Mobile Communication in Everyday Life : Ethnographic Views, Observations and Reflections 9783865969996, 9783865960412

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K O M M U N I K AT I O N S W I S S E N S C H A F T

Mobile Communication in Everyday Life: Ethnographic Views, Observations and Reflections

Joachim R. Höflich & Maren Hartmann (eds.)

Frank &Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

Joachim R. Höflich & Maren Hartmann (eds.) Mobile Communication in Everyday Life: Ethnographic Views, Observations and Reflections

Kommunikationswissenschaft, Band 2

Joachim R. Höflich & Maren Hartmann (eds.)

Mobile Communication in Everyday Life: Ethnographic Views, Observations and Reflections

Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

ISBN 978-3-86596-041-2 I SBN 3-86596-041-3 © Frank & Timme GmbH Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur Berlin 2006. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Das Werk einschließlich aller Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlags unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Herstellung durch das atelier eilenberger, Leipzig. Printed in Germany. Gedruckt auf säurefreiem, alterungsbeständigem Papier. www.frank-timme.de

Contents I.

Introducing the Ethnographic View 1.

Introduction Joachim R. Höflich & Maren Hartmann

11

2.

Places of Life – Places of Communication: Observations of Mobile Phone Usage in Public Places Joachim R. Höflich

19

II.

III.

Visualisations 3.

Photos and Fieldwork: Capturing Norms for Mobile Phone Use in the US Lee Humphreys

55

4.

Everyday Contexts of Camera Phone Use: Steps Toward Techno-Social Ethnographic Frameworks Daisuke Okabe & Mizuko Ito

79

5.

Mobile Visuality and Everyday Life in Finland: An Ethnographic Approach to Social Uses of Mobile Image Virpi Oksman

103

Relationships 6.

Unfaithful: Reflection of Enchantment, Disenchantment … and the Mobile Phone Bella Ellwood-Clayton

123

7.

IV.

“I have a free phone so I don’t bother to send SMS, I call” – The Gendered Use of SMS Among Adults in Intact and Divorced Families Rich Ling

Dis/Appearances 8.

Another Kind of ‘Mobility’: Mobiles in Terrorist Attacks Santiago Lorente

173

9.

Fashion and Technology in the Presentation of the Self Leopoldina Fortunati & Amalia Cianchi

203

10. How to Be in Two Places at the Same Time? Mobile Phone Use in Public Places Amparo Lasen V.

145

227

Ethnography? 11. Beyond Talk, Beyond Sound: Emotional Expression and the Future of Mobile Connectivity Richard Harper & Steve Hodges

255

12. A Mobile Ethnographic View on (Mobile) Media Usage? Maren Hartmann

273

13. Ethnography, Related Research Approaches and Digital Media Friedrich Krotz

299

Authors

321

To Santiago Lorente

I.

Introducing the Ethnographic View

Introduction Joachim R. Höflich & Maren Hartmann

The ethnographic view The mobile phone has become – both worldwide and at an incredible speed – an integral part of communication in everyday life. The quantitative spread alone is a clear marker of this development. Hence the ‘importance’ or ‘meaning’ of the mobile can already be detected in the fact that mobile phones nowadays outnumber fixed phone lines. There are many possible, but rather diverse starting points for our observations (if we look, for example, at the African continent). This underlines that the mobile and its use have to be read with different cultures and diverse kinds of everyday life in mind. There are, however, also a number of commonalities between the diverse starting points. Katz et al. thus ask whether we can speak of an overarching culture of the mobile (2003:85). Is there an international teenage culture, in which the mobile plays a central role? More importantly, are there cultural universalities – or at least nearuniversalities – concerning the role of communication in people’s lives? If one takes the mobile phone use of young people, there are indeed – on first sight – many commonalities that exist in different countries and cultures, ranging from the Philippines to Finland, from Japan to England. The mobile is especially used to arrange meetings or to reassure one another. When taking a closer look, however, the question arises whether such commonalities appear only on the surface structure and are actually deeply engrained in rather different cultural structures underneath. In the latter case the concrete use can only be understood when it is located within a distinct social and cultural context. This implies the need for a closer look – a look into people’s everyday lives, where those aspects that are easily overlooked on first sight actually become visible. When a medium becomes part of everyday life, it is in certain ways – in its ‘everyday-ness’ – ‘de-problematised’. After initial eruptions, which most media technologies experience before they are incorporated into everyday life, people do not only get used to the medium, but they suddenly cannot imagine living © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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without this medium any longer. This applies especially to the mobile phone. When a medium is still new, we, as researchers, can more easily approach communicative surface appearances, since earlier communicative practices are changed through a new medium. Such shifts are actually ‘real experiments’ similar to Garfinkel’s crisis experiments – they often bring routine everyday practices to the forefront of our consciousness. Once a medium is a part of the everyday – and the early years of eruption are indeed over for the mobile phone – insights that go beyond the newly established norms of use need to be gained. This, however, is the specific challenge for research that does not want to be fooled by these norms or naturalised uses. This kind of research is usually of an ethnographic nature. It constantly asks the researcher not to be satisfied with what he/she has already understood, but to be repeatedly amazed instead (see Amann & Hirschauer, 1997:29). Or – in the words of Machin (2002:25) – “...ethnography, wherever it is carried out, should take the approach of making everyday life problematic. That means we should never assume that there is anything natural or self-evident in the way that people understand and behave in the world.” In mobile communication research, there are a series of studies that are not only qualitatively oriented, but have explicitly been labelled ethnographic. Qualitative studies – especially when the medium was new – had a special role through their explorative nature, since the focus was on establishing or opening a new field (cf. especially Katz & Aakhus, 2002). To understand qualitatively oriented research as only explorative, however, would be short sighted. Especially ethnographic research has a much broader aim in its methodological basis than simply to perform qualitative research (and it can include quantitative data). Nonetheless, there is often a ‘coming together’, in which qualitative and ethnographic research is seen to be the same. One can discuss whether studies that are based on this assumption – and this includes those in this book – ‘deserve’ the ethnographic label. All of the here presented studies do, however, have at least an ethnographic view in mind (and this is meant to pacify the critics). An ethnographic view takes a second look and does not only rely on first impressions. With the advent of the mobile, the well-known home phone has left its fixed abode: the house. It has instead become a medium of public space. For re12

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search this implies first of all a wide field of appearances that have to be explained (such as the transition of the boundaries between public and private, the disturbance of a public communication order and the establishment of new communicative arrangements or even just the fact that one is observed during one’s communicative activities). Methodically, it allows access to media uses that used to be difficult to observe thanks to their private nature in the house: now one can observe them in public. Hence the observation method has been (re-)vitalised in the research of mobile communication (also in those studies that do not necessarily label themselves as ethnographic). But the observant view is not without its preconditions: one has to learn to observe. This is underlined by the contributions to this volume. Equally one notices that observational methods are often connected with visual anthropology. Until now this was primarily photography, less often film or video documentation. The full repertoire has not yet been applied. Thus far, for example, photography has primarily been used for documentation, sometimes as a methodological addition to the observation in specific places and sometimes as a methodical triangulation. There is scope for more. One could critically add that an ethnographic view of or onto the mobile phone is extremely shaped by – or even clouded through – its object. The connections between mobile ethnographies, traditional media and communication studies and the already established field of media ethnography are rarely discussed – although this could be fruitful. Media ethnographies have not only already reflected on the question of the ethnographic nature of their research (and the limits of ethnographic engagements in private communication environments), but have often found creative ways of dealing with such limitations. They have found ways to – at least theoretically – combine an analysis of media use in terms of the use of the material object(s) on the one hand and diverse symbolic environments on the other hand. Qualitative media research (especially in the cultural studies tradition) began with the discovery that the interpretation of media texts is part of a much more complex and larger field of everyday life and thus should be researched as ‘only’ one aspect therein. This led them to media ethnographies, which offered an immersion into exactly the complexity of the everyday. Soon, however, it became clear that there are many potential boundaries in engaging with people’s © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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private lives. This is one reason why both virtual and mobile media ethnographies are so intriguing, since they offer the chance to observe and engage with the private in public. The original media ethnographies showed both methodological openness and creativity (mostly through combining several methods), but also had to learn that the medium can sometimes disappear in the complexity of the everyday. Within media ethnographies the nature of the focus on media (versus that on the everyday as a whole) is an ongoing debate. Another early discovery – and one that mobile ethnographies should (and have) reconsider(ed) – was that observations are too limited. They tell us – as researchers – one part of the story, but by far not all. Interviews are a good way to include other aspects, but if they are not directly coupled with the observations (i.e. other people interviewed than observed), many things will not be captured in the research. Again, a certain creativity in the approaches will help to get a more complete picture. The methodological discourse about the ethnography of the mobile phone has thus far been fairly limited. Similar to some earlier media studies ethnographies, the term ‘ethnographic’ is quickly applied when observational methods are used. How far, however, the researcher needs to take on a rather different role (make him- or herself into a research instrument) and/or begin by immersing him- or herself into the environment that is to be researched and/or other such ethnographic basics, has not yet properly been discussed. Some of the here presented chapters begin this debate, since they at least raise relevant questions (about, for example, the ethical dimensions of certain methods; about the combination of certain methods and/or about the core elements of an ethnography). What they surely cannot provide are all the answers. However, they underline that existing media ethnographies should be kept in mind when the next mobile media ethnographies are being developed. They can help to sharpen our ethnographic views and reveal more – und potentially unexpected – details of people’s use of mobile media and their integration into the everyday. The research field of mobile communication has entered, after a first wave of primarily empirical work, a phase that is characterised through a more theoretical discourse. The main purpose, however, cannot be to ‘locate’ a placeless medium theoretically. Rather the main focus is to locate this medium in the context of the overall mediated – and non-mediated – communication practices and 14

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as an expression of an overall mediatisation of communicative actions (Krotz, 2002).

Structure 1 The book is structured into five sections – all of which relate to each other, but still focus on slightly different issues. The first section, Introducing the Ethnographic View, includes, next to this short introduction, a further introduction into the idea of the ethnographic view by Joachim Höflich. Social arrangements and the public sphere are core theoretical concerns in the presented research project, which used a set of different and often innovative methods to observe mobile phone use within an Italian piazza. The second section, Visualisations, deals with the role of the visual in the ethnographic view. Inspired – at least in part – by visual anthropology (something also present in other texts within this collection), these three chapters take a closer look at different aspects of the visual. Humphreys raises very important concerns about the role of photos in fieldwork. These are photos made by the researcher, featuring the observed person. Humphreys asks how their use can be justified ethically. Okabe and Ito as well as Oksman, on the other hand, do not use photos they themselves took, but focus in their research on camera phone photos made by the people they researched. This does not imply that questions about ethical concerns disappear. However, the emphasis is here on a change in mobile ‘phone’ cultures and communicative practices. The interesting results about emerging practices suggest that the next step could be to actively get people to take pictures with their camera phones as part of the research process. This, however, remains a discussion for the next book – and should include the ethical dimensions. The third section, Relationships, focuses on the role of the mobile in relationships. These range from intact family and friendship relationships to differ1

A special thanks is due to Julian Gebhardt for general content advice and the organisation of the original workshop as well as Enrico Kloth for the layout and graphic work on the entire book. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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ent forms of conflict and/or disruption in these relationships. Ellwood-Clayton relates diverse stories of the ‘unfaithful’ uses of the mobile. Deception and its discovery are her main focus, showing how close the extension of possibilities for new forms of communication and its limitations are to each other. Both, often contradictory, developments are part of the same medium and its emerging cultures. Similar patterns can be seen in Ling’s families. Negotiations between different preferences for mobile phone use (e.g. the choice of SMS vs. the choice of voice-communication) range high in these relationships – communicative and otherwise. Gender seems to play a major role, but the state of the relationship (divorced or not, for example) does, too. In the fourth section, Dis/Appearances, we move on to larger questions about the role of the mobile in our changing worlds. Some of the here presented uses are rather unexpected. Thus Lorente shows us that the mobile is not only a communication tool: it can be used trigger bombs, but also to politically mobilise people. Young people were particularly involved in this mobilisation effort in Spain. Young people are also Fortunati and Cianchi’s focus. They show that the mobile – at least on the immediately ‘visible’ level (and in specific circumstances) – is not necessarily a major fashion item (despite the fact that fashion overall is high up on the agenda of these young people). The mobile is, however, highly visible in public life throughout Europe. Lasen has hence focussed her ethnographic view on three European cities and compares mobile phone use therein. There are very diverse levels of appearances of the mobile, which she links to cultural concerns. These diverse levels include the disappearance of the mobile as well – primarily on certain visual levels. Appearances are always linked to disappearances. Last, but not least, the fifth section, Ethnographies?, reflects on how to research (and develop) these emerging cultures and, more generally, on the nature of ethnographic research work as such. Harper and Hodges develop ideas about the emotional expressions and mobile devices. They show that commercial research is pushing new (and rather diverse) developments in this field. Through these developments, academic research is challenged, because it usually gets to research such products only after their introduction – when many decisions have already been made. Hartmann thus asks some questions concerning the relationship between ‘purely’ academic and other research in this field. She first returns 16

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to earlier ethnographic work in media, communication and cultural studies. This is then used to reflect on more recent experimental ethnographic work located partly within a non-academic environment. Methodological questions come to the forefront, but, as Krotz shows, these are inextricably linked the research questions asked. He argues that in ethnographic research, the researcher should become a research instrument him- or herself. This raises some new (and some well-known) questions. An ethnographic – second – view is only the beginning of an answer to these questions. But a beginning it is.

Dedication Last, but by far not least, we want to dedicate this book to our colleague and friend Santiago Lorente, who unexpectedly died in autumn 2005. We would hereby like to honour a very special personality with great academic spirit, with humour and a wonderful joy of life. We will always remember him.

References Amann, K. & Hirschauer, S. (1997): ‘Die Befremdung der eigenen Kultur. Ein Programm’. In: Hirschauer, S. & Amann, K. (eds.): Die Befremdung der eigenen Kultur: Zur ethnographischen Herausforderung soziologischer Empirie. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, pp. 7-52. Katz, J.E. & Aakhus, M. (eds.) (2002): Perpetual Contact. Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Katz, J.E. et al. (2003): ‘Cross Cultural Comparison of ICTs’. In: Fortunati, L.; Katz, J.E. & Riccini, R. (eds.): Mediating the Human Body. Technology, Communication and Fashion. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 75-86. Krotz, F. (2002): Die Mediatisierung kommunikativen Handelns. Der Wandel von Alltag und sozialen Beziehungen, Kultur und Gesellschaft durch die Medien. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag. Machin, D. (2002): Ethnographic Research for Media Studies. London: Arnold.

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Places of Life – Places of Communication: Observations of Mobile Phone Usage in Public Places Joachim R. Höflich

Introduction: mobile communication and social arrangements The mobile phone has released phoning from its long-term connection to a set location. The household telephone belongs to the old era of ‘place-to-place networks’: “just as a person used to have to go to a specific place to meet someone, a person had to ring a certain place to have a conversation with someone” (Geser, 2005:53). Thereby the ‘good old telephone’ supported social systems that were based more on locations than specific people (as in the cases of offices, institutions, and households). This has changed. Now, a person can reach others without either party being bound to a particular place. And in the meantime, the mobile telephone has become one of those items that the mobile person has with him at all times. This it has in common with a number of other articles, such as the wristwatch (see Agar, 2003:8). Just as the clock has left its fixed location and can accompany people everywhere, now the telephone can, too – but its use is somewhat more conspicuous than the occasional glance at a wristwatch. 1 Yet this phenomenon is not limited to the mobile phone. It is much more a part of the mediatisation of everyday life, the harbinger of an all-encompassing ‘mobile communication’ that ensures availability and access to information anytime and everywhere. This development preceded a privatisation of the previously ‘public’ media, which were used (at first) in public places (think of the early years of television and its “Fernsehstübchen” – public television viewing halls that existed in Germany in the 1930s – or the telephone and telephone boxes). 2 1

An interesting fact is that mobile phones can – and are – also used as watches. And even before, in the earliest years of the telephone, there was the “Coin-in-the Slot”Theatrophone in Paris, that enabled people to listen to performances taking place in the Théatre Français, the Odeon or various varietes; or, based on that model, the so-called Electro-

2

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Indirectly, first as a medium for broadcasting music and then as a medium of business communication, the telephone became a medium of private, even intimate, communication, in which an intrusion from the outside is seen as a threat and always requires a special legitimisation (“Excuse me, I’m contacting you about X”) (see Höflich, 2005c). 3 This development is now being turned around again: media are becoming mobile. With regards to mass media, from newspapers to car radios, we are witnessing a development “from stationary to mobile recipients” (Wilke, 2005). If we consider the mobile internet and, of course, the mobile telephone, and its ever-expanding range of uses (keyword: convergence), then we are talking about not only a ‘mobile recipient’ but a mobile communicator in the broadest sense. When media leave the household (private) environment and move into public space, there are many consequences. On the one hand, their use is shaped by influences in that public space. These range from the spatial structure to the presence of others. On the other hand, the use of the media also has an effect on the public space. This implies that the previously familiar rules of communication are being affected. This is true both for the mobile telephone and for the use of other media. The Walkman, which caused lasting eruptions (see e.g. du Gay, 1997), demonstrated this impressively. Another, although less eruptive example is television in public space (see Lemish, 1982). The following quotation shows how conflicting the public use of media can be (although this quote is referring to television, there is a structure evident here that is similar to that found with the use of the mobile phone): “When two people sit at a table facing each other, with TV-screens positioned behind each person’s head, the arrangements afford an opportunity for easy switching between two roles – conversationalist phone, with connections to operas and theatres, installed in the posh Savoy Hotel (see Höflich 1998:191). 3 To use Lasen’s words: “Instead of a growing impersonality of the exchanges and communications, the phone favoured and increased privatism:the participation and valuation of private social worlds as opposed to the larger, public community” (2004:27). With regards to television, see Meyrowitz (1984:68). 20

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Places of Life – Places of Communication: Observations of Mobile Phone Usage in Public Places Joachim R. Höflich

Introduction: mobile communication and social arrangements The mobile phone has released phoning from its long-term connection to a set location. The household telephone belongs to the old era of ‘place-to-place networks’: “just as a person used to have to go to a specific place to meet someone, a person had to ring a certain place to have a conversation with someone” (Geser, 2005:53). Thereby the ‘good old telephone’ supported social systems that were based more on locations than specific people (as in the cases of offices, institutions, and households). This has changed. Now, a person can reach others without either party being bound to a particular place. And in the meantime, the mobile telephone has become one of those items that the mobile person has with him at all times. This it has in common with a number of other articles, such as the wristwatch (see Agar, 2003:8). Just as the clock has left its fixed location and can accompany people everywhere, now the telephone can, too – but its use is somewhat more conspicuous than the occasional glance at a wristwatch. 1 Yet this phenomenon is not limited to the mobile phone. It is much more a part of the mediatisation of everyday life, the harbinger of an all-encompassing ‘mobile communication’ that ensures availability and access to information anytime and everywhere. This development preceded a privatisation of the previously ‘public’ media, which were used (at first) in public places (think of the early years of television and its “Fernsehstübchen” – public television viewing halls that existed in Germany in the 1930s – or the telephone and telephone boxes). 2 1

An interesting fact is that mobile phones can – and are – also used as watches. And even before, in the earliest years of the telephone, there was the “Coin-in-the Slot”Theatrophone in Paris, that enabled people to listen to performances taking place in the Théatre Français, the Odeon or various varietes; or, based on that model, the so-called Electro-

2

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mobile phone, the presence of third parties must be taken into account. This has a strong influence on the telephone situation, as Zelger (1997:213) suggestively describes in the following quote: “Normally with sexual intercourse, as with telephone intercourse, there are two people. Third parties are usually uninvited or excluded from the outset. The presence of a third party alters a telephone conversation just as much as it does the erotic atmosphere.” Moving in public also means being observed by others – and if this being observed is not only perceived, but also observed again in turn by others, then every communicative act is affected by this.5 In such a situation, a person cannot behave as if he were alone (and therefore unobserved). Rather, this strongly influences the situation of a phone conversation in public. What is being perceived potentially has social relevance and can break into the current communication, disturb it, stop it (see Luhmann, 1999:562). After all, with the mobile telephone there is an “interference of two systems of rules” (Burkart, 2000:219). Who should one try to please? Who should get the attention – the person present or the person on the phone? Especially in new situations like this, when rules come into conflict due to ambiguities in the behavioural standards in effect, there is a real need for regulation – a new arrangement for communication in public space is necessary (see Ling, 2004:130). Along the same lines (although here encompassing more than mobile phones), Wilke remarks (2005:46): “A need for such a standardisation results from [the fact] that ... mobile communication often takes place in public and is (or must be) noticed and co-perceived by others. This affects the shelter of the private sphere – one’s own as well as that of others. This is not problematic with print media, because their reception takes place silently. It is quite different for audio media and mobile phones: in this case, one cannot close one’s ears and becomes an unwilling (ear-) witness to communicative events.” Aside from the fact that public newspaper reading can also be considered a source of irritation (think of newspaper reading in a train, which creates a problem due to 5

Luhmann (1999:561/562) formulated it as follows:“When Alter becomes aware that he is being observed and that his observation is of being observed is also being observed, he has to assume that his behaviour will be interpreted as having adapted to that. His behaviour will be – whether it suits him or not – taken as communication, which inevitably force him to control it as communication as well.” 22

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limited space), it is the mobile telephone – or more exactly, the way it is used – that leads to a disruption of the public rules of communication. The process of developing an arrangement of medial communication has at least been started, as far as the mobile telephone is concerned, although it still has a long way to go. In some areas, the use of a mobile phone creates more of a problem than in others. The following chapter will examine the public sphere, and specifically an empirical study of the communicative events involving use of the mobile telephone on an Italian piazza, to investigate exactly what people are doing with this medium in this space and in their relationships to others.

Mobile communication in the public sphere The mobile phone represents a disturbance in many respects. Even its ringing, an audible production connected to an incoming call, represents new worlds of sound that bring acoustic challenges, especially when they are at a high volume. Additionally, there is loud talking, or even talking at all where this is normally prohibited. Moreover, other people unwillingly overhear the conversation. Finally, the mobile telephone always draws attention, so that even a silent SMS can be perceived as a disruption. And sometimes it appears to annoy, simply because it is perceived as an annoyance due to someone’s personal sensibilities. Yet, the mobile phone is not disruptive to the same degree in all situations. In a theatre, cinema, church or museum, it is considered much more disruptive than on the street or on public squares (see Höflich & Gebhardt, 2005:147; Noelle-Neumann & Köcher, 2002:451). How the disruptions are perceived is dependent on the normative expectations (Ling, 2004:125ff.) that are in turn connected to the situational activity in question (see Burkart, 2000:221). At this point, the decisive factor is whether there is a specific or unspecific situation. The former includes concerts, eating out in a restaurant, or funerals, for example. As a rule in these cases, the mobile telephone disturbs because it impairs the performance of a function (i.e. silence is required or only quiet speaking allowed). ‘Mobility channels’ such as waiting rooms or train compartments represent a special case, when a person finds himself waiting. Usually a telephone conversation is accepted in these situations, although sometimes it is © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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only tolerated. In situations with unspecific functions, a mobile telephone disturbs slightly or not at all, “because it is not disrupting a particular function and because communication is fundamentally possible in many forms” (Burkart, 2000:221). Furthermore, one must consider space- and time-related characteristics of the situation (small rooms, crowded spaces, as well as the efficacy of communicative and social rules (politeness or status rules)): Is silence itself required? Can one dare to phone in the presence of certain other parties? Last but not least, the engagement required in a particular situation is important. This refers to the expectation that the user will not simply leave the situation (mentally or physically) but will show a certain interest in the here and now. As mentioned before, sometimes just the use of the Short Message Service can be found disruptive. Different situational conditions require different arrangements. Nonetheless not all situations have the same relevance for everyone. Dependent on their activity patterns, some people can be found in certain places, others will not be (Human Activity Patterns; see Chapin, 1974); some people go to the theatre, others never go (see Höflich, 2005:161). Therefore a unique knowledge of rules based on concrete situations can be expected. Yet there are places that are more open, and are frequented by very different people and where a correspondingly wide knowledge of rules can be presumed. Urban squares, as central manifestations of the public sphere, are exactly these sorts of places. What characterises the public sphere then? For Lofland (1998:xv) it is its own ‘kingdom,’ “one that is inhabited importantly, though not entirely, by persons who are unacquainted with one another:a ‘world of strangers’ as it were. … Like ‘real’ kingdoms, the public realm not only has a geography, it has a history, a culture (behavioural norms, aesthetic values, preferred pleasures), a complex web of internal relationships.” If a person leaves his private sphere, he not only exposes himself to observation, he also enters a world in which many people are strangers or at least known only categorically (biographical strangers). Although public spaces have a geographically respective physical basis, they cannot simply be reduced to this: “They are social, not physical territories” (Lofland, 1989:11). In this sense they are meaningful spaces, (see also Wilson, 1980); their importance is based on what people do in these spaces and which rules are in effect. 24

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Squares, as the “centre of the city” (Webb, 1990), are the epitome of the public sphere. Squares belong to the urban microcosm. They are part of the interface where people congregate and are also the central places of life and communication. Initially, the designation appears quite simple: “Public urban squares are collective outdoor territories, whose boundaries are clearly defined (e.g. by buildings, gardens, streets) and that are easy to access (e.g. via many streets, alleys, stairs or parks). In this sense, they are places that are closed and open at the same time, they are inviting for lingering and for traversing.” (Korosec-Servaty, 1996:534). 6 Every square has its own dynamic and its own identity that identify it as a special social location. Squares are places of communication; they are accessible to all and therefore create the possibility of meetings between people who have not had any previous connections with each other. A square is also a place where a person needs no legitimisation to linger and – in contrast to some other places – generally signals receptiveness. Yet this happens only within standardised boundaries, because the square is a scene in which the distance between the actors – aided by glances and words – is characterised by showing a polite availability to others (via glances and words) within the boundaries of anonymity marked by each individual (see Korosec-Serfaty, 1996:537). According to Hans Paul Bahrdt (1969:64), these sort of meetings of individuals as individuals are possible in places where there is an incomplete integration, i.e. where the obligations are not continuous and complete, where people (mostly strangers) constantly meet, come into contact with each other and have to arrange themselves, although they are not always clearly located within a shared system of rules. The spectrum of interaction, in Erving Goffman’s terminology, ranges from the mere presence of others (unfocused interaction) to 6

A very similar and general definition is found in Webb (1990:9): “Basically an urban square is as simple as a child’s drawing: an outdoor room with walls that create a boundary, doors to go in and out and the sky as a ceiling. The walls can be straight or crooked, high or low, closed or open. A square does not necessarily have to be surrounded by a wall. Trees or a low hedge can indicate it just as clearly as a fountain or monument in the middle. The entrances can be covered by arcades or can create an open axis; the ground can be paved or green; the space open or shaded by trees. There are infinite variation possible in terms of size, shape or function.” © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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the involvement with others (focused interaction). 7 In these interactions, people can be either alone or with company. The types of contact with others can vary greatly (see further Lofland, 1998:51ff.). Usually contact is short and not necessarily verbal (“fleeting relationships“). Lofland (1998:53) summarises: “Typically then, in the public realm large numbers of persons, alone or in small groups, find themselves in copresence with large numbers of other persons, also alone or in small groups and have, somehow, to manage that situation” (Lofland, 1998:53). Relationships take on a routine character, when one becomes involved with “categorically known others,” such as a salesperson-customer or bus driver-passenger relationship. If an emotional component is added, then these become “quasi-primary relationships“ or more descriptively: “emotionally coloured relationships of ‘transitory sociablility’, which take place in public space” (Lofland, 1998: 55). Relationships with “emotional infusion” are usually very short (such as a conversation between dog-owners or a conversation between people admiring or criticising a work of art) – and not necessarily always positive in nature. In the so-called “intimate-secondary relationships”, the emotional component also plays a part but the relationships last longer (examples: older people who meet regularly in a restaurant or café or a ‘community’ of commuters – a “community of wheels”). Squares, in turn, provide the setting in which these contacts take place. As “memorised locales” they can have a particular (biographical or cultural) value, they can just be a part of the daily comings and goings (“familiar locales”), or they can act as a place where people just congregate or “hang out” (see Lofland, 1998:65ff.). The importance of a square is determined by what people do on it – notwithstanding the normative guidelines, i.e. the particular rules of behaviour and agreed codes of conduct. Because the public sphere is always a socially normed space, an orientation in this sphere is always a normative orientation – what am I allowed to do and what not? Although one never has to pay an entry fee or bring proof that one has the cultural knowledge necessary to use the square, one does have to act according the rules and codes of behaviour of that particular place 7

In his words: “Unfocused interaction has to do largely with the management of sheer and mere copresence”, while focused interaction is “the kind of interaction that occurs when persons focus of attention, typically by taking turns at talking” (Goffman, 1963:24). 26

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(see Korosec-Serfaty, 1996:532). What happens then to the existing rules, when the mobile phone appears in the events on the square? How does it fit into the square’s social events and its existing codes of conduct? Is it considerate of (the social life of) the square? And conversely: how do the social events on the square change? The user adapts to the place through his daily interactions (acts/activities) or routines, but it is precisely because they are acting that the meaning of the place changes (see Korosec-Serfaty, 1996:534). Thus the mobile phone affects – even changes – the meaning of the place (see Lasen, 2003:40). Once more this creates small (more or less) private spheres – “bubbles” – in the public sphere; “there is a thin layer of private space around the bodies of the people with whom we are sharing non-private space” (Lofland, 1998:12). This can lead to conflicts. This is always true in the case of the public use of a mobile telephone, even if undetached from the specific situational conditions, because people have a very good sense of where the use of mobile is suitable and where it is not (see Weidenmann, 2003:1603). In reference to the use of mobile phones, the square – and specifically in the context of our observational study: the piazza – represents a broad context (frame) for the scope of mobile phone use, and therefore a ‘meta-frame’ that not only determines the use of the mobile phone but rather is defined by this in a recursive sense.

Observations on the Piazza Matteotti An Italian piazza will be the subject of a closer investigation of what people are doing with mobile telephones. It is precisely the density of the communicative events that makes the piazza a particularly attractive place to observe. As Marva Karrer wrote: “A person who writes about Mediterranean squares is always fascinated by the communicative density of social processes. Especially the combination of thinking and walking, as Aristotle’s Peripatetic students habitually did in Ancient Greece (albeit in that case in the gymnasium, similar to the medieval monks in the cloisters), seems to please the local actors as well as the strangers” (Karrer, 1995:52). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Such density of events is apparent in particular with the use of the mobile phone. Not simply because the mobile phone – in a very short time – has become an essential medium for daily communication in Italy. It obviously dominates public spaces. For a researcher, this offers a particularly chance to observe users in situ, without major effort. More specifically, the square where the communicative events were observed is the Piazza Giacomo Matteotti in Udine, a medium-sized city of 95,000 in Northern Italy. This is a closed square: that is, enclosed by facades with round arches, cafes with outdoor tables and the church San Giacomo (1398). It is helpful to imagine the square as a stage, an “urban stage” (Galli & Imorte, 2002:8) where the roles have not been permanently cast but rather where actors and audience and constantly switching roles (Lennard, Crowhurst & Lennard, 1984:2122).

Figure 1: The Piazza Matteotti as a stage – with and without people

The image of a stage is particularly suitable for the Piazza Matteotti: the piazza can be seen as (down-) stage, accessed by two steps; there are actors who enter, stand on or merely cross it and ‘spectators’ standing around it or sitting on the chairs of the outdoor, sidewalk cafés that surround the square. The arrangement of the seats makes the audience metaphor especially appropriate. All of the chairs are set up to face the ‘stage’. A central orientation point is a fountain, built in 1543, in the middle of the square that serves as a place for meeting and relaxation for city residents. At the time of the observations, the water had been turned off and the fountain was empty. This made it possible for parents to use

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the fountain as a place to deposit their children, while they spoke with others or watched the happenings on the piazza. Since the mobile phone has enabled one to phone outdoors (disregarding the phone booth), methodological observation has become possible. This was not so easily realised with the phone in the household. There are already a number of very interesting studies, such as those by Rich Ling about the use of the mobile telephone in a restaurant (1998) as well as his observations in public space (2002); ethnographic studies by Ito and Okabe of the use of mobile telephones by Japanese youth (see e.g. Ito & Okabe, 2003); studies by Fortunati (2003), Murtagh (2002) and Okabe and Ito (2005) regarding the use of mobile phones in public transportation and during train travel; Lasen’s (2004) observational studies in London, Paris, and Madrid (see contribution in this volume); and finally, Humphrey’s multimethodic study (2005) using the methods of visual anthropology (see contribution in this volume). With this study, we hope to add to the body of research on mobile phone use. First a few explanatory remarks about the composition of this study must be made. The study is comprised of two observational phases in two consecutive years, each lasting approximately one week. The first phase of observation was from 24-29 March 2003. In the first phase of observation, a total of 126 separate observations (of which 36 were female users and 90 male users) were carried out. The first part of the study was decidedly explorative in nature. It was intended simply to find out what people do on a piazza. At first it was undecided which of the city squares should be more closely observed. Based on the city map, Udine’s central squares were personally visited. The choice of the Piazza Matteotti was obvious: it is the most central square in the middle of the city. The initial observations were entirely unstructured. To address problems of interpretation or intercultural differences, Italian students who had spent the previous semester as exchange students at the University of Erfurt were present at the beginning of each phase of observation. 8 Gradually a procedure for the observations developed. This was exactly the goal of the first phase of observation: to develop a procedure and ascertain its usefulness, although the procedure should 8

Nevertheless it is not a (culturally-) comparative study. The study is much more pragmatically oriented, with a focus on the density of potential observations. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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more serve as a guideline than a rigid structure for the observations. And finally there was a didactic aspect: the chance to give students practical experience in field observation. Surprisingly, the observations yielded more information than expected. 9 The observations were made from changing locations on and around the piazza, with the majority of the observations carried out between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. 10 At least in the first phase, after each day of observation, there was a critical review of operations in order to assess the results and discuss the consequences. Furthermore, the first phase of observation was also accompanied by a theoretical and methodological discussion. Photographs were taken only for documentation purposes in this phase. As stated earlier, the most important element of this phase was the development of a (non-restrictive) procedure of observation, including a diagram of the square upon which the movements of mobile phone users – direction and speed – could be noted (see figure 2). 11

Figure 2: Schematic drawing of the square 9

At this point, I would like to mention that the observations were carried out in both years by groups of students from the Masters Programme in Communication Studies at the University of Erfurt. I express my sincere gratitude to the students for their support. 10 Mornings were influenced by the market on the square. We chose to omit this factor largely (although not entirely) from our study, not because it appeared uninteresting – quite the opposite – but for practical reasons: this situation would have made the research focus even less manageable. 11 The sketch of the piazza is not true to scale. For the purpose of this study, it is not detrimental in this explorative phase. 30

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The second phase of observation was from March 21-26, 2004. In total 207 observations were made, and the percentage of women (almost 45%) was much higher this time than in the first phase. The aim of this segment of the research was to refine the instrument of observation and furthermore to supplement it with visual methods such as photography and video recordings (see e.g. Collier & Collier, 1986; Harper, 2003; Hockins, 2003). There were two intentions behind the use of the video camera: to capture illustrative and coincidental (but also distinctive) moments of use. This was achieved with two cameras: the first, a movable camera, was used to record different situations in which a mobile phone was used. A stationary mounted camera on the edge of the piazza captured the events on the plaza over a period of time. The idea behind this was to present the video documentation to other observers who were not at the original location, as a media-assisted secondary observation – a cross-evaluation – and therefore to apply a visual method in a conrete sense. Unfortunately the research script failed now and again due to awkward circumstances. Whereas the first phase of the study saw practically only sunshine, the weather thwarted our efforts in the second year. The stationary camera usually only recorded an uninhabited square. At times, the only sign of life captured by the camera was a pigeon that flew ‘through the picture.’ Out of necessity, the illustrative moments of visual methods had to suffice in our case. This had at least one advantage: the weather was added as a determining factor of mobile phone use. We can make a distinction between two areas of observation: the events on the piazza (the stage) with the people who are crossing or lingering, and the events around the piazza as well as the outdoor cafés. Based upon the observations, we will take a closer look at what happens on the stage, or more specifically, the behaviour of mobile phone users on the piazza.

Behaviour on the piazza Not only the aesthetic aspects of the harmonic proportions of the Piazza Matteotti are impressive. Everyone in and around the piazza seems to have a mobile phone. Two thirds of all observations were related to the use of mobiles on © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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the piazza. Two aspects of mobile phone usage were particularly remarkable: crossing and congregating on the piazza. The use of mobile phones while crossing the piazza Just as the piazza is a place to linger, it is also – as the centre of the city – a place that is simply en route to other places. Usually, and especially when they are in a hurry, people do not go around the piazza, they cross it diagonally because that is the shortest route (see also Whyte, 1988:57). In this case, the piazza is not a place to congregate, but more of an obstacle that has to be overcome as quickly as possible. Two thirds of the people who were observed while using a mobile phone on the piazza, did so while crossing the square. 12 Here, the mobile is used in a (doubly) effective way: people overcome an obstacle and have a telephone conversation at the same time. This is precisely a form of use that meets the description of a mobile device: mobile people using a mobile device. In Humphrey’s words (2003:46): “The mobility of the cellphone lends itself to usage in places where people themselves are mobile.”

