationships, young migrant women in particular challenge parental authority in such decisions. However, I noticed that they also engage in practices that blend the traditional as much as the technological, through, for example, relying on intermediaries for introductions (Wallis, 2008). However, more widespread availability of QQ (a chat program) on cell phones may be changing this situation, as QQ has become a popular venue for anonymous sexual solicitations. Still, whatever the means, those migrant women who establish intimate relationships outside of parental approval are not always able to follow through on their plans for the future, for reasons of self-protection, filial obligation, and financial security (Ma & Cheng, 2005). Thus, the long-term effects of such autonomy remain unknown.
Due to the nature of Chinese social relationships and the distinctions made between friends, colleagues, classmates, and the like, several studies have found that many rural-to-urban migrants do not have anybody they consider a “real friend” in their immediate vicinity (Law & Peng, 2006; Ma & Cheng, 2005). Thus, the cell phone emerges not so much as a “supportive communication technology” (Yoon, 2003) for relationships that are primarily maintained through face-to-face contact, but as an “expansive communication tool” used for maintaining ties with friends and lovers who are spread all over China (Wallis, 2008). In other words, many migrants have a number of close relationships that are maintained almost strictly through their mobile phone.
A final body of research on mobile phones in China has examined how cell phones, particularly via text messaging, are increasingly used for popular mobilization and subverting the dominant discourse. Such usage first became widespread during the SARS outbreak in 2003, when ordinary citizens used SMS to counter the government’s attempt to block dissemination of information about the epidemic through traditional media channels (Castells, et al., 2007). Yu (2004) argues that such usage constituted a “third realm” in state-society relations and a means of “informed citizenship” (p. 31). Since that time, SMS has been implicated in everything from organizing protests to block the construction of a toxic chemical plant (Nanfang Dushibao) to mobilizing “angry youth” during anti-Japanese riots in 2005. Though the government has tried to keep pace with the information spread via text messaging through devising new filtering and tracking techniques, it certainly cannot control all of the content sent through SMS (Qiu, 2007). For this reason, it uses both “hard power” techniques such as periodically arresting users for spreading “malicious rumors,” as well as softer measures, including sponsoring contests for ordinary citizens to write “red” (“healthy” or encouraging) messages and quash so-called “yellow” (sexual or pornographic) messages (Zhang, 2006). Because text messages often contain politically and morally subversive content, He (2008) argues that SMS, as a “fifth” media channel, has become a “major carrier of the nonofficial discourse” in China. This certainly was the case during the 2008 Olympics, when I received SMS jokes skewering the skills (or lack of) of China’s soccer team and praising the athletic as well as sexual ability of China’s gymnasts. The role of text messaging in China in creating a space for alternative discourse and a virtual public sphere is clearly a fascinating topic for further research.
References
Cartier, C., Castells, M., & Qiu, J. L. (2005). The information have-less: Inequality, mobility, and translocal networks in Chinese cities. Studies in Comparative International Development, 40(2), 9-34.
Castells, M., Fernandez-Ardevol, M., Qiu, J. L., & Sey, A. (2007). Mobile communication and society: A global perspective. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Chu, W.-C. & Yang, S. (2006). Mobile phones and new migrant workers in a South China village: An initial analysis of the interplay between the ‘social’ and the ‘technological.’ In P.-L. Law, L. Fortunati & S. Yang (Eds.), New technologies in global societies (pp. 221-244). Singapore: World Scientific.
Fortunati, L., Manganelli, A. M., Law, P., & Yang, S. (2008). Beijing calling… Mobile communication in contemporary China. Knowledge, Technology, Policy, 21, 19-27.
He, Z. (2008). SMS in China: A major carrier of the nonofficial discourse universe. The Information Society, 24, 182-190.
Law, P.-L. & Peng, Y. (2006). The use of mobile phones among migrant workers in Southern China. In P.-L. Law, L. Fortunati & S. Yang (Eds.), New technologies in global societies (pp. 245-258). Singapore: World Scientific Press.
Lin, A. (2005, June). Romance and sexual ideologies in SMS manuals circulating among migrant workers in Southern China. Paper presented at the International Conference on Mobile Communication and Asian Modernities. City University of Hong Kong
Ma, E. & Cheng, H. L. H. (2005). ‘Naked’ bodies: Experimenting with intimate relations among migrant workers in South China. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 8(3), 307-328.
Qiu, J. L. (2007). The wireless leash: Mobile messaging service as a means of control. International Journal of Communication, 1, 74-91.
Wallis, C. (2008). Technomobility in the margins: Mobile phones and young rural women in Beijing. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Southern California.
Wallis, C. (forthcoming). (Im)mobile mobility: Marginal youth and mobile phones in Beijing. In R. Ling & S. Campbell (Eds.), Mobile communication: Bringing us together or tearing us apart? New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Wang, J. (2005). Youth culture, music, and cell phone branding in China. Global Media and Communication 1(2), 185-201.
Yang, B. (2006, October). Privatizing public spaces and personalizing private spaces: The role of the mobile phone in social networking in Beijing. Paper presented at Beijing Forum 2006, Beijing University.
Yang, S. H. & Chu, W.-C. (2006). Shouji: Quanqiuhua beijingxia de ‘zhudong’ xuanze—Zhusanjiao diqu nongmingong shouji xiaofei de wenhua he xintai de jiedu (“Mobile phone: ‘Selecting their own initiative’ under the background of globalization”). In Jincheng nongmingong: Xianzhuang, qushi, women neng zuo xie shenme (Rural-urban migrants: Situations, trends and what we can do) (pp. 301-308). Beijing People’s University Institute for Agriculture and Rural Development.
Yoon, K. (2003). Retraditionalizing the mobile: Young people’s sociality and mobile phone use in Seoul, Korea. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 6(33), 327-343.
Yu, H. (2004). The power of thumbs: The politics of SMS in urban China.” Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 2(2), 30-43.
Yu, L. & Tng, T. H. (2003). Culture and design for mobile phones in China. In J. E. Katz (Ed.), Machines that become us: The social context of personal communication technology (pp. 187-198). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Zhang, Y. (2006). “Hong duanzi” weijiao “huang duanzi.” (“Red” messages suppress “yellow” messages). Jiaoshi Bolan (Teachers Digest) 139, 31-32.
Zheng, T., & Chen, Y. (August 21, 2008). Fengkuang shanzhaiji (Crazy bandit phones). Nanfang Renwu Zhoukan (Southern People Weekly), 24, 56-59.
New Media Practices in Korea: Part 3. Mobile Phones
If mobile phones are the driving force of the convergent media culture in Korea, then Eomjijok, the Korean version of ‘Thumb Tribe,’ is behind the wheel. Early global youth mobile phone studies have showed that youth mobile phone culture, which is centered on the use of text message and play culture, redefined the mobile phone technology. Apparently, Korean youth mobile phone culture shares many traits to those in other mobile savvy countries. When the mobile phone was first introduced in 1999, it was mainly businessmen who adopted this new technology as an alternative communication tool (Kim, 2001). With the introduction of the text message, however, the mobile phone quickly became the icon of young people. Their swift texting skills and the use of idiosyncratic code languages became typical indicators to identify the Eomjijok. In fact, this notion of Thumb Tribe is popularly adopted throughout East Asia –across China, Korea, and Japan (Bell, 2005). It is hypothesized that the original Japanese coinage of Oyayubisoku (‘Thumb Tribe’) traveled to Korea and was translated as Eomjijok.
Eomjijok & Thumbelinas
Indeed, Eomjijok, is another name of N generation and Digital Sinillyu. Hence, most discussions in early days of the mobile phone focus on their distinctive cultural identity and significance for the transformation in Korean society (Kim, 2005; Kim, 2005; Choi et al, 2005). On the one hand, young people’s quick adoption of mobile phones was interpreted as the reflection of increasing desire to sustain individualism against traditionally collectivist Korean culture. Young people prefer the mobile phone because it allows informal, personal, and unregulated communication (Kwon & Choi, 2003). In that regards, exclusive text message culture of Eomjijok was considered a part of youth subculture (Park, 2000). However, young people’s excessive use of mobile phones was easily criticized as a symptom of addiction. In other cases, their mastery of this new technology presented subversive effects that might violate authorities and/or principles of the official educational system: as seen in the case of the notorious ‘college entrance cheating incident through SMS’ in 2004 (Sung et al, 2007). The massive scale of the incident and young people’s elaborate manipulation of the mobile phone for the crime generated the sensational scandal and stirred up social anxieties about the digital gap between generations. On the other hand, researches show that mobile phones reconfirm young people’s peer networks, which continues the traditional sociality and cultural identity rather than to encroach on them (Na, 2001). Yoon (2003, 2006) argues this ‘relation-oriented’ usage pattern of Korean youth demonstrates the localized practice of mobile phone use and challenges the general assumption on mobile phone as an individualistic technology.