Figure 3: Mobile phone usage while crossing the piazza (still photos from a video sequence)

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This is primarily true for the first phase of observations. This declined significantly in the second year due to poor weather; people travelled more often under the shelter of the arcades. 32

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People who are crossing the square with their mobile at their ear do not appear to be particularly interested in the other people around. Even the events on the market were – with a few exceptions – of no interest to them. 13 Furthermore, other people appear to represent yet another obstacle. Since the mobile phone is involved with everyday movements, it stands to reason that its use would be observed in the context of pedestrian behaviour. For pedestrians, crossing the piazza involves the same basic requirements to avoid collisions with others as every other kind of ‘navigation’ does (and in one case it was actually observed that two people talking on the phone almost crashed into each other). According to Goffman (1971:5ff.), the individual can be seen as a ‘vehicular unit’ or a ‘participation unit.’ The first one appears so trivial that one could easily overlook this aspect. It means the requirements to navigate through space, especially the pedestrian practices to avoid collisions with others and control the direction of movement. This is highly relevant with regards to mobile phone usage. And this is particularly true when one thinks about drivers’ techniques to avoid collisions. For pedestrians it is naturally easier – they can turn, duck, twist or suddenly change direction, and therefore, in contrast to drivers, count on being able to prevent an accident in the last second (see Goffman, 1971:8). Pedestrians demonstrate downright co-operative behaviour on the street, as Wolff (1973:48) observes: “While at the immediate and superficial level, encounters on the street are hardly noticeable and devoid of pleasantry and warmth, pedestrians do, in fact, communicate and do take into account the qualities and predicaments of others in regulating their behaviour.” The individual makes it clear to the others what he is planning to do. Goffman calls this “externalisation” or “body clues,” meaning “the process whereby an individual pointedly uses over-all body gesture to make otherwise unavailable facts about his situation gleanable. Thus, in driving and walking the individual conducts himself – or rates his vehicular shell – so that the direction, rate and resoluteness of his proposed course will be readable. In ethological terms, he provides an ‘intention play’” (Goffman, 1971:8). Furthermore, pedestrians try to keep track of the 13

One example: during a telephone conversation, a man turned briefly to a flower saleswoman, but then continued on his way. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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direction of movement of the people around them, and are therefore constantly scanning and monitoring the area around themselves. Both parties engage in this sort of scanning:“Note that even as the individual is checking out those who are just coming into range, so they will be checking him out, which means that oncomers will be eyeing each other at something of the same moment and that this moment will be similarly located in the course of both; yet this act is almost entirely out of awareness“ (Goffman, 1971:12). Meanwhile the movements of the individuals do not just have an ‘intervehicular character’. The individual in motion also monitors the ground immediately in front of him, so that he can avoid obstacles or filth as necessary. Ultimately there is a voluntary co-ordination of events with an entirely reciprocal character, which serves as a basis for rules to develop predicated on these conventions. “Voluntary co-ordination of action is achieved in which each of two parties has a conception of how matters ought to be handled between them, the two conceptions agree, each party believes this agreement exists, and each appreciates that this knowledge about the agreement is possessed by the other. In brief, the structural prerequisites for rule by convention are found. Avoidance of collision is one example of the consequence” (ibid.:17). Since phoning is a very distractive activity, it is not surprising that during a telephone conversation people walk more slowly or even stand still. However, this was not always the case – especially in the first phase of observations there were a number of instances where people even began to walk faster. It was also observed (more about this later) that their gaze was very often directed at their surroundings. The use of the mobile phone always affected the relationships between the people on the piazza, creating new patterns at the same time (for more on this, see Wolff, 1973:47). Lingering on the piazza The piazza is full of life – and not only during the market. Thus one often sees mobile phone users hanging out on the piazza – sometimes with unusual behavioural patterns, such as that of this caller who walked in circles.

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Figure 4: Caller walking in circles (still photographs from a video sequence)

The people who linger on the square can be seen in two ways: firstly, as people conducting a phone conversation, and secondly, as actors in front of an audience. In the first instance, the behaviour of the user on the piazza demonstrates a degree of isolation or perhaps even a kind of ‘autistic’ behaviour, when the “the mobile phone user turns his or her back toward other people and then talks and either stares at the floor or walks slowly around. The purpose of these actions is to indicate that the mobile phone user has moved into his or her own private place and that he or she is concentrating on the phone call. Non-verbal, the mobile phone leads to ‘closed’ and ‘passive’ public behaviour. Such mobile phone use … appears as an autistic form of public behaviour” (Puro, 2002:23). This could be seen as a form of private dance or a “body ballet” (Seamon & Norden, 1980:36) taking place on the square. 14 This definition of ballet refers to “a set of integrated gestures and movements that sustain a particular task of aim, for example washing dishes, plowing, house building, operating machinery, potting” (ibid.) – and sure enough: the use of a mobile phone. This sort of ballet is, in 14

And one which adds to the other “dances” (to stay with this concept) in a new way: people go towards each other, move away, turn around. “They split into an infinity of directions. Some swirl around the information kiosk clockwise, some counterclockwise. Hundreds of people will be moving this way and that, weaving, dodging, fainting. Here and there some will break into a run. Almost everyone is on a collision course with someone else, but with a multitude of retards, acclerations, and side steps, they go their way untouched. It is indeed a great dance” (Whyte, 1988:67). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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turn, integrated into time-space-routines and is therefore a “place ballet” (see also Seamon, 1979:143ff. as well as the section below on the weather) and also a prominent feature of communication in public space. The second aspect is the so-called “stage phoning,” which is of lesser importance in this observational study. In Geser’s (2002) words: “The impact of the collocal field on phone calls is dramatically seen in cases of ‘stage phoning’, where callers use phone communication to make a specific impression on the bystanders: e.g. the impression that they are acquainted with important personalities, that they are urgently needed for help or advice, or that they are in a position to make big business contracts, to give important orders or to make farreaching final decisions. Such impression management behaviours reach its culmination when fake talks are simulated or when someone pretends to use fake phone sets.” There were indeed a (a few) cases in which a man (only men were observed doing this) entered the piazza or ‘stage’ to make a telephone call and then exited immediately after it was finished – to go and take a seat in one of the outdoor cafes. To summarise thus far, two types of people with two different types of behaviour can be observed on the stage. On the one hand, there are people swimming through the social current and crossing the piazza quickly while phoning, on the other hand there are those who stay more or less in one place (at least temporarily), circling or meandering on the piazza (figure 4). 15

Figures 5 & 6: Crossing and lingering while using the mobile phone 15

The figures are based on the each sketch from the observations on the piazza. For each person observed, their course of movement during the mobile phone conversation was plotted, as well as the length of the conversation. 36

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The two figures show the movements of people using a mobile phone on the piazza in the afternoon from above – the church San Giacomo can be seen on the left of the piazza and the fountain in the middle. The situation was different in the morning. From the southern edge of the piazza to the middle, there was a market with daily changing wares (for example: fish and seafood were not offered everyday). One can see the paths of those who crossed the square quickly, without letting their phone conversation slow them down, using it as a shortcut. On the other hand, one can also see the patterns of those who remained on the piazza during their telephone conversations. Here, the orientation towards central locations – mostly the fountain – is striking. This reflects the importance that the fountain has always held as a meeting point and place to gather – and now as a communicative island for mobile phone users. Women deposit their children in the (empty) base of the fountain, in order to be able to phone in peace knowing their children are safe. Men sit on the edge of the fountain to use their phone away from the market, for example. The centrality of the fountain only becomes clear when all of the walking patterns of the observation period (i.e. from mornings and afternoons) are laid on top of each other. Even just a glance at the walking patterns reveals an area of conflict in what the use of a mobile phone does to the previous walking patterns – as in the case of those crossing the square. At the same time, mobile phone use also creates new patterns: specifically the circling and meandering movements on the piazza (similar to the behaviour of a person waiting for something/someone). Communicative niches According to Mehrabian there are two reactions to environments: either approach or avoidance. Yet approach and avoidance mean more than a person simply moving towards or away from an environment. That is only one aspect. A broader meaning is the description of the behaviour in surroundings from which people cannot easily physically remove themselves (see Mehrabian, 1987:11). Whether a person approaches or avoids his environment is shown in his attempts at connection and the reactions of other people in that environment, respectively. “Approaching behaviour or connection attempts mean that a per© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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son attempts to create a bond by making eye contact, smiling, nodding, greeting, helping to carry something, or starting a conversation. Evasive behaviour or dissociation is the exact opposite: the other people are ignored, eye contact is avoided, physical distance to others is increased, the body is positioned away from them and attempts at starting a conversation are spurned” (Mehrabian, 1987:12). This sort of evasive behaviour is evident among mobile phone users. A form of aversion, at least a temporary ‘release’ from the social events, takes place during the use of a mobile phone because the user enters a communications niche. He does this, on the one hand, so as not to disturb others, but much more in order not to be disturbed by others. From a locomotive perspective, this means in a sense that the mobile phone user is no longer able to participate in pedestrian traffic. The arcades around the Piazza Matteotti serve a number of mobile phone users as this type of niche, in which one can withdraw from the social events on the square for a short time. Other niches were the corners of the piazza, the fountain, the square behind the market stands or the cafés on the edge of the piazza. People release themselves from the goings on and even sometimes (temporarily) ignore the presence of others. 16 These niches function, in other words, as a “temporary phone zone” or an “improvised open air wireless phone booth” (Lasen, 2003:19). At this point it should be noted that only a small fraction of the observations had the niche users in their range of vision. Incidentally, this was different in the second phase of observations (see: weather). These niches are temporary private spheres that people create – or negotiate – in the public sphere (for more, see Humphreys, 2003). In these niches, people feel sure that they are not disturbing others or will not be disturbed. People who used their mobile telephones in these niches looked more relaxed, stood up straight, and gazed actively (and not introvertedly) into their environment (at least in almost two thirds of the observations). After the phone conversation, the user has to find his/her way back to the here and now of the real world. The conclusion of a telephone conversation is 16

Within the scope of the observations, almost no secondary activities, such as observing window displays or adjusting clothes, were observed. 38

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often accompanied by gestures of re-entry, which signalise that the user is not only physically present in a place but has now also returned his mental attention as well. This is done by changing posture from closed to open, looking up or by returning to the companion or group from whom they had walked away during the telephone conversation. For example: a young man sat down on the edge of the fountain to phone. After his conversation, he pocketed his mobile. He glanced at his wristwatch and took a quick look around the square as if to say: “I’m back!” Alone or together with others People are not just moving, they are always in contact with others. This means the person is a participation- or interaction-unit and therefore a basic unit of public life. People are either alone or in the company of others; they appear in public as an individual (‘single’) or group member (in a ‘with’). Referring to Goffman, the social aspect must be added to the physical whereabouts of the (urban) person (who hangs out on the piazza, for example). Participation units tell us something about how people spend their day (either alone or with others), according to Goffman: “Participation units – singles and withs – tell us about the individual’s condition as he moves about during the day. ... It is against the background of an individual’s daily round that we can plot the course of the single or with which contains him and the junctures where his participation status changes” (Goffman, 1971:27). When a person moves on the square, he is both a locomotion- and a participation-unit, whether travelling alone or together with others. This is also important when a mobile phone is being used. It is noticeable (in this case from the first phase of observations) that the length of the phone conversation is affected by whether the user is alone or with others. When the user was alone, the average length of a telephone conversation was 3.4 minutes; when the user was with others, the conversation lasted an average of 2.5 minutes. This shows a definite consideration of others. Furthermore, the majority of phone calls on the piazza were not initiated by the person present, but from the person at the other end of the line. This also suggests a certain reluctance to phone. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Movement describes only one aspect of mobile phone use. A further aspect is the accompanying non-verbal communication. Here, this does not refer to the fact that both parties use gestures and facial expression during their phone conversation, although they cannot see each other. In this case, it means primarily that a person uses non-verbal clues to show the others around him that he is briefly turning his attention to the phone conversation, but does not want to compromise the basic rules of communicative events. At the same time, a temporary demarcation between the user (and his conversation partner) and the present third party is indicated. Reflecting on this, Rich Ling (2002:64) states: “The use of the mobile phone means that one needs to develop a repertoire of gestures that will make the boundary between themselves and other co-present individuals obvious. In a sense, they owe it to the others who are present to make their status as a telephonist clear. This is done in order to avoid undue embarrassment to either party.” The telephonist creates a ‘shield’ between himself and his environment with his posture and a lowered gaze, often accompanied by (usually slow) wandering about. “The non-verbal performance of mobile phone usage is commonplace: the mobile phone user turns his or her back toward other people and then talks and either stares at the floor or walks slowly around. The purpose of these actions is to indicate that the mobile phone use has moved into his or her own private place and that he or she is concentrating on the phone call” (Puro, 2002:23). This type of behaviour shows the certain ‘autistic’ seclusion that has already been mentioned. The quasi-autistic moment is – at least in our observations – not as strongly pronounced as has been commonly asserted. In the majority of our observations, people had erect posture and an open gaze directed straight ahead (see figure 7). Mobile phone users who were looking down could be more readily found on the edge of the square.

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Figure 7: Posture while phoning

Excursus: volume 17 The mobile phone is not only responsible for the production of additional noises and voices. Its use – and in how far this proves to be a source of irritation – is dependent on the soundscape (background noise) of the particular place. Cities have become significantly louder over the past few decades; the majority of noise is technically generated. People are responsible for only 25% of the noise and nature only for a minute part (see Bräunlein, 2005:10-11). The Piazza Matteotti is a relatively quiet square that is not affected by traffic noise. An observational study was also carried out on the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Spain. A total of 147 observations (81 of them on the plaza) made it clear that noise must be taken into consideration as a factor in the general framework of the study. We will now take a brief look at this study. The Plaza Mayor is the most traditional square in the Spanish capital, Madrid. It (meaning main square) is located in the centre of the metropolis. Before reaching its current area of 90 by 120 meters, it underwent numerous structural changes. As early as 1448 markets took place on the square, which was still open and unstructured at the time. As a result, the Plaza Mayor quickly developed into the economic centre of the city (see Gea Ortigas, 1999:14f.). In No17

This section originated in cooperation with Isabel Schlote, who carried out a study in Madrid, Spain, using the methodology of the Udine study. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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vember 1619, the Plaza Mayor was completed in the form it has today. The now regular, rectangular square could be reached by nine entrances. The last major restructuring of the square took place in 1854. For most of the time the Plaza Mayor has only been accessible to pedestrians; however from the 1870s to the 1950s tramways crossed the square. For a short time, parking was also permitted on the square. In 1966, all automobiles were banned from the square and the Plaza Mayor became a pedestrian area again (see Corral, 1987:34). These days a number of cafés and restaurants can be found in the shady arcades, offering inviting places to sit. The stamp market on Sundays, the Christmas markets and many other events, for example, at Easter or during the carnival season, take place here. Tourists and Madrid residents, who lovingly call the square the city’s largest living room, are drawn to this place in equal measure. The former to take in the architecture and the history, the latter for a bit of small talk or simply to see what is happening. The Plaza Mayor exemplifies what is true for squares in general: on the one it hand, it has an historical connection; on the other hand, it serves Madrid residents as a place of communication. Thus, it is an essential and integral part of the framework of the city, without which one could not imagine Madrid today. 18 In general, the observations confirm that the mobile phone is an established part of life in public space in Madrid, and therefore also on the Plaza Mayor. In terms of noise in the city, volume is particularly interesting, with regards to the integration of the mobile telephone in the already-existing structures and the disruptions this could potentially cause. In the Spanish metropolis, diverse and sometimes very loud sources of noise can be discerned (for more on this, see also Lasen, 2003:24). This particular characteristic could be detected in the observations on the Plaza Mayor. On both weekdays and weekends, there was a high noise level on the square. This was partially caused by the restaurants, which are located along the arcades. Waiters yell back and forth, the dishes clatter and the chairs are returned to their places again and again when the customers leave. Musicians play and sing their 18

Besides the Plaza Mayor, there must be (on account of its size) numerous other squares in Madrid that serve as meeting places for residents of the different neighbourhoods. However, it was the Plaza Mayor that was chosen as the central square, and it is still a preferred location for many events. 42

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songs – occasionally amplified with a speaker – and the cleaning machine is regularly driven over the square. The ear cannot shut all this out, as Simmel (1923:487) noted, because it “cannot shut as the eye can, but rather takes in – is even condemned to take in – everything that comes into the vicinity”. Face-to-face conversations, in contrast to telephone conversations, are often conducted at a very high volume. In only two of the 81 observations there was extremely loud phoning. The acoustic signals of the mobile phone, as another potential sources of disruption, often were not heard. Although people were observed for a long period of time, and the beginning of the conversation was identifiable or the mobile phone users were in the immediate vicinity of the observer, in most cases no ringing to indicate a call was detected. Only in one exceptional case could a loud ring be heard on the plaza. The rest of the audible ring tones were at a decent volume. This leads one to suspect that many people use the vibration alarm instead of a normal ring tone. The popularity of the vibration alarm is possibly a reaction to the multiple and loud noises in the urban environment, in which a ringing telephone is not always heard whereas a vibrating signal can be easily perceived. 19 Major acoustic disturbances caused by the mobile phone also failed to appear in other public places. It can be assumed that on a lively square, the acoustics of the telephones are of no great significance due to the background noise. This was also true in other public places, in contrast to the generally loud conversations among the people present. This became especially apparent in an observation of an older lady speaking with her grandson, who clearly drowned out the phoning man next to her. At times, mobile phone users could be seen standing on the Plaza Mayor with a slip of paper in their hand and passing on information to their conversation partner. In other observations, the mobile phone owners used their phone to

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This suspicion is illustrated by the following example: a man was standing in the bus and his mobile telephone had been ringing for a fairly long time. The ringtone was not particularly loud yet was nonetheless audible. Suddenly he touched his chest and and realised, with a surprised expression on his face, that it was his telephone. He pulled it out and answered the phone. This observation leads one to conclude that it was the vibration alarm and not the ringtone that signalled to the mobile phone owner that he had a call. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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track down people who they were supposed to be meeting. In this the phone served as a direct initiator of a face-to-face meeting. The observations on the Plaza Mayor show a high degree of acceptance of the use of mobile phones. More than anything, the existing soundscape appears to ease the entry of this medium into everyday life. In only one single case did two women sitting on a bench attached to a lamppost feel bothered by a nearby man’s mobile phone use. Although he was not speaking especially loudly, they made a deliberate effort to turn away from him and continue their conversation face to face. Disturbances were caused by the mobile phone mostly when the device demanded too much of its owner’s attention whereby he could no longer respond accordingly to the multiple, existing non-centred interactions (withdrawal of engagement). This phenomenon played a particular roll in the integration into the pedestrian current. In the majority of cases however, the people observed were able to make an arrangement with the other pedestrians present. Even if all approaching pedestrians have to avoid running a phoning person who cannot integrate him/herself into the existing structures, no visible sanctions were spotted. In all of our observations (with one exception) of people sitting in one of the cafes or elsewhere on the square, no reactions could be detected that would indicate that they were bothered by the mobile phone use of their partners in unfocused interaction. Time structures and the weather People can be found at certain times in certain places. Consequently, the phone is also used in public space in the context of this time structure. In this respect, the use of the mobile telephone is also influenced by the time structure of the piazza. This is a reminder of the expression “body ballet”, which becomes a “place ballet” under the sign of regularity, or integrated in the time-spacestructures. As Seaman put it (1979:151): “Regularity and variety mark the place ballet. Their balance is a rhythm of place: speeding up and slowing down, crescendos of activity and relative quiet. The particular place involves a unique rhythm, whose tempo changes hourly, weekly and seasonally.” 44

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The situation in the morning appears different than in the afternoon. The morning is market time; the square is, at least partially, filled with booths. This has the effect of creating more barriers that impede a pedestrian wanting to cross the square quickly, and furthermore, causes disruptions for phoning. In the afternoon, the situation is entirely different. The square is open and after a ‘set change’ has a totally different appearance. The time of day is also important, for the positioning of the audience – i.e. the people sitting in the cafés around the edge of the square. It demonstrates that the choice of a café is absolutely dependent on the time of day. In the spring (the season in which the study was conducted), people want sunlight, so the cafés in the sun are the most popular. In the summer (although not observed) this would probably be the exact opposite. Meanwhile one incident belied the preference for a sunny location: in the morning, almost nobody sat at the café that was located near the fishstand although it was the sunniest. The events on the square changed in relation to the season: it “stays the same in spring, summer and autumn. In the winter, when the arcades become draughty tunnels, the outdoor tables disappear into the cellars and the trees have lost their leaves, a square can develop a melancholic charm, which is intensified even more with the illumination in the evening” (Webb, 1990:13). Related, and in addition to the season, the weather proves to be an important influence on the use of mobile phones (or any media) in public. For television at least, there are already clear findings that weather influences media use. People watch more in the winter than in the summer; they watch more when the weather is bad and less when it is good (see e.g. Roe & Vandebosch, 1996). For the mobile phone, it is the exact opposite. The difference between good and poor weather was easily seen in both phases of observation. In the first phase, there was almost always sunshine whereas the second phase was characterised by rainy periods. The weather had an important impact on the length of the telephone conversations: in the second – rainy – phase they were noticeably shorter (see figure 8).

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Figure 8: Length of phone calls – observations in good and poor weather

Shortened conversations were not the only result of the weather conditions. A remarkable virtuosity was seen, especially among women, to manage shopping bags, opened umbrellas and the use of the mobile phone at once: shopping bags in the left hand, umbrella in the right hand, and mobile held between shoulder and ear... Another result of the weather was that fewer people crossed the square. They walked around the square, under the protective covering of the arcades. It was seen here as well, that for mobile phone users, the arcades functioned as niches – similar to phone boxes – providing shelter from the weather.

Concluding remarks All in all, the observations did not find any major negative reactions to mobile phone use in the environment. On the one hand, this could be because the length of the study was too short and that the spectrum of situations of use was too limited. 20 It could also be – and this is more probable – that the public use of mobile phones is not perceived to be that disruptive, simply because people have come 20

This was a result of the character of an explorative study. At this point, it should be mentioned that thanks to financing from the ‘Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft’ (DFG), further and more exhaustive studies will be undertaken in the near future. 46

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to terms with it. After all, since the majority of the observed meetings were nonfocused interactions, a lack of required involvement or a breach of social rules was minimal. This study suggests that long-term studies of mobile phone use should be conducted to record changes over time. These should include not just longitudinal studies, but also observations at various times. This makes sense because the time of day is a factor that can have varying effects on the social character of public space. Long-term studies will show whether we are being tamed by this medium or whether we will be able to tame it (see also Haddon, 2004:4) – in other words: to find arrangements with others for its public use. The observations on the Piazza Matteotti demonstrated the duality of the mobile phone’s effect on public life: it integrates itself into the social current (crossing the piazza) but is also associated with new behavioural patterns (wandering slowly in circles). Meanwhile, the central concern of this study goes beyond this: the use of the mobile telephone (and other media) can only be understood when it is understood in the broad context of people’s medial and non-medial socialcommunicative activities. More concretely, in relation to this study and the use of mobile phones in the public sphere, this means that one must look at what people are doing in general, at their patterns of activity and at the places they visit, etc. Theoretically, one can expect more from such an all-encompassing perspective than just results about the use of the mobile phone (as important as these may be). In this respect, a study of mobile phone use offers an excellent opportunity to obtain detailed insight into communicative behaviour and the constitution of social life.

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References Agar, J. (2003): Constant Touch. A Global History of the Mobile Phone. Cambridge: Icon Books. Bahrdt, H.P. (1969): Die moderne Großstadt. Soziologische Überlegungen zum Städtebau. Hamburg: Christian Wegener Verlag. Bräunlein, J. (2005): ‘Von der Stille zur Dauerbeschallung. „Soundscape“ im Wandel’. In: Das Archiv. Magazin für Post- und Telekommunikationsgeschichte. No.2, pp. 7-11. Burkart, G. (2000): ‘Mobile Kommunikation. Zur Kulturbedeutung des „Handy“’. In: Soziale Welt. No.51, pp. 209-232. Collier, J. Jr. & Collier, M. (1986): Visual Anthropology. Photography as a Research Method. Albuquere: University of New Mexico Press. Corral, J.D. (1987): La Plaza Mayor de Madrid. Madrid: Méndez & Molina. Fortunati, L. (2003): The Mobile phone and self-presentation. Unpublished paper from the ‘Front stage/Back stage: Mobile communication and the renegotiation of the social sphere’ conference. Grimstad, Norway, 22-24 June. Galli, M. & Imorte, J. (2002): Plätze des Lebens. La Piazza Italiana. Köln: DuMont. Gay, P. du et al. (1997): Doing Cultural Studies. The Story of the Sony Walkman. Reprint. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage. Gea, O. & Maria, I. (1999): Breve hisoria de la plaza mayor. Madrid: Gráficas Villena, Geser, H. (2005): ‘Soziologische Aspekte mobiler Kommunikation: Über den Niedergang orts- und raumbezogener Sozialstrukturen’. In: Höflich, J.R. & Gebhardt, J. (eds.): Mobile Kommunikation. Perspektiven und Forschungsfelder. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang, pp. 43-59. Geser, H. (2002): Towards a Sociological Theory of the Mobile Phone. University of Zürich, August. http: //socio.ch/mobile/t_geser1.htm. Goffman, E. (1963): Behaviour in Public Places. Notes on the Social Organization of Gatherings. New York: Free Press. Goffman, E. (1971): Relations in the Public. Microstudies of the Public Order. New York: Basic Books. Goffman, E. (1971): Verhalten in sozialen Situationen. Strukturen und Regeln der Interaktion im öffentlichen Raum. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann. Haddon, L. (2004): Information and Communication Technologies in Everyday Life. A Concise Introduction and Research Guide. Oxford: Berg. 48

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Harper, D. (2003): ‘Fotografien als sozialwissenschaftliche Daten’. In: Flick, U.; von Kardorff, E. & Steinke, I. (eds.): Qualitative Forschung. Ein Handbuch. 2. ed. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, pp.402-416. Hockins, P. (ed.) (2003): Principles of Visual Anthropology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Höflich, J.R. (2005a): ‘Vom häuslichen Telefonieren zur Privatisierung des öffentlichen Raums. Grenzverschiebungen durch das Telefon’. In: Arnold, K. & Neuberger, C. (eds.): Alte Medien – Neue Medien. Theorieperspektiven, Medienprofile, Einsatzfelder. Festschrift für Jan Tonnemacher. Wiesbaden: VSVerlag, pp. 184-202. Höflich, J.R. (2005b): ‘A Certain Sense of Place. Mobile Communication and Local Orientation’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): A Sense of Place. The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 159-168. Höflich, J.R. (2005c): ‘Medien und interpersonale Kommunikation’. In: Jäckel, M. (ed.): Mediensoziologie.Grundfragen und Forschungsfelder. Wiesbaden: VSVerlag, pp. 69-90. Höflich, J.R. (2003): ‘Part of Two Frames. Mobile Communication and the Situational Arrangement of Communicative Behaviour’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 33-51. Höflich, J.R. (1998): ‘Telefon: Medienwege – Von der einseitigen Kommunikation zur mediatisierten und medial konstituierten Beziehung’. In: Faßler, M. & Halbach, W. (ed.): Geschichte der Medien. München: Fink, pp. 187-225. Höflich, J.R. & Gebhardt, J. (2005): ‘Mobile Kommunikation und die Privatisierung des öffentlichen Raums. Ergebnisse einer explorativen Studie’. In: Höflich, J.R. & Gebhardt, J. (eds.): Mobile Kommunikation. Perspektiven und Forschungsfelder. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang, pp. 135-157. Ito, M. & Daisuke, O. (2003): Mobile Phones, Japanese Youth, and the RePlacement of Social Contact. Unpublished paper from the ‘Front stage/Back stage: Mobile communication and the renegotiation of the social sphere’ conference. Grimstad, Norway, 22-24 June. http://www.itofisher.com/PEOPLE/mito/mobileyouth.pdf Humphreys, L. (2005): ‘Cellphones in Public: Social Interaction in a Wireless Area’. In: New Media & Society. Vol.7, No.6, pp. 810-833. Karrer, M. (1995): Die Piazza. Frauen und Männer in einem süditalienischen Dorf. Frankfurt: Campus. Kopomaa, T. (2000): The city in your pocket. Birth of the mobile information society. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.

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Korosec-Serfaty, P. (1996): ‘Öffentliche Plätze und Freiräume’. In: Kruse, L.; Graumann, C.-F. & Lantermann, E.-D. (eds.): Ökologische Psychologie. Ein Handbuch in Schlüsselbegriffen. Studienausgabe. Weinheim: Beltz, pp. 15301540. Lasen, A. (2003): A comparative study of mobile phone use in public places in London, Madrid and Paris. University of Surrey: Digital World Research Centre. http: //www.surrey.ac.uk/dwrc/Publications/CompStudy.pdf Lasen, A. (2004): The Social Shaping of Fixed and Mobile Networks: A Historical Comparison. University of Surrey: Digital World Research Centre. Lemish, D. (1982): ‘The Rules of Viewing Television in Public Places’. In: Journal of Broadcasting. Vol.26, No. 1, pp. 757-781. Lennard, S.; Crowhurst, H. & Lennard, H. (1984): Public Life in Urban Places. Southampton, NY: Gondolier. Ling, R. (1998): ‘“One can talk about common manners!” The use of mobile telephones in inappropriate situations’. In: Telektronikk. No.94, pp. 65-76. Ling, R. (2002): ‘The Social Juxtaposition of Mobile Telephone Conversations and Public Spaces’. In: The Social and Cultural Impact/Meaning of Mobile Communication. Conference proceedings. Chunchon, Korea, pp. 59-86. Ling, R. (2004): The Mobile Connection. The Cell Phone’s Impact on Society. Amsterdam: Morgan Kaufmann. Lofland, L.H. (1998): The Public Realm: Exlporing the Citiy’s Quintessential Social Territory. New York: Aldyne de Gruyter. Luhmann, N. (1999): Soziale Systeme. Grundriss einer allgemeinen Theorie. 7.ed. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. McCarthy, A. (2001): Ambient Television. Visual Culture and Public Space. Durham & London: Duke University Press. Mehrabian, A. (1987): Räume des Alltags. Wie die Umwelt unser Verhalten bestimmt. Frankfurt & New York: Campus. Meyrowitz, J. (1994): ‘Medium Theory’. In: Crowley, D. & Mitchell, D.L. (eds.): Communication Theory Today. Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 50-77. Murtagh, G.M. (2002): ‘Seeing the “Rules“: Prelimary Observations of Action, Interaction and Mobile Phone Use’. In: Brown, B.; Green, N. & Harper, R. (eds.): Wireless World. Social and Interactional Aspects of the Mobile Age. London: Springer, pp. 81-91. Noelle-Neumann, E. & Köcher, R. (eds.) (2002): Allensbacher Jahrbuch der Demoskopie 1998-2002. Bd.11. München: KG. Saur.

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Okabe, D. & Ito, M. (2002): ‘Keitai in Public Transportation’. In: Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (eds.): Personal, Portable, Pedestrian. Mobile Phones in Japanese Life. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 205-217. Paris, R. (2001): ‘Warten auf Amtsfluren’. In: Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie. Vol.53, pp. 705-723. Puro, J.-P. (2002): ‘Finland: A Mobile Culture’. In: Katz, J.E. & Aakhus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact. Moble Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 19-29. Roe, K. & Vandebosch, H. (1996): ‘Weather to View or Not: That is the Question’. In: European Journal of Communication. Vol.11, pp. 201-216. Seaman, D. (1979): A Geography of the Lifeworld. Movement, Rest and Encounter. London: Croom Helm. Seaman, D. & Nordin, C. (1980): ‘Marketplace a Place Ballet. A Swedish Example’. In: Landscape. Vol.24, No.3, pp. 35-48. Simmel, G. (1923): Soziologie. Untersuchungen über die Formen der Vergesellschaftung. 3. ed. München & Leipzig: Dunkter & Humblot. Webb, M. (1999): Die Mitte der Stadt. Städtische Plätze von der Antike bis heute. Frankfurt & New York: Campus Verlag. Weidenmann, A. (2003): ‘“I can’t talk now, I’m in a fitting room”: Formulating Availability and Location in Mobile-Phone Conversation’. In: Environment and Planning. No.25, pp. 1589-1605. Whyte, W.H. (1988): City: Rediscovering the Center. New York: Doubleday. Wilke, J. (2005): ‚Vom stationären zum mobilen Rezipienten. Entfesselung der Kommunikation von Raum und Zeit – Symptom fortschreitender Medialisierung’. In: Börning, H.; Kutsch, A. & Stöber, R. (eds.): Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte. 6. Vol. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, pp. 1-55. Wilson, B.M. (1980): ‘Social Space and Symbolic Interaction’. In: Buttimer, A. & Seamon, D. (eds.): The Human Experience of Space and Place. London: Croom Helm, pp. 135-147. Wolff, M. (1973): ‘Notes on the Behavior of Pedestrians’. In: Birenbaum, A. & Sagarin, E. (eds.): People in Places. The Sociology of the Familiar. New York: Praeger, pp. 35-48. Zelger, S. (1997): „Das Pferd frisst keinen Gurkensalat“:Kulturgeschichte des Telefonierens. Wien: böhlau.

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II.

Visualisations

Photos and Fieldwork: Capturing Norms for Mobile Phone Use in the US Lee Humphreys

Communication technologies reflect and refract the social and cultural world in which they are situated. New technologies do not have entirely deterministic effects upon the cultures that use them. While some would argue that the medium has determining effects on society (Innis, 1951; McLuhan, 1965), most recognize that the social and cultural effects of communication technologies are negotiated through their use (MacKenzie & Wajcman, 2002; Marvin, 1988). Therefore in order to understand the effects of technologies such as mobile phones researchers must explore how these devices are contextually defined and used. There are a variety of ways to study the social uses and effects of mobile devices. Surveys provide important generalisable data about trends in adoption, diffusion, and general mobile device use (cf. Katz, 2003; Katz & Aakhus, 2002 for some examples). Diary studies where subjects keep track of their mobile phone use in a journal are also a fruitful method for capturing general usage data (e.g. Ling & Haddon, 2003). Focus groups lend insight into how people use and make sense of mobile devices (e.g Ling & Yttri, 2002). Finally, field studies of mobile phone use also provide rich details about how people incorporate these technologies into their everyday lives (e.g. Fortunati, 2001, 2002; Green, 2002; Humphreys, 2005; Ito, 2003). By examining mobile phone use in situ, field studies add significantly to our understanding of how mobile devices are contextually defined and used. While many published studies of mobile phone use have informative charts, graphs, and quotes from subjects to illustrate research findings, very few use photographs to illustrate such findings. In this chapter, I argue how photographs can be a powerful communicative tool in social science research by drawing on three areas of literature to provide insight into the use of photography in mobile phone research: visual anthropology, visual sociology, and visual communication. While disciplinary lines can be drawn between these fields, there is significant intellectual and theoretical overlap between them. This chap© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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ter outlines how photography works as a communication medium, describes how photography fits into social science research, offers some ways to conceptualise photos, and gives examples about how to capture and present photos in research. I conclude with a discussion of the contextualisation of this methodology and its potential limitations.

Background Ruby (1977) identifies three specific ways that communication technology including film and photography can be used in social science. First, Ruby suggests that visual media can be used to study how people send and receive messages within cultures. By exploring how people use and interpret visual media researchers can gain insights into larger cultural issues and norms. Second, Ruby proposes that ethnographers can use this visual media themselves to communicate within, to, and about their discipline. Images and film can communicate findings to others rather than solely relying on the written word. Finally, Ruby suggests that social scientists can incorporate visual media into research designs; photos and film can be used as a means of collecting data. While Ruby explicitly identifies the benefits of visual media for anthropologists, it can be argued these uses are not unique to the field of anthropology. Appreciating visual media as a subject, a means to communicate and a method is appropriate in many areas of social science research. In this chapter, I focus on the latter two.

Photos as means of communication Ruby’s methods for incorporating visual media into social science research are particularly useful given the unique power of images for persuasion (Pierce, 1991). Messaris (1997) identifies three characteristics of images which make them an important tool for communication and persuasion. The first characteristic, ‘iconicity’, refers to the ability of an image to look like something in the real world (Messaris, 1997). Photos and images can resemble or have a certain likeness to aspects of reality. For example, a photograph or a drawing of a flower 56

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resembles what a flower looks like in the real world. In this way, the photo becomes an icon of a reality that the viewer can recognize. The second important characteristic of photos is their indexicality (Messaris, 1997). This refers to the semantic property of images to serve as evidence for something else. “A sign is indexical if it is actually caused by its object and serves as a physical trace pointing to the object’s existence” (Messaris, 1997:viii). An example of an iconic sign is a footprint, which represents the presence of a person, or smoke which can indicate fire. Messaris suggests that photos are indexical because they are “direct physical imprints of the reality recorded in them” (ibid.:x). Because of the ways photos are mechanically made with light bouncing off the film, the photograph can serve as evidence of the scene in front of the camera. Worth (1981) describes the indexicality of photos in a vivid comparison between a drawing and a photo. He points out the clear difference between showing a man a drawing of his wife having intimate relations with another man and showing the man a photograph of his wife exhibiting such behaviour. Even if the drawing was inspired by the same real life events, it does not carry the same evidentiary power as does the photograph. Because of this, the man will probably react very differently to the drawing than he reacts to the photograph. Worth’s examples bring to light the indexical powers of photos to indicate a particular reality. 1 The third powerful characteristic of photos is their syntactic indeterminacy. Messaris argues that unlike verbal communication, visual communication lacks a “set of explicit devices for indicating causality, analogy, or any relationships other than those of space or time” (1997:xviii). Images are open to interpretation. Unlike sentences, which have a structure to indicate particular relationships, there is not one set way to make sense of an image, nor the relationship between images. Syntactic indeterminacy is especially important for film and television where people must create relationships between moving or juxtaposed images. However, syntactic indeterminacy is pertinent for researchers who need 1

This is not to say, however, that photos can’t lie. The indexicality of images is of course threatened by a number of factors. Long before digital manipulation, photos could mislead viewers. Now software like Adobe Photoshop makes it quick and easy to digitally alter photos. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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to be able to clearly and meaningfully articulate their research findings. Implications from syntactic indeterminacy arise with the use of still photos in research because it suggests that a photo cannot communicate an exact meaning without words to anchor it. Syntactic indeterminacy highlights the importance of captions and text to contextualise the photographs. Messaris’ three characteristics of images provide a useful basis from which to begin exploring the role of images in mobile ethnography. In addition, images also convey important impressionistic effects. While impressionistic effects undoubtedly stem in part from iconicity, indexicality and syntactic indeterminacy, there is also something uniquely ephemeral about photographs. As Duff describes, The most unique and important facility of the medium, though, is its ability to freeze a moment, to record minute instants of time. It is this facility that has allowed photographers to explore the most interesting facets of human experience and to produce their most effective work, work that exploits the fact that spatial relationships between moving and static objects change in time, and that as they change so they affect how those relationships can be understood. (1981:75) Milgram (1992) also discusses the ability of photography to freeze time. In fact, in one of his essays Milgram refers to the camera as the ‘image freezing machine’. What both Milgram and Duff highlight here is the capacity of photography to capture a moment, a space, and a part of the human experience. Carpenter writes, “a still photograph moves us toward the isolated moment. It arrests time. It exists in pure space,” (2003:487-8). Photos focus our attention on a specific moment and thus we are able to pay attention to details that are otherwise fleeting. These details and behaviours often go neglected in film or in eyewitness accounts. Nevertheless, these details can carry rich social and cultural meanings. The photograph allows the researcher to focus the attention of readers onto highly specific details of a particular social practice. By freezing a moment, a space, an experience the photographer draws attention to it and saves it. This unique makes photography a very powerful medium for communication. 58

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Photos as data collection Photography can not only be a potent tool for communicating research findings, but it can be a means of attaining those research findings in the first place (Ruby, 1977). Collier (2003) identifies specific ways that photography can be incorporated into a research design. In a brief history of how archaeologists have used still photographs, Collier identified three basic ways that photos can be used for scientific purposes. Still images can be used to measure, count, and compare. Photos have been used to measure the progress in an excavation dig or to identify aerially potential sites for excavation (Collier, 2003). “Many archaeologists make careful records of exposed burial before removal so that exact in situ relationships can be accurately preserved” (Collier, 2003:237). In this way, the camera can record important information about spatial and numerical patterns. Photographs can also aid in the comparisons of structures from different epochs. Often subtle, these differences can be captured on film then analysed later in the laboratory. Photographs are also an important tool in the mapping of spaces. For example as Collier points out, aerial photos can show the relations of homes to the surrounding environments. Collier also identifies several challenges to photographing communities. Notions of public and private domains can vary dramatically from culture to culture. He stresses the importance of being respectful and sensitive to the ‘natives’ so as not to “spark an incident” (Collier, 2003:239). There are many places, however, which are public representations of the community. These places, including parks, memorials, and official buildings, are often photographed and expected to be photographed. Private places like the home should never be photographed without prior consent and often require great empathy and patience on the part of the ethnographer to gain access in order to photograph. Photographs are also a useful tool for capturing dynamic social relations (Collier, 2003). Photography can be used to document the human sense of community. Collier describes this sociometry as “how people use space, how they distribute themselves, and how and where they flow together in sense of time and motion” (2003:242). For instance, Edward T. Hall used photographs in this way to capture how people regulate themselves in time and space (i.e. his study of proxemics) (Collier, 2003). Nonverbal communication was thus cap© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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tured in photographs and subsequently scrutinized to identify the visual grammar people used to make their way through space. Photos are particularly well suited to capture the ebb and flow of humans through space. The photographic interview, a method that involves showing your interview subjects a series photos about their behaviour (or people’s behaviour who are like them), can be a particularly powerful research tool (Collier, 2003). This method can shed light on behaviours and the meanings behind these behaviours much more than even a careful observer can glean. “The rich recovery in photographic interviewing is the tangible data of environmental reality as psychologically and emotionally qualified by the informants’ projective responses” (Collier, 2003:246). 2 The data gathered through photographic interviews not only validates the photos as a source of data, but also provides rich information about how subjects feel about the people and social practices depicted there in. Not only can the informant help identify people and patterns, but they can provide emotions about these people and patterns as well. Photography offers researchers a particular scientific tangibility. Mead suggests that filmic and photographic data are a “reliable, reproducible, reanalyzable corpus” of human history (2003:8-9) and thus important research tools for anthropologists. She calls upon her colleague to take advantage of the advancements in technology to better capture significant cultural practices. The hardest challenge, however, for researchers is to take the photos and analyse and organize the data – to transform the visual into verbal: “As observers and conceptualizers of human circumstance we wish to present the most objective rational account of culture we possible can. We use every scientific opportunity possible and then we WRITE” (Collier, 2003:248, emphasis in original text). Photographs are an opportunity, which supports the researcher in the field, but photos remain impressionistic unless systematically interpreted and analysed (Collier, 2003). In striving for valid comparability, however, ethnographers should not overly mechanize their analysis of photos else they will loose the richness of their data. The need for systematic analysis and interpretation reflects the syntactic indeterminacy of photos and encourages researchers towards a rigorous and methodical use of photos (Messaris, 1997). 2

See Schwartz (1989) for a good discussion and example of photo interviews.