If Eomjijok defined a newly emerged youth mobile phone culture, then the current young generation is born into mobile technology culture. As mobile phones evolve into convergent personal media in Korea, the popularity of the term Eomjijok is slowly fading out. Korean youth become savvy mobile phone users in the early stages of their life. According to the recent research report by KTF (2009), Korean adolescents (12-18) own their first mobile phone comparatively earlier than those in Japan, China, India, and Mexico (www.hani.co.kr). 80.6 percent of Korean adolescents have their own mobile phone (Japan, 77.3%, Mexico, 64%, China, 48.9, and India, 30.6%). Especially, Korea shows higher penetration rate in younger groups. 87.7 percent of 12 years old Korean adolescents already use mobile phones, which far surpasses other countries (Japan, 50%, Mexico, 45.1%, China, 27.7%, and India 11.6 %). In addition, what they care most about is ‘functions and designs’ of mobile phones. Interestingly, regarding their children’s mobile phone usage, Korean parents consider the (excessive) service charge first while parents in other countries express concern about possible exposure to inappropriate content (like adult content) through mobile phones.
Text message is still the most preferred mode of communication among Korean youth; but, the salient use of other mobile phone features - mobile phone imaging, sharing, and MMS messaging- is redefining the culture of Eomjijok (Lee, 2001; Lee et al, 2002; Lee, 2003). Recently, diverse multimedia content services such as ring tones, music files, video contents, games, and location-based services have become the favorite features for Korean youth (Kim, 2005). In particular, teenage girls appear to be more savvy consumers and active adoptors of these additional services. Studies show that there have been “major gender shifts through the usage of 3G mobile phone practices that have seen stereotypes such as female users as ‘passive’ and male users as ‘active’ dismantled” (Hjorth & Kim, 2005; 51). In general, women are “more active than men in their adaptability and willingness to adopt the multi-media functions of mobile phone” in Korea (Lee & Seun, 2004). Beginning with text messaging, Thumbellinas indeed shaped the way in which the mobile phone was appropriated as ‘affective digital technology.’ As girls play with ‘emotext’ (emoticon + Text) and ‘chatting’ among their peers, mobile phones serve to increase the sense of intimacy and belonging to their culture (Kim et al, 2006). It is also common for girls to use mobile phones as a ‘personal memory box,’ the object of emotional affection in and through which they store and share their pictures and/or various gift items (Kim & Lee, 2007). As observed in other countries, Korean girls are passionate about customizing their mobile phones and consider mobile phones as a tool to display their personal identities, much like a fashion accessory (Hjorth & Kim, 2005; Hjorth, 2008: Lee, 2004).
Mobile Screen
What is particularly unique about Korean youth mobile culture is the prevalent use of screen aspect of the mobile phone that parallels with developments in other mobile media. Most screen-based mobile media services target young people as their primary consumers. For example, 3G mobile multimedia content is a particular service added to meet and maximize the demands of young people. All three mobile operators in Korea have already put emphasis on the youth market sectors by offering specialized rate plans for college students (ages 18-23) and high school students (ages 13-18)(Castells, 2007). Therefore, Korean youth are comparatively more exposed to the latest mobile media service due to the highly segmented and customized service plans and innovative services designed especially for them.
In order to satisfy young people’s appetite, Korean mobile operators explored mobile-specific contents since 2002: SK Telecom’s mobile cinema series and mobile drama are good examples. In particular, Fives Stars (2004) is interesting in that it represents the entertainment business strategy to commercialize and appropriate digital youth culture, particularly, girls subculture (Ok, 2008). Fives Stars was advertised as the first ‘mobile interactive drama’ while simultaneously functioning as a multimedia entertainment project that included other auxiliary media projects such as Idol Boy bands, digital photography picture book, OST, music videos, and even mobile games. Premiering in October 2004, Five Stars set the record as the most popular original mobile drama produced in Korea as well as the 3rd most popular drama among all mobile video contents on SK Telecom’s network. It is reported that 75,000 users accessed its service for the first 15 days and more than 400,000 users have downloaded it. Most of all, its appeal originates from the fact that it adopted the popular Internet novel by Gwiyoni, a famous girl writer whose idiosyncratic writings generated syndrome since early 2000s. In fact, Gwiyoni syndrome represents young people’s increasing new media production in online space, which I will discuss in a subsequent post. In this way, Fives Stars demonstrates how new media technology – such as Internet and mobile phones – constructs the commercial, but yet alternative space for youth and vice versa.
Increasing popularity of PMP (portable media player) and convergent mobile media among youth people intensifies this trend toward the personal screen culture, driving young people, who already migrated to the online for media consumption, further away from conventional media. It is reported that 2,300,000 PMP (portable media player) were sold in 2007, surmounting the sales of TV sets at 2,100,000. Chung Seok-Won, Vice-President of Raincom, credits the dramatic increase of sales of PMP to the “frenzy of downloaded video clip such as American TV shows and UCC since the beginning of 2006”(www.chosun.com). Due to the comparatively high cost of purchasing these devices and accessing multimedia contents, young adults who are in their early twenties more actively engage with the mobile screen. They typically watch downloaded content (TV drama, animation, and movies) or TV broadcasting through the mobile TV service during their commute or down time (Ok, 2008).
It is not surprising that with the vigorous uptake of mobile screens, social anxieties about young people’s private consumption of media content without adults’ supervision have increased. Adult contents, which encompass semi-nude pictures of female star entertainers and erotic cartoons/novels, have proven to be the most profitable mobile video contents. It is acknowledged that from the early days of mobile content services, mobile adult contents have been condemned to be the most profitable yet shameful ‘gold mine’ for mobile phone service providers. It has also been the most visible target of heated public debate for its potential to damage and corrupt social customs, particularly for its presumed ‘bad’ influence on young people. In early 2005, the Commission on Youth Protection, a government agency, expanded its precautionary monitoring on the ‘potentially harmful content’ to mobile content service and urged mobile service providers to install appropriate screening systems in order to forbid children’s access to adults contents through such measure as ‘Special Mobile Service Contract for Youth Protection’. In June 2006, the Commission on Youth Protection filed a lawsuit against mobile service providers for transmitting ‘illegal pornographic content’. Eventually, after legal persecutions, SK Telecom declared the termination of all adult contents in July 2006.
Overall, Korean youth usages of mobile phones demonstrate that mobile phone technology allows young people to create an alternative space outside of their daily institutionalized environment.
References
English Sources
Bell, G. (2005). The Age of the Thumb: A Cultural Reading of Mobile Technologies from Asia. In P. Glotz & S. Bertschi (Eds.), Thumb Culture: Social Trends and Mobile Phone Use (pp. 67-87). Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
Castells, M. et al. (2007). Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective. . Cambridge: MIT Press.
Kim, J. (2005). An Examination and Comparison of Mobile Phone Uses by Adolescents and Adults. Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies, 49(3), 262-386.
Kwon, I., & Choi, J. (2003). Understanding Youth Culture and Characteristics of Cellular Phone Communication in Korea. Studies on Korean Youth, 14(2), 81-118.
Hjorth, L. (2008). Being Real in the Mobile Reel: A Case Study on Convergent Mobile Media as Domesticated New Media in Seoul, South Korea. Convergence, 14(1), 91-104.
Hjorth, L., & Kim, H. (2005). Being There and Being Here: Gendered Customizing of 3G Mobile Practices – Through a Case Study in Seoul. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 11, 49-55.
Lee, D. (2005). Women’s Creation of Camera Phone Culture. Fibreculture Journal, Mobility, New Social Intensities and the Coordinates of Digital Networks, (6). Retrieved September 2007 from http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue6/.
Lee, D., & Seun, H. (2004). Is There a Gender Difference in Mobile Phone Usage? In Proceedings of Mobile Communication and Social Change Conference. Seoul, Korea.
Ok. H. (2008). Screens on the Move: Media Convergence and Mobile Culture in Korea. Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
Yoon, K. (2003). Retraditionalizing the Mobile: Young People’s Sociality and Mobile Phone Use in Seoul, South Korea. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 6(3), 327-343.
------, (2006). The making of Neo-Confucian Cyberkids: Representations of Young Mobile phone Users in South Korea. New Media Society, 8(5), 753-771.
Korean Sources
Kim, E. et al (2006). Mobile Sonyeodeului Suda Ddeolgi (Mobile Girls’ Chatting). In D.H. Lee et al (Eds.), Mobile Girls @ digital.asia. Paju, Korea: Hanul Academy.
Kim, H. (2005). Cheongsonyeongwa Hyudejeonhwa (Adolescents and Mobile Phone). Issue Report, Seoul, Korea: Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity & Promotion.
Kim, M. (2005). Yidong Jeonhwareul Tonghan Eomeoni Noreutui Jesengsan (Reproduction of Mothering Role through Mobile Phone Use). Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies, 49(4), 140-165.
Kim, S. (2001). Homotellephonicuseuui Deongjang: Yidongjeonhwa Hwaksaneui Yeonghyaneul Michin Sahyoemunhwajeok Yoine Gwanhan Yeongu (The Emergence of Homotelephonicus: The Study of Socio-cultural factors of the dissemination of Mobile Phone). Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies, 45(2), 62-85.
Kim, Y., & Lee, J. (2006). Jeongseojeok Mediaroseoui Handphone: Sipdeyeoseongdeului Ilsangjeok Handphone Sayongeul Jungsimeuro (Handphone as Emotional Media: Focusing on the Teenage Girl’s Daily Use of Handphone). In D.H. Lee et al (Eds.), Mobile . Paju, Korea: Hanul Academy.
Lee, J. (2001). Chigo Tterigi, Munjaserviceui Chogakseong, geurigo Sotongui Kyoirak: N sedeui Munjaservice Sobiwa Munhwa Ilgi (Tinkering, Tactility of Text Message Service, and the Pleasure of Communication: N Generation’s Text Message Culture). In Proceedings of Annual Conference of Korean Society of Journalism & Communication Studies (pp. 48-83). Seoul, Korea.
Lee, S. (2003). Yidongjeonhwa Yiyonge Kwanhan Yeongu: Eumseongtonghwaservicewa Munjaserviceganui Kwangyereul Jungsimeuro (Mobile Phone Use: Relationship between Voice call Service and Text message service). Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies, 47(5), 87-114.
Lim, S. et al. (2006). Sonyeodeului Handphone Nolyi (Girls’ Handphone Play). In D.H. Lee et al (Eds.), Mobile Girls @ digital.asia. Paju, Korea: Hanul Academy.
Na, E. (2001). Yidongjeonhwa chetaekui Yeonghyangeul michineun Yidongjeonhwa Communicationui Sokseonge Gwanhan Yeongu (The Study of Media Specificity of Mobile Phone in Relation to the User’s Choice of Mobile Phone Service. Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies, 45(4), 189-228.
------, (2005). Cheongsonyeuneui Yidonjeonhwa Echakyiyong, Hyogwa Jigak mit Communication Hyonyeunggam: 2002, 2004 nyeun Seoul, Sudogweon Jijeok Junggodeunghaksengeul Jungsimeuro (Teens’ Usage of Mobile Phone, Perception of the Effects of Mobile Phone, and Efficacy for Communication: Survey on Middle and High School Students in 2002 and 2004). Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies, 49(6), 198-232.
Park, J. (2000). Cheongsonyeundeului Yidongjeonhwa Yiyong Hyeonsangeso Natananeun Hawimunhwajeok Teukseonge kwanhan Yeongu (Subcultural Characteristics of Adolescent’s Mobile Phone Use). Master Thesis, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Sung, Y., Park, H. W., & Park, S. (2006). Cheongsonyeuneui Newmedia Yiyonghyeunhwanggwa Munjejeom mit Deyeungbangan - Mobileeul Jungsimeuro- (New Media Use of Adolescents, Problems and Policies: With Focus on Mobile). Seoul; Korea: Korea Institute for Youth Development.
New Media Practices in India, Part 2: Mobile phones
Mobile phones first arrived in India in 1995, and since then their adoption has grown exponentially, with average annual growth of 80 percent. Mobile phones have thus become a significant presence in the social, cultural and economic lives of Indians at all levels of society. While young people have embraced mobile phones enthusiastically, corresponding changes in social norms have caused anxieties among some parts of the population. In this post I will explore these issues in-depth, beginning with an overview of phone use, followed by an examination of resulting changes in social dynamics and a brief look at the use of mobile phones for development purposes.
As of October 31, 2008, there were a little over 320 million mobile phone subscribers in the country, which is about 26% of the total population (http://www.india-cellular.com). The great majority, about 24 million use GSM systems. The most important cell phone carriers are Airtel with 25.04 percent of the market, followed by Reliance (CDMA and GSM) with 17.93 percent and Vodafone/Essar with 17.70 percent. There are a wide variety of handsets available, provided by both foreign and Indian companies and catering to every niche of the Indian market. The most expensive GSM handset cost about US $12,000; it is marketed under the Nokia super premium luxury brand Vertu, and shows that mobile phones are status items for Indians of all income classes. Airtel and Vodaphones sell Apple’s 3G iPhones for about US $700, depending on capacity. On the other end of the spectrum, aiming at the so-called bottom-of-the-pyramid (bop) market, the Nokia 1200 costs 1200 rupees, which is about $24. The CDMA handset market is firmly dominated by Reliance, which sells Blackberry smart phones for about $620, while on the low end, Tata Indicom sells a Samsung Model for $20, which is just under 1000 rupees. 60.90 % of the population is covered by mobile signal http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/DisplayCountry.aspx?code=IND. In any given covered area, between 4 and 7 companies provide mobile phone services, often offering a dozen tariff plans. Although I could not find any definite numbers, more people use prepaid cards than contracts (http://www.gsmap.org/wp-content/uploads/files/prepaid%20connections037215.pdf).
Mobile Social Dynamics
Especially among poor Indians, mobile phone ownership is dominated by men; a study conducted in 2006 found that women had greater access than men to household-owned land lines than to individually-owned mobile phones, but had similar access to public phones and much greater access to phones owned by others (Iqbal 2007). Even when women owned a mobile phone, it was primarily men who made the decision about how much money to allocate to phone use (Iqbal 2007). Similarly, in their study of urban Delhi, Tacchi and Chandola (Heather Horst, personal communication) found that men dominated ownership of mobile phones; women typically had to ask permission to use a mobile and also were monitored while talking. On the other hand, in a recent study of West Bengal, Tenhunen (2008) notes that women who are (increasingly) gaining access to mobile phones also gain greater mobility in general, although stigma associated with female mobility does remain. Gender relations are thus central to the dynamics of mobile phone use. More generally, Tenhunen (2008) argues that mobile phones increase the efficiency of the market, facilitate alternative political patterns, and invigorate traditional networks of kinship and village sociality.
Regional differences also play a role here. Sooryamoorthy, Miller and Shrum’s (2008) study of mobile users in the South Indian state of Kerala, which is known for its well-developed education system and youth and women programs, found that, in contrast to those who use email and other programs, mobile phone use tended to decrease the diversity of geographical ties. Research by Donner et al from Microsoft Research India (2008) also suggest a collectivist ethos, including in middle class households. They note that individuals share across generations (parents and children), with their peers (siblings and, to a lesser degree, friends). In some cases this may involve simply borrowing a phone because someone is nearby (what they term ‘proximate sharing’) or it may involve ‘distributed sharing,’ examples of which are a parent trying to reach a child through their friend’s phone. Others use their phones to contact point people who are relied upon to spread information. Donner (2007) argues that the sending and receiving of missed calls, or beeping, is another way that individuals in India communicate without the outlay of money or minutes.
Many have commented upon the great enthusiasm Indian youth express for the mobile phone, as can be seen in the utube videos posted on the Indian section of mobileyouth.org (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcPoVt--9UU&feature=related ). This enthusiasm is also evident in the growth of game applications for mobile phones, which I will examine in Friday’s post. The academic literature on this usage is only beginning to emerge, however (Kumar and Thomas 2006). Chakraborty (2006) conducted a comparative study among Indian and American university students and discovered that the former relied on their mobiles more frequently as their only phone, and thus developed a different relationship to them than their American counterparts. There were also significant differences in the practice of text messaging.
Swank’s (Heather Horst - personal communication) recent research among Tibetan refugees in North India suggests that mobile phones are contributing to cross-gender forms of communication. In her preliminary analysis of 700 text messages, Swank found that teenagers were exchanging jokes – quite often ‘dirty jokes’ – over text messages that they would not normally utter in person. Steenson and Donner (2009) note that the sharing of mobile phones complicates and is complicated by traditional gender roles. This suggests that the mobile phone is enabling young people (as well as older ones) to subvert established notions of gender relations.
These social transformations do not go unchallenged, especially by “moral panic agents” that seek to police the proliferation of mobile phones, and especially camera phones, among young people (Ravindran 2007, 2008). The impetus for their actions came from the Delhi Public School scandal in November 2004. As described in Ravindran (2008), the scandal centered on 2.37 seconds of video shot by a boy making out with his girlfriend, who were both students at an elite public school in Keshavapuram, New Delhi. A few days later, after the couple had broken up, the boy sold the video clip for Rs. 50 to friends. When this became public, both students were expelled from their school. The video clip was then transformed into a hot-selling CD by the pornographic merchants of Palika Bazaar in New Delhi, and lastly a student at IIT Kharagpur posted the content for sale on Bazee.com, the Indian affiliate of ebay. The media pounced on the story, seeking to associate camera phones and its young users with criminality. As a result, Anna University in Chennai, a top-ranking engineering university, used the scandal to ban the use of cell phones on campus and dormitories and conducted raids to enforce the ban (Rediff.com 2004). This practice was quickly emulated by other educational institutions and in 2006, legislation was introduced in the Indian parliament that sought to regulate the use of mobile phones (Ravindran 2008). Young people, in turn, used new media technologies to debate these developments in blogs and discussion forums, as I will explore in greater detail in my internet post next Monday.