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Mead (2003) identifies three significant hurdles that contribute to the reticence of ethnographers to using photography. First, part of the anthropologists’ fieldwork is to study culture under rapidly changing conditions, which can be challenging to photograph. When in the field, it can be difficult to observe certain events and behaviours first-hand so as even to be able to photograph them. Often anthropologists would have to rely on accounts from their informants about particular rituals and therefore would not be present to capture the behaviours with photos or film. This is still a realistic concern for ethnographers. Second, specialised training may be needed to use the cameras. However, Mead tries to debunk this explanation by suggesting that anthropologists who use film and photographs should not have the same aesthetic demands placed upon their products as works of art. She suggests that anyone who can pass their PhD examinations is certainly intelligent enough to use a camera to capture cultural practices. Mead’s third explanation for the neglect of these methodological tools is cost. She suggests that the costs of such photographic or film instruments and materials have been prohibitively expensive for anthropologists. However, she argues that improved instrumentation for research often requires additional costs. She compares this to other forms of science such as astronomy and physics. When astronomers and physicists develop better (and more expensive) research tools, it is seen as important progress to improve efficiency in the field. Mead scolds the field of anthropology for not only neglecting such advancements but even at times disallowing them. Despite the irreversible losses, she suggests that there is still time to capture at least some significant behaviour in all parts of the world. Sorenson’s (2003) discussion of photos as social record helps us to see how the fundamentals identified by Mead’s are relevant to mobile ethnography. Sorenson notes that it is important to document modernizing developments in human behaviour. “We need better understanding of how man fits into and copes with the world, and its transformations, including those he himself generates” (Sorenson, 2003:493). It’s important to capture these social and cultural changes as they are occurring. Insight into these transformations can help us better understand human behaviour. Sorenson calls for the visual recording of these changes as a methodological tool for enriching our understanding of emerging social conditions. Mobile phone use represents such a unique modernizing de© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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velopment in human behaviour. Thus far, in this chapter I have explored why photos are a powerful medium for communication and how they can be used in social science research. In this next section, I introduce a conceptual framework for capturing and presenting photos in research.

Ur-form Ur-form is a helpful concept in thinking about photography’s place in fieldwork. I first came across the concept of ‘ur-phenomena’ in reading Susan BuckMorss’s (1991) work on Walter Benjamin. Benjamin had been highly influenced by Simmel’s writings on Goethe and truth. Coming from Simmel, the term urphenomena refers to the something that is both based in reality and at the same time represents concepts larger than that reality. It is an archetypal form. In describing ur-forms, Simmel writes, The ur-phenomenon… is the purest, most typical case of a relation, or combination or development of natural existence; in this respect it is on the one hand something other than the common place phenomena which tends to show this fundamental form in muddied mixtures and distraction. And yet on the other hand, it is still precisely something that appears, perhaps only as intellectual spectacle, but at times actually ‘exhibited somewhere naked before the eye of the attentive observer’ [quote at end from Goethe] (as quoted in Buck-Morss, 1991:72) What makes the ur-form so powerful is both its representation of epistemological fact (i.e. it did happen) coupled with its representation of metaphysical fact (i.e. this fact means something on a broad level). In this way, the ur-form draws on the indexicality of photos and the symbolic nature of images to produce a powerful communicative phenomenon. Ur-forms are not new to photographers. Photographers often try to present images, which dialogue between the specific reality of the moment and the broader social experience. Becker writes that both photographers and sociolo62

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gists try to capture ‘representative types’ with their photographs (1974:9). Similarly, Duff (1981) suggests that there is interplay between the particular details of a photograph and its broader significance. This dialogue encourages viewers to engage with the photograph to understand how it is both evidence of a particular reality but also represents something larger than itself. Ohrn and Horwitz (1981) identify the challenges of trying to capture both the unique and the universal with their photographs. They argue that “the pictures should recreate specific sites but invite generalization” (1981:60). In their own work, comparing McDonalds to Mill’s, a small local restaurant, the authors acknowledge the highly constructed nature of their use of photographs. “We composed, selected and arranged photographs to portray the sites as accurately as possible but also to make a point” (ibid.:62). There are two important ideas in this quote. First, the authors draw out the particular and generalisable functions of photographs. The images are purposefully chosen to represent a point or an idea which is larger than the individual events depicted therein. Second, the quote identifies the stages of purposeful construction on the part of the researcher. It’s not just what you take a picture of, it is how you take the picture. While Ohrn and Horwitz specifically address how researchers take photographs, the later composition and arrangement of photos within presentation of the research should also be a highly self-conscious process (see Becker, 1974; Fang & Ellwein, 1990; Ohrn & Horwitz, 1981 for further discussion of photography and sampling).

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Photography of mobile phone use Prior research on visual media, visual ethnography and the conceptualisation of ur-forms have all contributed to my own research on mobile phone use in public spaces. In this project I had three overall research goals: 1) explore the norms and behaviours surrounding mobile phone use in public spaces, 2) analyse how mobile phone use is similar to and differs from normative social interaction behaviour, and 3) examine how people negotiate public and private space when using mobile phones in public spaces. In order to accomplish these goals I conducted observational fieldwork in public spaces and interviews with mobile phone users and bystanders. This year-long research project in the United States also included the use of photography. I used photographs to capture and present ur-forms of mobile phone use in public spaces. Generally I conduct my fieldwork and interviews before I go into the field to photograph. This is not to say that this is a linear process. On a very simple level, I observe and analyse, observe and analyse, and then photograph. It is only after the categories and themes emerge using a constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) that I pick up the camera. I take photos of events in situ that exemplify themes or categories that have emerged from the observational and interview data. In this way, I broadly identify what it is I want to photograph before going out into the field to find it, then try to take photos of representative types.

Strategies: decoys and distance When in the field I have used two different ways to photograph mobile phone use in public. One way I have photographed people is by using decoys. In this case, I went out with a colleague of mine and had her stand nearby, in front of, or behind the person using the mobile phone. I found this to be a helpful technique to use in parks or around a college campus where people are typically milling about. There are often people in these kinds of places taking photos of others so we were able to maintain normal appearances (Hendersoon, 1988) (see image 1 for an example). Sometimes my decoy would actually be in the image, and sometimes I would cut her out either partially or entirely from the photo. 64

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The point of using a decoy was two-fold. First, it allowed us to blend into a busy urban environment. Second, it allowed me to use my camera to take pictures without having to do so stealthily. There were times when our behaviour drew attention from our research subjects (see images 2, 3, and 4 for examples). However, because my research questions were generally interested in mobile phone use and social norms, even these became revealing social encounters of normative mobile phone use. In these instances, it was interesting to see how the mobile phone user responded to the decoy and me.

Image 1: My decoy is cut off so as to capture the man on the far left talking on his mobile phone while his friend sits waiting for him to get off.

Image 2: My decoy stands in the far back but as you can see in this photo my decoy and I distracted the non-mobile phone users while the mobile phone user did not look up.

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Images 3 & 4: In this sequence, I posed my decoy (woman in the foreground) on either side of a mobile phone user. Each time I took a photo the mobile phone user she put her head down.

The second way I photographed people in public spaces was to stand relatively far away and snap pictures. This method was particularly useful in busy spaces with lots of people. For example, the train station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a relatively old and picturesque train station where it is not uncommon to see tourists taking pictures of the interior. I would roam around the station, observing people and looking for a good shot. Sometimes I used the zoom on the camera to get a closer shot of the subjects, but often the zooming occurred later on the computer.

Mobile phone use photos as data There have been times in my research where I have taken a photo of a social practice, only to later on ‘see’ things in the photo that I had not previously observed. It was only after I had captured and reviewed the photos that I was able to recognize a particular behaviour previously unnoticed. In this way, the images became a means of data collection for subsequent analysis. As visual anthropologists, such as Mead (2003), Collier (2003), and Ruby (2000) have demonstrated, this can be a fruitful research method for data collection, analysis, and re-analysis. Drawing an analogy between photographic data with interview data, to which qualitative researchers are generally more accustomed, can prove quite helpful in understanding photos as data. Even though as interviewers we hear 66

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people’s responses, sometimes it isn’t until we review and analyse the transcripts that we actually ‘listen’ to what the person told us. Similarly, we can look through the camera and take a picture of an event, but it isn’t until we review and analyse the photo that we ‘see’ what is going on. Researchers can read through transcripts many times before seeing the themes and the quotes which exemplify them. Each time we study a photo we can ‘see’ different aspects to it, even things that we did not originally see with the naked eye. For me this came when I was exploring dyadic use and response to cellphones in public (Humphreys, 2005). Drawing upon Goffman’s (1963) concept of cross talk, I explored how people behaved when one person in the dyad used a mobile phone. As Goffman had predicted, my observational and interview data indicated that dyadic partners exhibit social defensive behaviour while their partners are on a mobile phone. For example, subjects will pretend not to listen by looking around, eating, drinking or even taking out their own cellphones. When I was in the field trying to photograph examples of people exhibiting such behaviour, however, I kept photographing people actively watching their partners using cellphones. This was not the kind of defensive behaviour Goffman suggested people engaged in during cross talk. However, as Becker (1998) points out, there are no outliers in qualitative data. All data collected must be accounted for by the themes and categories identified. As it turned out, during my observational fieldwork I had been too busy seeing confirming cases to Goffman’s model that I missed these counter examples (see image 5 for such a counter-example). As Becker (1998) warns, it is the disconfirming case in qualitative research that is not only hard to recognize, but also sometimes the most fruitful case in terms of furthering our theoretical models. While using ur-photos for communicating research finding, one should always stop and reanalyse urphotos to ensure they are communicating what you thought they were communicating.

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Image 5: Man on the right is watching and listening to his colleague using his mobile phone.

Presenting the ur-form of public mobile phone use Once a researcher has taken the photographs, he/she must then determine when and how to use the ur-photos to communicate their findings. I tend to think of my photos as visual quotes and draw an analogy between my photographic observations to my interviews. When using interview data, researchers draw both from personal experience from the interview itself and the information in the transcripts. It is from both sources that researchers draw quotes to be included in our presentation of research findings. Quotes are used to provide rich details to our empirical and theoretical arguments. Quotes also give a voice to our research subjects. Similarly, images based on work from our observational accounts can provide rich and colourful details to our findings and give a face to our research subjects. As consumers of academic research, we understand that quotes do not define a category or theme, but merely illustrate it. We can also think of the use of images in mobile ethnography in this way. Images do not define the themes of social practice, but they can illustrate such themes. However, ur-photos must be contextualised. Again, it can be useful to think of a transcript as a useful analogy. There are plenty of lines in a transcript that can be taken out of context and misinterpreted or mis-used. Obviously researchers should use care to not mis-contextualise a quote or an image (Fang & Ellwein, 1990). There are many similarities in the strengths and limitations of using quotes and of using photos.

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Both can be used as powerful rhetorical devices in the presentation of researching findings. At no point in my research have I ever taken a photo in the field and either presented it or published it in the same form I originally photographed it. In all of my research, I cropped my images to focus my reader or listeners attention on a particular behaviour in the photograph. Just as I pull quotes rather than make my reader go through the entire transcript, I pull out a section of the photo for the reader to focus on (see images 6 and 7 for examples of the original and cropped photos). In image 7 I draw the readers’ attention to the dyad in the middle of the photo. The man on the left is reacting to his friend’s cellphone use by looking away (for a more in-depth discussion of mobile phones and dyads in public, see Humphreys, 2005).

Images 6 & 7: Original and cropped image

Contextual factors I would like to point out that the methods I described above were for a very particular context. Though norms and customs may be tacit, they are not static and can change depending on contextual and historical events. For example, all of my research of cellphone use in public was conducted after September 11th, 2001. American norms of behaviour in public obviously changed that day. My own field study was conducted from 2002-2003. I captured my ur-photos between January 2003 and May 2003. In March of 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. As a researcher, I felt a marked difference between photographing in the © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Philadelphia train station in January and in April of that year. I felt that people were more watchful of me at the train station when I had my camera in April. It was also harder for me to blend in in April than it was in January. However, I do not know if people were indeed more watchful of me or if it was I who was more watchful and sensitive. Because of the effects of the invasion on me, I wasn’t able to parse out my own personal experience from my observational experience. That said, I would generally not consider myself overly sensitive or fearful. When I spoke to others about my experience of taking photos that April they suggested that my gut feeling was probably due to both my sensitivity to the invasion as well as my subjects’ reactions and demeanours in light of the recent events. The historical events completely outside of my research contributed to the cultural climate in which I studying. The fact that I was exploring American culture represents an important contextual factor. It is very important to understand and respect the legal and cultural norms of the environment in which you are researching. In the United States, there have been incidents of indecent pictures and videos taken of people in parks or gym locker rooms without their consent (Forsberg, 2005; Usborne, 2003). There was such concern about surreptitious photographing in public that a bill was passed by the United States Congress called the ‘Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004’ (Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004, 2004). This bill makes it illegal for someone to knowingly capture an improper image of another individual on US territorial land such as parks without their consent. The bill defines ‘capturing an image’ as videoing, filming, photographing, broadcasting or recording by any means. The bill also defines the term ‘improper image’ as “an image, captured without the consent of that individual, of the naked or undergarment clad genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast of that individual”. Because there was very little concern about capturing such indecent photos while studying cellphone usage (unless you’re specifically studying the indecent use of camera-phones), I was not concerned about breaking this law. As a researcher, one must not only to be familiar with the national, state, and municipal laws about photographing in public spaces, but also be familiar and abide by local cultural norms and customs.

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Ethics In addition to laws and norms, throughout all research projects it is important to be familiar with and follow your research institutions’ guidelines for the ethical research of human subjects. Most social scientists (and human subjects review boards in the United States) suggest getting verbal or written consent from subjects prior to their participation in a research project, including photographing them. However, it can be very difficult to capture tacit normative behaviour if you ask permission before taking the picture. Carpenter (2003) suggests that using the camera can encourage subjects to be self-aware and self-conscious. When this occurs, subjects’ ‘natural’ behaviour can become awkward or rigid. In his own research, Carpenter found “[subjects’] self-conscious behaviour bore little resemblance to their unconscious behaviour” which had been easily observable with the naked eye (2003:485). Not only may conscious behaviour be dissimilar to natural behaviour, but Milgram (1992) found that people often pose when they know they are being photographed. They pose because they want to put their best front forward. Milgram suggests people usually do not like to be photographed unless they are posing because they want only their best image to be captured and saved. He suggests that posing is a learned behaviour, which indicates particular social attitudes towards photographs and the representations of self. Young children do not pose for photographs until they are taught how to do so. Milgram argues that when people think about photos of themselves, they think of a posed photo of themselves. This posed photo looks very different from photos that are taken of people when they don’t realize the camera is on them. 3 In this study, asking permission beforehand would have severely biased the social behaviour I wanted to capture on film. Because my own project did not involve any vulnerable populations nor did it put my subjects in any kind of risk, I chose not to get prior consent from the people in my photographs. My study consisted of the observation of public behaviour, which could have been seen or 3

In Image Ethics (1988), Henderson writes a chapter with a nice discussion of how photographers (not researchers per se) gain access to and photograph subjects. She outlines a variety of helpful strategies and issues concerning threats to security and privacy. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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photographed by anyone.4 Another important contributing contextual factor to this decision was my subject of study. Cellphone use in public is an innocuous behaviour. I was not trying to capture anything illicit or illegal. Nor was I trying to capture cellphone use facilitating illegal or sensitive behaviour. Any type of public illegal behaviour can be quite detrimental to the subjects if they are identifiably photographed. As researchers we must be highly sensitive to the privacy and security of our subjects. As Henderson (1988) notes, advancements in scientific knowledge must be balanced against privacy concerns for subjects. Depending on whom and what you’re researching, one way to get around the posing problem is by using traditional ethnographic methods and become close to the subjects so that they understand who you are, why you’re there and accept you as a member of their community. As members, the researchers and their cameras have special access the social practices, which might otherwise change in the presence of a ‘tourist’. Shanklin (1979) describes how this occurred while she was doing fieldwork in a small village in Ireland. She recalls how after a year or so of living in the village she was participating in the regular fair day where people were milling about and chatting. A man, whom Shanklin describes as a tourist, drove into town by the fair. When he got out and started taking pictures of the fair, Shanklin noticed how all the locals stopped talking entirely when the man got out of his car. When the man returned to his car and drove off, the local farmers started up their conversations again. Shanklin suggested that those photos represented the village to the tourist. However, the presence of the man so dramatically changed the local climate that what he captured with his camera correlated little to life in the village. In her own work, Shanklin uses the metaphor of being a guest as opposed to the tourist when researching a community. While Shanklin’s critique of the ‘tourist’ is appreciable within the context of studying a village, her suggestion for appropriate research methods is not necessarily suited for large anonymous urban settings. The ‘guest’ may not be an appropriate metaphor to describe urban researchers who may not have personal relationship with their subjects. Still others have identi4

If photographing in a building which is privately owned such as a cafe or restaurant, researchers should get permission from the owner to take photos within his or her establishment. 72

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fied this problem of the researcher’s presence affecting the social scene before them. Becker calls this ‘reactivity’ and suggests that field researchers cultivate “the art of being unobtrusive” (1974:18). Still Shanklin’s and Becker’s concerns draw important attention to the fact that all field researchers need to be cognizant of how their presence and the presence of their cameras may be affecting the scene before them. Though researchers cannot always ask permission prior to taking the photo, however, researchers could certainly ask for permission ex post facto. Asking permission post facto proved challenging in my own work for several reasons. First, I photographed people who were on their cellphones – typically they were still on their cellphone after I photographed them and continued to be so for some time after that. In order to attain post facto consent, I would have had to interrupt the subjects on their cellphone calls or waited for them to finish their call. In terms of interrupting them, Hopper’s (1992) analysis of telephone use suggests that phone conversations take priority over face-to-face conversations. Cellphone research further suggests that in some the circumstances this norms carries over and mobile phone conversations take preference over face-to-face conversations (Humphreys, 2005). In this scenario, it could have been startling for the subject to interrupt their mobile phone conversation to ask permission post facto. While I could have waited until they were off the phone, the places I tended to photograph people (i.e. where mobile phones use is very high) were in places of transition like streets or in train stations. Often people would walk off before finishing their mobile phone conversations. My decisions about subject consent were not haphazard but purposeful and deliberate. Informed by ethical guidelines set forth in my university’s institutional review board (University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Regulatory Affairs, 2005) and guided by ethical standards of photography in public spaces (Henderson, 1988), I chose not to get informed consent pre or post facto from the people in my photographs. I did, however, get consent from all interview subjects who participated in the study. Outside of legal and privacy concerns about photographing the use of mobile device in public, there are other concerns when conducting this kind of research. Mead (2003) warns one limitation of using photography or film in research is that of bias. Researchers studying and documenting other cultures may © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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be biased in what they capture and how they edit or present it. Similarly, cultures who make films or photos about their own culture may also be biased in how they capture and present their own culture. Mead writes, The hazards of bias, both in those who film from their own particular cultural framework and in those who see their own filmed culture through distorting lenses, could be compensated for not by shallow claims of culture-free productions, but – as in all the comparative work which is the essence of anthropology as a science – by the corrective of different culturally based viewpoints. (2003:8) In order to overcome this limitation, Mead calls for ethnographers to conduct comparative work where different people from different cultures contribute their understandings of the larger work. Mead acknowledges the inherent cultural bias in studying behaviour and, rather than ignore it or pretend it doesn’t exist, she suggests that researchers instead combine data from multiple sources in order to present a more complete picture of cultural practices. Mobile device research tends to be internationally focused, drawing on studies from around the world to help us comparatively understand mobile device use as a cultural practice. For example, the work of Castells and his colleagues (2004) and Donner (2005) demonstrate important steps taken in cross-cultural analysis of mobile technology use. Collective works such as this book, Katz (2003), Katz and Aakhus (2002) and Brown, Harper and Green (2001) provide rich examples of cultural work that go beyond anecdotal evidence and help us to better understand the social uses and effects of mobile devices.

Conclusion Photography in conjunction with other kinds of methodologies provides rich illustrations and sources of enhanced understanding to mobile phone research. Photos can demonstrate, draw attention to, freeze, and save moments in time, which exemplify particular cultural practices and behaviours. Ur-forms represent a dialogue between the reality of the particulars within a photograph and the 74

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generalisability of its themes. As such, ur-photos of mobile phone use become a powerful means of communicating researching findings. Photography can also be a means of data collection in addition to being used as a means to communicate. In observational fieldwork, researchers strive for rigorous methods which seek to provide reliability and validity. However, humans cannot observe everything. Photography can become a means of collecting data in the field for subsequent analysis. Field notes can only capture what a researcher has observed, felt, interpreted, and written down; photos allow researchers to capture information without necessarily having ‘seen’ or understood it. While photos can be an extremely useful methodological tool, there are important limitations and contextual factors which should influence their use. Syntactic indeterminacy (Messaris, 1997) suggests that when we use images in research we must contextualise their meanings. Photos on their own can be interpreted many ways. As researchers, we must anchor their meanings in responsible and articulate ways. Ethical concerns about privacy are extremely important when using photography in fieldwork. Researchers must be very familiar not only to the laws in the environment of study, but also must be sensitive to the cultural and social norms of the community. Balancing the privacy of research subjects with the potential benefits for the scientific community is a critical step in this and in any line of social science research. The proliferation of camera-phones and the convergence of digital devices more generally suggest that photography and video may become increasingly common subjects of social science research. As barriers to use of photographs as data decrease, social scientists must still be responsible in the use and application of these images within the research setting. It is not just in the capturing of data, but the presentation of data that presents hurdles to researchers using photography. The cost of publishing photos in academic journals and books can be relatively prohibitive. Online journals have begun to provide a great outlet for the publishing of different kinds of data and researching findings. However, researchers need to thoughtfully and continually discuss issues of representation in the capturing, production and publication of images within the academic community. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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References Becker, H. (1998): Tricks of the Trade: How to think about your research while you're doing it. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Brown, B.; Harper, R. & Green, N. (2001): Wireless World. New York: Springer. Buck-Morss, S. (1991): The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the arcades project. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Carpenter, E. (2003): ‘The Tribal Terror of Self-Awareness’. In: Hockings, P. (ed.): Principles in Visual Anthropology. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 481-491. Castells, M. et al. (2004): The Mobile Communication Society: A cross-cultural analysis of available evidence on the social uses of wireless communication technology. Paper presented at the ‘International Workshop on Wireless Communication Policies and Prospects: A Global Perspective’. Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, October 89. Collier, J. (2003): ‘Photography and Visual Anthropology’. In: Hockings, P. (ed.): Principles of Visual Anthropology. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 235-254. Donner, J. (2005): Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A Review of the Literature. Paper presented at the ‘International Conference on Mobile Communication and Asian Modernities’, City University of Hong Kong, June 7-8. Duff, E. (1981): ‘Working World’. In: Becker, H. (ed.): Exploring Society Photographically. Evanston, IL: Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, pp. 74-79. Fang, W. L. & Ellwein, M. C. (1990): ‘Photography and Ethics in Evaluation’. In: Evaluation Review. Vol.14, No.1, pp. 100-107. Forsberg, B. (2005): ‘Restrictions placed on camera phones’. In: San Francisco Chronicle, May 23, p. E2. Fortunati, L. (2001): ‘The Mobile Phone: An Identity on the Move’. In: Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. Vol.5, No.2, pp. 85-98. Fortunati, L. (2002): ‘Italy: stereotypes, true and false’. In: Katz, J.E. & Aakhus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 42-62. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967): The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. 76

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Goffman, E. (1963): Behaviour in Public Places: Notes on the social organization of gatherings. New York: Free Press. Green, N. (2002): ‘On the movie: Technology, Mobility, and the Mediation of Social Time and Space’. In: The Information Society. Vol.18, pp. 281-292. Henderson, L. (1988): ‘Access and Consent in Public Photography’. In: Gross, L.; Katz, J. & Ruby, J. (eds.): Image Ethics: the Moral Rights of Subjects in Photographs, Film, and Television. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 91107. Hopper, R. (1992): Telephone Conversation. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Humphreys, L. (2005): ‘Cellphones in public: social interactions in a wireless era’. In: New Media and Society. Vol.7, No.6, pp. 810-833. Innis, H. (1951): The Bias of Communication. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Ito, M. (2003): Mobile Phones, Japanese Youth, and the Re-Placement of Social Contact. Paper presented at the ‘Front Stage- Back Stage: Mobile Communication and the Renegotiation of the Social Sphere’ conference, Grimstad, Norway, June. Katz, J. E. (2003): Machines that Become Us: the social context of personal communication technology. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Katz, J. E. & Aakhus, M. (eds.) (2002): Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press. Ling, R. & Haddon, L. (2003): ‘Mobile Telephony, Mobility, and the Coordination of Everyday Life’. In: Katz, J.E. (ed.): Machines that Become Us: The Social Context of Personal Communication Technology. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, pp. 245-265. Ling, R. & Yttri, B. (2002): ‘Hyper-coordination via mobile phones in Norway’. In: Katz, J.E. & Aakhus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact: Mobile communication, private talk, public performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 139-169. MacKenzie, D. & Wajcman, J. (2002): The Social Shaping of Technology 2nd Edition. Buckingham: Open University Press. Marvin, C. (1988): When Old Technologies Were New: thinking about electric communication in the late nineteenth century. New York: Oxford University Press. McLuhan, M. (1965): Understanding media: the extensions of man. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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Mead, M. (2003): ‘Visual Anthropology in a Discipline of Words’. In: Hockings, P. (ed.): Principles of Visual Anthropology. 3rd ed. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 3-10. Messaris, P. (1997): Visual Persuasion. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Milgram, S. (1992): `The Image Freezing Machine’. In: Sabini, J. & Silver, M. (eds.): The Individual in a Social World: Essay and Experiments. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 309-323. Ohrn, K. B. & Horwitz, R. P. (1981): ‘Mac's and Mil's’. In: Becker, H. (ed.): Exploring Society Photographically. Evanston, IL: Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, pp. 60-67. Ruby, J. (1977): ‘Book Review of Principles of Visual Anthropology’. In: American Anthropologist. Vol.79, No.1, pp. 137-138. Ruby, J. (2000): Picturing Culture: Explorations of Film and Anthropology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Schwartz, D. (1989): ‘Visual Ethnography: Using Photography in Qualitative Research’. In: Qualitative Sociology. Vol.12, No.2, pp. 119-153. Shanklin, E. (1979): ‘When a Good Social Role is Worth a Thousand Pictures’. In: Wagner, J. (ed.): Images of Information: Still Photography in the Social Sciences. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, pp. 139-145. Sorenson, E.R. (2003): ‘Visual Records, Human Knowledge, and the Future’. In: Hockings, P. (ed.): Principles in Visual Anthropology. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 493-506. University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Regulatory Affairs. http://www.upenn.edu/regulatoryaffairs/ (consulted 05/08/2005). Usborne, D. (2003): ‘Naked Fear as Gyms Ban Camera Phones’. In: The Independent. 16 December, p. 13. Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004: One Hundred Eighth Congress of the United States of America, 2nd Sess., 18 Cong. Rec. (2004). Worth, S. (1981): Studying Visual Communication. Edited by Gross, L. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

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Everyday Contexts of Camera Phone Use: Steps Toward Techno-Social Ethnographic Frameworks Daisuke Okabe & Mizuko Ito

Introduction A friend you have not seen for a while, a pet's endearing gaze, Tokyo Tower, a funny-looking stuffed panda, gorgeous parfait at a new café, a classmate who has just fallen into a puddle, a child opening wide for a spooned-in mouthful, or a miniature milk package on an airline tray -- the camera phone makes it possible to take and share pictures of the stream of people, places, pets and objects in the flow of everyday life. Around town, and particularly at tourist spots, the sounds of the camera phone’s shutter have become an unremarkable part of the setting. Although the camera phone has only recently become a fixture in everyday life in Japan, already it feels like a familiar presence. It is the latest portable media technology to become commonplace, one more component of the layered information and media ecologies that overlay our everyday experience in urban Japan. This chapter reports on an ethnographic study of camera phone usage in Tokyo, based on a diary study of usage patterns. First, we briefly describe the current state of camera phone adoption in Japan, and introduce our methodology and conceptual framework for this study. We frame our study as an example of adapting traditional anthropological approaches to the study of everyday practices that are distributed across real and virtual settings. The body of the paper describes emergent practices of camera phone use in Japan, providing concrete examples from the ethnographic material. Although the camera phone has become embedded in every-day life in Japan, stable patterns and norms for usage are just emerging. There are indicators of practices of picture taking and sharing that differ both from the uses of the stand-alone camera and the kinds of social sharing that happened via mobile phone communication (Kato et al., 2005; Okabe & Ito, 2003). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Camera phone adoption and research Built-in camera functions are now a popular and accepted add-on to the mobile phone. The camera phone is part of an overall trend towards non-voice functions in the mobile. Recent years have seen a shift to email as the dominant modality for mobile communication, now exchanged more frequently than calls in Japan (Matsuda, 2005; Okada, 2005). More recently, this email exchange is coming to include photos and moving images. In October 2000, J-Phone (now Vodafone) launched its first camera-phone handset, the J-SH04, to a sceptical population. In particular, the introduction of a terminal with the “Sha-mail” (photo mail) function by J-Phone in November 2000 changed mobile phone practice, making it possible to send each other photographs with the mobile phone. According to estimates by the Telecommunication Carriers Association (TCA), camera phones now comprise about 75% of all mobile phones in use in Japan. The trend is towards camera phones becoming a standard feature of mobile phones and it is clear that they are here to stay. Camera phone development has advanced dramatically in a number of areas, particularly in the resolution of images. High-end terminals can now exceed 3-mega-pixels, and they might include features such as auto focus, optical zoom, and removable memory card (Kato et al., 2005). Although research on camera phone usage in Japan is still limited, some survey work is indicating certain patterns of usage. Asked how they used photos taken by their camera phones in a multiple-choice survey by japan.internet.com (2003), almost 90% of respondents answered that they “view them on their handset,” followed by “use them as wallpaper for their mobile phone” at almost 60%, with “email them to friends and family” at over 50%, and “upload them to a PC” trailing at 35%. In a survey of 300 Internet users (men and women between the ages of ten and fifty), japan.internet.com (2003), found that 65% reported using a camera phone. In response to the question “In what kinds of settings and for what purposes do you actually use the camera function?” the most common answer (75%) was “recording and commemorating moments with family, friends, acquaintances,” followed by “recording and commemorating interesting or unusual things in everyday life” (69%) and “travel photos such as of scenery” (39%). 80

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As camera phones spread in Japan and other countries, we are just beginning to see the emergence of an international empirical corpus on related usage patterns. Most of the early qualitative studies of camera phone use have been based on quasi-experimental methods that involve providing image capture and sending technologies to users (Koskinen, 2005; Koskinen, Kurvinen & Lohtonen, 2002; Ling & Julsrud, 2005; Van House et al., 2005; Van House et al., 2004), or reducing some of the barriers to image capture and sharing among existing users (Ito 2005a; Kindberg et al., 2004). In both of these cases, the approach tends to be focused on anticipating future uses of technical capacities that are not yet well established as consumer technologies (see Koskinen, 2005). By contrast, like Oksman’s chapter in this volume and the work of Riviere (2004), our work described here represents naturalistic observations of camera phone usage among existing users. Because Japan is among the first national contexts to have widespread popular adoption of camera phones, we have been in a unique position to conduct more naturalistic observations of an emergent but popularly adopted set of technologies. In other work, we have taken a more experimental approach in piloting a new set of technological capabilities among existing camera phone users (Ito, 2005a). The state of the field in camera phone research is indicative of the social study of new technologies more generally, which tends to hybridize future-oriented methods from technology design with methods from the social sciences which have traditionally focused on the study of existing social patterns. Here, we use our study of camera phone usage as a way of illustrating a particular form of methodological hybridization that focuses on the strengths of an anthropological method, while also responding to ongoing changes to the technologies underlying our social activity. In this, our work is focused on documenting existing practices rather than designing for new ones, but we hope to demonstrate the relevance of our approach in uncovering resilient patterns of behaviour that can inspire reconsideration of technosocial engineering.

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Research design Our studies Our research on camera phone is part of a broader research programme that is examining the use of portable ICTs in urban Japan, centred at Keio Shonan Fujisawa Campus near Tokyo. We began our research in 2000, with exploratory interviews with college and high school students. After that, we designed a diarybased study of mobile phone use reported on elsewhere (Ito, 2005b; Ito & Okabe, 2005) and adapted from the study reported in Grinter and Eldridge (2001). This method of study relies heavily on self-documentation and selfreflection on the part of the participant. We begin with a pre-interview to get basic background information and train the participants in the self-documentation process. Participants are asked to note every instance of mobile phones use and the context in which the usage occurred. In the diaries, they note the time of usage, who they were in contact with, whether they received or initiated the contact, where they were, what kind of communication type was used, why they chose that form of communication, who was in the vicinity at the time, if there were any problems associated with the usage, and the content of the communication. After the period of self-documentation, we conduct an in-depth interview where we gather more information about their ICT habits, and go over the content of the diary in detail. Participants are compensated for their time. This has varied somewhat depending on the specific study they are involved in, but for diary studies we have offered the equivalent of about $150 USD. The camera phone research described here relied on an adaptation of these self-documentation protocols in a follow-up study focused on camera phones users. The central body of data is a set of "camera phone diaries" and interviews collected between August and September 2003. In addition to the content of our standard diary, participants were asked to keep records of photos taken, received, and shared off their mobile phone. After completion of the camera phone diaries, we conducted in-depth interviews to understand in more detail the context of camera phone use. Our study involved two high school students (age 17-18), eight college students (age 19-23), two housewives with teenage children (in their forties), and three professionals (age 29-34). Every participant was 82

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asked to submit their 10 most recent photos. All participants resided in the Tokyo Kanto region. The distinctiveness of our data collection method lies in the combination of detailed and contextualized observational data collected by the participants themselves, and in-depth interviews where researchers and participants coconstruct the meaning and patterns behind the observational data. In the case of private and mobile communications, it is not realistic for an ethnographer to directly observe all of the interstitial communications and information access that mobile phone users engage with. It is also not sufficient to only collect usage logs, since we are seeking the contextual information on location, setting, and situation in addition to information on communication itself. While retaining an ethnographic commitment to capturing details of everyday behaviour in the contexts that they occur, our approach departs from a traditional anthropological method that relies on the ethnographer participating in, observing, and documenting behaviours and settings. While we have conducted observational studies of mobile phone use in public transportation (Okabe & Ito, 2005), most of our research takes a person-centred rather than a location-centred approach. While the mobile phone has significantly reshaped the logic of urban space, we believe that the mobile phone’s primary context of meaning is located in relation to personal communication and identity. By focusing on personal meaning and relying on a self-documentation method, our participants begin taking a role akin to research collaborators or assistants. We pay them for their time and effort, and they also have access to the data that they generate. Of course, this does not mean vacating our role or perspective as professional researchers and social scientists in structuring and interpreting the data. The diary provides the framework and discipline for documenting activities that laypeople would not generally document or even recall otherwise. Further, it is through the final interviews that we ask participants to reflect on their activities and verbalized the logic of their practices in terms of our research categories and frameworks.