Ravindran (2008) uses this incidence to make a larger argument about moral panics associated with camera phones, focusing his study on the (Tamil) vernacular press that is used by moral panic agents as a mouthpiece. Examples from headlines included: “Cell Phone Revolution: Satan in Palm;” “Tragedy Caused by Cell Phone: College Student Arrested for Killing Co-Student,” “Seller of Cell Phone Memory Cards with Obscene Pictures Arrested” and “TADA for Jeans...POTA for Cell Phone! The Plight of Colleges under Excessive Controls” (TADA and POTA refer to the draconian Indian laws against terrorism, which were repealed after political campaigns against them). As these headlines show, the social changes, including the possibilities to subvert strict sexual norms brought about by the use of cell phones are presented as scandalous and borderline criminal practices by parts of Indian society that see themselves as the guardians of traditional customs. The author argues that these dynamics are part of the emergence of an Indian control society that seeks to contain and police the transformations brought about by new media technologies (Ravindran 2007).
Mobile Phones for Development
A significant part of the research into mobile phone use in India focuses on their deployment for development purposes. Specifically, in the economic domain access to mobile phones helps small entrepreneurs overcome information asymmetries in the market place that have traditionally led to their exploitation through middle men. An often-cited example are Kerala fishermen who find out about the best prices for their catch before landing in a particular port (Jensen 2007, Reuben 2007). Donner and Tellez (2008) have undertaken preliminary studies of the emergence of m-banking among small enterprises. Donner (2009) has also investigated the use of mobile phones among small enterprises in India and found a reliance of voice and text messaging. Besides these economic applications, there are also mobile educational games being developed to assist children (and adults) with nonformal learning, as I will examine in Friday’s post on games. Another growing area is the use of mobile and smart phones for healthcare delivery purposes, as was highlighted in a recent report by Vital Wave Consulting authored for the United Nations Foundation (Vital Wave Consulting 2009). The report listed a number of Indian projects that used mobile phones for education and awareness; remote data collection; remote monitoring; disease and outbreak tracking, and diagnostic and treatment support.
In sum, mobile phones have become pervasive in all parts of Indian society, and especially their use among young people is resulting in profound effects on social norms and cultural conventions.
References Cited:
Chakraborty, S. (2006). Mobile phone usage patterns amongst university students: A comparative study between India and USA. M.S. thesis submitted to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Donner, J. (2007). The Rules of Beeping: Exchanging Messages Via Intentional “Missed Calls” on Mobile Phones. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13 (1).
Donner, J. et al. (2008). “Express yourself” and “Stay together”: The middle-class Indian family. In J. Katz (Eds.) Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies. (pp. 325-338). Boston: MIT Press.
Donner, J. and C. Tellez. (2008). Mobile banking and economic development: Linking adoption, impact, and use. Asian Journal of Communication, 18 (4): 318-332.
Donner, J. (2009). Mobile media on low-cost handsets: The resiliency of text messaging among small enterprises in India (and beyond). In G. Goggin and L. Hjorth (Eds.) Mobile technologies: from telecommunications to media. (pp. 93-104). New York and London: Routledge.
Iqbal, T. (2007) Gender inequalities in access and use of telecom at the bottom of the pyramid? Findings from a five country study. Paper presented at International Workshop on ICTs and Development: Experiences from Asia. National University of Singapore, April 2008.
Jensen, R. (2007). The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 72(3), 879-924.
Kumar, K. and A. Thomas. (2006). Telecommunications and Development: The Cellular Mobile ‘Revolution’ in India and China. Journal of Creative Communications 1: 297.
Ravindran, G. (2008) The Cultural Politics of New Media Modernity in India: Reading the Roles of Moral Panic Agents and Mobile Phone Users. Paper presented at International Workshop on ICTs and Development: Experiences from Asia. National University of Singapore, April 2008.
Ravindran,G (2007) Moral Panics and Mobile Phones: The Cultural Politics of New Media Modernity in India. Paper presented at the Living the Information Society Conference. Makati City, Manila, April 2007.
Reuben, A. (2007) Mobile Phones and Economic Development: Evidence From the Fishing Industry in India. Information Technologies and International Development 4 (1), 5-17.
Sooryamoorthy, R., P. Miller and W. Shrum (2008) Untangling the Technology Cluster: mobile telephony, internet use and social ties. New Media and Society, 10, 729 – 42.
Steenson, M. and J. Donner. (2009). Beyond the personal and private: Modes of mobile phone sharing in urban India. The Reconstruction of Space and Time: Mobile Communication Practices, 1, 231-250.
Tenhunen, S. (2008) Mobile technology in the Village: ICTs, culture, and social logistics in India. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 14 (3), 515-534.
Vital Wave Consulting. (2009). Mhealth for Development: The Opportunity for Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World. Washington D.C. and Berkshire UK: Un Foundation-Vodaphone Foundation Partnership. Available at http://www.unfoundation.org/global-issues/technology/mhealth-report.html
New Media Practices in Brazil, Part V: Mobile Phones
“… te amo sms” By JGil Published Under a Creative Commons License, November 8, 2008.
Brazil possesses the largest mobile phone industry in the Latin American region and the sixth largest mobile phone market in the world (Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu and Sey 2006; Barrantes and Halperin 2008, Tigre 2008). As I discussed in the introduction to Brazil, there are 140.79 million mobile phone subscribers spread among 9 operators who receive licenses on a national and regional basis, the most popular being Vivo, a company owned by Telefónica and Portugal Telecom, with 45 million subscribers as of December 2008. 86.6 per cent of subscribers use GSM. ITU numbers suggest that as early as 2003 there were more mobile phones in Brazil than landlines (see also Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu and Sey 2006:16-17). Although penetration rates in Brazil have historically been lower than other countries in Latin America – according to Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu and Sey (2006:10) in 2004 penetration rates were around 36 per cent compared with 62 per cent penetration rate in the smaller nation of Chile – in September 2008 the mobile phone penetration rate was 73.2 per cent, a number that signals significant growth in a four to five year time span. 81.1 per cent of the entire mobile phone market is prepaid. Within this context, the youth market represents an important and potentially powerful segment of the current subscribers. According to De Chiara (2004), 40 per cent of new mobile phone subscribers were under the age of 25 and, given the relatively youthful age of Brazil’s population, this number is expected to grow. In today’s blog post, I will be focusing upon mobile phone practices in Brazil as they are shaped by a variety of factors, including class, income, geography and other forms of social location. In addition, I explore the economic dimensions of the mobile phone, with particular attention to the ways in which the integration of mobile phones throughout Brazilian may be contributing to issues of economic development.
Modernity, Distinction and the Mobile Phone
Reflecting what are seen as the two extremes of Brazilian society, academic and popular research on mobile phones in Brazil tends to focus upon the differences between the two segments of Brazilian society—wealthy elite whose consumer tastes tend to reflect interests, tastes and lifestyles of their North American, European and Japanese counterparts (Wilska and Pedrozo 2007) and the lower income areas of Brazil. de Souza e Silva notes that among the highest income populations (primarily located in Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo), features such as video, cameras and internet access are increasingly popular, but there remain limitations in the types of phones available and the ability to use these features given that mobile phones are expensive and high cell phone tariffs have made the use of cell phones in Brazil one of the most expensive in Latin America (Barrantes and Halperin 2008). As de Souza e Silva characterizes the situation:,
“All these examples show that although high-end services are available, or at least in developmental phase, they still target a very small portion of the population, providing evidence that even within the high-income population, cell phones are still mostly used for voice communication. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that when we look at usage of these high-end services, we are talking about less than 1% of the population.”
Nascimento (2004) also notes that both ownership and ownership of phones with the latest features serves as a means of social distinction among wealthier high school students, possession being the display of status (cited in Silva 2006, see also Nicolaci-da-Costa 2006). However, parents of wealthy teens also note that provisioning a mobile phone can also be done for safety; among the wealthiest Brazilians, the fear of kidnapping children and holding them for ransom is common and the mobile phone is viewed as a way to keep connected to their children (and other family members), although indications that mobiles are also an incentive for petty theft (BBC2 2006, Osava 2009).
While their phones may lack the latest features, concerns about status also underpin many lower income Brazilians motivation to obtain a mobile phone. For example, Silva (2008), who is conducting research in Florianopolis, Bar (personal communication) and de Souza e Silva (2007) note that the acquisition of a mobile is particularly significant in according a sense of being modern. Because living without a mobile or with an older model mobile is a source of embarrassment and shame, many low income Brazilians will make significant sacrifices to obtain a phone. Some individuals in Silva’s ongoing study in southern Brazil have been so driven to keep up-to-date with the latest phones and fashions that they exchange their mobiles on an annual basis, despite the fact they often never use it. Many of the participants in her study keep very little credit on their phone and only use it to receive phone calls. According to Osava (2009), “Nearly 81 percent of cell phones in Brazil use the pre-paid calls systems, and a large proportion are used only to receive incoming calls, because their owners never, or hardly ever, purchase phone cards. Therefore the cost of these cell phones was limited to the initial outlay when they were bought. Market researchers Frost and Sullivan (2006) estimate that pre-paid subscribers talk four times less than post-paid subscribers and many Brazilians use the phone to make a call, but drop the connection akin to what Donner (2007) has described as “flashing” or “beeping” in Ghana, Uganda and other contexts. Often when low income Brazilians receive a call, they look at the recorded number and use a public phone to return the call in order to avoid the cost of purchasing a new phone card (Silva 2008, Frost and Sullivan 2006). In some cases, sharing phones has also been noted (de Souza e Silva 2007).