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Conceptual and methodological framework This paper builds on the conceptual framework developed in our earlier studies, where we have examined new kinds of ‘technosocial situations’ that are emerging through mobile phone usage, where users assemble social situations as a hybrid of virtual and physically co-present relations and encounters (Ito & Okabe, 2005). For example, one key technosocial situation we have identified is “ambient virtual co-presence,” where users use text messaging to inscribe a space of shared awareness of one another, sending messages that are primarily designed to keep in touch, rather than to communicate specific bits of information. This paper extends this framework to the use of camera phones, where we have seen similar kinds of technosocial situations emerging, though inflected in new ways due to the visual dimension. For example, the situation we identify as “intimate visual co-presence” grows out of the idea of “ambient virtual co-presence” but is a more intimate and restrictive social sphere due to characteristics specific to visual sharing. By mobilizing a situational frame, our studies represent a translation of traditional ethnographic analytic frameworks to newly technologized social practices. Our technosocial framework has dictated our data collection methods as well as our mode of analysis. Much of what has traditionally been considered stable locations, contexts, and infrastructures for social action are in flux, and increasingly distributed and technologically dependent. Certainly many types of activities can be pursued with a spatially localized form of participant observation that analyzes behaviour as structured by face-to-face and physically localized interaction. In places like Japan, however, more and more social and cultural context is mediated and spatially distributed, requiring ethnographers to capture and document these fragmented activities, as well as develop ways of analyzing them that take into account their unique characteristics. With the advent of the mobile phone in particular, remote social relations and cultural contexts are omnipresent in all settings of action, mobilized with the touch of a keypad and always close at hand in a pocket or a handbag. Our analytic challenge has been to retain an anthropological focus on native meaning and situated practice, while also recognizing the importance of remote and mediated meanings and social relations. Much of the work in technol84

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ogy and design studies is primarily interested in the specifics of individualized activity and interaction, rather than on cross-cutting communal and cultural structure surrounding the activity. By contrast, most work in anthropology prioritizes settings for behaviour that are spatially localized and communal rather than private, atomized, and distributed. We hybridize these approaches by developing analytic categories that are embedded in established social structures and systems of meaning, but are newly embodied through technical mediation. Our categories of technosocial situations emerge from the specifics of the technologically enabled activities we have observed, but rely on meanings and structure more general than these specific situations. For example, our concept of newsworthiness in photo sharing grows out of the more general and longstanding native concept of “neta” that manifests in a wide range of cultural domains. Similarly, our categories of couple intimacy and peer group interaction are not specific to camera phone usage, but are grounded in our ethnographic understanding of the structure of Japanese society. In other words, we try to stay true to two key anthropological tenets: the first is to take the native’s point of view (Geertz, 1989) rather than mobilizing categories of meaning that are primarily analytical and have no local counterpart. The second is to base our analysis on patterns of meaning and social structure that cross-cut domains that are institutionally distinct. For example, cultural categories of gender difference or personal versus public are mobilized settings ranging from educational, religious, recreational, and political domains (Yanagisako & Delaney, 1995). Anthropological analysis thus seeks to relate the specific situation and activity in question with resilient and generative native categories and structures. In this, our analytic approach differs from a strictly ethnomethodological approach that deals with activity as emergent in interaction rather than generated as part of a pre-existing social and cultural system. Our approach also differs from certain sociological frames that seek to develop analytic or technical categories that transcend the specifics of local social and cultural structures. Reviewing existing camera phone studies may provide some specificity to these general claims. For example, Koskinen et al. (2002) take an ethnomethodological approach that focuses on the details of turn taking and interaction in the exchange of messages, but does not seek to analyze the content of these exchanges in relation to pre-existing social and cultural categories. In a more recent study, © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Van House et al. (2004) develop categories based on “higher-order motives” for mobilizing personal photos: social relationships, self-expression, and selfpresentation. These categories are targeted to provide a rubric that can generalize across current and emergent technologies in order to inform design. Although their categories are quite different, Kindberg et al. (2004) also work to develop categories that are primarily theoretical rather than native, creating a grid of social versus individual, and affective versus functional in categorizing camera phone photos. Ling and Julsrud’s (2005) analysis of genres in multimedia messaging is probably closest to the analytic approach that we take, identifying culturally recognizable frames for communication. But their approach is experimental rather than naturalistic, so it differs from ours in the nature of the intervention and data collection. In contrast to design-oriented studies that seek to optimize human-device interaction and drivers of activity, our analytic frame is oriented primarily towards understanding native contexts of meanings and frames for action. Our analysis is not optimized for the analysis, testing, and critique of specific technical affordances, but this does not mean it is irrelevant for design and engineering. Our goal is to provide descriptions that present the native point of view and the phenomenology of experience in everyday life in Tokyo, which can ideally put designers and engineers into a local frame of understanding that may differ from their existing one. Further, the underlying systems of meaning and social structure woven into our categories are generative and resilient and will continue to structure emergent behaviours. Our argument is that technical structure is inseparable from structures of culture and society. Thus even design efforts that are technology focused and do not intervene in cultural or social negotiations need to be approached as an intervention into incumbent technosocial systems. Based on our commitments to a technosocial frame of ethnographic analysis, we have arrived at categories of practice that are keyed to native frames for action. These are personal archiving, intimate visual co-presence, and peer-to-peer news and sharing. The first might be considered a kind of personal self-authoring practice that is unique to the visual medium of photography. The second two are extensions of the kinds of technosocial situations we have observed in prior forms of mobile media exchange, revolving around the sharing of information among close friends and families. Overall, these uses conform to a 86

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more general pattern we have observed in our research towards personal, portable, and pedestrian forms of technology use through the use of handheld devices (Ito, Okabe & Matsuda, 2005). Mobile phones and camera phone use are enabling forms of communication and information access that are closely tied to the everyday, personal, and street-level visions of its users.

Techno-social situations of camphone use Personal archiving Compared to mobile email, camera phones have a personal collection and archiving function. Most photos taken by camera phone are not sent or shown to others, but are captured more as a personal visual archive. Camera phones enable personal visual archiving and authoring, a street level everyday visual viewpoint. One type of visual capture for personal use is visual note taking. For example, we saw one user snapping a photo of a job advertisement poster and another taking a picture of the titles of some books she intended to track down in the library

Figure 1: Recording book titles and publisher information

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Okabe: Is this at a bookstore? Interviewee: Um, it is at a used book district. Each copy was really expensive, about ¥4000 [the equivalent of $36USD]. I thought “These I will borrow from the library,” so this photo is really a memo to myself. Lately I take photos of things I want to buy. Like, I want to buy this book. Okabe: Did you really do that? Interviewee: Yes, I did look for the book in the library. This kind of visual note taking is relatively infrequent among the cases we recorded. When they are no longer needed, these kinds of photos tend to get erased from memory. A more common practice is to spontaneously take a photo of some scene or viewpoint within everyday life. For example, one 20-year-old college student snaps several pictures a day with her camera phone: a really large shell that she found on a beach; a photo of an interesting view from an escalator at a station that she frequents (figure 2). Dog pictures (figure 3) were taken by a female high school student, age16. She often takes photos of her family pet dog, when it acts cute.

Figure 2: A picture of a large shell (left), and an escalator in the station (right)

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Figure 3: Pictures of a cute pet

These photos of mundane scenes are indicative of an emergent practice of visually archiving an individual’s everyday life. These photos are not posed or staged, or particularly well-framed or thought out. Rather, they are snapped casually, with the intention of possibly looking at them a little later, recording a momentary slice of a viewpoint on everyday life. The following photo (figure 4) and interview is indicative of this kind of casual attitude towards photo taking.

Figure 4: A photo of a view of Yokohama Bay taken when out with a friend

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Okabe: This is the ocean, or rather the bay? Interviewee: Yes Okabe: Were you out with a friend, just hanging out and it was like “okay, I’ll just snap a photo”? Interviewee: Yeah, I think we were just hanging out. Okabe: How casual was the photo? Interviewee: I was just walking along and thought, oh, this looks nice. Okabe: And you got your mobile out. Interviewee: I thought if I snapped it I might remember it just a little later. Most of the photos that people take are not intended be sent to others. One example we gathered was particularly indicative of this sense of personal visual collecting. In the following interview, a college student describes a photo she took as an omamori (good luck amulet). In Japan, people often carry omamori simply to have a trusted spirit close by. This student sees her photo as a similar kind of presence. Interviewee: …There are seven students at that farewell party. I took the photo of my professor’s profile while he was talking. Okabe: Did you send or use this picture? Informant: No, this photo is just an omamori. Within the broader ecology of personal record keeping and archiving technologies, camera phones occupy a unique niche. One participant stated: “The camera phone is my eye. The personal viewpoint is the most important thing.” These are not random photos, but rather highly personal viewpoints on everyday life that are archived on the small screen. Most of our informants described a unique pleasure in building this personal viewpoint archive. Most of these photos only have meaning to the individual who took them, a quality that makes them even more valuable as a resource for personal identity construction.

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Intimate visual co-presence The photos described thus far were saved on an individual’s handset and were not shared with others. In contrast to personal uses, photo sharing provides a window into the organization of social relations through these new technologies. We are finding that the sharing of photos is related but interestingly different from some of the patterns we have seen with mobile email exchange. Many noted that sharing photos feels more “intrusive” than email, and tend to feel more narcissistic. This is particularly true for photo mail as a “push” modality that gets sent uninvited. Most of the sharing we saw of photos was off the handset screens. People would show their friends the photos they had in their phone on occasions that they got together. We have found that photos are generally only emailed to intimates such as a lover, spouse, or very close friend. In the case of mobile email, we found that most people had regular exchanges with 2-5 others, but not more than 10 people (Ito & Okabe, 2005). With photo mail, the circle for exchange tends to be even smaller and the content more selective. We would first like to describe some examples of people sharing photos off of their handset screens. In the following interview, a collect student describes how he went out to Yokohama with a childhood friend, and later showed the photos to his mother. Okabe: So your friend from sixth grade in Yokohama, you still get together? Interviewee: Yes, we still get together. Okabe: This is from when you two went out? Interviewee: Yes. […] Interviewee: This is a picture I took with my friend. Okabe: Why did you take it? Interviewee: I took it thinking I would show my mom. My friend’s appearance really changed compared to elementary school. Okabe: Oh, so you were meeting with your friend occasionally even after elementary school, but you mom had not seen her. Interviewee: That’s right. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Sharing photos with close friends by showing them the keitai [mobile] screen is a common practice. There are technical and economic reasons why people do not email photos to each other very frequently. Generally, photos cannot be sent between people subscribed to different carriers, and the packet fees for sending photos are can still be expensive. Recently, carriers have introduced fixed rate plans for data communication, so a growing number of users can send photos without concern about the cost. But there are also interesting social reasons that limit people’s emailing of photos. Apparently, in comparison to sending text messages, sending photos is perceived as “intrusive,” and “narcissistic.” The following photo (figure 5) and interview excerpt indicate this view. One college student wanted to send a photo of herself with a new hairstyle to her boyfriend, with the comment, “How does this look?”

Figure 5: Taking a photo of a new hairstyle and emailing it to her boyfriend

Interviewee: I might take a quick photo of my hairstyle and check if it looks okay. This is at home. I’d take two or three and pick one that looks good and send it out asking if it looks okay. Okabe: To who? Interviewee: I guess to my boyfriend. I had plans to see him the next day… If my boyfriend had a camera phone I would send it, saying “What do you think?” But he doesn’t have one now. I could never send a picture like that to a friend. They’d think I was an idiot. What point is it to look at friend’s face like that? 92

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In this interview, she describes how she would send a photo of a new hairstyle to a boyfriend but not to a girlfriend. Decisions of whether to send a photo or what kind of photo to send are made based on social relationships and levels of intimacy. This same college student made a different kind of decision with respect to a photo of some steamed sweet bean buns that she made (figure 6). After she made them, she sent this photo out to several of her friends with the caption “Look, look what I have cooked!” Unlike the photo of herself, she felt that this was something she could share with friends. It seems the reason for this was that it was less narcissistic than a picture of herself, and it was a more “newsworthy” than a new hairstyle.

Figure 6: Home-made steamed sweet bean buns, sent to close friends

The following photograph was received by a female professor, age 34, while she was away on a business trip overseas. Her husband emailed her a camera phone photo of their son riding a two-wheeler for the first time (figure 7). Figure 8, like the picture of the steamed buns, was a picture shared between friends. In this latter case, the photo was shared between a student and his professor with whom he has a close relationship. In the interview, our research subject says how he feels that if it is with someone he has a close relationship with he feels that picture sharing is appropriate, and he might share a picture in exchange for one received.

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Figure 7: A photo of a child riding a bike, sent between parents

Figure 8: A photo of home-made hamburger steak

Interviewee: This is a picture of some hamburger steak I made. Okabe: Can you tell me the context for this photo? Interviewee: This one—a professor that I am close to sent me an amazing photo of a flying frisbee. I felt like I needed to send some kind of image in return. I happened to be making hamburger steak, so I thought I would just send this off to him. Interviewee: When that first frisbee photo arrived, you didn’t think it was annoying?

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Inteviewee: Not at all. I thought it was really fun and it made me happy. Okabe: When you sent the photo of the hamburger steaks you made, did you attach some text? Interviewee: Yes, I did, I wrote, “Aren’t I an independent guy?” These examples demonstrate how the sharing of photos is tied to a sense of “distributed co-presence” that we have found people constructing through the exchange of texts messaging (Ito & Okabe, 2005). In the case of text messaging, people will often email intimates with information about their current status, such as “I’m walking up the hill now,” or “just watched a great TV show.” The visual information shared between intimates also represents a similar social practice, of sharing ambient awareness with close friends, family and loved ones who are not physically co-present. As in the case of the prior mediums of text and voice, these communications are part of the construction of “full-time intimate communities” (Nakajima, Himeno & Yoshii, 1999) or what Habuchi (2005) has called a “telecocoon.” These perspectives are based on a growing body of work on mobile phone use in Japan showing that people generally exchange the bulk of their mobile communication with a relatively small and intimate social group of two to five others. The exchange of communication with this group, in turn, becomes a reflexive process of self-authoring and viewpoint construction. Peer-to-peer news and reporting In addition to the ongoing mundane sharing of visual information between intimates who are in close touch, camera phones are also being used to capture and share what people consider more noteworthy events that others might be interested in. In Japanese, "material" for news and stories is called neta. The term has strong journalistic associations, but also gets used to describe material that can become the topic of conversation among friends or family: a new store seen on the way to work; a cousin who just dropped out of high school; a funny story heard on the radio. The following photos represent this kind of neta photo taken by young people and shared between peers. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Figure 9: Neta photos of a matrix-style move (left), a student who passed out drunk and got vandalized by friends (centre), and an odd statue sighted in town (right)

Camera phones provide a new tool for making these everyday neta not just verbally but also visually shareable. These moments might have been talked about between friends, but now are captured visually and enter the stream of conversation and exchange. Figure 10 shows embarrassing moments caught on film by a professor. One student just fell into a puddle, another student got drunk and wrapped toilet paper around his waist and stuck on a “beginner driver” sticker at a lab party.

Figure 10: A student who fell into a puddle (left), a drunk student who wrapped toilet paper around his waist and stuck on a “beginner driver” sticker at a party (right)

The following photo (figure 11) also represents an image in this vein. In the interview about this photo, the college student who took the photo (age 23) describes how he captured the image intending it to share with others in the near future. 96

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Figure 11: A can of beer stuck to a forehead without the use of adhesives

Interviewee: This one – when I was fooling around with a friend a can got stuck to his forehead [laugh]. Okabe: What happened to this photo? Did you send it to someone? Interviewee: I did. This is kind of interesting so I held on to it. It’s an interesting image. Okabe: Did you show it to anyone? Interviewee: Yes, I did. I showed it to some friends. Our last example (figure 12) is directed toward a somewhat different kind of audience than the family and friends that are generally the recipients of camera phone images. This research subject has an online photo journal site that she sends her camera phone photos to. The site is public, so could be viewed by anybody.

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Figure 12: A panda ride at an amusement area on the roof of a department store

Interviewee: This next one is of a really scary panda ride. It is a panda with sunken eyes at an amusement park at the top of a department store. This one was on its way to yapeus [a photo journal site]. It was really scary. Okabe: Were you thinking of yapeus when you took the photo? Interviewee: Yes.… Okabe: Is this more like neta than just a regular everyday photo? When you send a photo are you selecting things that some anonymous viewers might think is interesting? Interviewee: Yeah. I think of if people will get it, things that I want to say “Look! Look!” Okabe: Is your own personal viewpoint important? Interviewee: Yes, that is the key thing. Through the capture and sharing of small but significant visual events in people’s lives, camera phones are contributing to a kind of everyday photojournalism, where people are attentive to images and events that might be interesting or newsworthy events. Some of these photos might make it onto a photo journal site or into the news if the photographer happens to capture an event newsworthy to a general public. But most of these photos are trafficked among peers, and are newsworthy only among friends and families. We would argue that the transformation of “news” in the hands of these amateur photographers offers a 98

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less spectacular, but perhaps more significant shift in behaviour and visual awareness than the photos that might grab the latest headline on a news site.

Conclusion The practices we have described of capturing and sharing visual information are inseparable from social relations and contexts, and grow out of the patterns of mobile phone use that have been established through voice and text exchange as well as practices of amateur photography and resilient categories of social relationships. This includes the authoring of personal life stories through photographs, the construction of distributed co-presence through mobile media exchange, and peer-based sharing of news and stories. In conclusion, we would like to comment on some of the unique social practices that are being constructed through the merging of the mobile phone and the digital camera into a single device. The social function of the camera phone differs from the social and cultural position of the camera and the phone in some important ways. In comparison to the traditional camera, most of the photos taken by camera phone are short-lived and ephemeral images. The camera phone is a more ubiquitous and lightweight presence, and is used for more personal, less objectified viewpoint and sharing among intimates. Traditionally, the camera would get trotted out for special excursions and events – noteworthy moments bracketed off from the mundane. By contrast, camera phones capture the more fleeting and unexpected moments of surprise, beauty and adoration in the everyday. The everyday is now the site of potential news and visual archiving as a user might snap a scene from a familiar train station or a friend who just fell into a puddle. By embodying the characteristics of the mobile phone as a “personal, portable, pedestrian” device (Ito, Okabe & Matsuda, 2005), the function of the camera has shifted. One consequence of this more personal and pervasive viewpoint is that the camera is more strongly associated with an individual and intimate viewpoint. The traditional camera tended to take on more of the role of a third party, photographing a group photo or a scene that is framed in a more distanced way. The camera phone tends to be used more frequently as a kind of archive of a © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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personal trajectory or viewpoint on the world, a collection of fragments of everyday life. This kind of archiving is unique to the visual medium, in the sense that photos are often taken for purely personal consumption, whereas text messages are generally created with the intent to share with others. Sharing of visual information, by contrast, is a more selective and intimate enterprise than sharing of text. Users are still working out the social protocols for appropriate visual sharing, but seem to take pleasure in the adding visual information to the stream of friendly and intimate exchange of opinions and news. Camera phones enable an expanded field for chronicling and displaying self and viewpoint to others in a new kind of everyday visual storytelling. They make ubiquitous visual access to others possible. In other words, the gaze of others is always present as a potentiality, leading to a heightened sense of visual awareness and a growing centrality of images in the ongoing social exchanges of everyday life. The camera phone is the latest addition to our technosocial repertoire that enables us to mobilize our existing social relationships and systems of meanings in ways that are both innovative and locally intelligible.’

Acknowledgements This research was supported by DoCoMo House at Keio University and the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California. The fieldwork was supported by Kunikazu Amagasa.

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References Geertz, C. (1989): ‘“From the Natives Point of View”: On the Nature of Anthropological Understanding’. In: Geertz, C. (ed.): Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology. New York: Basic Books, pp. 55-71. Grinter, R.E. & Eldridge, M.A. (2001): ‘y do tngrs luv 2 txt msg?’. In: Prinz, W. et al. (eds.): Seventh European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Bonn: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 219-238. Habuchi, I. (2005): ‘Accelerating Reflexivity.’ In: Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (eds.): Personal, Portable, Pedestrian. Mobile Phones in Japanese Life. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 165-182. Ito, M. (2005a): Intimate Visual Co-Presence. Unpublished paper presented at the 'Pervasive Image Capture and Sharing Workshop, Ubiquitous Computing' conference. Tokyo. Ito, M. (2005b): 'Mobile Phones, Japanese Youth, and the Re-Placement of Social Contact'. In: Ling, R. & Pedersen, P. (eds.): Mobile Communication and the Re-Negotiation of the Public Sphere. New York: Springer-Verlag. Ito, M. & Okabe, D. (2005): 'Technosocial situations: Emergent structurings of mobile email use.' In: Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (eds.): Personal, portable, pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 257-273. Ito, M.; Okabe, D., & Matsuda, M. (eds.) (2005): Personal, portable, pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life. Cambridge: MIT Press. Japan.internet.com (2003): Kameratsuki keitai-denwa yu-zaa, kamera kinou "riyou shiteru" wa 65% (65% of camera phone users report they use the camera function). http://japan.internet.com/research/20030602/1.html (consulted 05/12/2005) Kato, F. et al. (2005): 'Uses and possibilities of the keitai camera.' In: Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (eds.): Personal, portable, pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 300-310. Kindberg, T. et al. (2004): How and why people use camera phones. http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2004/HPL-2004-216.html Koskinen, I. (2005): Pervasive image capture and sharing: Methodological remarks. Paper presented at the Pervasive Image Capture and Sharing Workshop, Ubiquitous Computing Conference, Tokyo. Koskinen, I.; Kurvinen, E. & Lohtonen, T.-K. (2002): Mobile image. Helsinki: Edita Prima.

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Ling, R. & Julsrud, T. (2005): 'Grounded genres in multimedia messaging.' In: Nyiri, K. (ed.): A sense of place: The global and the local in mobile communication. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 329-338. Matsuda, M. (2005): 'Discourses of keitai in Japan.' In: Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (eds.): Personal, portable, pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp.19-40. Nakajima, I.; Himeno, K. & Yoshii, H. (1999): 'Ido-denwa riyou no fukyuu to sono shakaiteki imi (diffusion of cellular phones and their social meaning).' In: Tsuushin Gakkai-shi (Journal of Information and Communication Research). Vol.16, No.3, pp. 79-92. Okabe, D. & Ito, M. (2003): 'Camera phones changing the definition of pictureworthy.' In: Japan Media Review. http://www.ojr.org/japan/wireless/1062208524.php Okabe, D. & Ito, M. (2005): 'Keitai and public transportation.' In: Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (eds.): Personal, portable, pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp.205-218. Okada, T. (2005): 'The social reception and construction of mobile media in Japan.' In: Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (eds.): Personal, portable, pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp.41-60. Riviere, Carole (2004): 'Mobile Camera Phones: A New Form of "being together" in Daily Interpersonal Communiation'. In: Mobile Communication and Social Change. Seoul, Korea. Van House, N. et al. (2005): The uses of personal networked digital imaging: An empirical study of cameraphone photos and sharing. Paper presented at the CHI, Portland, Oregon. Van House, N. et al. (2004): The social uses of personal photography: Methods for projecting future imaging applications. http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~vanhouse/pubs.htm (consulted 03/12/2005) Yanagisako, S., & Delaney, C. (eds.) (1995): Naturalizing power: Essays in feminist cultural analysis. New York: Routledge.

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Mobile Visuality and Everyday Life in Finland: An Ethnographic Approach to Social Uses of Mobile Image Virpi Oksman

I’m currently waiting, I have two families near to me that both are now having babies through artificial insemination, so I’m waiting from both directions to get an MMS message pretty soon; it’ll be exiting to see which one of them gets there first. And I’ll be sure to feel hurt if I don’t get them. That’s how it’s gotten nowadays. (Valma, 64, grandmother) In recent years, as camera phones and digital cameras have become more common, sending visual messages has become increasingly easy. Visual communication is used most importantly between members of the immediate circle: MMS creates closeness between friends and family members and adds emotion to the communication; messages are often humorous and they function to maintain and enforce relationships and social bonds. Mobile visual communication has become one means of communication to complement the more traditional ways of keeping contact. For instance the news about the arrival of a baby or a new pet is delivered immediately through MMS, whereas before sending photographs in a letter was perhaps the most commonly used method. The aim of this article is to observe the uses of visual mobile technology and the social meanings associated with it through an ethnographic research design. The research group at the University of Tampere in Finland has charted developments in the usage of mobile communication and the Internet since 1997. A longitudinal study of many years provides data for the observation of trends in technology use. Between 2002 and 2005 the University of Tampere has been analysing the wishes that users of various age groups have in relation to mobile media, data communication and value-added services. After 2002, the study of MMS communication has become an important aspect of the study. In 2005, field experiments have been carried out with key informants using 3G phones. The experiments are used to provide more detailed information on the © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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usage situations of daily life and the special characteristics of the role of image in mobile data communication. The research has utilised mainly two different types of ethnographic research design in the context of research on visual mobile communication: 1. field experiments and 2. longitudinal follow-up study of the phenomenon through thematic interviews and observation. The article analyses the types of knowledge that can be produced and the variety of information needs that it can be used for.

Approaching the social uses of mobile images Mobile visual communication has been studied through several different methods in different countries. Often, research results have been acquired through field experiments where the subjects have received camera phones to use for a certain period of time. In some countries, such as Japan, interviews of camera phone owners have been possible for some years due to the high penetration level of the devices in the country (Okabe, 2004; Ito, 2005). Many empirical studies on mobile image highlight the personal and emotional nature of the communication (see Van House et al., 2004; Okabe, 2003; Koskinen, Kurvinen & Lehtonen, 2000; Kasesniemi et al., 2003; Scifo, 2004). In Japan for instance mobile images are experienced as very private – many say that sharing photos feels more ‘intrusive’ than just sending e-mail messages. Photos are mailed only to intimates such as a lover, a spouse or a very close friend. Decisions about sending an image or what kind of a photo to send are made based on social relationships (Okabe, 2004:10). Van House identified four traditional uses of photos: constructing a personal and group memory; creating and maintaining relationships; and self-presentation. On the basis of camera phone studies, a fifth category was also identified: functional images. From their data, the researchers concluded that camera phone use encourages experimentation with a more expressive use of images (Van House, 2004:3). Kindberg et al. (2005:46) observed in their study that the most common reason for capturing a mobile image was to enrich mutual experience by sharing an image with those who were co-present at the time. The image was sent later, as a memento of something experienced 104

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together. The largest category of images, however, contained those captured for the purpose of individual reflection or reminiscing. These were often pictures used as digital ‘flipbooks’ of favourite images, or the images one might keep in one’s wallet, depicting, for example, family members, friends or pets (see also Oksman, 2005:359). The social function of a camera and an MMS phone differ in some important ways. The camera phone has a more ubiquitous presence and its use is somehow more personal and private in nature – traditionally the camera has been used for special events. The camera phones tend to capture more fleeting and unexpected moments (see Okabe, 2004:6-7; Oksman, 2005:359). In this article, I observe the social meanings associated with mobile images in people’s daily lives in Finland: does the mobile image alter the ways and traditions of depicting life? The research aims to uncover how the development of mobile visual communication situates itself as part of the development of digital and visual literacy and people’s capacity to structure visual messages in a way that supports the person’s individual needs and accommodates their personal production of meanings (see Sinatra, 1986).

Multi-method ethnography In our study on the social meanings of the mobile image, we have used an applied ethnographic approach. According to the established tradition (e.g. Van Maanen, 1988), an ethnography is a written representation of selected aspects of a culture. Ethnographic writings can and do inform human conduct and judgement in innumerable ways by pointing to the choices and restrictions that reside at the very heart of social life. In the anthropological tradition, ethnographic fieldwork usually means living with and living like the people studied, and anthropological fieldwork routines involve immersion in a culture over a period of years (Van Maanen, 1988:1-10). When examining the use of the mobile phone or the Internet in contemporary society, researchers are already living amidst the studied phenomenon. In a situation like this, the researcher leads ‘a double role’ that – in addition to making observations and analysing the lives of fellow human beings as an outside observer – also involves living amidst the phenomenon and becoming a part of it, for instance as a user of the mobile phone and the © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Internet. One of the challenges of this type of research thus constitutes eliciting empirically interesting results from a familiar everyday setting. According to Silverman ‘The good observer finds excitement in the most everyday, mundane kinds of activities’ (Silverman, 1994:30). The ethnographic approach was used in the 1980s to study domestic technologies (Silverstone, Hirsch & Morley, 1992). Research into the use of the Internet, computers and the mobile phone has generated a variety of new ethnographic methods. In addition to thematic interviews and observations, the realities of the researched can be understood through collecting other materials such as Internet ethnographies and computer biographies (see Henwood et al., 2001). Also, interviews can be conducted through e-mail or virtual observation can be carried out in chat rooms (Bober, 2003). Our research design of ‘applied multi-method ethnography’, which could also be referred to as ‘multi-modal ethnography’ (see Dicks & Soyinka, 2003) is largely based on thematic interviews and other research material to support them. During the years we have gathered different types of materials produced by the informants themselves, such as media diaries where young people describe their everyday media use. Later, in connection with the field experiment, the participants wrote test diaries on their use of the camera phone. Through these materials, we were able to deepen our knowledge about a variety of different thematic areas. For instance, through media diaries we received more precise information about young people’s daily routines and media use. The diary material contained more specific details about the use of media and user experiences, which in an interview situation might have seemed to the respondents too trivial to mention. We also gathered different visual material produced by the respondents. This consisted of children’s drawings, photos and MMS images taken by young people and picture collages compiled by them. More recently, the visual material of the project has come to consist mostly of MMS images and videos that at present number about 1.000. We also gathered different observation material. The researchers followed weblogs, discussion boards, image galleries and homepages popular among young people and seniors. The method of mobile and Internet culture observation complemented the interviews and provided additional information regarding various interesting questions that had arisen in the interviews. For instance, 106

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we examined mobile image blogs and the types of communication that they were used for among different age groups. Thematic interviews were established as the main research method, and some 400 of them have been conducted during 2002−2005. The sample includes teenagers, families and senior citizens from different socio-economic backgrounds. Conducting a thematic interview is a developing skill that every researcher acquires little by little. In this kind of research design there is a tendency to avoid early hypothesis as they are doomed to failure; instead the interview generally begins with a set of very general questions (Silverman, 1994:36). A research period was generally begun by carrying out some initial ‘test interviews’. It is worth mentioning, that the ‘test interviewee’ could, however, be a highly knowledgeable informant that was able to, for instance, offer the interviewer a thorough introduction into the current communication culture of young people. In the research interviews, we commonly utilised a basic framework of questions including a variety of both more specific and more general questions, but a strong hypothesis was generally avoided as it would most likely have proved unsuitable for the purposes of the research, since the reality of the interviewees is always more complex and surprising than expected. Moreover, significant changes could occur in people’s attitudes and the usage patterns of mobile images in a surprisingly short space of time. Our approach to the research interviews resembled largely the notion of the active interview described in Holstein and Gubrium (1995), which is well suited for topics where the researcher is interested in subjective meanings and the interpretive constructions used by the interviewees. With the active interview, the method of sampling is described as ‘experimental and spontaneous’. The number of interviewees can be increased in the course of the process for instance as new and interesting themes emerge from the topic. In practice, as we received enough information on a certain topic, such as parents’ attitudes to camera phones, we would move on to seek information on MMS communication between young people. Similarly, if we have had a sufficient number of informants with a certain background, such as university students, we would subsequently contact new young adults already in working life to become part of our focus group (so called active sampling).

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Figure 1: Children’s drawings of camera phones in 2002, when the interviewed families were not yet using camera phones. Traditional norms as to how a mobile phone should look like do not always apply to children (cf. drawings). In the children’s opinion, the optimal mobile is new and modern and incorporates many extra features. The most popular proposed additional features range from TV and camera to flashlight and soft drink vending machine.

Ethnographic field experiments In 2005 the project carried out ethnographic field experiments with the purpose of anticipating the everyday use of MMS devices. The term 'ethnographic field experiment' is used here to refer to a certain kind of method of data collecting. In this kind of research design, the collection of ethnographic materials, such as user diaries and picture and video materials produced by informants, is combined for the usability field testing of devices (in many cases comparable testing is carried out in test laboratories and other more restricted circumstances). It is meant to produce as authentic and multifaceted a description about the use and significance of the device among the studied in the various situations of their daily lives as possible. The subjects of the study were selected among different age groups, ranging from 13 to 65, and among different users of mobile phones. The first research period focused on the visual mobile communication of young adults and the second period on communication within family communities. Some of the researched had no experience in the use of camera phones or mobile services, whereas others had been using them for several years already. The informants’ prior technology usage patterns and their attitudes to technology and mobile ser108

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vices also varied. 1 The studied were given Nokia 6630 and 7610 phones to use for a period of 4 to 6 weeks and were asked to write down their experiences in test diaries. Based on the instructions they received, the respondents used the phones in everyday situations. Each of the informants was interviewed twice: before and after the test period. Later the researchers asked for updates via email and telephone (e.g. whether the use of MMS continued after the research period). Some of the respondents received remuneration for the costs incurred by the MMS and mobile service usage, whereas the second group paid for the costs themselves, to enable comparisons. Through the field experiment we were able to gain knowledge about the user experiences of people who had not previously used camera phones. Some filled their test diaries with long and embellished descriptions of their first experiences as camera phone users, whereas others stated their experiences more briefly, using just a few words or sentences. 3 April 2005: I was absolutely thrilled about the mobile image. Usually I don’t have a camera with me all the time, but now there were many more ‘photogenic’ situations. It was great to be able to take pictures of everything. You have the camera with you all the time because it’s in your mobile. Also, the good quality of the images was surprising. Because my friends’ phones are old models, I’m not able to send the images to them. It’s a good thing I see them often so I can show them the images that way. Quite a few people have pointed the good quality of the images out to me. There’s now this entirely new dimension to picture taking, for example, I like how sharply and beautifully the wrinkles around my father’s eyes can be seen in side view. I don’t usually pay attention to those kinds of things. (test diary, Sini, 23) 8 October 2005: A friend’s wedding. The camera mobile is alright otherwise, but it seems like a taboo at parties. I keep mine firmly hidden away. I steal a snapshot while calling the babysitter to ask how 1

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my daughter is doing. In the whole wedding, I only take two pictures, one of the happy couple (terrible backlight) and another of the children at our table. (test-diary, Anna, 26) With the field experiment we are able to gain a better picture of the various daily uses of the camera phone. In addition to the social dimension, the camera phone appeared to incorporate a strong function as a capturer of the informants’ personal memories. The camera phone was also used for self-expression; the phone was used like a diary for storing moments and experiences that are important for the owner him/herself and not necessarily meant to be shared with others. A typical target was, for instance, a pair of nice shoes the person might consider buying or nice meals eaten during the week. One woman documented the refurbishing of her house in diary form on video. Finding the video camera was an absolute highlight with the phone. Excellent! I started to record our redecoration job. I was able to document it, something that would have been left undone otherwise. (Petra, 24)

Camera phones and the cycle of ‘moral panics’ Indeed the media pose a whole set of control problems for the household, problems of regulation and of boundary maintenance. These are expressed generally in the regular cycle of moral panics around new media or media content, but on the everyday level, in individual households they are expressed through decisions to include or exclude media content and to regulate within the household who watches what and who listens to, plays with and uses what. (Silverstone, Hirsch & Morley, 1992:20) The longitudinal aspect of the study enabled us to draw out more general lines of development regarding the significance of the mobile image and the development of usage in the daily lives of the researched. Often, adopting a new 110

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technology as a part of daily life follows a certain ‘moral panic’ pattern: in the beginning, the device arouses strong opinions and horror scenarios as to how it will alter everyday practices. It is common to overestimate these effects at this stage. With time, as the technology becomes more familiar, horror scenarios are uttered less and less. In the end, the device becomes an aspect of daily life that no longer generates active discussion. The ‘domestication’ of mobile phones can be said to have followed a similar development trend. In 2001 and 2002, when the presence of camera phones in people’s daily life was still quite unfamiliar, some people expressed rather negative attitudes to mobile phones. Despite extensive marketing campaigns, people lacked knowledge of what the device could actually do. The camera phone was commonly conceived of as the videophone familiar from science fiction with an impossible to switch off real-time video connection (see Oksman, 2005:355). Also other types of misperceptions existed regarding the functions of the device: the MMS phone was even often confused with the Internet. Parents often perceived privacy issues as constituting a central aspect in the problematic of mobile photography (see also Soronen & Tuomisto, 2002:360). Parents feared to be forced to compromise their own privacy due to the new mobile image culture and were also concerned about the privacy of their children. You don’t get a moment’s peace. If you go to a bar or a pub or anywhere, there’s always someone snapping away photos and sending them on. You don’t get any privacy. That’s the thing, when I think about the young people today, there are certain quite heavy ethical problems . . . girls Ella’s age discussing whether or not they can have a party at someone’s house since there’s this one girl who wants to videotape everything. It’s the same thing with the picture phone. (Father, 40, and mother, 38) Concern over the use of camera phones was largely caused by a lack of etiquette: there was no clear code of conduct regarding where and what it was appropriate to video or photograph, and what pictures could be published over the Internet. By 2003, people had grasped the idea of the MMS phone: it was no longer confused with the Internet or real time video connection. Within a year, © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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the attitudes had changed significantly became more positive, although the price was still considered high (our sample consisted of the first camera phone owners, but owning the device was still relatively rare). In 2004 MMS phones were even more common than the year before. The camera feature continued to divide opinions: some considered it a nice addition while others saw it as unnecessary. MMS phone owners no longer consisted exclusively of techno-enthusiasts. For most camera phone owners, the camera was seen as a convenient extra. The better phones included a camera as a standard feature.The camera is beginning to be more or less a necessary evil, they seem to be dumping it on almost every model. (Jaakko, 25) Despite the proliferation of the devices, some MMS owners still did not experiment with the MMS feature. Surprisingly many camera phone owners had not ordered MMS settings for their phone. Most commonly, the images were transferred onto a computer via infrared, but quite often the images were ‘stuck’ on the phone. However, various new forms of conversation based on the exchange of images were beginning to emerge. There was a time I would send MMS with a friend of mine. I sent her the floor plan of our new flat when we got one. Then she sent me a picture of a can of Glühwein and Christmas cookies, as an invitation to visit them. A picture really is worth more than a thousand words. (Emilia, 23) The obstacles of MMS communication were connected with settings, devices and the beginning of the service. Often, it was unclear whether the recipient had a phone that could receive MMS messages, or something went wrong with the transmission and the pictures were posted online and instead of the images the person received only a notice about a website where the pictures could be viewed. Getting the MMS settings right was experienced as particularly difficult: despite efforts the connection was often not functional. 112

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In 2005 camera phones began to be common in the families and friendship circles of the informants. For many, the camera has become an essential aspect of the phone, and the opportunity to capture random situations is a feature that is seen to promote the convenience of everyday life. One important feature of a phone is of course that it has a camera. It is one of the things that you have gotten so used to that it would be difficult to do without. It is a toy for us, we take nice pictures and send them back and forth. I would have no real need for it, but I’m so used to it now, having a camera in my pocket at all times, being able to capture the situation, that it would be difficult to give it up. (Monika, 32) Communication through MMS takes many forms, but it has not generated an etiquette requiring immediate response through the same channel, which was a basis of, for instance, young people’s SMS culture (Kasesniemi & Rautiainen, 2001:186). Different discussion patterns emerged around mobile image: an MMS message could be responded to by calling, through SMS, or the discussion could continue through a sequence of video, image and SMS messages. In the below extract two friends are exchanging SMS and MMS messages at the World Championships of Athletics (standing simultaneously in different queues, later in different stands):

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Olli: SMS 8 Aug 2005 at 6:20pm: ‘Serious queue here. There? Mikko: MMS shot at 6:25pm

Olli: MMS shot at 7:55pm: ‘I’m here with Börje and Staffan’

Mikko: SMS at 8:01pm: ‘Staffan looks like he’s been associated with hammer throwing before, perhaps as a wire’ 2 Olli: MMS video of a drunken Swedish man at 9pm: ‘Isn’t it beautiful when man, sports and alcohol meet?’ 2

This is a joke the Finnish men are making about the Swedish men in the picture. The point is here is that the two Swedish men are watching a hammer throwing sports competition. A (sports) hammer is a round heavy object that is attached to a long, thin wire. So the Finnish men here are joking about these two Swedish men; the one is rather large and the other is very thin. "So, he's been associated with hammer throwing before, perhaps as a wire" – as he is so thin and long. 114

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Mikko: MMS shot at 9:40pm: ‘Not as beautiful as Christine Arron’s behind vibrating in replays’

Mobile image and telepresence I’ve sent a lot of MMS to grandparents, relatives and Otso’s (2 years) godparents. Most of the relatives live pretty far, on the other side of the country. Last time I sent a video was when Otso was having a coffee party with his teddybear on the floor there. He was so funny, pouring coffee from a little plastic coffee can for the teddy. I think I sent it to my husband at work right then. Otso also has a rabbit that plays music and he turned it on and danced with it. With his grandparents living so far away, it would be nice if Otso could speak to them face to face. So we’re currently planning to acquire a webcam, so we could call his grannies on the computer and talk to them for a longer time. (Monika, 32) Through camera phones, Internet cameras and video calls the families can create ‘telepresence’, share experiences and feel as if the absent friends and family were there to witness the occasion (Kindberg et al., 2005:46). This opportunity for telepresence is capitalised on by teenagers, stay-at-home or teleworking parents and young families with grandparents living elsewhere. One teenager, © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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whose friend had moved to Spain, describes the fascination of telepresence in the following way: One of my friends moved to Spain, so I’ve spoken to her there. It’s pretty neat, her showing me the place through webcam, so sometimes I get a feeling it’s nice we have winter here. (Annika, 13) In Finnish society it is becoming more and more common for young families to live in different localities than the grandparents. Hence new technologies have found its place in uniting family communities. With the opportunity to send images and videos of the child’s activities, the nuclear family is virtually expanded through Internet cameras, camera phones and video calls into a wider family community that may include grandparents, godparents and other relatives. When previously, contacts to relatives occurred by calling or rare visits, today grandparents are often able to follow the development of the child more closely through a variety of different technologies. Parents are able to send images or even transmit video of real-time events. For instance, a child’s first steps or a visit to the park can be captured through mobile equipment and made available for the grandparents to see. As mobile visuality and other digital image culture proliferates, people are more spontaneous about taking pictures of anything that surrounds them. Taking pictures is no longer perceived as the precious and unique occasion that required the presence of Sunday clothes and combed hair. Mobile image communication has been estimated to generate more situation-specific, but also disposable photography. - You do tend to take more pictures with the mobile. It’s more spontaneous because you have the thing with you all the time. - Maybe you think of them somehow as less official. That maybe they’re not real, actual photographs. - You don’t think of these phone images as something you will return to when you’re a grandmother. They’re more like snapshots. (Sami, 20, and Saana, 20) 116

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With the increase of digital photography people do not necessarily feel the need to have paper versions of all their photos. Developing film into printed photographs and setting them up in albums is seen as laborious and old-fashioned. Saving images on the hard drive of the computer or CD-ROMS is considered enough to fill the immediate need for picture viewing. Pictures are increasingly seen as disposable and situation-specific in nature (see Okabe & Koskinen, 2000:113). It can be asked whether photo albums are a part of a vanishing tradition. How will visual family traditions be transmitted from one generation to another in the future in case the pictures vanish from the computer as the hard drive is destroyed?

Ethnography and some methodological challenges Above I have described the main features and approach of an ethnographic research on mobile image. According to Silverman, one of the strengths of observational research is its ability to shift focus as interesting new data becomes available (1994:43). In practice, even though we did adhere to the principles of ‘active sampling’, the study described here was not wholly unstructured, as would be the case if we had chosen to employ ‘flexible research design’. One of the strengths of multi-method research is that the research in itself offers different kinds of data that can be examined side by side. In practice, the comparability of an ethnographic study to other ethnographic studies may be difficult as the sample of the study may consist of very different users with greatly varying levels of competence. Any comparison should at least account for the backgrounds of the informants. For instance, students or professionals of information technology constitute a largely different group of users than people taking up a new device with zero experience. The information needs of the research will determine the types of informants selected for the study: is there a more general interest in long-term trends or perhaps a need to learn about new innovative usages? When reporting the results, it would be important to describe the background of the informants, as this has a great impact on the results of the study. Moreover, it would be useful to include information about the informants’ use of other media and other socio-cultural aspects, such as family structure and family © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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traditions, which have an impact for instance on the phenomena of mobile communication as they appear in the daily lives of the researched. In other words, ethnographic field experiments should also be interpreted within a wider societal context.

References Bober, M. (2003): ‘Virtual Youth Research: An Exploration of Methodologies and Ethical Dilemmas from a British Perspective.’ In: Buchanan, E. (ed.): Readings in Virtual Ethics: Issues and Controversies. Hershey: Idea Group, pp. 288316. Dicks, B. & Soyinka, B. (2003): Multi-Modal Ethnography. A paper presented at the ‘International Visual Sociology Association’ conference. Southampton: University of Southampton. Henwood, F.; Kennedy, H. & Miller, N. (2001): Cyborg Lives? Women’s Technobiographies. York: Raw Nerve Books. Holstein, J.A. & Gubrium, J.F. (1995): The Active Interview. London: Sage. Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (2005): Personal, Portable, Pedestrian. Mobile Phones in Japanese Life. Cambridge: MIT Press. Kindberg, T. et al. (2005): I Saw This and Thought of You: Some Social Uses of Camera Phones. External Report. Hewlett-Packard Development Company. Kasesniemi, E.-L.& Rautiainen, P. (2003): ‘Mobile communication of children and teenagers in Finland’. In: Katz, J. & Aakhus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk and Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 170-192. Kasesniemi, E-L. et al. (2003): Elävän mobiilikuvan ensi tallenteet. Käyttäjien kokemuksia videoviestinnästä (The first captures of living mobile image: Users’ experiences of video communication). Espoo: VTT Tiedotteita. Koskinen, I.; Kurvinen, E. & Lehtonen, T.-K. (2000): Mobiili kuva (Mobile Image). Helsinki: Edita – IT press. Okabe, D. (2004): Emergent Social Practices, Situations and Relations through Everyday Camera Phone Use. Paper presented at the ‘Mobile Communication and Social Change’ conference in Seoul, Korea, October 18-19. Oksman, V. (2005): ‘MMS and its early adopters in Finland’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): A Sense of Place. The Mobile Information Society. Communications in the 21st Century. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 349-361. 118

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Scifo, B. (2004): ‘The Domestication of Cameraphone and MMS Communications. The Experience of Young Italians’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): A Sense of Place. The Mobile Information Society. Communications in the 21st Century. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 363-373. Silverman, D. (1994): Interpreting qualitative data – Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction. Sage: London. Silverstone, R.; Hirsch, E. & Morley, D. (1992): ‘Information and communication technologies and the moral economy of household’. In: Silverstone, R. & Hirsch, E. (eds.): Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces. London: Routledge, pp. 15-31. Sinatra, R. (1986): Visual Literacy Connections to Thinking, Reading and Writing. Springfield, Ill.: Thomas. Soronen, A. & Tuomisto, V. (2002): ‘Mobile Image Messaging – Anticipating the Outlines of the Usage Culture’. In: Paternó, F. (ed.): Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices. 4th International Symposium, Mobile HCI 2002, Pisa, Italy. Proceedings. Berlin: Springer Verlag. Van House, N. et al. (2004): ‘The Uses of Personal Networked Digital Imaging: An Empirical Study of Camera phone Photos and Sharing’. In: Extended Abstracts of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2005). ACM Press, pp. 1853-1856. Van Maanen, J. (1988): Tales of the Field. On Writing Ethnography. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

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III.

Relationships

Unfaithful: Reflections of Enchantment, Disenchantment … and the Mobile Phone Bella Ellwood-Clayton

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, One foot in the sea and one on shore, To one thing constant never. (Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing II, iii, 62) “We have been living together for five months now. The burning, flooding stage of new love has turned from midsummer euphoria to the colours of Indian summer: magenta, burnt amber. We are more routine now, more in harmony. I am happier with our domesticity and everyday closeness than those beginning colours so bright – lime green, electric pink, when things were thrilling, but utterly uncertain. Before deciding to live together, Michael worked in Europe for the months of June, July and August. We communicated the regular ways – long phone calls, emails – and what became a favourite, almost secret pleasure, through texting. Because of the time difference between us, I would wake up in the morning and there would be texts from him waiting for me – ‘morning sweetpea’ – and other times, more mischievous ones: ‘don’t wear panties today.’ This text… fetish, continued upon his return. I liked that the phone was with him at all times, close to his body, close to me. We would text each other when we were at work, when we were out with friends, even when we were in the same room at social functions: ‘Anna, my vixen, meet me upstairs, come quickly.’ He began receiving late night texts about a month ago. At first, I thought nothing of it. Michael is an honourable man. But last night, when the phone buzzed like a twitching mosquito, I rose © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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out of bed. Michael is a heavy sleeper. I used to joke that the house could burn and… Careful that his breathing remained steady, I felt along the inner pockets of his jacket and jeans. Once finding his phone, I grabbed my housecoat and quickly went down the stairs, opening the side door which leads to our balcony. Moonlit. How could an innocuous text message produce such mistrust within me, make me sneak bandit-like through our house built solid by labour of love? Her name is Helen. The name rings a small bell; did he mention her before—a client, a colleague? Missing you, she texted. Luv H, she texted. My body choking. Losing breath. I sit on our balcony. Sit on our balcony until the stars fall and the inevitable, unfortunate morning comes. By this time, I’ve read their history. Their shared messages passed back and forth, ones he’s saved like a treasure to read again. The call log that records the length of their stolen words, their guilty, forbidden words. The little phone in my hands: my dark little unwelcome friend, bearer of bad news, the footprints of his infidelity.” (Anna, Australian, age 31) 1 Stories of infidelity hold fascination for many. Among our neighbours, our heroines, our celebrities and our politicians, infidelity is the central topic of many great novels and films, of gossip passed at kitchen tables and newspaper headlines. Debate exists about the nature of adult sexuality, whether we are essentially quasi-monogamous or quasi-polygamous, and anthropologists such as myself explore how the sexual norms of different cultures inform the behaviour of its members. In the contemporary era, much discussion has taken place in ‘first world’ countries about increasing divorce rates. Despite ideals of sexual monogamy, divorce is often linked to the high rates of adultery within institutionalized partnerships. This has led to radical questioning of salient markers of normative heterosexual forms: sexual monogamy, marriage and couplehood (see Heaphy, 1

To protect the privacy of research participants, much information in the case studies herein are a mélange of interviewees’ voices and experiences. 124

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Donovan & Weeks, 2004). Examining how affairs are socially constructed and the range of meanings assigned to them by social actors across different historical periods and different cultural milieus can increase our understanding of changing ideologies and practices concerning marriage, sexuality and gender relations. As can exploring the dynamic relationship between infidelity and technology provide insight about the direction of this human proclivity. Numerous cross-cultural studies have replicated findings that the cell phone provides its users a site to explore their desires, versus traditional face-to-face communication which may act to restrain such expression (Ellwood-Clayton, 2003, 2004; Kasesniemi & Rauntianen, 2002; Pertierra et al., 2002).2 Texting removes aural, visual and vocal signals, which can act to instil bravery among communicators, particularly in the beginning stages of romantic relationships, particularly for women (Byrne & Findlay, 2004:4). 3 As indicated in the case study above, wireless communication also inspires innuendo and sexual play among its users. Texting affords flexibility, (crafted) spontaneity – and perhaps most significantly – a great deal of privacy for romantic communicators. Moreover, unlike email communication, texters have the ability to contact one another at any given time: they are almost always “online.” These factors work together to position texting as a tool of enchantment, and illuminate why texting is increasingly becoming a central component of romance-building for people in different geographical and cultural locations. This paper is about reflections. It is not a summary of one research project, nor does it provide analysis of particular survey findings. Rather it mirrors my own movements as researcher (continental shifts from Asia, to Australia, to North America), cell phone user, reader, listener and observer. Indeed, in the Philippines, where I conducted most of my research, the cell phone has become 2

For example, a recent survey of young Asian cell phone users found that about one out of two Filipinos expressed their affection through mobile phone communication (Ho, 2003:A4), with 58% of respondents saying “I love you” by SMS. The Philippines topped “the most expressive in love” category and was heralded “Asia’s text Casanova” (ibid.). 3 In a study about romantic communication channel preference among unmarried heterosexuals, O’Sullivan (2000) found that mediated communication, such as texting, provides a “buffer effect” in terms of impression management. Physical distance negates potentially negative face-to-face rejection signals e.g. facial expressions, intonation. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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a chief player in the courtship, maintenance and termination of romantic relationships. I discovered that it had also become a central conduit for extra-dyadic affairs. Upon return to Australia, through reading cross-cultural accounts of the changing sphere of wireless communication and by listening to the stories of my counterparts, reading the magazines left open at coffee shops, and screening Hollywood films, it has become apparent that adultery and texting are often played out hand-in-hand. Investigation of the relationship between advanced technology and intimate relationships in light of sexual transgressions illuminates how technology is altering intimacy. According to Rome-based private eye Miriam Tomponzi, there are three prerequisites in order to “cheat” successfully: “delete your phone records from the phone memory, delete text messages and learn to fake a work conversation if a lover calls when a spouse is present” (Dow, 2002:18). Although infidelity is a common element of human experience, the area has not received significant scholarly treatment (Morgan, 2004:15) 4 as has it generally been examined as tangent events rather than a social phenomena. With the growing popularity of the web, however, a plethora of studies in the communications field were published regarding the relationship between the Internet, cyber- versus embodied infidelity (and associated complexities), and identity experimentation (Dodge & Kitchin, 2001; Gray, 2002; Turkle, 1995). Yet, to date, almost no research has explicitly examined the role of the cell phone role in initiating, aiding and terminating romantic extra-dyadic affairs. Before I reflect further on these ideas, I must first provide the reader with some discussion about infidelity. I define infidelity within ‘Judeo-Christian tradition,’ 5 map its various configurations, and explore how it is customarily viewed. This is followed by a discussion about the consequences of infidelity, which will help elucidate why secrecy is a defining feature of a traditional affair and how a cell phone can enhance such deception. I then discuss disenchant4

Indeed, a striking omission in scholarly work about infidelity is lack of discussion about the relationship between affairs and sexually transmitted infections, STIs (Harrison & Marsden, 2002:xv). 5 Although not the focus of this paper, polygamous marriages, whereby romantic love and emotional intimacy are deemphasized, are the norm for many current societies (e.g. Bedouin culture of Israel, the Yoruba of Niger) (Tuch, 2000:xx). 126

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ment: discovery of an unfaithful partner. Finally I explore future technologies in terms of maintenance and discovery of infidelity.

Unfaithful In their own way affairs are just as much a part of everyday life as marriage itself…. People have affairs because marriage doesn’t work…. Officially we are a monogamous society, unofficially we are polygamous. (Lake & Hills, 1979:172). When exploring infidelity we encounter issues related to trust, secrecy, deception, power, control, commitment, intimacy, and the “enterprise of love” (Tuch, 2000:xi-xii). In North America, as well as in other Western countries, emotional intimacy, companionship and sexual exclusivity are the predominate ideals, which the institution of marriage provides (VanderVoort & Duck, 2004:1; Shrage, 1994:38). Yet growing disillusionment concerning whether marriage can meet these traditional relationship goals is rife. At this juncture, I wish to define infidelity and explain why I use ‘infidelity,’ ‘affairs,’ and ‘unfaithful,’ as interchangeable terms throughout the paper. Infidelity is no longer linked solely to marriage. Rather, it encompasses monogamy and exclusivity within committed couple relationships (Harrison & Mardsen, 2004:xi). Thus, the article treats infidelity among participants in heterosexual relationships ranging from boyfriend-girlfriend dyads, to cohabiting couples and those partnered by institution. 6 From my reading, infidelity generally is a breach of trust or relationship agreements (Pittman, 1989:20), and can be defined explicitly as transgressions of previously negotiated commitments among couples, specifically sexually exclusive monogamy (often involving deception). There are nevertheless numerous types of infidelity, which possess relative significance. As Shrage (1994:37) notes “…sex can have different degrees of seriousness.” Affairs are nominally constructed as triadic relationships: a couple 6

The inclusion of children certainly adds to the complexity of an affair, but is not differentiated upon explicitly throughout. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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and the lover of one of the partners. 7 I combined and reworked Lawson’s (1988:27) and Pittman’s (1989:35) classification of heterosexual extramarital relationships. First there is the incidental encounter, which occurs under unusual circumstances, is considered somewhat accidental, or structured as a brief fling, and is based on immediate pleasure, risk, and coloured overall by a sense of meaninglessness. Then there is the open affair, whereby marital arrangements allow for mutual sexual experimentation; and philandering, continuous or recurrent infidelity whereby affairs are not necessarily conducted in secret, with some spouses actively cooperating. Finally, the affair type which will be the focus of this paper, is la grande passion, characterized by desire, betrayal, and danger. This affair type is considered an intense passion which may threaten the primary relationship; it involves significant “depth of feeling” (Hunt, 1969) and is based on emotional intimacy, sexual chemistry and the third party being unaware of the affair for some duration. As Pittman (1989:35) argues [my emphasis]: The infidelity is not in the sex, necessarily, but in the secrecy. It isn’t whom you lie with. It’s whom you lie to. Furthermore, secrecy and lies are more likely to end a partnership than sexual acts (Pittman, 1989:22). Thus, maintaining secrecy is a central component in the structuring of an affair and, how the mobile phone aids such deceit, a central focus of this paper. People view adultery differently depending on their cultural background and, as Shrage (1994:50) contends, their gender, religion, political positioning, or whether they have more libertine viewpoints. 8 Nevertheless, despite the “sexual revolution” of the 1970s and high accounts of infidelity in many cultural set7

However, as Morgan (2004:24) notes, by looking at the workings of gossip, affairs are rarely dyadic, but rather sets of intersecting triangles. 8 Shrage (1994:50) writes: “If Carol Gilligan is right and women tend to be concerned with maintaining relationships in resolving moral problems, then women are likely to see the consequences of adultery in terms of its effects on the romantic and familial relationships involved. If men are socialized to take a more atomistic approach to morality, then they may be likely to see the effects of adultery in terms of the personal freedoms and pleasures gained and lost. Those with particular ideals of religious worship may see the effects of adultery in terms of their relationship with God, or in terms of their spiritual development. And persons with a stigmatized minority sexual orientation, and who see the sexual and marital practices of American society as repressively restrictive, might see mass acts of adultery and casual sex as effecting a destabilization of hegemonic social institutions.” 128

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tings, affairs are often conceptualized in terms of morality and receive negative evaluation by way of disapproval (and gossip) (Buunk & Dijkstra, 2004:103; Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 2004:99). Attitudinal surveys in Britain, for example, found that approximately four-fifths of both men and women from varying age groups agree that extramarital sex is “always or mostly wrong” (Wellings et al., 1994:249). For many, “cheating” is judged as a failure of romantic love, signifying disloyalty, dishonesty and disrespect (Shrage, 1994:38-39). However, sexual hypocrisy concerning infidelity is widespread. Kinsey (1948) found that most people would be unfaithful if guaranteed their acts would not be discovered. Infidelity is rarely rewarded and the consequences may be intense (Pittman, 1989:29). Adultery is the primary disrupter of families and the most universally accepted reason for divorce (Betzig, 1989). Infidelity impacts personal relationships, with partners of adultères often experiencing depression, jealousy, anger and humiliation (Lawson, 1988). Statistics concerning infidelity are highly unreliable (Kipnis, 1998). Yet research suggests that marital infidelity is relatively common (Vangelsti & Gerstenberger, 2004:59), with about half of couples being unfaithful, and with men being historically more adulterous. Buunk and Dijkstra (2004:104) argue that in all cultures men are more unfaithful than women. For example, a study by Carael, Cleland et al. (1995) found that in Hong Kong 8% of the men and 1% of women had extra-dyadic sex in the past year and in Guinea Bissaus, 38% of men, and 19% of women did. American research suggests that 30% to 60% of American men and 20% to 50% of American women will have extramarital sex (Glass & Wright, 1992; Thomson, 1983). There is, however, a growing convergence between men and women in terms of their attitudes toward, and practices of, extramarital sex (Buunk & Dijkstra, 2004:105; Morgan, 2004:25; Pittman, 1989:34). Some recent studies also suggest that married women are better at disguising their affairs (Morgan, 2004: 25). This likely relates to historical and cross-cultural evidence that female infidelity, which compromises reproductive exclusivity of marriage, accrues harsher judgments and consequences than parallel acts of men (Thompson,

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1983; VanderVoort & Duck, 2004:2).9 For women, particularly mothers, having an affair heralds much greater risks of stigma, guilt (Meyering & EplingMcWerther, 1986), financial loss (Lake & Hills, 1979), and threat to personal safety. Adultery – actual or suspected – is a primary cause of domestic violence and spousal homicide (Daly & Wilson, 1988). In some cultures, suspicion alone is justification for severe punishment, including death (Betzig, 1989; Pittman, 1989:33). As Kinsey et al. (1948:592) wrote: “Husbands are much less inclined to accept the non-marital activities of their wives. It has been so since the dawn of history.” 10

Secrecy and subterfuge Everybody lies about sex. (from Robert A. Heinlein’s Time Enough For Love, 1973) Before the affair Communication is the primary way individuals begin, embody and terminate extra-dyadic relationships (Vangelisti & Gerstenberger, 2004:61). The ways in which affairs are initiated, however, have received little scholarly attention. Before an affair begins, the couple must “meet” and exchange communication signals which indicate their openness toward having an intimate relationship or encounter. A second meeting must thus be scheduled, as is discussion necessary about how to contact the other individual again (unless the person is part of their 9

As DeSalvo (1999:59-60) warns: “If a husband discovers his wife has been unfaithful, the marriage will far more likely end than if a woman discovers her husband has been unfaithful… So. If you are a woman, the next time you feel like confessing, unless you want to end your marriage, bear that in mind.” 10 This sexual double standard plays out historically and cross-culturally. For example in many ancient Eastern cultures (such as the Chinese and Japanese) and Mediterranean cultures (e.g. Egyptians, Hebrews, Romans, Syrians, and Spartans) only women’s infidelity was punished by law (Buunk & Dijkstra, 2004:106). Until recently, in Belgium, only a wife’s infidelity was legally recognized as reason for divorce (ibid.). 130

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close social network e.g. a friend or co-worker) (Vangelisti & Gerstenberger, 2004: 62). A recent study by Australian researchers Byrne and Findlay (2004) found that SMS technology affects the way romantic relationships are initiated. Due to strong gender scripts, it is the preferred communication conduit for women who are interested in contacting an attractive other. SMS is a convenient conduit to feel out a given situation, that is, to work to determine the other party’s interest: i.e. text fishing. It is also a fairly nonthreatening way to initiate communication with someone versus a phone call or face-to-face methods which demand greater bravery and often, directness of intention. For example, if after a convention, a man sends an innocuous text message to one of the colleagues he had met while there and she in turn replies quickly and with warmth, the communication process of exchanging messages (similarly to emailing) may grow in familiarity—and innuendo. Opening the door of communication this way would also allow for making future embodied meetings obviously more possible. The next case study, recounted by a young Catholic man in the central Philippines named Joel, speaks to this beginning communication process: Irene is a Muslim girl who lives in a small island in the southern Philippines. We were pen-pals for nearly 2 years. Then she suddenly just stopped responding to my letters. I didn’t hear from her for many months. But on Valentine’s Day, she sent me a card with a picture of her and her cell phone number. She is very sweet and beautiful: I can tell from her picture. I called her one morning and we talked. She’s showing her sweetness by texting me always. She always puts “I love you” in her texts. Sometimes I send her 20 texts in one day. I began to feel like I really liked her. I asked if she would be my girlfriend and she said yes. We made many plans to meet, but because I do not have enough money to take care of our food expenses and lodging, I keep putting it off. Everything was going really well until she told me she had a confession to make. She said she loved me very much and that’s why she’s going to tell me this. She began crying on the phone and told © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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me that she was already married. That’s why she didn’t communicate with me for those many months. She said she didn’t like her husband, he was just a suitor, but her father caught him stealing a kiss from her and because they are from a very conservative culture, he quickly arranged their marriage. I was very disappointed about this. I can’t bear listening to her talk, so I hang up, despite her crying. I was so cruel: she keeps texting me but I never reply; she calls me but I don’t answer the phone. She even calls me from different phones, but when I hear her voice, I hang up. Finally, she stopped trying to reach me. I feel bad about hurting somebody, but I am hurt also. This case study provides some insight into the complexities of modern love: intersecting religious customs, attachments born from the evolution of love letter to cyber-correspondence, diverging expectations and subterfuge through mobile phone use. Although usually the practice of Filipino men, Irene hid her married identity and instead worked to deepen her cyber-relationship with another (Joel) with the aim to eventually embody these transgressions. In the Philippines, married men frequently pretend that they are single and woo unsuspecting women by text. Often by the time the texting parties have met, the duped woman in already in “in love” with the married man, making physical indiscretion more probable. Owning multiple SIM cards is a popular way to simultaneously maintain numerous clandestine relationships, a fact which is not lost upon most Filipinas. Indeed, one young couple I encountered during fieldwork exchanged cell phones “for an entire week” in order to demonstrate their fidelity to one another. Commercial markets now offer numerous sites whereby one can pay to chat with other eager strangers. For example, the last pages of Australian women’s magazine, Cleo (June 2004) lists advertisements such as this: “Hot Text Chat: Girls & guys online now, waiting to chat with you! Text us anything you want! Guys to chat with girls text the word babes to 188 7472.” On the back of Vancouver-based newspapers, personal ads are now also available under the banner ‘SMS Chat’, as for example “Cheeky SMS Chat, 2talk2 women, txt 132

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Cheeky to [given number] $3.95 msg snd.rcv.” Indeed, the implications of such services, in terms of extramarital liaisons, are high. Moreover, one needs only to consider the much publicized and highly suspect British phenomenon of “toothing” to imagine the nature of future of sexual liaisons. Bluetooth software, available in most mobile phones and PDAs enables two devices to communicate with each other over short distances, thus allowing users to automatically locate other such devices in their vicinity (Terdiman, 2004). This wireless technology is put to use by strangers on trains, buses, bars and concerts seeking anonymous sexual encounters, whereby text messaging provides the means of initial contact (ibid.). Enchantment: during the affair Secrecy is indeed a defining element of the traditional affair. 11 Adultères are threatened by exposure (Pittman & Wagers, 1995), as the entire dynamic of both the primary relationship and the extra-dyadic relationship would ultimately change upon discovery. Adultères fear that if their infidelities became exposed they would have to face their partner’s despair, wrath or abandonment (Pittman, 1989:65), as would continuing the extra-dyadic relationship become more difficult due to their partner’s suspicions (Tuch, 2000:157). Moreover, as discussed previously, the ramifications of disclosure can be severe, including possible loss of marriage, friendships, respect of co-workers, and relationships with children (Vangelisti & Gerstenberger, 2004: 67-68). 12 Many adultères thus actively work to withhold information from their partner, family and/or other members in their social network (Vangelisti & Gerstenberger, 2004:67). As Pittman (1989:22) comments: “A lie may be a more direct betrayal than keeping a relevant secret, but the two ultimately amount to much the same thing—the deliberate effort to disorient your partner in order to avoid the inevitable conflict about some breach of marital agreement.” Maintained by 11

As Shrage (1994:48) argues: “In the typical case, the adulterous transaction is imposed on the faithful spouse without that party’s consent.” 12 In other cases, however, individuals may find rewards in disclosing their marital infidelity, for example, to “get back” at a spouse, or for men, as a status enhancer among peers (Vangelisti & Gerstenberger, 2004:68). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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secrecy, affairs exist in another world alongside the manifest world whereby lovers attempt to conceal their relationship and retain normalcy with their primary partners (Morgan, 2004:21). Lying by way of text demands less performance than face-to-face betrayal as facial and voice indicators may give deception away. According to a study conducted in Britain, 45% of people have lied about their whereabouts by text (Theobald, 2004:137). For example, upon receiving a phone call from a spouse, the infidel could simply not answer the telephone call, but rather text back a few minutes later something along the lines of ‘at grocery store, huge lines, home in an hour’ when in fact he or she could be at a nearby bar sharing wine with an attractive stranger or at a hotel making love to a longtime lover. Texting grants users the ability to craft their communication, to position their spatial and temporal locations so to impact favourably upon impression management. Negotiating dual communication desires – normalcy to one’s primary partner, and connection to one’s lover – is enhanced by the silent, flexible, on-body cyber-device: the cell phone. As Tuch (2000:11) asserts: “Affairs that are conducted clandestinely place tremendous constraints on a couple with regard to where they can go, how often they can meet, and what others must be told about their periodical disappearances.” Yet, these shared secrets act to further bind infidels: guilt, secrecy and isolation can enhance the excitement of the affair dyad; engaging in the forbidden, whilst trying to keep this hidden is coloured by danger and frequently, excitement. The centrality of secrecy in affair management usually relies upon circumspect communication, planning and meeting (Vangelisti & Gerstenberger, 2004:67). Here, the cell phone becomes a central player in the workings of an affair: a communication medium between infidels which makes transgressions and concealment more effortless. These notions are illuminated in my informal interview with Tracy, a 28 year-old woman who lives in the outer suburbs of Vancouver: “It is Thursday night. Tracy has come over to my house with wine and red cheeks. Come directly from his apartment. Her husband has been away for two weeks, providing her with uncommon occasion to be with her new lover Martin. This is her first affair and one she feels she cannot stop from continuing. 134

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Q.: Tell me about how it started, the ways that you communicated? A.: We work in related fields, so every few weeks we would end up on the same project and, we just, flirted a lot, you know talked about out life… Q.: And how did your communication extend to outside of work? A.: He had a contact for me in relation to work and gave me his email address. So, we started emailing back and forth, friendly messages, but with a sense of, playfulness, compliments. Q.: Were you also texting? A.: Not yet. We just emailed and would see each other every so often for work. Q.: OK. And when did things progress beyond flirtation? A.: I couldn’t stop thinking about him, right? And I’d written him this sort of suggestive email and he hadn’t replied, so, I texted him. He’d given me his number sometime before. And he called back immediately. Luckily Rob [her husband] wasn’t around. And we talked, and he invited me over for coffee, and I went over and it all just happened. Q.: So, what was your main form of communication after that? A.: I totally stopped emailing. Rob would sometimes, you know, want to check his messages while I was on line, or, I don’t know, it seemed too dangerous. Usually Martin and I text each other first, because you never know who’s going to be around if you just call. And then after determining that it is safe, we talk on the phone and plan to meet up. But sometimes things come up and I have to, you know, quickly text Martin and be like, I can’t make it. Q.: Has your husband ever contacted you while you were with Martin? A.: Just a few times thank God; I’m not a good liar. In the very beginning when he’d call, I couldn’t answer, not in front of Martin. So I’d just text something back about being in a meeting or whatever. And nowadays, sometimes I, you know, just walk away from wherever Martin is and have the phone call and act like everything is normal.” © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Despite ideals of happily ever after, commitment and fidelity are often difficult to maintain as couple relationships become mundane, routine and sexually monotonous (O’Neill & O’Neill, 1972; Vandervoort & Duck, 2004:4). In contrast, affairs often possess a utopian edge (VanderVoort & Duck, 2004:5), whereby passion with another offers halcyon respite from everyday domesticity. 13 Dual desires for passion and stability are at odds. 14 Infidels are risk takers. As VanderVoort and Duck (2004:6) argue: Part of the thrilling significance of adulterous affairs is that they are not the subject of the mundane ubiquity of trivial life but take place in settings removed from the regularities of ordinary existence— hotels, resorts, conferences, fast cars, back rooms, snatched moments of meretricious bliss separated from the context of an orderly, predictable and repetitive life… As discussed previously, snatching such moments is enhanced through reliance on text communication (as flexible, transportable, silent). Liberated temporarily to reinvent themselves, DeSalvo (1999:107) claims, adultères are essentially trying to regain autonomy lost in marriage; that is “to reclaim the ability to do whatever he chose to do whenever he chose to do it and at whatever cost.”

13

As writer DeSalvo (1999:47) so eloquently describes: “In my adultery story, there is no cooking, no dishwashing, no fights, no one ignoring you (reading the newspaper, looking at television, listening to the radio when you want to share a feeling or idea). There are no raised voices, no bitterness, no rancor, no sorrow, no leaking toilet or sinks, no lousy landlords, no obnoxious neighbors, no work, no bills, no boring or bad sex, no children present … In my fantasy of adultery (in everyone’s fantasy of adultery) there is no real life. Which, I have come to realize over the years, is precisely what drives people to commit adultery.” 14 As VanderVoort and Duck (2004:6) note: “An affair transports its actors, if only temporarily, from ordinary life, while assuring that ordinary life will be there waiting when they return, as long as they succeed in hiding the transgression. The transformative allure of an affair is heightened by this contradiction – everything changes yet nothing need change.” 136

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Disenchantment: discovery of the affair As Vangelisti and Gerstenberger (2004:69) argue, since infidelity is often hidden, the suspecting partner faces a dilemma. By directly confronting their partner, they risk appearing insecure, insulting their partner (potentially damaging their relationship), or, if through confrontation they find out about the affair, they may face major relationship change. Thus, many who are suspicious look for behavioural clues, or increasingly, I believe, work to secretly get a hold of their partner’s email or cell phone, that is, to play cyber-detective. According to my informal research, this is indeed a widespread phenomenon, particularly for women. “Sometimes I look in his inbox when he’s in the shower; that’s the only time I look because he takes his phone everywhere, and he’s a light sleeper” said Rhonda (age 25, Australian). If not finding incriminating evidence of an affair, some women continue to sporadically check their partner’s cell phone as it gifts them a feeling of reassurance that nothing wayward is occurring. Sandra Davis, partner and head of family practice at the UK law firm Mishcon de Reya, which represented the divorce case of Diana, Princess of Wales, says that one quarter of her clients cite Internet or text dalliances as contributing factors to the downfall of their marriage (Theobald, 2004:136). This finding led Davis to commission a national survey about technology and adultery. Davis found that 30% of survey participants used electronic communications to flirt with potential partners or to nurture an affair, with 22% communicating every day with the said person and 62% once a week. The study also unearthed that one in seven had surreptitiously read their partner’s emails and texts, of which one in five discovered flirtatious communiqué (Theobald, 2004:136). Although new information technologies, particularly texting, are increasingly relied upon to maintain extra-dyadic relationships, according to Australian private detective David King, owner of the infidelity specialist agency Lipstick Investigations, information technologies are also the chief way infidels are exposed (Dow, 2002:16). In his Sydney-based agency, King oversees 300 infidelity cases per year. Cases usually originate from a dyad member spying unrecognized numbers on a partner’s cell phone or telephone bill (ibid.). These findings are replicated elsewhere. An informal study conducted by a private eye agency © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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in Italy, for example, found that cell phones were involved in 90% of discovered affairs (ibid.). We also see public examples of this in celebrity-focused scandals, e.g. in England, the highly publicized text sex messages of David Beckham to Rebecca Loos; in Australia, the repeated text sex scandals of cricketer Shane Warne; and in Italy, the break-up of actress Deborah Caprioglio and her partner, director Geppy Gleijeses, due to her discovery of his illicit text messages to another. Indeed, text messages, voice messages and call register are now admissible in the court of law in infidelity cases in numerous countries (Dow, 2002:16). Affairs and the mobile phone have become increasingly hand-in-hand. Ironically, the same medium that enhances the workings of an affair also causes disenchantment: i.e. discovery. In order to thwart discovery, new technologies are available for the discerning infidel. Makers of new-style video mobile phones in Hong Kong, for example, are working to create a special setting on 3G phones whereby users can select a background of their choice prior to answering a phone call (Anonymous, 2004). 15 This technology is specifically targeted at philandering spouses: the foreground image is live video, while the background remains static. This would allow a wife at a bar to answer her phone with a photograph of her sister’s house in the background, or a husband to project an image of himself in his living room when in fact he is at a hotel with a lover (ibid.). Phone owners could perhaps use this device alongside a software program from Simeda called SoundCover. Downloaded into one’s mobile phone to provide fake background sound (Dow, 2002:18), the audio choices provided by SoundCover include: traffic jam; at the dentist; on the street; in the park; heavy machinery; thunderstorm; circus parade; ring 15 seconds; own pre-recorded sound. 16 Along this line, although now obsolete, in 2000, the UK Alibi Agency and the Ace Alibi agency established websites solely to disorientate partners, providing fake invitations to nonexistent functions, ticket stubs for non-attended concerts and receptionists to take phone calls (Dow, 2002:18).

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At present, 3G customers can answer calls on “voice only” mode, or a by choosing a still picture of themselves on a screen. By picking one of these options however, a partner may become suspicious (Anonymous, 2004). 16 For more information see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3498714.stm. 138

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In conjunction with these types of technologies, however, there is a growing market targeted for the reverse: catching a cheating partner. For example, signing up with “Text Cheats” on the U.K website Mobtastic (see http://www.mobastic .com/sms/cheating/index.asp) provides young texters with an innovative way to determine a partner’s fidelity: Do you trust your lover or want to make them squirm? Here's a fun way to find out. Set him or her up for our wicked fidelity test and an artificial agent will chat them up by anonymous text messages. Then we will send you a report with his/her fidelity score to your mobile. We can't be responsible for the consequences! In the Philippines, using a cell phone to catch an unfaithful partner is becoming institutionalized. In late 2003, the Philippines began a “report-a-mistress” campaign. Established to promote anti-corruption, a hotline was created so that citizens could report any extramarital affairs conducted by government officials, soldiers and/or policemen. According to the BBC, on the first day of the campaign, “report-a-mistress” received approximately 500 calls, e-mails and text messages from the public. 17 Advanced technology promises enhanced partner tracing. Soon the betrayed may take advantage of global positioning system (GPS) satellite tracking, where, by slipping a tiny device into a partner’s car one can monitor their whereabouts (Dow, 2002:18). For those suspicious of Internet dalliances, KeyCatcher can be acquired from an American company: a device which when plugged in between a keyboard cable and computer has a memory chip that records every keyboard stroke (Dow, 2002:18). Expensive “spy phones” can also be purchased whereby a SIM card in the phone can be dialled from afar, accessing another pre-programmed number, to tape record the entirety of another’s cell phone calls (ibid.). In the US, one can buy numerous sorts of wireless covert recording devices and obtain car trackers and computer spy software at Chatcheaters.com or Infidelity.com websites.