One of the significant differences in the use of mobile phones in Brazil is the difference between mobility and connectivity. In many parts of the United States, East Asia and Europe, mobile phones have been celebrated for the mobility they enable (Ito, Okabe and Matsuda 2005, Ling 2004, Jain 2002). Because fixed line telephony has always been expensive and, for the lowest income populations, almost inaccessible without the use of illegal electrical and telephone connections (see de Souza e Silva 2007), few individuals articulate the value of the mobile phone to the functionality of mobility. Rather, and as we have seen elsewhere in the global south (Donner 2008, Horst and Miller 2006), the mobile telephone is critical for the connectivity it enables. In other words, while the mobile phone complements and extends ones connectivity among high income Brazilians, the mobile phone is the sole form of communication among low income Brazilians (Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu and Sey 2006). What does appear to be unique about the Brazilian case is the extent to which people still rely upon the existing public infrastructure, particularly pay phones, as an important mode of communication. As Bar (personal communication), Silva (2007) and others have noted, this reflects the mobile telecommunications continued commitment to encouraging subscriptions via phone plans and high-end services.
Economic Benefits of the Mobile Phone
“carregadores e baterias” Photo by fbar March 17, 2007. Published under a Creative Commons License.
Throughout the world mobile phones have had important implications for work and the management of time between home and workspaces. Indeed, Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu and Sey ’s (2006) recent volume on mobile communication throughout the world devotes an entire chapter to examining how the mobile phone has changed the relationship between these two dominant spheres of life. Within the global south, a significant amount of attention continues to be directed towards the implications of the mobile phones to contribute to income generation (e.g. Donner 2006, Hammond and Prahalad 2004, Horst and Miller 2006, Jenson 2007). Francois Bar [fn 1] is conducting research in Brazil on motorbike couriers in Sao Paulo. Bar (personal communication) estimates that there are anywhere from 160,000 to 500, 000 large and small-scale couriers in the city who use their mobile phones to coordinate work in the congested streets of Brazil’s business capital. Primarily young and male, the majority of motorbike couriers work for a range of small and large companies. One of the issues that Bar’s ongoing work explores is the extent to which phone plans reflect and/or shape the economic benefits of being a motorbike courier. As Bar describes, young male motorbike couriers own mobile phones on a pre-paid basis and spend their days waiting for a call from a potential employer. This means that they remain completely dependent on a potential employer to facilitate contact and maintain communication. Notably, those with post-paid phone plans are usually more successful economically than their pre-paid counterparts because they can initiate contact and, in some instance, begin to develop relationships with other couriers who they trust to complete a particular job that is not convenient due to time or distance.
Depending on one’s perspective, the economic benefits of the mobile phone is also reflected in the emergence of an informal economy around the theft, refurbishment, resale and circulation of stolen mobile phones. Indeed, many residents of favelas only purchase phones from individuals in the community who traffic in the theft of stolen and cloned mobile phones. This practice became particularly common with the emergence of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) that enables users to move SIM cards between devices (de Souza e Silva 2007). In July of 2003, the Brazilian government mandated that all phones should be registered in an effort to prevent cloning of mobile phones (Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu and Sey 2006) and de Souza e Silva (2007) notes that in 2005 there were efforts to create an “integrated system” whereby phones could not be activated or re-activated in a different state, or by a different operator. A testament to the success of this informal industry, mobile phones made the list of the top items stolen in Brazil in 2007.
Conclusion
While the maintenance of social connections has been highlighted in the foundational work on mobile phones, there are a number of practices in Brazil that have the potential to add new dimensions to the foundational literature on the mobile phones. For example, the continued reliance on voice amongst Brazilians is attributed to cost such as high subscription rates and phone calls. de Souza e Silva (2007) notes that there are difficulties in defining mobile phone culture in Brazil as the formal measures and the division of units of analysis into states or federacions in Brazil often overlook or diminish socioeconomic disparities, such as rural-urban distinctions within states as well as the complex social geography prevalent in Brazil. For example, in some regions mobile phones are actually cheaper and easier to maintain given the cost of maintaining landlines. These distinctions not only reflect geography and population density as well as social and historical variations in different regions of Brazil. For example, in contrast to other regions of Brazil where people tend to make calls to family who live nearby, many mobile phone users living in regions where migration is common more frequently use their phones to call people in other states or regions. For example, Frost and Sullivan (2006) note that in the state of Bahía, “more than half of rural mobile telephony users make calls to other regions of the country; while close to 80% receive calls from other areas” (32). In addition, in the capital Brasilia, mobile phone penetration rates are quite high and recent estimates suggest that there are more mobile phones than people (Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu and Sey 2006; Silva 2007), a trend which is likely due to the presence of the Brazilian government as well as the ease with which cell phone towers could be integrated within the planned town which is shaped like an airplane (some describe it as a butterfly). In effect, the existing case studies of mobile phone practices in Brazil are interesting precisely because they push back at our understandings of the nature of mobile phone and mediated communication as well as the relationship between place and mobile phones, challenging our understanding of traditional markers of difference (e.g. rural and urban, suburban, urban as well as upper and lower class) may or may not be relevant categories of distinction within Brazil and in other locations throughout the world.
fn 1: Francois Bar chairs the Research Working Group for Investigating the Social and Economic Impact of Public Access to Information and Communication Technology (IPAI) is a five-year, CAD $7.2-million research project sponsored by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. http://www.ipairesearch.org. He is also involved in the project Comunicaciones Móviles y Desarrollo en América Latina (CMDAL), with support from Fundación Telefónica. In this project he is working with Manuel Castells, Hernán Galperin and Mireia Fernandez-Ardevol.
References:
Bar, Francois. Personal Communication. Interview Los Angeles, CA October 22, 2008.
Barrantes, Roxana and Hernan Galperin. 2008. Can the poor afford mobile telephony? Evidence from Latin America. Telecommunications Policy 32 (2008) 521–530
BBC2. 2006. Brazil’s Evolving Kidnap Culture. BBC2 Online 13 April 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4898554.stm, Accessed February 2, 2009.
De Chiara, Marcia (2004) ‘Pequenos e Poderosos Ditadores do consumo’ (Small and
Powerful Dictators of Consumption), O Estado de São Paulo, 30 May, 2004, B, p. 4.
de Souza e Silva, A. (2006). Interfaces of hybrid spaces. In A. P., Kavori & N. Arceneaux, (Eds.), The Cell Phone Reader: Essays in Social New York: Peter Lang.
de Souza e Silva, Adriana. 2007. Cell phones and places: The use of mobile technologies in Brazil. In Harvey J. Miller’s Societies and Cities in the Age of Instant Access. Springerlink.
De Souza e Silva, Adriana. 2008. Alien Revolt (2005-2007): A Case Study of the First Location-Based Mobile Game in Brazil. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine Spring 2008: 18-28.
Donner, Jonathan. 2007. The Rules of Beeping: Exchanging Messages Via Intentional “Missed Calls” on Mobile Phones. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13(1).
Donner, Jonathan. 2006. The use of mobile phones by microentrepreneurs in Kigali, Rwanda: Changes to social and business networks. Information Technologies and International Development 3 (2): 3-19.
Donner, Jonathan. 2008. ‘Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A Review of the Literature’,The Information Society,24:3,140 — 159
Frost & Sullivan. 2006. Social Impact of Mobile Telephony in Latin America Report. http://www.gsmlaa.org/files/content/0/94/Social%20Impact%20of%20Mobile%20Telephony%20in%20Latin%20America.pdf, Accessed November 5, 2008.
Hammond, Allen L. and C. K. Prahalad. 2004. Selling to the Poor. Foreign Policy, No. 142 (May - Jun., 2004), pp. 30-37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4147574, Accessed February 21, 2006.
Horst, Heather A. and Daniel Miller. 2006. The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of Communication. Oxford and New York: Berg.
Jensen, Robert. 2007. The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance, and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector. Quarterly Journal of Economics August 2007, Vol. 122, No. 3: 879–924.
Jain, Sarah Lachlann. 2002. “Urban Errands: The Means of Mobility.” Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 2(3): 419–438.
Nascimento, Francisca Silva do. 2004.Os últimos serão dos primeiros: uma análise sociológica do uso do telefone celular. 133f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Sociologia) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2004. Texto completo enviado por correio eletrônico.
Nicolaci-da-costa, Ana Maria. 2006. Cell phones: a “God-given gift” for mothers of youngsters. Psicol. Soc.,.19 (3):108-116.
Osava, Mario. 2009. Cell Phones - Democratising Communications. IPS News March 21, 2009. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36094, Accessed March 21, 2009.
Silva, S. 2008. Living with Mobile Phones in Brazil. Material World Blog June 2008 http://blogs.nyu.edu/projects/materialworld/2008/06/living_with_mobile_phones_in_b_1.html, Accessed July 2, 2008.
Teleco. 2009. Estatísticas de Celulares no Brasil: Total de Celulares (Jan/09): 152,4 milhões. http://www.teleco.com.br/ncel.asp, Accessed March 16, 2009.
Tigre, Paulo Bastos. 2003. Brazil in the Age of Electronic Commerce. The Information Society 19(1): 33 — 43
Wilksa, Terhi-Anna and Sueila Pedrozo. 2007. New technology and young people’s consumer identities: A comparative study between Finland and Brazil. Young 15:4 (2007): 343–368
New Media Practices in Ghana, Part II: Mobile Phones
Mobile phones owned by 1. Fisherman, 2. Student, 3. Carpenter. Photos by Araba Sey, 2006.
“Taxing mobile phone usage will kill romance stone dead!” (Cameron Duodu, New Times Online, November 27, 2007).
In a November 2007 newspaper column, Cameron Duodu lambasts the government of Ghana for proposing an excise duty on every minute of airtime use, thereby increasing the cost of mobile phone communication.
“Forget about warm greetings. Forget about endearments. If it’s a lady you’re calling, just demand to know whether she’s coming tonight or not. Forget about the difficulty she said she was experiencing about getting an appointment fixed with her hair-dresser and the emotional support you can offer her by sympathising with her plight. That’s none of your business. Don’t ask her whether the seamstress finished her dress or whether she was again told to go and come. Don’t ask her whether the fitters charged her car battery very well this time. Go straight to the point and forget the telephone-lovie business. No more telephonic foreplay for you, you hear?!” In other words, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, what you have done is that you’ve killed romance stone dead in Ghana with your airtime tax! You will go down in history as the Finance Minister who reintroduced lack of communication between Ghanaian men and their female paramours” he continues.
Although the controversial law was eventually passed in March 2008, Duodu warns, “make no mistake about it, mobile phones have made a great deal of difference to the lives of our ordinary folks and anyone who attempts to discourage their blossoming will be severely punished by them, come an election.” Whether these predictions materialize remains to be seen – the next national elections will be in 2012, and mobile phone subscriptions show no sign of declining – but Duodu’s lament points to the growing centrality of mobile phone communication in Ghana.
There has been an astounding increase in mobile phone subscriber numbers since 2005 (see chart below), even taking into account the distortion in statistics resulting from multiple SIM card ownership (James & Versteeg, 2007; Sutherland, 2009). No longer the purview of the wealthy, high and low-end mobile phones are being accessed and used by people from all walks of life, and are increasingly being considered indispensable. An interview respondent describing to me how it felt to lose her mobile phone stated that until she got a replacement, she felt like a part of herself was missing.[ii]
Sources: Ghana National Communications Authority, International Telecommunications Union.
Journalistic commentary, news reports and anecdotes make up the bulk of the litereature on the social side of mobile phone use in Ghana. The academic literature has focused mainly on issues surrounding telecommunications policy and regulation, which have been instrumental in opening up the mobile phone market, an important precursor to social appropriation of the technology. We can also find a few studies examining types and levels of usage in a general way (Bertolini, 2002; Fremppong, 2004; McKemey et al, 2003) and mobile phone uses in commercial activities (Boadi & Shaik, 2006; Boadi et al, 2007; Overå, 2006). A few have attempted to delve into the social dynamics of usage trends (Sey, 2008; Slater & Kwami, 2005).
The push for ICT-facilitated national development has manifested in a number of deliberate and emergent systems designed to capitalize on the mobile communication platform. Entrepreneurial mobile phone subscribers have turned their phones into payphone access points (Boadi & Shaik, 2006; Sey 2008), not just for non-subscribers, but also for opportunistic users, a development that became an eye-opener for network service providers and arguably drove a period of industry innovations to reduce the cost of mobile phone airtime (particularly the introduction of electronic micro airtime transfers). More deliberate attempts can be seen in ventures such as Tradenet, an SMS-based price information service introduced by Busy Internet cafe to facilitate linkages between sellers and potential trading partners.
Mobile payphone, Tema, by Araba Sey, 2006.
In general, the results from studies of commercial uses of mobile phones show that cost reduction and the benefits derived from convenient communication channels are the primary drivers of mobile phone adoption amongst groups such as farmers and fishermen (Abbisath, 2005; Boadi et al, 2007) and traders (Overå, 2006). This is strongly tied to the informal business economy in which the demands of an uncertain economic environment, high transaction costs and building relationships of trust are paramount. The commercial benefits are somewhat constrained, especially by inadequate transportation infrastructure and poor wireless network coverage in some areas. And as others such as Donner (2006) have found elsewhere on the continent, the primary utility of this type of communication seems to be more for the strengthening/maintenance of existing networks than for the creation of new associations.
Slater and Kwami (2005) have noted that mobile phones appear to play a very particular social role in Ghanaian society – they provide the means for users to manage local embedded relationships.[iii] Whether examining social, economic or political uses of mobile phones (in as much as they are seperable), this finding by Slater and Kwami shows some validity – the evidence, though limited, suggests that managing relationships, near and afar, is a high priority (McKemey et al, 2003; Overå, 2006). Contrary to global (and national) expectations that mobile phones would be used explicitly for business activities, social networking tends to be the dominant use, in particular for making rather than receiving calls, and for maintaining links with family and friends (Bertolini, 2002; McKemey et al, 2003). On the other hand, through these same processes, mobile phones play a role in facilitating the remittance economy (e.g., McKemey et al, 2003; Slater & Kwami, 2005), a significant element of poverty reduction in developing countries. Both Slater and Kwami (2005) and McKemey et al (2003) have also found a prevalence of mobile phone use for coordinating funeral activity. My own research in Ghana during 2006 and 2007 supports this view of largely social uses. Coupled with the relatively high cost of communicating for people living close to or below the poverty line, this leads to particular configurations of mobile phone use to manage, control and share the cost of maintaining social relationships (often with economic underpinnings). This consists of strategic use of personal mobile phones to only receive calls, and supplementing a combination of other practices – e.g., flashing (generating missed calls), text messaging, using payphones - to meet ongoing communication needs. These are not unusual findings, though; even the wealthy adopt measures to control cost when necessary. Nevertheless, users have demonstrated innovativeness in adapting mobile telephony to their needs through “smart consumption” (Alhassan, 2004).
One practice that has generated significant attention is generating missed calls or “flashing.” As in other developing countries where this practice is common, Ghanaians flash for a variety of reasons – to get a return call, send a pre-coded message, or just for fun. This is such a popular practice that the term “flashing units” (the minimum amount of airtime required to generate a voice call) has made its way into the lexicon of mobile telephony in Ghana. Flashing definitely has a light side, but it also reflects and reproduces power relationships where flashing is based on perceptions of the recipient’s economic superiority and therefore greater capacity to bear the cost of a phone call (Donner, 2007; Pelckmans, 2009). Another less obvious dimension of power here is the struggle between network providers and users, as flashing is employed to essentially use network capacity free of charge (Sey, 2008), an example of hostile user behavior as framed by Bar, Pisani and Weber (2007) - users try to make maximum use of this opportunity, while networks seek ways to make users place actual calls.
Since cost plays so high in usage levels, I have also found limited use of advanced mobile phone features, partly due to cost, partly due to lack of bandwidth. Younger users do favor downloading and sharing ringtones, wallpaper, and music – there is a growing local production industry for this material. Due to low literacy levels, text messaging is less prevalent than voice calls, however, those who do use this feature tend to be high intensity users. The recent introduction of 3.5 services by Zain and MTN Ghana in late 2008/early 2009 (Struthers-Watson, 2008; Wireless Federation, 2009) points to an expectation of increasing demand for platforms that can support higher levels of multimedia activity. As happened with the initial introduction of mobile phones, active use of 3.G services is likely to first become evident in the business and high-income populations; with local appropriations following if/when lower-income populations find ways around the high usage costs. Indeed one Ghanaian scholar, Amos Anyimadu has suggested that in a low literacy environment such as Ghana’s, multimedia mobile communication may be the most efficacious way to facilitate communication with and by the general populace.[iv]
There is some evidence that mobile phone acquisition and use fuels certain gender stereotypes. Women are considered notorious for requiring the newest mobile phone models from their romantic partners, and rightly or wrongly, this belief usually tags young unemployed women who own mobile phones as disreputable (Sey, 2008; Slater & Kwami, 2005). On the other hand, anecdotes circulate about young men who pretend to be speaking on a fake (toy) mobile phone, or who carry mobile phones that are inoperable (Alhassan (2004) or that they cannot afford to load with airtime, all in efforts to impress both female and male counterparts. Or, as Alhassan (2004) concludes, this type of behavior represents attempts to participate by simulation in digital consumption. These dynamics are also played out in expectations of flashing behavior involving opposite sexes. Alhassan (2004) notes a gender dimension to flashing with males being more likely to be the recipients of flashes. Flashing may indeed be “women’s work,” especially in romantic situations where males who flash females may be considered “cheap” and unworthy suitors, but there are other factors such as friendship that moderate gendered flashing (Sey, 2008).