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Conclusion Technology is altering the way we construct, live and reflect upon our lives, and nowhere is this more evident than in terms of interpersonal relationships and intimacy. The cell phone generally, and texting specifically, provide a unique communication conduit, which, perhaps some may argue unfortunately, lends well to secrecy and deception and thus to the maintenance of extra-dyadic relationships. Yet although texting enables infidelity, it, too, provides a main means by which infidels are exposed: users often leave cyber-footprints. Through enchantment to disenchantment, the cell phone plays a significant role in modern love. Although the ways in which texting is appropriated are culturally specific, as Riviere and Licoppe (2005:114) state, within a wider historical framework, localized findings can also generate overall insights about the direction of interpersonal communications. Indeed, after finishing my fieldwork in the Philippines, I was struck that my findings about the role of mobile communication in Asia were not so very different than my experiences and observations when back in the ‘West:’ Before arriving in the Filipino archipelago, I had never owned a cell phone. Research imperatives and practicality meant my daily life in the field became immersed in the strange and at times exciting world of SMS. This actuality followed me in my return to Australia. As an unmarried woman travelling through the complex area of love and romance myself, the cell phone has become an indisputably significant part of my social and romantic life. Not surprisingly, yet also surprisingly, many of the findings about cell discourse that I (as anthropologist) discovered among young women in the Philippines were experienced firsthand by myself (as a woman) during the aftermath of research. I too have expressed my affection, my humour and my individual communicative style to another by text and have felt the rewards of receiving the same in kind. I have felt the pleasure of private communication that texting affords as well as the frustration of not 140

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having my texts responded to. I too have experienced the rush of a suggestive message received late at night and the emotional solace borne from a friend’s unexpected text received from continents away. I have been stalked by text; laughed by text; as have I fought with intimates by way of text. I too have been weary of texts received by my boyfriend at strange hours and felt the shameful compulsion to read his inbox when unaware. Having embodied many of the same techno-social experiences as my informants, which are married to wider cross-cultural findings about mobile use, I pose that although mobile telephony is bound to specific cultural milieus, it also reflects human proclivities to commune. 18

References Anonymous (2005): Mobile firm offers ‘phoney alibi.’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3498714.stm (consulted 01/09/2005) Anonymous (2004): Video phones to let cheating spouses off hook. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/28/1077677011905.html (consulted 12/01/2006) Anonymous (2003): Filipinos urged to report-a-mistress. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3143018.stm (consulted 01/09/2005) Atwood, G. & Stolorow, R. (1984): Structures of Subjectivity. Hillside, NJ: Analytic Press. Betzig, L. (1989): ‘Causes of conjugal dissolution: A cross-cultural study.’ In: Current Anthropology. Vol.30, pp. 654-676. Buunk, B. & Dijkstra, P. (2004): ‘Men, women, and infidelity: Sex differences in extradyadic sex and jealousy.’ In: Duncombe, J. et al. (eds.): The State of Affairs: Explorations of Infidelity and Commitment. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 103-121.

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I would like all the study participants, who shall remain anonymous, for sharing their secrets. Thanks also to Diane Lake, dream editor, and Gwenda Ellwood for couch-time. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Byrne, R. & Findlay, B. (2004): ‘Preference for SMS versus telephone calls in initiating romantic relationships.’ In: Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society. No.2, pp. 1-14. Carael, M. et al. (1995): ‘Sexual behaviour in developing countries: Implications for HIV control.’ In: AIDS. No.9, pp. 1171-1175. Daly, M. & Wilson, M. (1988): Homicide. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter. DeSalvo, L. (1999): Adultery. Boston: Beacon Press. Dodge, M. & Kitchin, R. (2001): Mapping Cyberspace. London: Routledge. Dow, S. (2004). ‘SMS: Sex, marriage and subterfuge.’ In: The Sunday Age Magazine. Sunday June 13th, pp. 15-18. Duncombe, J. et al. (eds.) (2004): The State of Affairs: Explorations of Infidelity and Commitment. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Ellwood-Clayton, B. (2003): ‘Virtual strangers: Young love and texting in the Filipino archipelago of cyberspace.’ In: Nyiri, K. (ed.): Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 225-239. Ellwood-Clayton, B. (2004): ‘Desire and loathing in the cyber Philippines.’ In: Harper, R. (ed.): The Inside Text: Social Perspectives on SMS in the Mobile Age. London: Springer, pp. 195-219. Ford, C. S. & Beach, F. A. (1951): Patterns of Sexual Behaviour. NY: Paul J. Hoeber, Inc. Glass, S. & Wright, T. (1992): ‘Justification for extramarital relationships: The association between attitudes, behaviour and gender.’ In: Journal of Sex Research. No.29, pp. 361-387. Gray, C. (2002): Cyber Citizen: Politics in the Posthuman Age. New York & London: Routledge. Harrison, K. & Marsden, D. (2004): ‘Preface.’ In: Duncombe, J. et al. (eds.): The State of Affairs: Explorations of Infidelity and Commitment. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. xi-xxiii. Heaphy, B.; Donovan, C. & Weeks, J. (2004): ‘A different affair? Openness and nonmonogamy in same sex relationships.’ In: Duncombe, J. et al. (eds.): The State of Affairs: Explorations of Infidelity and Commitment. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 167-186 Heinlein, R. (1973): Time Enough For Love. Berkeley: Mass Market Paperback. Heyn, D. (1992): The Erotic Silence of the American Wife. New York: Turtle Bay Books. Ho, A. (2003): ‘Pinoy, Asia's text Casanova.’ In: The Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 6th, pp. A1, A4. 142

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Hunt, M. (1969): The Affair: A Portrait of Extramarital Love in Contemporary America. New York: World. Kasesniemi, E.-L. & Rauntianen, P. (2002): ‘Mobile culture of children and teenagers in Finland.’ In: Katz, J. & Aakhus. M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 170-192. Kinsey, A.; Pomeroy, W. & Martin, C. (1948): Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders. Kipnis, L. (1998): ‘Adultery.’ In: Criminal Inquiry. No.24, pp. 289-327. Kontula, O. & Haavio-Mannila, E. (2004): ‘Renaissance of romanticism in the era of increasing individualism.’ In: Duncombe, J. et al. (eds.): The State of Affairs: Explorations of Infidelity and Commitment. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 79-103. Lake, T. & Hills, A. (1979): Affairs: The Autonomy of Extra Marital Relationships. London: Open Books. Lawson, A. (1988): Adultery. New York: Basic Books. Meyering, R. & Epling-McWerther, E. (1986): ‘Decision-making in extramarital relationships.’ In: Lifestyles, A Journal of Changing Patterns. Vol.8, pp. 115129. Morgan, D. (2004): ‘The Sociological Significance of Affairs.’ In: Duncombe, J. et al. (eds.): The State of Affairs: Explorations of Infidelity and Commitment. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 15-35. O’Neill, N. & O’Neill, G. (1972): Open Marriage: A New Lifestyle for Couples. New York: Evans. O’Sullivan, P. (2000): ‘What you don’t know won’t hurt me: Impression management functions of communication channels in relationships.’ In: Human Communications Research. Vol.26, pp. 403-431. Pertierra, R. et al. (eds.) (2002): Texting Selves: Cellphones and Philippine Modernity. Malate, Manila: De La Salle University Press. Pittman, F. (1989): Private Lives: Infidelity and the Betrayal of Intimacy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Pittman, F. & Wagers, T. (1995): ‘Crisis of infidelity’. In: Jacobson, N. & Gurman, A. (eds.): Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy. New York: Guilford, pp. 295-316. Reibstein, J. & Richards, M. (1992): Sexual Arrangements: Marriage and Affairs. London: Heinemann.

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Riviere, C. A. & Licoppe, C. (2005): ‘From voice to text: Continuity and change in the use of mobile phones in France and Japan.’ In: Harper. R. (ed.): The Inside Text: Social Perspectives on SMS in the Mobile Age. London: SpringerVerlag, pp. 103-126. Shrage, L. (1994): Moral Dilemmas of Feminism: Prostitution, Adultery, and Abortion. New York: Routledge. Teriman, D. (2004): Brits going at it tooth and nail. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62687,00.html (consulted 1/09/2005) Theobald, S. (2004): ‘Inbox of delights.’ In: Harpers & Queen. August, pp. 135137. Thompson, A. (1983): ‘Extramarital sex: A review of the research literature.’ In: Journal of Sex Research. Vol.19, pp. 1-22. Turkle, S. (1995): Life on the Screen. New York: Touchstone. Tuch, R. (2000): The Single Woman-Married Man Syndrome. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc. VanderVoort, L. & Duck, S. (2004): ‘Sex, lies, and … transformation.’ In: Duncombe, J. et al. (eds.): The State of Affairs: Explorations of Infidelity and Commitment. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 1-15. Vangelisti, A. & Gerstenberger, M. (2004): ‘Communication and marital infidelity.’ In: Duncombe, J. et al. (eds.): The State of Affairs: Explorations of Infidelity and Commitment. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 59-79. Wellings, K. et al. (1994): Sexual Behaviour in Britain. London: Penguin.

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“I have a free phone so I don’t bother to send SMS, I call” – The Gendered Use of SMS Among Adults in Intact and Divorced Families Rich Ling

Introduction We rely on collectively developed and understood ritual strategies to maintain the social order within the encounter. The common willingness to use strategies, facades, manners, rituals, poses, savoir-faire, etc. and the willingness to allow others the use of the same devices is a basic common core of focused encounters. It is our willingness to allow for others’ use of strategies, and their willingness to allow our use of them that is central to the focused social encounter. We are often cognizant of – and indulgent of – the ‘props’ that are used to carry off the other’s presentation of self, just as they are cognizant and indulgent of our props and ruses. Language and the strategic use of language is a part of our repertoire of strategies. We use words, media, intonation etc. in order to manage focused encounters. Our management may mean that we wish to confront or to avoid confrontation. It may mean that we wish to dominate, or that we wish to avoid domination. Similar issues and patterns can be found in the material we gathered for the here presented study. The material for this analysis comes from a round of twenty-five interviews with families in the Oslo area. Interviewees included both intact and divorced families. We were also interested in examining the situation of families with younger and older children to examine the degree that mobile communication facilitated coordination. What we found were both similarities and differences.

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The use of SMS According to material from the Norwegian Post and Telecom Authority, mobile phone users in Norway sent 82 Short Message System (SMS) messages per month. According to data collected by Telenor, SMS users – not just mobile phone users – sent about 130 messages per month. In terms of ownership, about 92% of Norwegians over thirteen years of age own a mobile phone. Another 4% have access to a commonly owned household phone. Usage patterns are not entirely surprising: youth use them most. And women are more prone to send SMS. Somewhat surprisingly, men prefer mobile voice interaction. 1 Once a user, however, there are no real differences in the mean number of messages that one generates.

Spoken and written language The mobile phone – along with its ability to send short messages (SMS) – draws on two, and possibly three, linguistic areas. These include verbal and textual interaction and the rising field of computer-mediated communication. It is thus interesting to consider gender differences in each area. When considering spoken face-to-face interaction, research indicates that there are various skills and strategies that are gendered. It has been found, for example, that women are often able to strategically introduce topics of conversation (Fishman, 1978; Treichler & Kramarae, 1983), to use rhetorical and factual questions to maintain a conversation and to indicate interest. Research also shows that women are adroit at employing critique and interpretation and at adjusting the tempo of conversation (Sattel, 1976). Women confirm their participation in a conversation and are more likely to express an interest through the manipulation of pauses and interjected linguistic grounding devices (Clark & Brennan, 1991; Clark & Schaeffer, 1981; Clark & Marshall, 1981; Duncan, 1972; Johnstone et al., 1995; Kendon, 1967; Sattel, 1976). Finally, women use talk to establish standards and 1

The implication here is that men make many short – and often mobile-based – calls where women make fewer calls and speak longer, particularly on the landline phone. 146

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integrate the group (Gluckman, 1963; Imray & Middleton, 1983; Jones, 1980:194; Rakow, 1992; Tannen, 1991). As with spoken language, gender has been an area of focus in the examination of written language. A distinction is made in the degree to which the text is intended to facilitate social integration or to impart information, the former often being associated with women and the latter with men. Women also adhere to normative standards more than men when writing (Baron, forthcoming). Birber has suggested that one is able to see gendered differences in written language when considering dimensions such as involved vs. informational writing, impersonal vs. personal style and the use of narrative vs. non-narrative writing (Biber & Finegan, 1997). Others have applied Biber’s concepts by developing sets of linguistic features that one generally finds in the writing of males and females (Argamon et al., 2003). In this work, the researchers have developed algorithms for identifying the gendering of text through the examination of various features. Among other things, they rely on the distinction between Biber’s involved and informational forms of interaction. By way of an explanation, Cheshire outlines how women use the mastery of language to assert and negotiate power – often from a relatively powerless position – in groups, gangs and communities of practice (2002; see also Coates, 1986; Tannen, 1991).

Gender and electronically mediated language When looking beyond face-to-face and traditional written interaction to language that is electronically mediated, there are several variations to consider. On the one hand, there are those forms of mediation that are ‘one-to-many’ (e.g. Internet based chat groups) and those that are one-to-a few others (e.g. interoffice memos qua e-mail) and one-to-one (SMS, e-mail and instant messaging (IM)). There are textual (SMS, e-mail) vs. spoken (landline and mobile voice) forms of interaction. When thinking of text production, there are mediation forms based on the typewriter keyboard (usually e-mail, chat, blogs and IM), those based on the traditional telephonic keypad (usually SMS) and those that have some other text entry form (Palm, virtual keypads and even voice recognition). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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The confounding thing is that all these categories are in flux. The most thoroughly entrenched text-based form of electronically mediated interaction, namely e-mail, can be sent from the most thoroughly entrenched voice-related device, namely the phone in its mobile incarnation. Writing is being mutated into alternative forms when we think of, for example, text production on the Palm and other similar devices. In addition, speech recognition programmes are, in some cases, eliminating the boundary between spoken and written language. With SMS, on the other hand, we see that text production is thriving on a platform designed for other purposes. In spite of all the cards being thrown into the air, as it were, one is still able to see that there is gendering in the various electronically based mediation forms (Rakow, 1988, 1992). With telephonically mediated speech, there are clear gender differences with regards to the length of phone conversations, i.e. women talk longer than men on the landline phone (Claisse & Rowe, 1987; Ling, 1998; Moyal, 1992). 2 It has been found, for example, that it is the gender of the person receiving the call that is influential in regard to the length of the conversation, at least in the world of landline phone calls (Smoreda & Licoppe, 2000). Men were often early adopters of both e-mail (Baron, 1998, 2000, 2001; see also Herring, 1996; Yates, 1996) and mobile telephony (Ling, 2000). However, when adopted by women, the style of use often showed a more empathetic turn. In the case of chats, MUDs and MOOs, Herring found that women are often more ‘aligned’ and supportive than their male counterparts (2003). Gefen and Straub have shown that women perceive e-mail as having higher ‘social presence’ (1997). 3 2

While this seems to play on the traditional stereotype, it is also women who often have the responsibility for the organization of remote care giving and for organising various social events (Ling, 1998). These facilitate interaction and they are often used in women’s networking, which is in some cases downgraded and described as ‘loose talk’ or gossip. Nonetheless, it can be seen as an indication of social integration as it is a part of the establishment of the standards of behaviour (Gluckman, 1963; Imray & Middleton, 1983; Jones, 1980:194; Rakow, 1992; Tannen, 1991). 3 The authors did not, however, find differences in use. One can speculate that the complexity of PC use may be an issue here. The mobile phone is a simpler technology and thus the technology does not come in the way of interaction to the same degree as with PC mediated interaction. 148

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SMS as a ‘women’s medium’ The material here, and in other studies indicates that women have a different relationship to mobile communication than men (Ling, 2004b, 2005a; Rakow & Navarro, 1993). The focus here is on the gendered use of SMS via the mobile phone. In the following citation one sees what might be called a female usage pattern. On the one hand the woman – a 28 year-old divorced woman who I will call Kristin – uses SMS in both instrumental and expressive ways. One can also read various types of power dimensions in her decision of when to use text messages and when to call. The material here is (a part of) a transcript of Kristin reading a log of her telephonic interactions during a day in her life to an interviewer. On this particular day, one of her children had been sick and thus Kristin needed to rearrange a series of meetings, arrange for the transportation of her other child to day-care, make an appointment at the doctor’s office, etc. “Ok, first I got an SMS from my mother earlier today. She wanted to know how my youngest was doing because she had been sick last night. And so I sent a message (SMS) back and answered that … (ha ha). And so I sent a message (SMS) to a friend of mine, we were actually going to meet, to say that I couldn’t come [to a planned meeting]. And so at 8 o’clock I called because I needed to have an appointment at the doctor’s but there were so many people who were sick right now so, yeah, so that it was nothing, it sounded like a normal cold, ehh. And so I got a message (SMS) a little past 8 [from her mother] and she said that she could drive my oldest child to day-care. And so I got a message (SMS) from a friend of mine, ehh, it was me who sent the first one and she said that we could meet another day. … So at 9 o’clock I got a call from the children’s father, he wondered how it was going. And so at 9:30 I called the day-care to say that Lina would be a little late. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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At 10 past 10 I sent a message (SMS) to my father’s wife to ask if she could pick up Lina and buy a couple of things for us. And so at 11:30 I got a call from he [her father’s wife] and she said that she could do that. … And at eight past 5 I sent a message (SMS) to a friend, just a cosy greeting. … Ahh at 25 past five I called the children’s father again, no, we called him because the kids missed him.” (Divorced woman, 28, with two daughters aged 5 and 1) The sequence points to several interesting features of media choice. First, Kristin generally used SMS for contacting other women. There was only one case where there was no mutual use of SMS between women, that being the interaction with her father’s wife. In this case, Kristin had opened the interaction by sending an SMS, but the older woman – Kristin’s father’s partner – had responded by calling. This may point to some of the intergenerational issues with SMS that will be examined below. However, when looking at communication among women of the same age (and also Kristin’s interaction with her own mother), SMS was the medium of choice. This included both the more instrumental communication such as arranging for transport of the older child to daycare and the rearranging of the meeting with a friend, and the expressive uses as seen in her ‘cosy greeting’ to a friend. Another dimension here is that SMS was not used for interaction with institutions (the day-care centre or the doctor’s office). Clearly, the interaction with the doctor’s office would be difficult via SMS since that implies sending the message from the mobile system to the landline system. While this is technically possible, it is not a well-recognized application. The other issue here, however, is that SMS is not seen as a legitimate way to interact with these more formal groups. In the case of the day-care centre, one can imagine that the more informal form for interaction with the day-care personnel might allow an opening for SMS interaction. However, in both cases, Kristin is contacting not just an individual, but rather an institution. This is, of course, a whole cluster of people who need to have their own internal routines for dealing with patients or day-care 150

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children. A doctor’s appointment means that the individual has to be entered into the system, given a time for the appointment, perhaps billing or compensation information has to be processed etc. In this way, one is not calling an individual, but a position in a formalized institution. It may be that it is always ‘Betty’ or ‘Frank’ who make the appointments and take the billing information. However, should one of them be out for the day, an alternative person will have to fill in here. Thus the person-to-person nature of SMS goes, to some degree, against the grain when interacting with institutions. The final point here is that all the interactions with men were based on voice telephony. It is slightly misleading to state this, since men regularly use SMS. However, in the diary reported by the woman here, her only contact with men was her ex-husband. There were several calls – both incoming and outgoing – involving the ex. In each case they were voice-based calls. Some of this may have been, because he wished to interact with the children and thus textbased interactions were not possible. Nonetheless, even when he called to borrow the car, it was voice-based. Another woman, Berit, a 28-year-old divorcee with a two-year-old daughter, had a somewhat similar use of the mobile phone. Unlike the previous example, this woman had only a mobile phone. In reading through her call diary one sees that there are a wide range of expressive and instrumental messages sent via SMS. “[At] 13:06 I got a SMS from a girlfriend who just wanted to remind me of a birthday, she lives in Brummundal. At 13:18 I sent a message [to her] and thanked her for the message. At 13:20 I sent a message to the son of this friend and wished him a happy birthday, he has his own mobile and is 20 years old. At 13:21 I got a SMS from my girlfriend who wanted to wish me a good day. At 13:21 I got a message from 1985 (a game) but I hadn’t won anything. 14:19 I got a text message from the boy who had the birthday, the said thanks for the greeting. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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At 20:10 Linda (her daughter) and I sent an SMS from home to the Donald Duck competition and then five minutes later I got an answer that they had gotten our message and they wished us good luck in the competition. At 21:38 I sent an SMS to my mother. . . and asked her if she could help me sew a cape. At 21:42 I got an answer on this that she could try even though it might be difficult. At 21:42 I sent an answer and said thanks a lot.” (Divorced woman, 28, with a 2-year old child) Her use of texting shows that it is a channel through which she conducts various types of errands. These range from different types of expressive activities (being reminded of and expressing best wishes on the occasion of a birthday), interpersonal instrumental activities (planning with her mother to sew a cape) and various types of commercial entertainment interactions (different types of lotteries and children’s competitions). Her use of SMS may have had an economic motivation in that she had one of the lowest incomes of all the informants in the study. However, it seems that she was quite accomplished in the use of the medium.

SMS and the life cycle While Kristin and Berit reported generally using SMS in their communications, other women reported using a combination of both SMS and voice. Kari: “I swap driving the kids to music school one time a week. The woman I swap with, she always sends an SMS that says ‘Is it you today?’” Interviewer: “Do you answer via SMS?” Kari: “Yeah, or I call if there is anything else. If there is something else we will talk about you follow use with a call.” (Divorced woman, 34, with two children aged 8 and 11) 152

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Kari is somewhat older than the previous respondents. Indeed age seems to be a major issue in relation to the use of SMS. Until recently, SMS in Norway had been largely the domain of teens – in particular teen girls – and young adult females. It is these groups that have been among the first adopters of the medium and, as is shown by these comments, they are carrying it with them as they move into more adult roles. Kristin – the woman who described rearranging her day when her child was sick – was aware of the shift from more innocent to increasingly instrumental uses. “[When I was younger] I used a lot of SMS for sort of cozy ‘teddy bear’ messages. I don’t do that too much any more. Now it is to either send a message or send a kind of ‘hi, how are you doing’ [message]. Then I send an SMS and I don’t call. If it is somebody who I have not called for a long time and I just want to hear how it is going, it is like that. There are not so many silly messages anymore. . … but I still send a lot of messages, you know, practical things.” (Divorced woman, 28, with two daughters aged 5 and 1) Kristin notes how she has dropped certain types of interactions, but still holds onto social network maintenance. There is a sense that there are immature and mature uses of the technology. Some mothers saw it generally as a teen medium that was more connected to status rights than to the real need for communication. Kristin describes what Ito (2004) calls ‘light weight’ interaction via SMS. That is, Kristin uses SMS to check in on other members of her social network with quick and relatively non-engaging types of interaction. The point is to manage the social network within an increasingly complex everyday life, with the demands of being a single mother and all that this includes. Other women spoke of the distinction between the teen and the adult use of SMS. In the case of Kari, however, there was a more distanced relationship, perhaps because it was not a medium that she used as a teen and thus is viewing the technology from the other side of a generational divide: “I am actually not so enamoured of SMS. They are. They like it a lot, teens that are a little older than the 11-year old. It is probably status © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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to get a lot of messages and to send a lot of messages, to have friends. I see teens and those up into their twenties who are very interested [in SMS]. If there are no messages for a while they say ‘Oh, I don’t have any friends, nobody is sending messages to me!’” (Divorced woman, 34, with two children aged 8 and 11) Kari’s comments suggest that for her SMS is only a teen thing or that it is not a serious use of mobile communication. She seems to be expressing a type of familial ideology wherein SMS is not used in that family. However, for Kari SMS is not a neutral issue, but instead is further characterized as an ‘un-serious’ medium. Thus, among the informants who did not experience SMS as teens there is often a reserved relationship to the medium. If we look at the use of SMS by older people, there is yet another position. This can be seen in Astrid’s (38) comments regarding her mother. Interviewer: “Do the children’s grandparents have a mobile phone?” Astrid: “Yeah, my mother.” Interviewer: “Do you send her e-mails or SMS?” Astrid: “I tried, but it didn’t go so well.” Interviewer: “It went poorly?” Astrid: “She couldn’t manage to read it.” Interviewer: “She didn’t send an SMS back?” Astrid: “No.” (Divorced and remarried family (man 40 woman 38), five children aged 8 to 15) The material here indicates that if one has had experience in using SMS as a teen or young adult, the medium is carried with them as they move into adulthood. The informants indicate that the form and content of the messages seemingly becomes more serious and less playful. They did, however, report using it for both instrumental and expressive forms of interaction. For those who have first experienced (and even learned to use) SMS as adults there is a different estimation. This group seemingly has a more reserved stance towards the medium and is less quick to see it as a daily form of interaction. Finally, there are those who ostensibly refuse to learn the system. For this group, SMS does not have a 154

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role in their daily lives. While there is some use among older users, the locus of SMS use is clearly among teens and young adults.

Social networking and the instrumental use of SMS A thread that has gone through several of the comments is that SMS was a ‘lightweight’ way to maintain a circle of circle of friends (Ito, 2004). One woman, Tina, noted that she used SMS in somewhat the same way, i.e. that it is as a medium through which she could send a quick greeting: “Short messages are good with SMS and like cozy [things], a nice little message … a lot of times you know when you begin to get older you have a circle of friends or you have some that you see quite a lot and they you have a lot of acquaintances you know. And if you want to keep up contact all the time you have to talk on the phone all the time just to show that ‘Ok, I am thinking of you.’ So instead you just send a nice greeting and yeah. … And it is good because you don’t always have the energy to sit on the phone and chat so SMS is very nice.” (Divorced woman, 38, with a 5- and a 10-year old child) On the one hand these comments might come across as slightly chilling in that one ‘maintains’ a circle of friends through the use of a restricted channel. At the same time, the comments of this woman point to a situation in which she holds her friendships open via intermittent messages, and then perhaps has a stronger basis for interaction on those occasions that she actually meets her friends and acquaintances face to face. Thus, the assertion is not that the interaction is only mediated or only face-to-face, but that the technology allows for something in the middle. Another woman, Kari, shows a slightly more instrumental relationship to SMS when she notes that it is best used for coordination where calling is used in other situations: “[The difference between calling and sending an SMS is that] if you call you should have something new to say or something that is more important to communicate. SMS is more like if you have agreed on something beforehand and you ask if it is ok or what time or things like that. I don’t © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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like to key in the whole discussion with SMS. I don’t like it so much.” (Divorced woman, 34, with two children aged 8 and 11). The use of several different channels for more mundane coordination issues is also seen in the comments of Kristin: “[Agreements] can be made via SMS, but if I want somebody else to pick up my daughter, then I call. But if she is going to visit someone after day-care or if we are going to visit someone, that is often agreed upon through SMS. There are changes [in the schedule], yeah, there are changes but … it is easiest to send an SMS first, but I usually call afterwards. When there are … if there are things that come up and it is hectic, then you send a text message and then I call later. Like today we were actually going to visit someone after day-care and then I had to first send an SMS and then I called afterwards.” (Divorced woman, 28, with two daughters aged 5 and 1) In this case, she is discussing the use of mobile for more practical issues. Nonetheless, she is flexible enough in her approach to use one or the other as the need arises. SMS is seen as an efficient form of communication. A message can be composed and sent quickly. In addition, it is asynchronous. Thus one can deal with an issue (such as a quick greeting to a friend, or the confirmation of an agreement) and one is not dependent on the fact that the other person is simultaneously available for a conversation, a conversation that necessarily includes various greeting and closing interactions. According to some women, SMS allows one certain efficiency and can also be used strategically. SMS affords a streamlined form of communication wherein one can deal with issues quickly and shorn of the need for entangling interaction. It can also be used in order to avoid the need for extended discussions and questioning if the theme is awkward or if one wants to ‘vent’ some anger. 4 In the words of Heidi: “It is easier 4

This does not necessarily pertain to only inter-personal situations. It can also include a way to deal with on-going arguments with, for example, tradesmen. SMS can be used strategically. When the author wants to send a message that is shorn of the additional communication channels (kinesics, hepatics etc) and to deliver a clear and simple message that is not necessarily 156

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to use SMS if you want to say something that is a little difficult (kjedelig) because it is a little…, you feel a little freer then. It is easier to say it with [written] words than verbally.” (Divorced woman, 42, with one child aged 15). Heidi goes on to say that she uses SMS to consciously limit interaction with her exhusband. These women use SMS strategically in order to manage awkward and difficult situations. Their comments indicate that the mobile phone buffers them from potential arguments and other difficulties, particularly when dealing with another person with whom they perhaps have a history of difficulties. The material from these women indicates that mobile communication and SMS has a certain place in their daily lives. The comments point to its (perhaps somewhat reserved) use for both expressive and instrumental activities. They saw it as an easy way to maintain friendships and their social circle, as a way to deal with coordination and the confirmation of agreements and also as a way to strategically deal with awkward situations.

Contact with males A range of themes that arose through out the interviews with divorced women were the various dimensions of interactions with men via the mobile phone. Women noted that men often prefer to call as opposed to send messages. They noted for example that males – including their sons and their ex-husbands – were shorter when interacting via the phone. They also noted that there could be problems with holding their attention. In several cases the divorced women indicated that there was a different estimation of how one should use SMS. The material seems to indicate that there is a tendency for women to use texting and men to respond by calling. In the words of one of the respondents: “I [use] SMS and my ex-husband calls.” positive, SMS is an effective channel. It is personal, it goes directly to the individual, there is no question as for whom it is intended, and the receiver is not confused by contradictory visual or inflective information of a verbal communication. Thus, the SMS message has a directness that is not found in other media. These characteristics mean that the media can – and indeed has been – misused among teens for bullying or terrorizing each other. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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The comments of the women seem to suggest that a preference for vocal interaction is particularly strong among men. While there is an acceptance for texting in certain situations, it is seen as a less desirable form of interaction. Tina notes this: “You know earlier, when we were together, then we didn’t use SMS that much, but that is because he thinks that it is really dumb. ‘Oh, so dumb’, you know. ‘These messages…’ But now he has a phone that is a little all right and so it is fun. Before, there was not much SMS and then there was … no, there was a little more. In spite of the fact that we almost don’t have any SMS contact, it has started to increase.” (Divorced woman, 38, with a 5- and a 10-year-old child). Another respondent underlines that this gendered approach to mobile telephony is not only the case with her ex-husband, but also the case with her 16-year-old son. In some cases the preference for texting among women was that it allowed them to avoid difficult conversational milieus. In the case of one woman, the choice of a particular media is based on the fact that the conversation partner cannot concentrate himself on an ongoing interaction but rather needs to receive the complete message in a single bit. “The reason that I like to use SMS with [my ex-husband] is that he works as a stock agent in a trading company so there is so much that happens and so much noise and we are always interrupted if we talk. ‘Wait a second, just hold the phone for two seconds.’ There is not any sense in anything. I get the answer I need when I send an SMS because then you are short and concise.” (Divorced woman, 38, living with a 16- and a 6-year old child) This comment indicates how SMS fits into the small openings that one has during the day. A verbal interaction is more of a time commitment since there are a whole set of expectations surrounding the interaction. By contrast, the SMS is a lighter form of interaction. In another case SMS provides the woman, Berit, with a type of efficiency of interaction since her ex-husband is an excessive talker and all her “pre-paid minutes go up in smoke because he says a lot of dumb things that are not very interesting for me” (Divorced, 28, with a 2-year old child). 158

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Interestingly we can see the asymmetry of interests by examining the comments of her ex-husband, and his estimation of SMS. Knut: “It takes a longer time to write [than to talk], I am not too satisfied with SMS, because I fumble so much with it. I have never been so good with that so I call as a rule. I think it is a lot easier.” Interviewer: “What is difficult with SMS?” Knut: “Yeah, I … for the most part it is to say things simply. I am a bungler so it is better to call (laugh). … Face to face, eye contact is actually, that is actually the best.” Interviewer: “Why is that?” Knut: “I get more out of it.” (Divorced man, 38, 2-year old child) As we have come to understand, Knut actually likes to talk on the phone since it is more direct and, according to Berit, it allows him a broader canvas upon which he can act. However, in some situations the use of SMS can be better since it is more efficient. He goes on to say, “Mothers are a lot better than me to send SMS and if I am going to answer then I call back.” In the case of Berit and Knut, we see that Berit makes strategic use of SMS as a way to manage interaction and avoid an over commitment of time to Knut’s need to talk.

Male attitudes towards SMS While adult men and women send about the same number of SMS messages, the qualitative material indicates that there are gendered attitudes and uses of SMS. SMS suffered in comparison to mobile voice telephony from the perspective of the adult men in the sample. SMS was seen as being difficult to use, less authentic and less accepted. While the material suggests that SMS has a place in the lives of the female interviewees, men often had a more distanced relationship to texting. At the most basic level, there were comments as to the difficulty of entering text.

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“I think that there is something with SMS … I can’t really do it. It is such short things.” (Married man, 40, with two small children under three) “SMS takes too long.” (Married man, 45, with two small children under three) “I generally call, I don’t use much SMS. It is not so easy (laughter). I haven’t understood it (laughter). I can’t get my fingers to do it (laughter).” (Married man, 36, with two boys aged 9 and 6) There is also the idea that, given other alternatives, SMS is a second-class form of interaction. In addition, if there were readily available alternatives, men expressed a preference for voice communication. Others set the use of SMS into a broader ideological framework. John, for example provides us with a broad condemnation of SMS. He notes that while it perhaps a place in society, it is only suitable for petty interactions: “I think that it is a bad form of communication. If it is an SMS, it must be because that it is a completely inconsequential thing where you don’t need verbal communication” (Divorced man, 38, with nonresidential children). The men noted that they “don’t bother”; that there is “something with SMS,” and the sense that SMS was “a bad form of communication.” These comments, coming from widely separate interviews, point to a sense that men see SMS in a poor light. Looking at the issue of efficiency of communication, there is a direct contraction between the women’s and the men’s perception of SMS. As the reader will recall, women often note that SMS is seen as a quick way to send a message and to deal with a situation. While women often see SMS as an efficient form of interaction, men pointed to exactly the opposite notion, namely that voice interaction is quicker. Per, a 37-year-old divorced man said: “You get things solved right there and then [with voice telephony]. Send an SMS and so then it is quickly very ‘ping – pong.’ A lot of back and forth. Another thing is that I am often in the car and I have a ‘hands-free’ and so it is good to deal with that kind of thing.” Men and women seem to disagree as to the efficiency of SMS. In the material reported above women like the use SMS since “it is done in 10 seconds” and there is no need for the entangling socializing. In addition, it allows them a type 160

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of lightweight form of interaction though which they can maintain their social network. By contrast, there is a tendency among men to see it as awkward, ungainly and inefficient and thus they express a preference for synchronous voice interaction that seems more direct and is seen as a richer form of interaction.

Authenticity via SMS An issue with SMS, that is most commonly cited by men, is that it affords less authentic interaction than voice. Informants noted that SMS did not allow insight into the interlocutors’ gestures and body language. Clearly, in face-to-face communication there is a much broader range of inter-gestureal and interproximic communication. There are various forms of gesture, kinesics, proximics, vocalics, appearance, haptics (touch), chronemics, and manipulation of artefacts associated with copresent communication (Archer & Akert, 1977; Burgoon, 1985; Cherulink et al., 1978; Ekman & Friesen, 1969; Felipe & Sommer, 1966; Greenbaum & Rosenfeld, 1978; Hall, 1973; LaFrance & Mayo, 1978; Leffler et al., 1982; Taylor, 2003; Watson & Graves, 1966). Indeed it is through our nods, winks, glances, fiddling with props and grounding utterances that we indicate that we are engaged in the conversation, that we are interested – or not so interested – in the comments of our interlocutors etc. Many of these cues are stripped away when it comes to telephonic communication (Duncan, 1972; Martin 1991:95-97; Rutter, 1987:105-126; Saks et al., 1974). Instead there is a type of verbal gesturing that helps maintain the flow of the conversation. There was a sense among many of the men – and some women – in the interviews that this was even more strained with SMS. Some informants felt that SMS was too restricted a channel. In several cases, the informants noted that, for example, there was no eye-contact associated with the use of SMS. However, eye contact and various types of body language are only a part of the communication process. This is also true with telephony, but in the case of traditional verbal phone communication intonation, pauses and other extralingual cues are available for interpretation. Thomas, elaborates on this when he says: “All the nuances are gone in SMS. It can be a little caustic if you send a little [message] like ‘Why haven’t you remembered…’ such that you don’t get © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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the nuances in intonation.” (Divorced man, 45, with two children aged 17 and 13). He describes how in some situations it is necessary to call and to let the other person hear the extra-lingual elements, the shades of intonation etc. He notes that SMS is a more restricted channel and that makes the suggestion that you can not communicate subtlety when using text messages.

The ideology of voice interaction Beyond the functional issues of text entry, the material provided by the men suggests that the use of SMS can point to deeper ills. The comments of Kjetil outline how SMS is a second-class form of interaction, particularly when interacting in the private sphere: “When I start to send SMS to my wife instead of talking with her, then it has gone too far, I think.” (Married man, 45, with two small children under three). Kjetil’s comment indicates his evaluation of SMS and its role in his life. However, in a broader sense the material also indicates that males’ distanced relationship to SMS arises from collective behaviour. Media selection is not only the preference of individuals, but to some degree there is also a shared sense among some men that SMS is not an appropriate way for men to communicate. The comments of Bjørn point to this: “I drive a lot back and forth. Yesterday there were few phone calls in relation to what there can be. I am a tradesman, and I drive a lot from job to job. I talk a lot with the other workers. I only talk. I almost never send an SMS” (emphasis added) (Married man, 45, with two small children under three). There is the sense that ‘real guys don’t use SMS’ in these comments. It is not an individually based decision, but the aversion to SMS is at least partially based on the common ethic of other colleagues. The focus on voice is not just a personal decision, but it is a dimension of his interaction with other colleagues. While one can find stray comments made by women to this effect, there was not the same uniformity, directness nor has the moral superstructure developed as it seemingly has with the males.

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The power dimensions of voice and SMS There is a type of power dimension that comes through in the choice of medium (Ling, forthcoming; Ling & Yttri, 2003). In several situations, male interviewees noted that they, in essence, forced a verbal interaction into what had been a text based interaction. Interviewer: “Are there differences with relation to communication that takes place face-to-face and that which is done via SMS or mobile phone? Do you have any thoughts about that? Things that can be easier to just send an e-mail or an SMS. ... For example if your daughter sends an SMS, is there a big difference in content rather than if you talk with her?” Kjetil: “The messages are shorter. …If [my daughter] asks a question face-to-face there can be a little more discussion.” Interviewer: “Does she sometimes send an SMS when she wants to avoid an argument?” Kjetil: “Then I call her up. We don’t just send a message back again.” (Intact family (man 45 woman 41) with three children 18, 14 and 5years of age) Here, Kjetil shifts the medium if he feels that it is to his advantage in dealing with an arising situation. Rather than dealing with a difficult medium in addition to a potential disagreement with his daughter, he moves from a less to a more synchronous form of communication; that is from text to voice. Presumably in voice-based interaction Kjetil can read the situation better and can try to employ various strategies through which to steer the interaction. He actually initiates the verbal call. Thomas took an even more extreme stance in that when confronted with a situation in which he wanted to change media, he sent a text message back to his ex-wife asking her to initiate a call: “…just the other day she [his ex] sent me an SMS with a couple of questions and I wrote back that she needed to call me, because it was too much to deal with via SMS.” (Divorced man, 45, with two children aged 17 and 13). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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In both cases, the men do not accept the format/medium of the interaction and, as a condition for continuing the interaction, they oblige their interlocutor over to another medium. In both cases, this prerogative is exercised over women, showing that there may be a gendered dimension to the situation (Coates, 1986:136). Just as one can speak of setting the agenda for a discussion, here we can speak of ‘setting the medium.’ If Kjetil thinks that his daughter is trying to avoid an issue by simply sending an SMS, then he calls. 5 In the case of the interaction between Thomas and his ex, he also sets the conditions under which the interaction will take place. There is an asymmetry here in that one side is trying to limit the discussion while the other is trying to open it up. 6 This is not just an assertion of power, but has moved into being a culture with an ideological underpinning. To draw on the work of Berger and Luckmann, it has gone beyond a type of thought through functionality to the state of being a taken for granted form of legitimate interaction (Berger & Luckmann, 1967). The message to potential interlocutors here is obvious. It is something along the lines of ‘If you want to communicate with me, call. I don’t respond to text messages.’