Similar to the situation described by Heather in her posts on Brazil, the high value attached to mobile phones in Ghana has resulted in related crimes - mobile phone theft (labeled “mobile phone snatching” because they are usually stolen by simply snatching them from a user’s hand), some involving murder; and a thriving black market in handsets stolen locally or abroad. According to the deputy director of police public affairs in Accra, the number of mobile phone snatching cases reported increased from 209 in 2004 to 417 in 2005 (BBC, 2006). Fear of personal loss and physical injury has constrained most people from making public displays of their mobile phones.
Endnotes
i. This strategy was designed to overcome the problems associated with collecting duties on mobile phone imports. Instead, the import duty and value-added-tax would be abolished in favor of a tax on users. The law was passed in March 2008 despite protests from users and network service providers.
ii. Fieldwork, Ghana, 2006.
iii. They contrast this with the use of the Internet for “the realization of the ideal (foreign) relationship (p.12).
iv. Personal communication – comments made at a conference on mobile telephony in Accra, 2006.
References
Abissath, M. K. (2005). Mobile phone: A tool for modern fishermen in Ghana. Available at http://www.nextbillion.net/news/mobile-phone-a-tool-for-modern-fishermen-in-ghana.
Alhassan, A. (2004). Development communication policy and economic fundamentalism in Ghana. Unpublished dissertation, Univeristy of Tampere.
Bar, F., Pisani, F. & Weber, M. (2007). Mobile technology appropriation in a distant mirror: baroque infiltration, creolization and cannibalism. Prepared for discussion at Seminario sobre Desarrollo Económico, Desarrollo Social y Comunicaciones Móviles en América Latina. Convened by Fundación Telefónica in Buenos Aires, April 20-21, 2007. http://arnic.info/Papers/Bar_Pisani_Weber_appropriation-April07.pdf.
BBC. (May 7, 2006). Following Ghana’s mobile thieves. Accessed May 30, 2006 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4977898.stm.
Bertolini, R. (2002). Telecommunication services in sub-Saharan Africa. An analysis of access and use in the Southern Volta Region in Ghana. Development Economics and Policy, 26. Stuttgart: Peter Lang Verlag.
Boadi, R. A., Boateng, R., Hinson, R., & Opoku, R. A. (2007). Preliminary insights into m-commerce adoption in Ghana. Information Development, 23(4), 253-265
Boadi R. A., & Shaik, A. G. (2006). Mcommerce breakthrough in developing countries. The role of m-commerce in wealth creation and economic growth in developing countries. Unpublished Masters thesis, Luleå University of Technology.
Donner, J. (2006). The use of mobile phones by microentrepreneurs in Kigali, Rwanda: Changes to social and business networks. Information Technologies and International Development, 3(2), 3-19.
Donner, J. (2007). The rules of beeping: Exchanging messages via intentional “missed calls” on mobile phones. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 1. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/donner.html.
Duodu, C. (November 27, 2007). Taxing mobile phone usage will kill romance stone dead! New Times Online. Accessed at http://www.newtimesonline.com/content/view/12637/267/.
Frempong, G. (2004). Restructuring of the telecommunication sector in Ghana: Experiences and policy implications. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, University of Ghana.
James, J., & Versteeg, M. (2007). Mobile phones in Africa. How much do we really know? Social Indicators Research, 84, 117-126.
Overå, R. (2005). Networks, distance, and trust: Telecommunications development and changing trading practices in Ghana. World Development, 34(7), 1301-1315.
Pelckmans, L. (2009). Phoning anthropologists: the mobile phone’s (re)shaping of anthropological research. In M. de Bruijn, F. Nyamnjoh, & I. Brinkman (Eds.), Mobile phones: The new talking drums of everyday Africa, (pp. 23-49). Langaa RPCIG.
Sey, A. (2008). Mobile communication and development: A study of mobile phone appropriation in Ghana. Unpublished dissertation. University of Southern California.
Slater, D. & Kwami, J. (2005). Embeddedness and escape: Internet and mobile use as poverty reduction strategies in Ghana. ISRG Working Paper, 4. http://civilsociety.developmentgateway.org/uploads/media/civilsociety/internet.pdf.
Struthers-Watson, K. (December 30, 2008). Zain launches 3.5G network in Ghana. Available at http://www.telecommagazine.com/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_4680.
Sutherland, E. (2009). Counting customers, subscribers and mobile phone numbers. info, 11(2), 6-23.
Wireless Federation. (January 29, 2009). MTN Ghana instigates 3.5G technology. Available at http://wirelessfederation.com/news/14217-mtn-ghana-instigates-35g-technology/.
The Economist. (January 25, 2007). Buy, cell, hold. Available at http://www.markdavies.net/press/economist/jan25_07.htm.
Digital Media in Community Libraries, Part 1: Mobile Media
Over time we have seen how public libraries have expanded their services to provide a wider range of informational and entertainment media, such as music cds, videos and dvds, and books-on-tape. With the widescale distribution of books and multimedia available via the Web, community libraries are once again reconsidering not only the range of services they provide, but also their mode of outreach and incorporation of new digital technologies. This post reviews noteworthy efforts by community libraries to adapt to and make use of new mobile media.
Mobile phone use in the U.S. has shown tremendous growth in recent years. As of 2008, there were over 260 million mobile phone subscribers, representing about 85 percent of the population (Singh, 2008). 88 percent of college students own mobile phones and 27 percent have a Blackberry or PDA (Rainie, 2008). According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control, 20 percent of U.S. households had only mobile phones (i.e. no landline) as of the end of 2008, and about one third of those aged 18 – 24 and one fourth of those aged 25 – 29 live in mobile phone-only households (Fram, 2009). While young people are more likely to have no landline, about one third of people who live in poverty also only have mobile phones. According to a report by comScore, as of January 2009 some 22.4 million mobile phone users were accessing the mobile web on a daily basis, and this usage had doubled since one year prior (Burns, 2009).
This shifting landscape of mobile communication use intersects with the evolving role of the library discussed in the previous post. There are three main reasons that libraries have embraced the use of mobile technologies: (1) to expand the range of content available to patrons, (2) to offer a fuller menu of services, and (3) as a new mode of public outreach. In terms of content, the question posed is, how do wireless devices such as mobile phones and PDAs allow libraries either to distribute content in different forms or to expand the field of information about a library item? For services and outreach, how do mobile devices enhance customer service and expand the patron base? And yet, to argue that the use of mobile media is a NEW manifestation of the desire to expand outreach efforts (or provide a wider range of information and services) would be to ignore an important element of the history of community library efforts.
Consider the humble bookmobile. Yes, the bookmobile, the traveling RV bibliothéque that many of us remember (with delight in my case) gracing our elementary schools once a month with its glorious presence. At the bookmobile one could conveniently have access (service) to books (content) unavailable at one’s own school library, and even the kids with the most lackadaisical attitude toward reading were drawn to the bookmobile because its monthly appearance in and of itself made it special and because it was a chance to be dismissed from class for 30 minutes to go and look at books with groovy titles and fun images (outreach). Of course, the mission of many bookmobiles today aligns more closely with the vision set forth by Mary Titcomb when she came up with the idea of the traveling wagon full of books in 1905 – to provide books to those without any access to a library in their local community (http://www.whilbr.org/bookmobile/index.aspx). Bookmobiles also make available books and services to seniors and others with limited physical mobility. More recently, with his Internet Bookmobile (http://www.archive.org/texts/bookmobile.php), Brewster Kahle, director of the Internet Archive, traveled around the U.S. printing and binding books in the public domain (such as Alice in Wonderland), raising awareness of the Internet as a free digital library for all, and challenging copyright extension legislation that continues to be passed in Congress (Cisler, 2002; Koman, 2002).
Taking the bookmobile as a starting point, in what ways are community libraries engaging with mobile communication technologies to enhance content, services, and outreach for the purposes of learning? How is mobility a part of both the physical and the virtual library? It should be noted that the following discussion is by no means exhaustive and is meant to point to interesting applications and projects that are in the works. For additional links to important “mobiles and libraries” interfaces, applications, and resources (not limited to public libraries) see “M-Libraries – Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki” (http://libsuccess.org/index.php?title=M-Libraries).
Content
Mobile technologies clearly allow libraries to expand the range of forms for distributing content. For decades, libraries have offered books on tape and CD in order to provide content for those unable to read a physical book, such as the sight impaired, and for people who desire content that they could enjoy on the go (driving, walking, etc.). More recently many libraries have begun offering e-books and digital audio books for download. For example, since 2005 cardholders of the New York Public Library have been able to download audio books from the Internet any time of the day or night simply by going to the library’s website and entering their card number and a PIN (http://www.gizmag.com/go/4157/). They can check out as many as ten audio books at a time for up to three weeks and play them on their computer, CD player, portable digital music player, or cell phone. The New York Public Library and thousands of others use OverDrive’s technology, and OverDrive’s website allows users to search for libraries offering free digital downloads (http://www.overdrive.com/). Libraries have also begun offering not only digital content, but also the means by which to use it. As Ellyssa Kroski (2008) discusses in her recent report, On the Move with the Mobile Web, institutions such as the Thomas Ford Memorial Library in Western Springs, Illinois (http://www.fordlibrary.org/) allow patrons to check out iPod Nanos with audio books loaded on them.