Conclusion After having gone through this rather specific examination of how men and women use SMS, in particular in the context of familial interaction, it is useful to pull back a bit and see how this medium is either contributing to, or dissipating social interaction. In the opening of the paper I looked into how mobile telephony is an area wherein ritual interaction is elaborated. It is a type of focused social encounter that relies on various types of ritual interactions. At a practical level it is used to work out mundane issues. At a broader level the use (or nonuse) of SMS is also a way in which we play out our participation in the social 5

There may be an economic issue here in that the daughter is likely to have a smaller income and thus the call will use a larger portion of her disposable income. This would press her in the direction of SMS. Parents, by contrast, have greater resources to pay and thus the call is a smaller portion of their total income. 6 Another way in which these issues are played out is when one asks assistance of another. Again, there is the need to think through the strategic use of the medium. 164

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order. In order to do, this we use various types of ritual interactions, i.e. we use commonly recognized gestures and phrasings. The comments of these individuals indicate that we are in the process of working out the specifics of SMS as a form of mediated interaction. In a sense, society is still hammering out the way in which SMS should be used. It is clear from these comments that there are disagreements. Focused social encounters are played out through the use of a repertoire of ritual and institutional devices and they balance between discord and order. A focused social encounter is when two or more individuals develop a shared focus and use a recognized liturgy of ritual interactions. These can be greeting sequences, the body language to assist one another while walking or explicitly ritual interactions such as shaking hands with a new acquaintance or customer. This builds on the concepts of Durkheim, Goffman and Collins, but emphasizes that an encounter that is dynamic and indeed socially perilous. The shared focus can be spontaneous or it can have institutional and ritual dimensions. A shared focus can command the focus of two individuals or it can demand the focus of a nation, a people, a religion etc. While the latter is possible, the real weight of this approach is on the micro interpersonal level. A shared focus situation can have individuals with various levels of involvement. Breaking with Durkheim, Goffman and Collins, I posit that the individual’s ability to participate in a focused encounter can be mediated. The interaction can be more or less elaborated and use different levels of mediation. These different levels, however, need to be adopted and learnt. Regardless of its format, we rely on various ritual interaction formulations. We rely on collectively developed and understood ritual strategies to maintain the social order within the encounter. As stated in the beginning, the common willingness to use strategies, facades, manners, rituals, poses, savoir faire, etc. and the willingness to allow others the use of the same devices, is a basic common core of focused encounters. It is our willingness to allow for other’s use of strategies, and their willingness to allow our use that is central to the focused social encounter. We are often cognizant of – and also indulgent of – the poorly disguised props that are used to carry off the other’s presentation of self, just as they are cognizant and indulgent of our props and ruses. The more tightly bound the group, the greater the elaboration of and nuance of the strategies. The bond© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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ing can be among people in broadly similar circumstances or it can be bonding based on hierarchy differences. Disturbance to the social order – even, and perhaps particularly, at the micro level – gives social order its dynamism. Were it not for our need to continually guard against our own ‘given off’ utterances and gestures and also willingly overlook the ill-cast ‘given off’ utterances and gestures of our co-participants, social interaction would not have a dynamic edge. It is through the continual search for the ordering of interaction against the threat of disruption that one finds dynamic interaction. The line that has been developed here is that a particular cleft is based on gendered understanding of this form of mediation. Examining threats to the order provides insight into the strategies for maintenance. Highly focused encounters wherein all participants have a similar level of engagement are more resistant to disturbances. By contrast, low levels of mutual engagement mean that disturbances (albeit it relatively inconsequential) are more closely at hand and more destructive. Asymmetric engagement means that the least engaged partners will be more easily disturbed while the more engaged may use various strategies to either rope in engagement of the other(s), or to capitulate. Those who are participating in the encounter or people and events external to the encounter can generate disturbances. Participants can disturb the encounter either intentionally (the snub, the criticism) or unintentionally (the signal that is ‘given off’). However, once an encounter is disturbed it needs to be repaired or resolved. As we have seen above, notions of order and disturbance can expose the power structure within an encounter and vary by time and situation. Gender differences – or rather acquired gender behaviours – can play a crucial role in the differentiations of situations and media and/or applications used. Eventually, however, disturbances can become normalized as can the strategies for dealing with them. Overall, the patterns are revealing, but they might say more about the relationships as such than the media used.

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References Archer, D. & Akert, R.M. (1977): 'Words and everything else: Verbal and nonverbal cues in social interpretation.' In: Journal of personality and social psychology. No.35, pp. 443-449. Argamon, S. et al. (2003): 'Gender, genre, and writing style in formal written texts.' In: Text. No.23, pp. 321-246. Baron, N. (1998): 'Letters by phone or speech by other means: the linguistics of email.' In: Language and Communication. No.18, pp. 133-170. Baron, N. (2000): Alphabet to Email: How written English evolved and where it's heading. London: Routledge. Baron, N. (2001): Why Email looks like speech: Proofreading, pedagogy, and public face. Unpublished paper presented at the 'Language, the media, and international communication' conference, St. Catherine's College, Oxford, 29 March - 1 April. Baron, N. (forthcoming): 'See You Online: Gender Issues in American College Student Use of Instant Messaging.' In: Journal of Language and Social Psychology. Biber, D. & Finegan, E. (1997): 'Diachronic relations among speech-based and written registers in English.' In: Nevalainen, T. & Kahlas-Tarkka, L. (eds.): To explain the present: Studies in the changing English language in honour of Matti Rissanen. Helsinki: Modern Language Society, pp. 253-275. Burgoon, J. (1985): 'Nonverbal signals.' In: Knapp, M.L. & Miller, R. (eds.): Handbook of interpersonal communication. Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage, pp.229285. Cherulink, P.D. et al. (1978): 'Social skill and visual interaction.' In: The journal of social psychology. No.104, pp. 263-270. Cheshire, J. (2002): 'Sex and gender in variationist research.' In: Chambers, J.K. et al.: Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 423-443. Claisse, G. & Rowe, F. (1987): 'The phone in question: Questions on communication.' In: Computer Networks and ISDN systems. No.14, pp. 207-219. Clark, H. & Brennan, S. (1991): 'Grounding in communication.' In: Levine, J.M. & Teasley, S.D. (eds.): Perspectives on socially shared cognition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Clark, H. & Schaeffer, E.W. (1981): 'Contributing to discourse.' In: Cognitive science. No.13, pp. 259-295. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Clark, H. & Marshall, C.R. (1981): 'Definite reference and mutual knowledge.' In: Joshi, A.K. et al. (eds.): Elements of discourse understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 10-63. Coates, J. (1986): Women, men and languages: Studies in languages and linguistics. London: Longman. Duncan, S. (1972): 'Some signals and rules for taking speaking turns in conversations.' In: Journal of personality and social psychology. No.23, pp. 238-292. Ekman, P. & Friesen, W.V. (1969): 'The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories, origins, usage and coding.' In: Semiotica. No.1, pp. 49-98. Felipe, N.J. & Sommer, R. (1966): 'Invasions of personal space.' In: Social problems. No.14, pp. 206-214. Fishman, J.A. (1978): 'Interaction: The work women do.' In: Social Problems. No.25, pp. 397-406. Fleming, N. (2004): 'Texting makes breaking up not so hard to do.' In: The telegraph, 3.5.2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/03/ntxt03.xml &sSheet=/news/2004/05/03/ixnewstop.html Gefen, D. & Straub, D.W. (1997): 'Gender differences and the perception and use of e-mail: An extension to the technology acceptance model.' In: MIS Quarterly. No.21, pp. 389-400. Gluckman, M. (1963): 'Gossip and scandal.' In: Current Anthropology. No.4, pp. 307-316. Greenbaum, P. & Rosenfeld, H.M. (1978): 'Patterns of avoidance in response to interpersonal staring and proximity: Effects of bystanders on drivers at a traffic intersection.' In: Personality and social psychology. No.36, pp. 575-587. Hall, E.T. (1973): The silent language. Garden City, NY.: Anchor. Herring, S. (2003): 'Gender and power in online communication.' In: Holmes, J. & Meyerhoff, M. (eds.): The handbook of language and gender. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Herring, S. (ed.) (1996): Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. Imray, L. & Middleton, A. (1983): 'Public and private: Marking the boundaries.' In: Gamarnikow, E. (ed.): The Public and the Private, London: Heinemann, pp. 166-176. Ito, M. (2004): 'Personal, portable, pedestrian: Lessons from Japanese mobile use.' In: Kim, S.D. (ed.): Mobile communication and social change: 2004 International conference on mobile communication. Seoul: SK Telecom, pp. 31-37.

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Johnstone, A. et al. (1995): 'There was a long pause: influencing turn taking behavior in human-human and human-computer spoken dialogues.' In: International journal of human computer studies. No.41, pp. 383-411. Jones, D. (1980): 'Gossip: Notes on women's oral culture.' In: Women's studies international quarterly. No.3, pp. 193-198. Kendon, A. (1967): 'Some functions of gaze-direction in social interaction.' In: Acta Psychologica. No.26, pp. 26-63. LaFrance, M. & Mayo, C. (1978): Moving bodies: Nonverbal communication and social relationships. Monterey, CA.: Brooks & Cole. Leffler, A. et al. (1982): 'Effects of status differentiation on nonverbal behavior.' In: Social psychology quarterly. No 45, pp. 153 - 161. Ling, R. (2005a): 'The socio-linguistics of SMS: An analysis of SMS use by a random sample of Norwegians.' In: Ling, R. & Pedersen, P. (eds.): Mobile communications: Renegotiation of the social sphere. London: Springer, pp. 335-349. Ling, R. (2005b): 'Mobile communications vis-à-vis teen emancipation, peer group integration and deviance.' In: Harper, R.; Palen, L. & Taylor, A.(eds.): The Inside Text: Social perspectives on SMS in the mobile age. London: Kluwer, pp. 175-193. Ling, R. (2004a): 'The adoption, use and social consiquences of mobile communication'. In: Telektronikk. No.2004/3, pp. 69-81. Ling, R. (2004b): The Mobile Connection: The cell phone's impact on society. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann. Ling, R. (2000): 'We will be reached. The use of mobile telephony among Norwegian youth.' In: Information technology and people.No 13, pp. 102 - 120. Ling, R. (1998): 'She calls, [but] it's for both of us you know. The use of traditional fixed and mobile telephony for social networking among Norwegian parents'. Kjeller: Telenor R&D. http://www.telenor.no/fou/program/nomadiske/articles/10.pdf Ling, R. & Yttri, B. (2003): 'Kontroll, frigjøring og status: Mobiltelefon og maktforhold i familier og ungdomsgrupper.' In: Engelstad, F. & Ødegård, G.(eds): På terskelen: makt, mening og motstand blant unge. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk. Martin, M. (1991): Hello, Central? Gender, technology and culture in the formation of phone systems. Montreal: McGill-Queens. Moyal, A. (1992): 'The gendered use of the phone: an Australian case study.' In: Media culture and society. No. 14, pp. 51-72. Rakow, L.F. (1988): 'Women and the phone: the gendering of a communications technology.' In: Kramarae, C. (ed.): Technology and women's voices: Keeping in touch. New York: Routledge, pp. 207-229 © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Rakow, L.F. (1992): Gender on the line. Urbana: University of Illinois. Rakow, L.F. & Navarro, V. (1993): 'Remote mothering and the parallel shift: Women meet the cellular phone.' In: Critical studies in mass communication. No. 10, pp. 144-157. Rutter, D. (1987): Communicating by phone. Oxford: Pergamon. Saks, H., et al. (1974): 'The simplest systematics for the organization of turntaking for conversations.' In: Language. No.50, pp. 696-735. Sattel, J.W. (1976): 'The inexpressive male: Tragedy or sexual politics.' In: Social Problems. No. 23, pp. 469-477. Smoreda, Z. & Licoppe, C. (2000): 'Gender-specific use of the domestic phone.' In: Social psychology quarterly. No.63, pp. 238-252. Tannen, D. (1991): You just don't understand: Men and women in conversation. London: Virago. Taylor, A. (2003): Phone-talk and local forms of subversion. Unpublished paper presented at the 'Front stage - back stage: Mobile communication and the renegotiation of the social sphere' conference. Grimstad, Norway, 22-24 June. Treichler, P.A. & Kramarae, C. (1983): 'Women's talk in the ivory tower.' In: Communication. No.31, pp. 118-132. Watson, O. & Graves, T.D. (1966): 'Quantitative research in proxemic behavior.' In: American Anthropologist. No.68, pp. 971-985. Yates, S.J. (1996): 'Oral and written linguistic aspects of computer conferencing: A corpus-based study'. In: Herring, S.C. (ed.): Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co., pp. 29-46.

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VI.

Dis/Appearances

Another Kind of ‘Mobility’: Mobiles in Terrorist Attacks Santiago Lorente

On March 11th, 2004, between 7:39 and 7:42 a.m., the terror group Al-Qaida severely hit Spanish society by planting several powerful bombs on commuter trains in the Southern area of Madrid, killing 192 people and leaving some 1,500 wounded, many of whom still suffer the terrible consequences of the attack today. An analysis of this terrorist event can be approached from several angles. Newspapers and other media have dealt with it, providing news, explaining the facts from a political point of view, and even pointing to the parallel, though much more terrible, terrorist actions that took place on September 11th, 2001, in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Newspapers’ editorials have analysed the connections with previous Al-Qaida attacks, the extremely difficult situation in the Middle East, and the supposedly open confrontation between a very small and fanatic part of the Muslim world and a great narrow-minded part of the Western world in great depth. All of this, however, no matter how exciting it may be, is not the purpose of this article. However, some political considerations cannot be avoided. The main purpose here is to lay out the contention that the mobile phone is not only a device strictly oriented to interpersonal communication, both written and oral, but also to broadcasting information, together with other more conventional roles that will be specified below. None of them seem new though, but the mixture of all the roles it gets to play under extreme circumstances conveys a tremendous amount of power to the small device of the mobile phone. The method for this article is not a very unique one. No interviews or surveys have been conducted. Rather, the article is based on participant and ethnographic observations, an analysis of various newspapers (both national and international) and of radio and television coverage. Above all, the article presents a reflection that something very important is emerging with regard to the mobile phone. Society has not yet fully realized this. However, this little and fragile device hides not only a very powerful technological system made up of cellular an© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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tennas, switching centrals and an almost endless intricate web of large computers, but most especially has an overriding impact on almost all layers of societal life (only paralleled by the other big miracle: the internet). This article invites the reader to further understand that little piece of technology called the mobile phone. This sort of awe regarding the mobile phone underlies the whole exposition that follows. In fact, the mobile phone is becoming so much a part of us all that nobody seems to be sufficiently haunted by its mystery and power. Engineers have not yet awakened from the dream that this killer application has forced them into, many explain it in terms of low cost or easy use, and people by and large have not yet quite realized how much the mobile phone has penetrated every little corner of our daily lives. A true, inevitable and, most of all, inexorable prosthesis has got right inside our body and personality. 1

Some basic facts The March 11th bombing in Madrid was the most devastating act of terrorism in European history, except for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Air Flight 103 over the skies of Lockerbie, Scotland. Spain is unfortunately familiar with terror: the ‘Basque Homeland and Liberty’ terrorist group (ETA), which was founded in 1959, has killed nearly a thousand people throughout its history. So, in Spain, before the March 11th bombing, speaking of terrorism meant speaking only about ETA. Before going into the various uses of mobile phones during the day of the terrorist attacks and the two following days, it seems appropriate to present just a few and basic figures about the horror. 2 As stated above, 192 people were killed. Over 2,000 people were injured, leaving the total amount of casualties close to 2,400 people. Twenty of the injured died in hospitals, and 171 immediately after the four-explosion attack, between 7:39 and 7:42 a.m. As to sex, 58% 1

Leopoldina Fortunati (2003) has very successfully pointed out to the symbolic meaning of ICTs as prostheses (see also Katz, 2003). 2 The sources for such figures are: Justice and Interior Department of Madrid Autonomous Community, Health Department of the same, National Health Ministry, Mental Health Services and several Spanish newspapers (EL PAÍS, ABC, El Mundo, La Razón). 174

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of the dead were men, and 42% women. Ages of those killed also show the demographic profile of those taking commuter trains every day in the Madrid area. Nationality is of interest, too: 72% were native Spaniards and 28% immigrants. The following table shows the country of origin of the latter.

This shows, among other things, how much of a melting pot Spain continues to be, after many centuries of large and varied immigration waged from many areas of the world. Presently, in Spain there are 3,5 million recent immigrants out of a native population of around 40 million people. Recent immigration wages have been drawn by the outstanding Spanish economic boom, which in turn is mostly due to the entrance of Spain into the European Union, back in 1983. Out of the 2,200 injured people that were taken into hospitals, 457 were treated and released right after their arrival, 119 stayed there, though only slightly injured, 153 were seriously wounded, 27 very severely affected, and 44 in critical condition. Even one year after the attacks, 218 still keep receiving medical assistance: 25 in rehabilitation, 26 recovering from serious surgery (one has been operated on nine times) and 12 are still waiting for new surgery. Over 3,000 people have received psychological assistance in more than 14,000 medical acts. Surveys conducted in the Madrid area show how much and how deeply

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these attacks have psychologically affected the general population in terms of post-traumatic stress, panic attacks and depression situations.3 The magnitude of the terror can also be seen in the number of estimated rescue services that operated in the few hours following the attacks (see table): estimates are that over 100,000 of such rescue professionals worked during the rest of that day and on following days.

Roles played by mobile phones Everyone is familiar with, at least in Europe and East Asia, the increasing capacity of the mobile handset as photo camera, GPS, internet terminal (for downloading information and sending/receiving e-mail), getting value-added services (recent news as they happen, weather forecasts, financial information, music, and many other new services running parallel with mobile telephony in its so-called third generation (technically known as UMTS)). New forecasts envision still further convergences with PDAs, small-size laptop computers, tablets and other all-purpose devices. The new value-added services already mentioned, now in the process of being commercialised, will first constitute the arena for competition among operators: MP3, video-conferencing, access to financial, 3

See, for instance, the survey conducted by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where over 60,000 people in Madrid suffered from some level or other of depression. 176

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health and entertainment services and much more. Indeed, mobile phones are about to become, in the above-mentioned areas of the world, truly universal portable machines. It is not likely that this is going to be the scenario in the U.S. and Canada, as the mobile phone industry (and use) there are so far clearly lagging behind. 4 Indeed, not only universal, but portable, because this is what they really are: something that the mobile individuals carry along with themselves. Mobiles are the individuals. In this sense, both terms, mobile, as it is used in most European countries, or cellular, as used in most North and South American countries, are partially wrong. Portable is rightly the name this type of telephone as it is referred to in Japan (keitai denwa, which means a telephone that can be taken along). The terrorist attacks in Madrid, as well as the ones that happened in the U.S. exactly two and a half years before, point to the fact that the mobile phone is by and large much more than a sheer interface for people to communicate in everyday situations. It is also an extremely important one in crisis events. Let us just remember the desperate conversations recorded on land from the United Airlines, flight 93, plane that crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, Southeast of Pittsburgh, as well as the calls from the Twin Towers, already on fire, asking for help and bidding farewell to their dear ones as those people inside saw the imminence of their coming death. In the U.S., in the year of 2001, when the awful 9/11 terrorist attacks took place, mobile phone's penetration was very low by European and South East Asian standards, reaching hardly 40% of the total population, just about half that in the world’s developed, industrial counterparts. So we may hypothesize that the beneficial effects of this type of telephony were smaller than in Spain two years and a half later (obviously in relative terms).

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Several reasons are given for such lag: in the U.S. and Canada, fixed-phone lines are much cheaper than in Europe; there is no standard technical system like the GSM; payment is made both by caller and called, and in the case of Canada and partly in the U.S., a further reason can be given: ample part of the territory is empty, while demographic density in Europe, Japan, Taiwan and Korea is very high, making infrastructure investment profitable. On the other hand, in the case of the internet penetration and use, Europe lags behind the U.S. and Canada. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Four roles are seen to be played by the mobile phone is such situations. The first one has to do solely with technology, and not with the human communication act, and is relevant insofar as the handsets were used as vibratory devices that activated the detonating elements, which eventually caused bombs hidden in bags to explode inside the commuter trains. Three out four of those bombs did explode and one failed, and this latter one provided decisive information to the police. We may here speak of the detonating role of the mobile phone precisely thanks to this technological failure. The second role is rescue-oriented, as the mobile phone ended up being a highly useful means for organizing the rescue operations with the highest efficiency and speed. Many bus drivers were notified about the disaster through the radio or even through mobile phones, and they kindly asked passengers to get off the bus and quickly drove into the disaster areas to pick up wounded people and take them to the hospitals. Likewise, many taxi drivers and private car drivers did the same. Wounded people would use their mobile phones to call for help. ‘Civil Protection’, firemen, local and state police, ambulances, Red Cross and other various rescue bodies profited from mobile communication to speed up their activities to limits rarely ever reached before. 5 There is a third, very important role of the mobile phones: that of reaffirming and strengthening emotional ties of kin and friendship. People started calling their relatives and friends soon after the attacks – to get information as to whether they had suffered injuries, thus helping to create still tighter networks based on love and solidarity. Finally, the fourth role played by mobile phones has to do with their ability to successfully compete with traditional, one-to-many, broadcasting mass media such as radio, TV and newspapers to spread the urgent call for attending informal protests against the government and the political party that ran the country at that time: the Popular Party. This is the role that will be looked at more closely here. 5

‘Civil Protection’ is the State public body charged with coordinating rescue and safety operations in case of disasters such as forest fires, floods, sea damages on shores and the like. It is an agency of the Ministry of the Interior, and coordinates partial activities of firemen, police of various levels, hospitals, Coast Guard and some other bodies, such as nongovernmental Organizations (Red Cross and other smaller ones). 178

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Mobile phone networks during March 2004 Let us first digress somewhat from the various roles played by the mobile phones and take a look at the network itself. In Spain, there are presently three mobile phone operators, and each one pretty much owns and runs its own physical infrastructure or network. The three of them were asked to provide figures about the network utilization during the 11th to 14th of March 2004 for this article. None of them wanted to answer the request regarding the voice part of the network, as they quoted reasons having to do with confidentiality (that is to say, downright competition among them), not accepting what was obvious to the public that had suffered it: that the network collapsed partly because of sheer traffic overload right after the terrorist attacks and several times on the days thereafter. A second reason for the collapse was that the police had activated the so-called electronic masking, i.e. a device that inhibits mobile-bound radio frequencies. They did this in order to avoid further bomb detonations by means of the mobile phone. The same phenomenon is also reported by Cohen and Lemish (2004:7-10) speaking about terrorist attacks during the second Al Aqsa (Palestinian) Intifada. One operator provided the following answer: “This type of data [about network traffic] cannot be disclosed to the public. […] The reason why we have decided so is because traffic information, and most particularly that which referred to the 11th of March, would clearly show our network shortcomings and weak points. […] The network collapsed half an hour after the attacks, both as voice and as SMS.” 6 Telefónica Móviles, Spain’s biggest operator, provided some interesting data regarding SMS traffic during the entire month of March, 2004. The peak day by far as to the number of SMS sent and/or received is not the day of the terrorist attacks, but the period between the 19th and the 21st. This is not only a weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), but also the Feast of Saint Joseph, a holiday in Spain. Three social events account by far for more SMS than the terrorist attacks did. Nonetheless there is a peak of SMS traffic, too, during the days of the terrorist attacks and on the following days. 6

Transcription from an e-mail of an executive to the author of this article. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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A Telefónica Móviles high executive explains this as follows: “In fact, we may speculate that the messages during those [terrorist attacks] days had a wholly different content. The extraordinary high proportion of SMS messages whose content is clearly mundane and superficial (jokes, sex-oriented texts, appointments and the like) is well known. Such messages would undoubtedly not have been sent or received, because of the sorrow overwhelmingly felt by the population, sorrow that led to a greater silence and spiritual inwardness.” It may. However, as the media pointed out, almost everyone in Spain spoke about having sent some message during those days. Nonetheless, festive events appear to account for more SMS than catastrophic ones. Let us now compare the average weekend SMS activity and specifically the SMS messages sent and/or received during the terrorist attacks and during the two days prior to the general elections, which happened to be Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The table offers quite surprising information. The only day during the terrorist attacks where the absolute number of messages exceeded the average is during the very day of the bombings, that is, Thursday, March 11th. On the two following days, Friday and Saturday, when most political activity took place, and right before the general elections that took place on Sunday, March 14th, average messaging clearly outnumbered the real activity of sending and/or receiving SMS. So, should the festive hypothesis still be true, that is, keeping that variable 180

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controlled, one may properly conclude from the data that SMS messaging was much more used within the strictly terrorist atmosphere for spreading news, for rescue activities and more reaffirming primary kin and friendship ties than it was for political activities. Another smaller operator, though, provided some very simple figures that are shown in the following table regarding the SMS (not voice) traffic occupation, which somehow back up previous data shown here:

Source: A mobile telephone operator, who asked not to be named

The very day of the attacks, the number of SMS sent jumped almost a fifth above the standard SMS load, which is, as we have seen, ordinarily rather high already. This then gave way to a substantial decrease on the following day, when official, government-convoked demonstrations against terrorism and for peace took place. Mounting anger or at least disgruntlement with the government within a wide portion of Spanish people can be better observed in this table than in the previous one. People perceived that the government was lying to the public regarding the authorship of the attacks. There is no intention here to assess whether the government was actually lying, as this is an essay that has to do with media and communication studies and not with politics. But the later table suggests that a great part of the Spanish society did perceive the lie, because SMS traffic increased by roughly 10%. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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As to the peak traffic hours, one can see 6:00 p.m. on the 12th, when people really started calling up friends via the phone, asking them to attend protests – about which we will speak later on – and secondly, at 8:00 p.m. on the 14th, when the election sites closed and the first provisional results of the general elections began to be known through radio and TV. It can therefore be noted that SMS was a way to comment upon the surprising electoral results. Summing up, one can see that the mobile phone is more oriented towards festive goals than to the events commented on here. But if we turn our analysis toward the terrorist and political events, one may properly conclude that the mobile phone has much more to do with what happened on the 11th of March (when the bombing took place) and with what happened on the immediate days following it, as we will try to explain further in this article.

Explosion-oriented role The history of technology is filled with cases that clearly show that it is society that eventually shapes the use of it in manners largely different and new from what their inventors had anticipated in the first place. “It is of course a platitude to say that many technologies and applications do not get used as expected; it is often the case that users create ‘new application domains’ or ‘functional requirements’ through their discovery and creation of needs and practices that designers had no inkling about before users invented them” (Harper, 2004:2). Later on, Harper states: “In the age of ‘anywhere, anytime’ connectivity, it is people rather than the technology that are crafting and defining the appropriate ways the technology should be used” (ibid.:5). The most recent case about how society (i.e. users) reconstructs technical use, giving it a different meaning and bearing new symbolic content, is that of the SMS. Engineers thought of texting through the mobile phone in the first place as a sort of an on-line technical assistance for the subscribers to call their operator. They never foresaw the incredible SMS success, especially among youth, in Europe and Southeast Asia. Thus they were forced to re-size, at a great speed, computers and networks, pouring enormous amounts of money into the operation, just to fit the formidable SMS demand. 182

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This provides us with a theoretical framework to approach the case of using mobile phones to explode bombs – something that would never have been imagined by its inventors for sure. This is indeed a particular example, and a sad one, of re-constructing the use of technology. And not the first one, either, as in previous terrorist attacks mobile phone vibrating capacities were also used for exploding bombs (Cohen & Lemish, 2004:7-8). These authors even mention the ‘opposite’ case when the Israeli Security Service used a mobile to kill a leading terrorist (ibid.:8). “In the world of terrorism and counter-surveillance, the mobile phone has become an increasingly deadly weapon on both sides of the conflict. For extremists, the mobile is a perfect detonator of death. For security forces, it is a key tool for tracking them down [and killing extremists]. The need for common rules on keeping phone records was an important topic at a meeting last week of European interior ministers seeking to improve cooperation in the wake of this month’s Madrid train bombs. Intercepting mobile communications can be vital for intelligence gathering” (Textually.org, 2004) Nothing new then? Terrorists thought of the standard vibration and wake-up utilities of the mobile phone handset in order to activate the bomb's detonating system at a given preset time. The terrorists put the explosive stuff in the bags next to the mobile phone set, and they connected both. Two wires ran from a blue mobile phone to a detonator. We know this because a young police officer by chance discovered among the debris of a wrecked train car a bag with twenty-two pounds of explosive, surrounded by nails and screws. At 7:39 a.m. (two bombs), 7:41 a.m. and 7:42 a.m., where Madrid commuter trains carry several hundred thousand passengers to work every working day, three out of four such sets, in different train stations, started to vibrate, activating the detonators and giving way in turn to the terrible explosion that literally twisted solid steel railroad cars, killing and wounding many innocent people. One bomb failed to explode and gave ample evidence to the police for finding the authors of the attack. That precise time, on a regular working day, means that maximum harm was assured, as it was the peak train rush hour. So mobile phones can be assas© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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sin machines, too. We conclude this section, citing some comments in an Economist editorial (March 26th, 2005): “The second point is that all technologies have both good and bad uses. There is currently a debate about whether it is safe to install mobile antennas in underground stations, for example, for fear that terrorist will use mobile phones to detonate bombs. Last year's bombs in Madrid were detonated by mobile phones, but it was the phones’ internal alarm-clock function, not a call, that was used as the trigger mechanism. Nobody is suggesting that the alarm clock should be outlawed, however; nor does anyone suggest banning telephones, even though kidnappers can use them to make random demands. Rather than demonising new technologies, their legitimate uses by good people must always be weighted against their illegitimate uses by bad ones. New technologies are inevitable, but by learning the lesson of history, needless scares need not be.”

Rescue role In humankind’s early days, one may reasonably imagine that when nature showed its most damaging faces (storms, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and seaquakes, tsunamis), rescue operations were not only primitive and quite ineffective, but their coordination was also very poor – precisely because of lack of quick communications. Humankind made progress, though, and yet some drawbacks in crisis situations are well known. The Madrid attacks have proven that mobile phones are a technical continuation of the good old drums, smoke signals, fire, lanterns, lighthouses and messenger pigeons, as well as of interpersonal and broadcasting communication technologies such as newspapers, radio and TV, and even the Internet. But not only that: the mobile phone, together with the above-mentioned media, can play a decisive role in times of catastrophes. In fact, very soon after the terrorist attacks, all passengers who could make it (those not severely injured) started calling the rescue resources through their 184

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phones: police, firemen, hospitals, ambulances, Red Cross, etc. 7 It must be borne in mind that over 85% of the passengers had their mobile phones on them. In a few minutes time the mobile telephony voice network simply collapsed due both to the sheer huge traffic jam and to the electronic masks set by the police to inhibit potential further explosions. Yet there is a unanimous feeling that – thanks to the people calling through their mobile phones in those precious first minutes – rescue bodies acted not only very quickly, but also in a very organized way. This assertion can be made because the 11th of March is the first case of a large-scale catastrophe in the history of mankind happening in the midst of a society with a very large mobile phone penetration. Comparatively, September 11th, although a substantially much bigger and more awful catastrophe with nearly four thousand people killed and several more thousand people wounded, was one where mobile phone penetration had only reached less than half the population. The novelty of it all is that private individuals, either safe or lightly wounded, became rescue actors as well, thanks to the mobile phones, together with the institutional rescue organizations. A lot of other people also became voluntary actors collaborating in the rescue operations. They took people to hospitals, attended to the wounded, calmed down relatives that showed up at the scene and the like. Newspapers and other mass media later reported cases of bus drivers, taxi drivers, and even individual drivers that would act as volunteers going to the scene to pick up wounded, their cars full of blood, dropping them at near-by hospitals. Cohen and Lemmish (2004:10-11) report still another interesting use of mobile phones during rescue operations, and that is one of identifying corpses with the help of the information stored in the mobile device’s SIM card – phone numbers of relatives and friends. So, in a way, the mobile phone acted as a sort of ID card, too, and a real help for police operations. .

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Reinforcing kinship and friendship ties Together with the previously described rescue activities, mobile phones became powerful tools to create feelings of empathy, nearness and love among families and friends. Tension-release, empathy, psychological coping with the situation were indeed evident results of the mobile use under such severe conditions. Simple ethnographic observations of all of us who became witnesses of the attacks, is that immediately after they happened, we started calling – and were called by – relatives and friends, using both landline phones and mobile phones. Mobile phones were most used for one very simple reason: in that hour of the morning all active persons – in the working meaning of the term – were either already working or in itinere. It is obvious that the news about the attacks quickly spread through radio and TV, but the emotional atmosphere was created mostly through the mobiles. Calls were all of a similar kind: “Are you ok?”, “Have you suffered injuries?”, “Do you know that so and so has been injured or is dead?” So, concern about friends and relatives, most especially about those that we suspected to have been on the trains, built up a tight web of love, sorrow and solidarity, bound with highly emotional feelings of hatred towards the authors of the terrorist attacks. Much of social scientists’ concern in their research activity is indeed oriented towards how mobile phones enable people to have a new form of connectivity between them (kin and friends). Gergen refers to this as a sort of ‘absent presence’ (2002:227-241). Like in the Intifada cases reported by Cohen and Lemmish (2004:15), virtually everything the injured had to say about the role of the mobile phone at the time of the terrorist act had to do with calling friends and relatives: “All the interviewees owned a mobile and had them with them at the time of the events. When asked about using their mobiles immediately after the attack, several interviewees indicated that they tried to phone the police while most told of phoning parents, spouses or close friends. Some couldn't do so because their mobiles actually exploded or were damaged. Several of the interviewees mentioned the collapse of the mobile phone system after the event, a fact that prevented them from using it.” 186

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Clearly, mobile phones, in catastrophe situations, are ideal tools for connecting relatives and friends suffering because of the loss or injuries of the loved ones, thus reinforcing the primary relations in line with the traditional sociological theory set up by Cooley many years ago (1902). Primary relations, or primary groups, in sociology, refer to small sets of people that maintain close, informal and face-to-face relations (although this does not imply physical presence), which have a relative stability and purpose of endurance. Typical examples are the family, youth, and close friends. It is worth noting that in these groups, not needing physical presence as a sine qua conditio, their maintenance can be assured by some technological mediation as it is the case of the phone, both landline or mobile. Again, this is Gergen’s insightful definition of ‘absent presence’ as applied to human relations through the various electronic communication devices (including, of course, electronic mail). It has to be borne in mind that the mobile phone-mediated communication occurred during those terrible days was not an end to itself, but a means towards face-to-face communication. A commonplace research result within media and communication academic activity is the instrumental role of machine-mediated communication and how it reinforces, instead of downsizes, real, personal, faceto-face communication. The former has a place and a time for its use, a format, a length and even a language, depending on the type of medium used (fixed phone, mobile phone, e-mail, letter, post-card), and keeps a relationship with the psychological profile of the user. An empirical study among German youth (Höflich & Rössler, 2002) pointed out that those youth with a rather extroverted character tended to use both electronic (telephone and e-mail) and traditional (letters and postcards) communication means in a way that clearly exceeded their introverted counterpart. So, in a way, technological-mediated communication does amplify psychological capabilities: if one has a friendly character, s/he would use whatever means is available to realize his/her friendliness, not making a distinction between different means, but always keeping in mind the final goal: people.