In addition to storing digital books, mobile devices are also being used to expand the field of information around books. One way is through the use of QR (quick response) codes, which are a type of two-dimensional barcode that can store a lot of information that can then be downloaded via a mobile phone. They are already quite popular in Japan and parts of Europe where they are used mostly for promotional/marketing reasons. However, QR codes could have multiple uses in libraries. As librarian Lex Rigby explains, currently in libraries while conventional barcodes are used to link an item to its catalog record, the information is limited and it can only be accessed by scanning the barcode at the check-out desk. On the other hand, QR codes could be used to store descriptions, images, useful links, etc. for all types of library materials. A library patron could use their mobile phone to scan the QR code to access this information (http://www.lexrigby.com/2009/03/26/qr-codes-in-libraries-and-higher-education/). The library at the University of Bath is at the forefront of using QR codes to link to their catalog (http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/qrcode/2009/03/23/uni-of-bath-library-including-qr-codes-in-catalogue/). This expanded range of information available at the click of a (camera phone) button is obviously time-saving and efficient. Thus far, however, the use of QR codes in public libraries in the U.S. does not seem to be widespread although such two dimensional barcodes have been generated for the web spaces of each branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (http://natehill.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/the-physical-internet-10-at-not-your-library/).
Services
In addition to providing a new mode of content provision, mobile devices are also being used to enhance library services. In this regard, text messaging (or SMS – short message service) is an obvious means of inexpensive and efficient communication, and several public libraries have implemented message options for their cardholders. Orlando, Florida’s Orange County Library System (http://www.ocls.info) allows patrons the choice of receiving text message reminders about upcoming due dates for materials and start dates for courses (Kroski, 2008). The Skokie Public Library in Skokie, Illinois offers such alerts as well as updates on holds placed and the option of renewing items via SMS (http://www.skokie.lib.il.us/s_about/mobile_services.asp). For similar purposes, some libraries are also using Twitter (http://twitter.com/about#about), a micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (tweets) to their “followers” and receive tweets from those they signed up to follow. Posts can be viewed on a computer or an Internet-enabled mobile phone.
In addition to using mobile-enabled messaging, many libraries are designing their websites to be mobile friendly, which involves making the information concise, limiting the number of links, using descriptive icons, and including “home” and “parent-link” icons (West, Hafner, & Faust, 2006). At the current moment, however, there are still issues with display quality across different devices (Liston, 2009). Again, among community libraries the Skokie Public Library emerges as an exemplar as the library has designed a version of its website specifically for viewing on the small screen of a mobile device. The library catalog can also be browsed using a phone or PDA (with AirPAC, a mobile version of OPAC). In a recent presentation, Megan Fox (2009) has outlined numerous types of library friendly applications designed for the iPhone and other smartphones. Such applications enable users to find public libraries, organize notes, and conduct mobile searches. For example, the Washington D.C. Public Library has an iPhone application specifically designed to navigate its services. Some libraries also provide audio tours via mobile phones (http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=2383). A final mobile service deserving mention is the WorldCat Mobile pilot project (http://www.worldcat.org/mobile/default.jsp), which enables users to search for library materials as well as libraries, maps, and directions.
Outreach
In 2008, 62 percent of those aged 18 – 30 years old visited a public library for a range of purposes, including checking out books, using computers, seeking reference materials and the like (Rainie, 2008). Despite this figure, public libraries feel it is imperative to continue to reach new users and to maintain the users they have. The mobile content and services mentioned above are offered as opt-in choices for patrons. However, outreach generally means reaching out to those not already enjoying the library. Mobile phones may not be the most ideal devices for this purpose because of their extremely personal nature and people’s profound disdain for mobile spam (due to cost and irritation factors). However, some libraries are finding success using Twitter via mobile phones to make more connections in their communities and to promote their services and programs
(http://lis5313.ci.fsu.edu/wiki/index.php/Twittering_Libraries#Libraries_Using_Twitter). Such tweets might concern everything from pointers to the library website, to information on upcoming events, to research about the library’s role in society (Milstein, 2009).
Many libraries have also created Facebook and MySpace pages, such as the West Palm Beach Florida Public Library (http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Palm-Beach-FL/West-Palm-Beach-Public-Library/27487304991). While many users view such pages on desktop or laptop computers, accessing social networking sites via mobile phones is becoming a popular activity and one that is growing rapidly (Burns, 2009). For this reason, Rainie (2009) recommends that libraries try to become “a news node for information and interaction” in the lives of young people. As Rainie adds, “The internet is ‘personified’ in some people’s lives and [libraries] can provide information and social support in the same ways that social networks can.” Since people often build their social networks via social networking sites such as Facebook through “friending” their friends’ friends, libraries could tap into this networking function as a form of outreach. Dempsey (2009), however, questions whether users will be motivated to participate in such networks.
Conclusion
There are clearly several interesting projects and applications joining together libraries and mobiles at this current moment. As library professionals participate in Google groups (http://groups.google.com/group/mobilelibraries), blogs (Gerry McKiernan’s http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.com/), and conferences (http://m-libraries2009.ubc.ca/) dedicated to exploring mobile libraries, the future promises to bring more ways that mobile phones and PDAs can be used to serve the library’s mission in terms of expanding content, services, and outreach. However, one word of caution should be added in this conclusion. Aside from text messaging services, most of the initiatives highlighted above necessitate a mobile phone with Internet access. Considering that most data plans are only compatible on more high-end phones and cost upwards of an additional $20 per month, clearly not everyone can participate in such mobile-enabled initiatives. As Horrigan (2009) discusses in his recent report, The Mobile Difference, only 39 percent of the U.S. adult population are “motivated by mobility” and have “largely positive and improving attitudes about how mobile devices make them more available to others” as well as high levels of usage for “non-voice data applications such as text messaging and internet browsing” (25). However, 61 percent are defined as “stationery media will do,” meaning they do “not feel the pull of mobility – or anything else – drawing them further into the digital world” (4). As Horrigan emphasizes that “the bar that qualifies as high-tech among users has risen” (p. 16), we must continuously ask whether such mobile services and applications will broaden participation in libraries or perpetuate an insurmountable knowledge gap.
References
Cisler, S. (2002). Letter from San Francisco: The Internet bookmobile. First Monday [Online] 7(10). Retrieved May 2, 2009, from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/999/920
Dempsey, L. (2009). Always on: Libraries in a world of permanent connectivity. First Monday [Online] 14(1-5). Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2291/2070
Fox, M. (2009, April 1). Mobile practices and search: What’s hot! Paper presented at the Computers in Libraries Annual Conference. Arlington, VA. Retrieved May 8, 2009, from http://web.simmons.edu/~fox/mobile
Fram, A. (2009). More cell phone users dropping landlines. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 8, 2009, from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/06/national/w090056D59.DTL&type=tech
Horrigan, J. (2009, March). The mobile difference: Wireless connectivity has drawn many users more deeply into digital life. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/5/-The-Mobile-Difference-Typology.aspx
Koman, R. (2002). Riding along with the Internet bookmobile. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2002/10/09/bookmobile/index.html
Kroski, E. (2008). On the move with the mobile web: Libraries and mobile technologies. Library and Technology Reports 44(5). Retrieved January 11, 2009, from http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/on-the-move-with-the-mobile-web-libraries-and-mobile-technologies.html
Liston, S. (2009). OPACs and the mobile revolution. Computers in Libraries 29(5), 6-16.
Milstein, S. (2009). Twitter FOR libraries. Computers in Libraries 29(5), 17-18.
Raine, L. (2008, April 17). The role of libraries in a networked world. Paper presented at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference. Dallas, TX. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2008/The-role-of-libraries-in-the-digital-age.aspx
Raine, L. (2009, January 14). How libraries can survive in the new media ecosystem. Paper presented at the HELIN Library Consortium. Bryant University, Smithfield, RI. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2009/How-libraries-can-survive-in-the-new-media-ecosystem.aspx
Singh, S. (2008). U.S. raises $19b in spectrum sale. The Times of India (March 25). Retrieved March 8, 2009, from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US_raises_19b_in_spectrum_sale/articleshow/2896443.cms
West, M. A., Hafner, A. W., & Faust, B. D. (2006). Expanding access to library collections and services using small-screen devices. Information Technology and Libraries 25(2), 103-107.
Author Bio
Cara Wallis recently completed her Ph.D. at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her research interests include the social and cultural implications of new media technologies, particularly as these relate to issues of identity, power, and social change.
About Us
Futures of Learning is a collective blog dedicated to the topic of new media and learning. The members of the blog are part of a project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, that is conducting an international survey of research in the field (Read More...)
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