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Mass medium role There is a consensus that mass media are those ways of broadcasting information (mainly messages, a little less information and a just a bit of knowledge) in a one-to-many scheme. Newspapers were the new truly dominating mass media of the pre-electric and pre-electronic era, although other mass media can be accounted for: the Panorama, and the dacibaos in the Far East areas of the world. The town criers and their city hall announcements can be legitimately considered mass media of the pre-newspapers era. Street advertising acts as mass medium, too. Nonetheless, there is also consensus that modern, electronic-based mass media are, par excellence, radio and television, and nowadays, the internet, which is quickly catching up to become an important mass medium, too. Then, of course, there is the mélange of them, like online newspapers. Fortunati has very acutely called this merging process the “mediatization of the net and the internetization of the Mass Media” (2005). That the mobile phone is by now a well-established mass medium is a fact that many sociologists and media studies scholars have already pointed out. See, for instance, Fortunati (2003), in that the mobile phone can be either a receiver of news, by means of a value-added service, or a sender of information, as in the case dealt with here. The 11th of March, 2004, and the 11th of September, 2001, are both historical moments where the role of mass media can be analysed taking into account that both were intensive catastrophe moments. Our contention is that, in the days following the Madrid terrorist attacks, the mobile phones, besides the three previous roles, took up a fourth one, that is, of being a true mass medium competing with newspapers, radio, TV and the Internet. There are, then, two important contentions here: one is that mobile phones can act as a mass medium, and the other is that they do so very powerfully although in a manner that should strongly be qualified. In a way mobile phones go back decades, but are only now finally becoming mass media. That, again, happened in the days immediately after the Madrid terrorist attacks. But in order to explain this, we would like to invite the reader to divest him- or herself of political considerations, despite the fact that the events on those days had to do directly with political factors, which inevitably will have to be mentioned here. 188

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91% of the Spanish society, according to an official survey, was both against the Iraq war and against the Spanish military participation in it.8 The then Prime Minister, Aznar, decided to make an alliance with Bush and Blair, backing the war and sending a small military contingent there. The very day of the terrorist attacks, i.e. the 11th of March, all Spaniards as well as all Spanish institutions linked the authorship of the attacks to the Basque terrorist group ETA, since for more than thirty years this group has hit Spain, killing over a thousand people and wounding many more. ETA had been, so far, the only terrorist actor in Spain. Its goal is to reach independence from Spain and France in order to create a new nation-state. This first hypothesis was soon dismissed by everyone – except by the government. It was the key question that started off the popular little revolt at first and then the huge protests. In fact, the government was the only institution that, at least in its official statements through the mass media, kept the longest posture in assigning the responsibility as either to ETA only or to both ETA and Muslims. It was quite understandable that for a government seriously committed to Bush’s stand and therefore to the Iraq war, against the majority of its citizens, it was quite humiliating, politically speaking, to accept the sheer idea of a Muslim revenge. It would have meant a public confession of the government’s sin. Most of the Spanish public soon understood though that its government was setting up a lie, a sort of a distraction strategy, and soon dismissed the governmental media statements. People did not forgive the perceived lie. We stress what we have said before: sociologically speaking, what is important is the social construction of reality, as it was pointed out in a classical book by Berger and Luckman (1968). Not only that, they assert that the social construction of reality is the central theoretical question within sociology: “the individual constructs and reconstructs society and at the same time, he is constructed and reconstructed by it throughout a sort of a continuous dialectical externalization-objectivationinteriorization process” (Palacios, 2004). What exists, then, depends on the way people perceive it. And there is no doubt that Spanish people perceived that their government was lying to them. By Friday afternoon, thirty-six hours after the bombings, a huge amount of demonstrators was standing in front of the Atocha 8

See Center of Sociological Research (CIS, in Spanish), “Barometer”, February 2004. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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station – one of the four scenarios of the bombings – holding signs that linked the tragedy to the war in Iraq. Discomfort and even anger started to rise among a large percentage of the Spanish public, and most outstandingly among youth. It is here where mobile phones come into the scene again. Some people, again especially young people, started to call each other, sometimes as a person-to-person sort of way, but mostly by means of distribution lists, sending written SMS messages, first announcing their anger against the government for lying to the people by stubbornly maintaining the ETA authorship and hiding that of Al-Qaida’s, and, later on, as a result of their anger, inviting people to gather in front of the Popular Party (the party in government) headquarters all over Spain to show their protest. It goes without saying that, again and again, despite each individual’s political views, which are wholly legitimate, the empirical fact is that the mobile phone acted for many people as a new, quick and powerful mass medium, competing and even acting against the standard mass media which were mostly controlled by the government at that time. So, there is no question here as how, who, and when, started writing messages inviting people to gather. All these questions are relevant politically, but not from the academic viewpoint in the realm of media studies. Rather, this paper focuses on the role that the mobile phones had in achieving such a quick and massive popular response. The facts are that cellular voice networks collapsed again, as they did right after the terrorist attacks two days before, and SMS networks ceased sending/receiving mundane content messages, and that massive protests did take place all over Spain in front of the Popular Party headquarters. These are the empirical facts that no doubt must be put together. Anything else is political speculation. People who participated carried banners during the demonstrations, their wording varied and was mostly quite negative towards the government and Aznar, and a lot of them protested against the Iraq war and even Bush. “Who is the author of these attacks?”, “Why is the government lying to us”, “No more lies”, “Your war is our dead”, “Before voting, we want to know the truth”, some of them read. Yet, most of them just asked for “Peace”, so a clear demand of the Spanish population regarding the Iraq war, and the connection between the Iraq affair, the bombing and the demonstration, can be seen. 190

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Velasco (2005) points out the exact connection between the Iraq war and youth’ displeasure of it. Velasco's main thesis is that “the war became sort of a lump in their throats which dramatically exploded after the 11-M terrorist attacks” (ibid.:17). That young people were fed up with Aznar's government was no secret at all. Many young people had invaded the streets in public manifestations against the University Reform Act, against the Labour Act, against Prestige's ‘black tide’ 9 and, last but not least, against the way the government lied to the Spanish public opinion as to the authorship of the 11-M attacks. It was the young people that created the first counter-information web pages and used the mobile phones to pass on the now famous SMS message: “Today, Popular Party Headquarter, 13 Genova Street. No political parties. Silence to look for truth. Pass it on”. Pásalo, pass it on, that was the miraculous cry. Pásalo is the word to keep in mind to understand the highly contagious power of a just-born mass medium. Indeed, it was quite clear that the mobile phones did the miracle: in a tight period of time, just a few hours, with hardly no cooperation from the traditional mass media – and even against them – hundreds of thousands of Spaniards, mostly young people, poured into the streets, calling for peace, asking their military to withdraw from Iraq, shouting their anger against the government, and expressing their sorrow for the people killed and wounded in the terrorist attacks. No mentions of anger against the Arab world and hardly any mention of Al-Qaida, either. The result is well known. The conservative Popular Party, which Aznar headed, was leading the Socialists by a slight 4.5 percentage points in the previous polls, despite the overwhelming opposition of the Spanish population to the country's participation in the war of Iraq. On the 14th of March, three days after the terrorist attacks, the Socialist Party and its Secretary General, Zapatero, reached a pyrrhic victory in the General Elections held that day, ousting Presi-

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dent Aznar from power. 10 What sort of explanation can be provided? Well, surveys said that most undecided people before the General Election were likely to be young. Young are the always abstentionists, who rarely go voting, except in cases where they do it based on emotional reasons, because they are fed up or sick with some particular situation. During the newly-born Spanish democracy, young people were mostly the ones that did not go to the polls, but this time they invaded the streets in anger. Data show that young voter participation increased in that election with respect to previous ones: in 2000, only 50% of young people younger than twenty-five years of age voted, whereas in 2004, 66% of them did. In 1996, among those under twenty-five, 28.2% voted conservative (Popular Party) and 19.6% Socialist; in 2004, however, only 16,8% voted Popular Party and 32.2% Socialist. This represents an important, but not a terribly big shift. This is in accordance with what we have seen in terms of the way the network and the messaging activity behaved during those days. Going back to a more general scenario, it seems rather appropriate to present the sequence of facts that acted as a sort of ‘cause-effect’ chain, in people’s minds, for which the following chronology can be portrayed: • Aznar’s alliance with Bush and Blair regarding Iraq war • Growing opposition by the extreme majority of Spanish population • Iraq war • Spanish Military participation in it against prevalent public opinion • Terrorist attacks on March 11th by Al-Qaida • Spanish public opinion connecting both facts (Spanish military participation in Iraq and terrorist bombings) • Government assigning responsibility to ETA

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164 seats for the Socialist Party against 148 for the Popular Party, that is, 42,6% versus 37,6% of votes. Only 16 seats more, out of a total 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and just 5% more in terms of votes. Very slight victory, indeed. Thirty-five million people voted, more than seventy-seven per cent of the electorate, eight per cent more than expected. Many of those non-expected voters, according to post-election polls, were young, first-time voters, and it is their votes that put the Socialist over the top. This is empirically what happen. Political interpretations do differ, as always. 192

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• Government’s stubbornness hiding Al-Qaida’s authorship for many hours • Spanish public opinion suspecting Government’s lie • Mounting anger among population • Mobile phones as important instruments for calling to participate in protests (‘important’ does not mean decisive) • Relevant part of young people’s sudden and not expected entrance into political scene • Unexpected, though slight, victory of the Socialist Party This very sequence of facts is contested by North American political analyst Lawrence Wright, in an article in the New Yorker (2004:40-47). His main contention is that for international information services “the planning for the [March 11] attacks may have begun nearly a year before 9/11. […] It appears that some kind of attack would have happened even if Spain had not joined the Coalition – or if the invasion of Iraq had never occurred” (ibid.:53). But the fact is that Spain did join the Coalition, and the invasion of Iraq did occur, so it is hard to speculate on would-be scenarios when there are real scenarios at stake. It appears useless to speculate in terms of what would have happened if Spain had not joined the Coalition or, better than that, if the U.S. had never attacked Iraq. In the Spanish case, “ordinary folk, upon receipt of the text messages, became broadcasters themselves”, “each user becoming a broadcasting station unto him or herself, a node in a wider network of communication that the state could not possibly even begin to monitor, much less control” (Paragas, 2003:270, 281). Other authors portray many other cases (Salaverría, 2004, for example). Just within Spain, Rodríguez (2005) reports about a dozen other instances where mobile phones have been used by young people with uneven success. Very recently, the Popular Party tried to use the mobile phones to move young people to demonstrate, with no success at all. This model, however, does not always work, in all places, and under similar circumstances. We are witnesses to a time wherein new technology-mediated communication, both one-to-many (broadcasting) and one-to-one (interpersonal communication), is gaining momentum and is having important political consequences. Thus scientific analysis becomes of utmost importance. Of course, we are referring mainly to the mobile phone when we talk about such technology-mediated © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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communication. In Europe, as well as in South-East Asia, the power of the mobile phone greatly exceeds the impact that it has in the U.S. and Canada, whereas in these latter countries it is the internet the leading technologymediated communication means. The reason why we have introduced the issue of the state of the democracy at the times of the events is because the Filipino sociologist Paragas thinks that it has something to do with demonstrations and the role of the mobile phone: “aspersions that are cast regarding the legitimacy of the demonstration as a mechanism for political change redound to the viability of mobile telephony as an instrument for political reform. If People Power II were to be seen as a true expression of democracy, mobile phones could then be considered a tool for empowerment. However, if People Power II were to be deemed as mob rule, mobile phones could then be seen as an instrument for sowing chaos and instability” (Paragas, 2003:282-283). 11 And before that: “To its critics, People Power II also makes the country prone to a ‘mob-style democracy’ (an expression used by Bacani & Espinosa-Robles, 2001). If 10 million text messages go out and 1 million protesters take to the streets at every crisis… the result is a perfectly healthy, if rambunctious, version of democracy” (Paragas, 2003:279). So the theoretical question arises as to whether political action in the form of demonstrations is an expression of immature, mob-like democracies or, on the contrary, of stabilized, settled and highly mature ones. Howard Rheingold (2002) has approached this in his pointed analysis about smart mobs. These may create new public spaces, revitalize democratic institutions, increase political participation and deepen trust in the democratic political process. Rheingold and others thus represent a sort of techno-optimism close to a utopian view of the capabilities of technology for political participation and action (Dányo & Sükösd, 2003:285). In any case, a warning is blowing in the air as to the potential strength of communication technologies, and most especially of mobile telephony, and the fact that society should keep an eye as to how these technologies affect society. Finally, there is the question, very much tied up with mobs, and not so much with smart ones, of emotion (Vincent, 2003). The question is whether 11

People Power II was the name given to a popular movement in the Filipines.

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huge demonstrations can be held without such emotional component. As we will conclude later, when speaking about the classic old theories of sociology and social psychology about mobs, deep shared emotions are a key component of the demonstrations here presented, so no political action would come into effect should emotions be absent from the people. Trying to summarize and place all the pieces of this challenging puzzle together, we may make a modest attempt and put forward the following theoretical framework about mobile phones as mass media: First, mobile phones do not have an editorial policy. There is no structured ideological body behind the messages, like there was, for instance, during the French ‘May 1968’. Mobile phones do not analyse events – they simply call for action. Second, the SMS format is likewise extremely immature. Up to now – although things may slightly change in the context of the 3G – there are no images, either static or dynamic, only numeral alphabetic characters, many abbreviations, no sounds, no graphic information, no ideographic, a few emoticons, in sum: hardly any multimedia. Third, mobile phones, being part of ICTs, do convey information, but a very precise, concrete, telegraphic one, all that can be conveyed in the tiny 160character space of the SMS. 12 But, besides and above conveying information, mobile phones, in very special and concrete circumstances, as it is the cases shown here, do transmit action orders that have to do with behaviour more than with thinking patterns: going somewhere, gathering, shouting and, consequently, building up new organizational behaviour-oriented sets. And thirdly, besides concrete information and orders, mobile phones do disseminate feelings and emotions, which very deeply reinforce behaviour. So, information, behaviour and emotion form a kind of feedback triangular system, which stimulates and deepens the strength of each other. Although lack of detailed information reveals a shortcoming of the mobile phones, emotional behaviour ends up being

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their extreme strength – nothing less than altering the course of history. Not a small pursuit, indeed. Impunity is a fourth characteristic. Authors do not sign. Messages started anonymously. There is no copyright. Authors are not professional journalists. In the case of the SMS sent on March 13th, investigations after the event showed that the originator happened to be a man, a 40-year-old activist who hid his name because of fear of reprisals taken by the Popular Party. He was the one who sent the first message, with the Pásalo, pass it on, an order that spread like wildfire in more than a geometrical progression and changed the course of the expected history in Spain. Once the first messages were on air, the event became an uncontrollable one. These facts point to the very strength of mobile phones as mass media – that they can change the course of history should certain variables take place altogether. We will speak of them now, as things are not as simple as that. Some theoretical nuances are at stake and should be pointed out. Both, traditional sociology and social psychology, studied crowd behaviour and their emotional makeup in detail. A crowd refers to a set of people gathered in an informal and heterogeneous way, in a determined place, on a temporary basis, with a goal in common. Those people have been driven there by similar stimuli and sometimes under the guidance of a single leader. Paradigmatic cases are those crowds gathered by political leaders during pre-election campaigns (where silly and superficial emotions outrun important ideas), and also crowds gathered during sport events. So a crowd is the convergence of emotional behaviour more so than that of a structured set of thinking patterns. Excitement, passion, emotion, sickness, tiredness and even violence are elements generally present in crowds and more so in mobs. Under the leadership of certain people either with determination or with a charismatic gift of leadership, a crowd can very suddenly go from apathy to cohesion, from non-participation to social endeavour. Crowds are the most unstable and transient of all social groups where emotional contagion becomes the most, though not the only, important agglutinating factor. This is not to say that crowds are only emotions. There are also ideas behind them, generally in terms of demands, claims, and complaints, sometimes very just and fair. 196

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Therefore, when analysing the power of the mobile phone, one must distinguish several social layers. Most likely, the mobile phone system may not be the best one to develop solid, stable, durable, long-running thought patterns (faith, believes, values, ideas, issues) among the population, but it may well be a highly powerful means for fostering quick, short-run, impulsive, behaviour patterns (acts, actions) as a result of shared emotions. Traditional mass media (radio, television, press and now the internet), on the contrary, have a more persuasive and efficient power to create such thinking patterns among the population, but, on the other hand, they lack the power to develop such quick behaviour reactions which, culturally speaking, lead to social change. But there is more about the distinction between traditional mass media and the mobile phone. In the days following the Madrid terrorist attacks, traditional mass media acted as just reproducing voices of their political and/or economic owners, either defending the government’s stands or going against them, depending on who was behind them and their position on either side of the fence. In the present day, mass media are enterprises where freedom of content is unfortunately mixed with freedom of the enterprise, and this has a tremendously negative character and a serious drawback from democracy. Sadly enough, we know too well how impossible it is for media to be independent from those who pay. While mass media are not free, calls made through their mobile phones are cheap. This is a basic, clear-cut distinction that should be borne in mind. The newness of it all is that the mobile phones demonstrated that they acted as true mass media, that they were able to effectuate a massive gathering of people, and that they were the critical factors that led approximately two million people, mostly young, to vote, having decided previously not to do so. They thus turned the expected political scenario in the general elections upside down. This is what happened, these are the empirical facts, and any position not accepting them is just falling into the realm of fantasy and evasion from reality. Empirical facts, though formidable, should not be overstated. Results of the General Election show that the mobile phone protests affected only a minority of voters (just about two million people at the very most out of roughly twenty million potential voters), but a minority strong enough to change the course of history. Minorities have greater and greater power in multi-party democracies. According to the Ministry of the Interior, March 2004 voting participation in© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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creased 13% with respect to that of 2000 (75.66% vs. 68.71%). Pre-electoral surveys anticipated participation similar or even lower to that of 2000. It is precisely that increment of 13%, equivalent to approximately two million people, which made the difference. Even the governmental “Center of Sociological Research” (CIS, in Spanish), a part of the Ministry of the Interior, right after the March 11th election, and still with a director from the Popular Party, in its standard Barometer (field work between March 23rd and April 3rd) declared that the March 11th terrorist attacks did not influence the vote for 78% of the voters (so, therefore, they did for 22% of them). In the same Barometer it is said that “the tragic attacks reaffirmed a 53,8% in their intention of vote, whereas for a 21,9% such events led them to the drive to vote, as they had decided not to do so, and for a 13,5% to change the party to vote” (El Mundo, May 5, 2004). This is the true story of the role mobile phones played.

Conclusion As is often the case, use of technology escapes its original design. We have said that is a platitude and that there is no further need of proving it. That is also the case with the mobile phones. The terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11th represent a concrete instance of such general law: the mobile phones were used in ways not thought of by their designers. In this article four roles of the mobile phones during the day and the following days of the Al-Qaida terrorist attacks in Madrid have been shown: • As bomb detonators • As quick and effective help to rescue bodies • As amplifiers of kin and friendship ties • As mass media, competing with traditional ones, creating sudden, emotional and short-term social behaviour. The first one found ample empirical evidence in the police investigation. Ethnographic description has led to a confirmation of the three remaining roles. Of 198

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special interest for social theory and media studies is the last one. In trying to get a deeper insight into it, we have had to make an incursion into the political scenario that surrounded the events from the day of the bombings (Thursday, March 11th) up to the election day (Sunday, March 14th, 2004). Though escaping from presenting one’s political preferences is an almost impossible endeavour, we have tried to be as independent as possible. The reader should bear in mind, though, that the triggering factor that led to the demonstrations in Spain on those sad days was the perceived feeling by most citizens of a government lying to its people. This perceived fact is not, in this context, a political statement, but a scientific element inextricably tied up with the demonstrations – and these again were tied up with mobile phone uses. A hint was implied that these roles are not particularly new, even in the case of mobile phones as bomb detonators. The use of mobile phones follows the general patterns of use of the plain old telephones in some way or other. So the other three roles are not exactly new either. Several examples examined in this article confirm that usage, and therefore the role of the mobile phones during March 11th and following days follow similar usage patterns of the telephone at other times in history. Therefore, these roles in Spain are hardly new, so one can only speak, if we may, of new ways and new versions of the old roles – but unexpected, indeed, they were. Present-day society, and its electronic engineers who conceived mobile phones, most likely never thought of such possibilities. They did not think of these, because engineers hardly ever read the history of technology. They are generally history-illiterate. Secondly, because they designed SMS as a sort of technical assistance for the subscriber to send a written message to the operator. Nor did they think of the mobile phone as a device to deepen kin and friendship ties in times of catastrophes and the like. And of course, a safe bet can surely be made as to the fact that no one, neither engineers nor non-engineers, thought of the fact that mobile phones, the plain old telephone, could act as a mass medium to call for protests and eventually change the course of history, as it is more and more the case. The case of mobile phones as media is beginning to be too important to simply dismiss it, and scholars of media studies should start to incorporate mobile phones, together with the internet (e-mail, most particularly) into the list of the already old media such as press, cinema, radio and television. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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The whole story in Spain in that particular and sad moment of its history once again demonstrates that technology is inextricably interwoven with society insofar as innovation and use, within particular scenarios, form a mutual feedback system where they both reinforce each other. In certain instances it is the technology that supplies the main drive, as it is the case with the invention of the personal computer and the mobile phone. Yet, no one can escape the empirical fact that it is the social demand and social needs that have, unexpectedly, changed the real social use of both – and even the course of history. In the case of the PC, it was transformed from being an instrument of sole computation, to a huge, multi-faceted device useful for office work, interpersonal communication, information search and storage, music composition, design and many other purposes. In the case of the mobile phone, the move was from only technologicallymediated interpersonal communication to a varied display of other uses, as we have seen here. Let us conclude citing once again the The Economist editorial: “[The mobile phone] makes planes fall from the sky! It gives you cancer! It helps terrorists! Why, the mobile phone of course, which is simultaneously the most successful digital device on the planet (1.7 billion users and counting) and the origin of all sorts of myths and scare stories”. A priceless and multifaceted little thing, wirelessly attached to a huge and sophisticated seamless and near ubiquitous cellular network, is performing the miracle. It is superseding the fixed phone and is taking up lots of roles beyond communication. Many of these were only assigned to specialized institutions before, and now they are facilitating people getting together in huge urban spaces. The mobile is hence becoming the key interface in the coming ubiquitous network society. Just watch it.

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References AcaDemon (undated): From Papers and Essays. http://www.academon.com Bacani, C. & Espinosa-Robles, R. (2001): ‘Mob Power’. In: Asiaweek. May. http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/nations/0,8782,108633,00.html Cohen, A. & Lemish, D. (2004): Mobiles in the Aftermath of Terror: Evidence from Israeli medical personnel, victims and witnesses. Unpublished paper. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, Department of Communication. Cooley, C.H. (1902): Nature and Social Order. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Dányi, E. & Sükösd, M. (2003): ‘Who’s in control? Viral Politics and Control Crisis in Mobile Election Campaigns’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 285-316. Fortunati, L. (2003): ‘Real People. Artificial Bodies’. In: Fortunati, L.; Katz, J. & Riccini, R. (eds.) (2003): Mediating the Human Body: Technology, Communication and Fashion. Mahwah: Erlbaum, pp. 61-74. Fortunati, L. (2003): ‘The Mobile Phone and Democracy: An Ambivalent Relationship’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 239-258. Fortunati, L. (2005): ‘Mediatization of the Net and Internetization of the Mass Media’. In: Gazette: the International Journal for Communication Studies. Vol. 67, No.1, pp. 27-44. Gergen, K. (2002): ‘The Challenge of Absent Presence’. In: Katz, J. & Aakhus, M. (eds.) (2002): Perpetual Contact. Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Harper, R. (2004): The Local and the Global: Explorations in the Paradoxes of the Mobile Age. Cambridge: Microsoft Research. Höflich, J. & Rössler, P. (2002): Más que un teléfono: el teléfono móvil y el uso del SMS por parte de los adolescentes alemanes. Revista de Estudios de Juventud, pp. 79-100. Electronic English version: http://www.mtas.es/injuve/biblio/revistas/Pdfs/numero57/numero57ingles.pdf Katz, J. (ed.) (2003): Machines that become us: The social context of personal communication technology. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Ling, R. (2004): The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone's Impact on Society. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann. Meinardus, R. (2004): Cell Phones and the Net Changing Societies. http://itmatters.com.ph/open/open_02232004.html © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Öttermann, S. (1980): The Panorama: History of a Mass Medium. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Palacios, J.L. (2004): ‘Berger, Peter L.’. In: Hernández Sánchez, A. & Uña Juárez, O. (2004): Diccionario de Sociología. URJC/ESIC. Paragas, F. (2003): ‘Dramatextism: Mobile Telephony and People Power in the Philippines’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 259-284. Pertierra, R. & Ugarte, E. (2003): Txt-ing Selves: Cellphones and Philippine Modernity. Manila: De la Salle University. Pino, J. (2004): ‘Los grandes medios pierden credibilidad’. In: EL PAÍS. October 8. Rheingold, H. (2002): Smart MOBS: The Next Social Revolution. New York: Perseus. Rodríguez, P. (2005): ‘The Days of Wrath: When Mobile Phones Are Not What they Seem to Be’. In: La Razón. March 13, pp. 40-42. Salaverría, R. (2005): ‘An Immature Medium: Strengths and Weaknessesw of Online Newspapers on September 11’. In: Gazette: the International Journal for Communication Studies. Vol.67, No.1, pp. 69-86. Sterling, B. (1995): ‘The Hacker Crackdown: Evolution of the U.S. Telephone Network’. In: Heap, N. et al. (eds.): Information Technology and Society. London: Sage, pp. 33-40. Textually.org (2004): Textually.org: All about texting, SMS and MMS. http://www.textually.org (consulted 29/03/2004) Uy-Tioco, C.A. (2003): The Cell Phone and EDSA 2: The Role of a Communication Technology in Ousting a President. Unpublished paper presented at the 4th ‘Critical Themes in Media Studies’ conference. New York: New School University, October 11. Velasco, P. (2005): Jóvenes aunque sobradamente cabreados. La Rebelión Juvenil y el 14-M. Ediciones B. Velasco, P. (2005): ‘Fueron los jóvenes: pásalo’. In: Interview. No. 1500, 24-30 January 2005. Vincent, J. (2003): ‘Emotion and Mobile Phones’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 215-224. Wright, L. (2004): ‘The Terror Web’. In: The New Yorker. August 2, pp. 40-47.

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Fashion and Technology in the Presentation of the Self Leopoldina Fortunati & Amalia Cianchi

This research is part of a vast project to understand the place of information and communication technologies on the human body within the current vestimentary order (Calefato, 1996; Fortunati, 1998; Fortunati, Katz & Riccini, 2003), and how the use of the new technologies has interacted with the process of identity. In this particular project, we have first of all aimed at analysing the role played by ICTs, and especially the mobile phone, in the presentation of the self and, secondly, to investigate the relation the mobile phone has, if any, with the other technologies which today intersect the human body, such as watches, glasses, the walkman and so on. Our aim in this project is limited to technologies that remain on the surface of the body within its iconic representation. In conducting this research, we decided to limit our investigation to young people, in particular Italian young people. The initial hypothesis is that the presentation of the self is such a qualifying element for the single individual that it should always register the presence of ICTs, and in particular the mobile phone, in the look of individuals. In fact, if it is impossible not to dress the self (in that the social pact for thousands of years has been based on clothing strategies of covering/uncovering the body, as a primary and fundamental regulator of social relations), it is at least not very likely not to also ‘wear’ the mobile phone. In the end, this research shows that information and communication technologies end up by disappearing inside clothing. That is, the results refute our initial hypothesis in that, when we eliminate the ‘movement’ variable, the general tendency is to play down the visible aspect of these technologies, which are a recent new entry in the look of individuals.

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Rationale There is to date a vast literature on the mobile as a personal technology (de Gournay, 1997; Heurtin, 1998; Fortunati, 2001), on the self (Gergen, 2002, 2003), and on self-presentation (Niyri, 2003, 2005; Höflich & Gebhardt, 2005). This literature has shown how in a rather short period of time the identity of the mobile has profoundly changed, as the mobile has passed from being the emblem of mobile technologies to instead being a personal technology. At the same time, a rich literature has developed analysing the consequences of the close relation between the mobile and the human body. One line of inquiry has dealt with the mobile’s increasingly important acquisition of aesthetic and symbolic aspects and its rapid transformation into an object of fashion (Calefato, 1996; Fortunati, 1998, Fortunati, Katz & Riccini, 2003; Fortunati, 2005; Ling, 2003), while another line of inquiry has investigated the implications of the blend of artificial/natural that the mobile’s ever-greater proximity to the human body has signified (Katz, 2003). Other studies have been conducted on the relation between mobile communication and the presentation of the self. A weighty collection of these studies can be found in the book edited by Ling and Petersen, Mobile communication and the re-negotiation of the social sphere (2005). In these different contexts, young people, especially adolescents, have been the group that scholars have been most interested in. The reason has been both because adolescents and young people are among the most assiduous consumers of this technology, and because they are respondents who are quite willing to cooperate and who are easily available.

Identity, presentation of the self and new technologies While in post-modernity identity has become increasingly evanescent and problematic at the substantial level (Maldonado, 2005), the presentation of the self or, in the words of Bovone (2005) visible identity mediated by the materiality of the body, is demanding the investment of much energy and changing quite drastically at the formal level. One of the reasons may be traced in the fact that op204

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portunities have been created, offered by the new technologies, to present the self in a more sophisticated and articulated way. Everyone has taken advantage of these opportunities to a certain extent: people, in order to be reached more easily and to enrich their electronic profiles through sites and blogs; public administration, and more generally the state, to strengthen services for citizens and control over the citizens themselves; companies to implement new strategies for communication and commercialisation. The technological presentation of the self shows, as we shall see below, not so much the fact that our identity is composite, differentiated and therefore multiple, but also the fact that it is a very dynamic process. Let us take the example of business cards, which are a tangible sign of the presentation of the self and which provide a minimal, but basic part of our identity. The information that is given on business cards today has increased considerably in the last twenty years. Before the advent of the information society, business cards gave the person’s name and surname, address, telephone number at work, and profession and/or personal position, and possibly the person’s private address. Today, the identity described in business cards has been weighed down by other details: fax number, mobile phone number, e-mail address and often also a personal website. But if we think about it, this extra information, rather than locating a person more precisely in his/her territory or in an organisation chart, describe how we can reach that person, contact him or her. The more the information is meant for anyone who is looking for us, the more it serves to make it easier to trace us. This is based on the presupposition that the tracing has in the meantime become more difficult. Living in the information society implies living on many different planes, wherefore tracing one another has become a process that is no longer so simple. Our positions in space have become more complex, in that they have become less stable and continuative. The quantity of information necessary to trace us and the range of instruments and technologies that mediate this traceability of ours tell us a lot about the increasingly obscure areas that are swallowing up the traceability of social paths. If we analyse the iconic presentation of the self, the picture that emerges not only shows that fashion and technology have more or less integrated in look, but it also shows how the presentation of the self has passed through both and has become less easy to ignore. Up to fifteen years ago the presentation of the © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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self was ephemeral, episodic, because it depended on the single moment and left no traces. Society up until yesterday did not preserve the social memory of an individual’s various presentations of him/herself, if not in certain exceptional occasions, such as a journey or special family ceremonies, which deserved a photograph, which then went into the photograph album that was kept by more or less every family. Today cameraphones, combined with the possibilities of the internet, make it possible to put millions of photographs – of people taken in the most varied situations – onto the web. All of a sudden, a memory has been born that is no longer personal, but family and social. This is the presentation of the self of ordinary people taken on the most various occasions. A technical prerogative of the web is made to work to construct a special artefact: the publication and archiving of many images of the presentation of the self, which go into creating a very specific social memory. Thus we are rewriting the dynamic of identity as social process, social division between anonymity and popularity, between identity and social expressiveness, between publicity and presentation of service. Websites and blogs are the pretext for constructing biographies in which a kind of ‘publicity identity’ is presented, where the accent shifts from being or doing to communicating in the best possible way what one does. It is enough to have a look at personal sites: there is an enormous expenditure of energy in giving information about one’s activities as best as one can, and making it appear as prestigious as possible. The ceremonial ego that Goffman speaks of may today have a more fluid label, but in return has taken on real marketing strategies. Identity has become meta-identity, because it has developed more and more approaches and behaviours that recall publicity strategies. The web is therefore not only a great exercise in the presentation of the self, but there is also “a great commerce of the soul”.

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Mobile communication, fashion and presentation of the self The presentation of the self, as a perceptional horizon (Schütz, 1979), varies according to the occasions for which we are preparing ourselves. In particular, the official nature of posing for a photograph is like an image encoded at the collective level, that is, a social representation of the self. This is socially negotiated and inspired more or less consciously by the images proposed by individuals socially and by the media. The reality and specification of the photographic portrait is therefore different from what can be obtained by ‘stealing’ the images of people in various social situations. The literature and empirical research on the use of the mobile from an ethnographical point of view is generally based on images of the presentation of the self taken while the person is walking, speaking to friends, going into a restaurant, waiting for a bus. It is a basic operational space and the space of social reproduction (Fortunati, 1981), which implies coordination, cooperation, etc. This space is intersected by an enormous number of images of persons speaking on the mobile, and the photos that circulate show them in a presentation of the self that is implicit, not intentional. We have decided to explore another kind of space, the space of the presentation of the self in front of someone who is taking a photo of us. Here, the heuristics of intentional presentation are at play, that is, the image of ourselves that we want to consign for documentation or a possible narration. What we wanted to investigate was a self that agreed to be the bearer of interiority, not social action. It is the boundary of the blend of fashion and technology (which is the blend that nowadays constitutes a person’s look) that we considered of interest in order to see how the self presents itself. That is, we wanted to understand the presentation of the self in itself, in the immobile space of the photographic portrait. It is in this kind of presentation of the self in fact that we can clearly see what people agree to show of themselves and what to conceal. Do people still want to maintain their privacy? Which part of him/herself does the individual decide to make public and which to make inaccessible? The reply to this question is important, because the identity process is based on the capacity to trace precise boundaries between oneself and others. “Our identity,” writes Maldonado (2005:36), “is achieved through our opening out towards others, but also through our closing ourselves off from the intrusiveness of others”. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Aim and method In this project, we first of all aimed to analyse the role played by ICTs, and especially the mobile phone, in the presentation of the self and, secondly, to investigate what relation the mobile phone has, if it does have one, with the other technologies which today intersect the human body, such as watches, glasses, the walkman and so on. We preferred to limit our study to technologies that remain on the surface of the body, within its iconic representation. The aim of this research project is to discover if and to what extent ICTs, which according to Thompson (2005) are bearers of a new political and social visibility, are themselves visible in the presentation of the self, in a convenience sample of Italian young people. This also has the aim of verifying how unintelligible this embodiment of ICTs is from a sociological point of view – especially the mobile phone in the vestimentary order of youth – and how it is read by our respondents, by their peers and by adults. The initial hypothesis was that the presentation of the self is such a qualifying element for the single individual that it should always register the presence of ICTs, and especially the mobile phone, in the look of individuals. In fact, if it is impossible not to dress the self, it is at least unlikely that it (the self) will not ‘wear’ the mobile phone. In particular, our research design appeals to the domain of ethnographical studies (Gobo, 2001) and is conceived in the following way. In addition to an everyday participant observation of this sample of youths made for several years by Amalia Cianchi (who is one of their teachers), we asked sixty-one Italian young people, aged from eighteen to twenty years (forty-two girls and nineteen boys), pupils of a classical lyceum in the north East of Italy and belonging to the middle class to let us take a picture of them. Then we asked them to describe in detail their clothing (including technologies) and what sort of clothes they like (by answering a few open questions), after which we asked sixty-one of the same age, and the same number of adults, to read and describe the pictures of our young people in the photographs (table 1).

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Sample

Gender Boys

Girls

Total

Students photographed and interviewed 19 (31.1%) 42 (68.8%) 61 Interviewees of same age

13 (21.3%) 48 (78.7%) 61

Adults interviewed

34 (55.7%) 27 (44.3%) 61

Total

66

117

183

Table 1: The convenience sample, by gender Percentages are by row

This phase was followed by informal interviews to clear up any things that remained unclear. The purpose was to have both ‘objective’ data (their picture), the mental representation of themselves supplied by the respondents themselves, and the interpretation of their photos given by the same number of their peers of the same age, and adults. In that way, we were able to cross the self- reading and description of their image given by the single young person with that described by the other social actors involved in the research project. It is obvious that this research project is explorative, the aim being to arrive at a better understanding of the several articulations of the role of ICTs and in particular the mobile phone in the presentation of the self. The research was conducted as collaboration with the students, who had previously been informed that they would be photographed on a certain day and that their photos would be used as part of a scientific research project for the university of Udine (which they enjoyed in part, and in part were nervous about). The photographs were taken without any pre-warning so that there would not be any preparation for them, and habitual vestimentary practices could be photographed naturally. On a methodological plane, we chose to use photography as an instrument to reveal body languages and cultural models. It has been amply demonstrated and accepted by scientists that photography, cinema and television, apart from being objects of study, can be used also as instruments of research (Corbetta, 1999:467). As Mattioli states (1991), for over a century it has been photographs that have recorded social reality, through portraits, war photos or souvenir photos of daily and family life. Video cameras and the camera phone are new powerful research instruments that have been added to our traditional armament as sociologists. In fact, photography immediately revealed itself as important when © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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we compared them with the answers given in the questionnaires. The cognitive value of the picture has an active role in the research process (if nothing else because of the possibility of a posteriori studies). Photography in fact allowed researchers to fix the choices of respondents on the subject of technologies and clothing. This is essential given that interviewees tend to present and represent themselves quite differently from what they are in reality, for various and wellknown reasons: the wish to please the researcher, faulty memory and the need to fill in the gaps, an image of oneself that does not correspond to reality, the desire to present oneself at one’s best, etc.

Results The mobile phone The first data which emerge when one looks at the photos collected is that technologies do not appear in the young people’s presentation of themselves when the presentation is a static one (as it is in this case). When they are photographed, the images the young people give of themselves are completely atechnological. And yet all the students photographed possess a mobile phone (according to the questionnaire). Not only that, but, according to the teachers, the first thing that appears in their hands during the school break is a mobile. This result completely contradicted our initial idea that the mobile would be carried on them, in full view. Seeing that there is no trace of mobiles in the photos, they are obviously not visible. The interesting thing is that they are not visible to the respondents either. In fact, in the replies to the questionnaire administered to them only about one fifth of the students photographed say that they have a mobile on them. Of these, eight say they have it in their pocket, two (girls) in their bags, while the other two did not say where. From further informal interviews after the questionnaire, it emerged that all the students declared that they had a mobile on them, but they did not indicate its presence, either because they did not relate it to their clothes or because it was not visible in their clothing, so they did not mention it, in the same way as they did not mention their underwear. It is obvi210

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ous that with clothes or underwear, what is not visible, in Goffman’s words, risks disappearing from the eyes of the social actors themselves. At the same time, stated elsewhere (Cianchi et al., 2003) was the idea the re-semanticisation of the mobile from a technological to a fashion object is a process that has only just started. So far we have only brushed against the possibility of constructing a fashion image of the mobile in the complex symbolical world of look, even if, as Giancola (2003) claims, accessories have become more important than clothing in defining the final image of a person. For now, among the young people interviewed, the mobile is an object of fashion above all in terms of its brand name, as can be seen in table 2, which gives the names of the mobiles of the twelve interviewees who mentioned the mobile as part of their clothing. Brand names Gender of mobiles Boys Girls

Total

Nokia

1

4

5

Sony Ericsson

2

0

2

Siemens

1

0

1

Sagem

1

0

1

Panasonic

1

0

1

No name

1

1

2

Total

7

5

12

Table 2: Brand names of mobiles, by gender

As pointed out by Lobet-Maris (2003), the individual models of mobile seem to indicate different groups of young people, whose social identities they help to construct through the style and support of personal resources at a communicative-relational level. We have only a few figures at our disposition, but all the same we can note that our respondents divide into choices that are very different (five brand names for seven people) while a net majority of the girls (four out of five) prefer one single brand (Nokia).

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The other technologies In the photographs we collected the other technologies are not evident either. There are only two female students who had a CD reader and an iPod respectively. From the questionnaires administered to the photographed students it emerged that even watches, which are common in the adult world at a mass level, are not so common with adolescents. Only thirty-three students out of sixty-one students (54%) in fact declare that they wear a watch (table 3). But even when it is worn, the watch disappears under the jacket or skirt, etc. Watch

Gender Boys

Girls

Total

Yes

13 (68.4%) 20 (47.6%) 33

No

5 (26.3%)

19 (45.2%) 24

No answer

1 (5.3%)

3 (7.1%)

4

Total

19

42

61

Table 3: The presence of watches, by gender The percentages are by column.

The watch is an old individualised technology that modernity has constructed as a must for citizens. The frenetic everyday life and the increase in work rhythms and in activities make it essential to repeatedly check the time. But in the case of our respondents who are in higher secondary school (and who are not allowed to have their mobiles on when in class, where they could check the time) there are not many watches. It is interesting to observe the difference in gender, even if it is not significant: while the boys in most cases use a watch, almost half the girls do not wear one. Having said that, we have to remember that it was a girl who was the only respondent who declared that she used her mobile to tell the time. Out of the twenty-four students (five males and nineteen females) who do not wear a watch, fifteen explain that it irritates them, or is too heavy (table 4).

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Reason

Gender Boys

Girls

Total

Irritates and is too heavy 4 (80.0%) 11 (57.9%) 15 No reason

1 (20%)

8 (42.1%)

9

Total

5

19

24

Table 4: Reasons why watches are not used, by gender The percentages are by column.

From the replies to the questionnaires, the watch is no longer deemed necessary nor is it seen as an object that is important for their style. Most interviewees (nine out of twenty-three) speak of it in terms of a generic present received from their parents, some speak of it as a present received from godparents for their Confirmation, four as birthday presents, and three for Christmas. It seems therefore that the watch is something that is often costly, connected with the ritualisation of traditional celebrations, which does, however, not correspond to present trends in young people’s spending. As can be seen from the figures in table 5, the watches used by the young people of the research are mainly Swatches (39.4%), but also Rolex, Tissot, Sector, etc. Brand name of watches Gender Boys Girls Total Calvin Klein

0

3

3

Casio

1

1

2

Dolce e Gabbana

0

2

2

Lorenz

1

0

1

Perseo

1

0

1

Rolex

1

0

1

Sector

0

2

2

Swatch

5

7

12

Tissot

0

2

2

Vagare

0

2

2

Willefreres

1

0

1

Wyler Vetta

0

1

1

No name

2

1

3

Total

12

21

33

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The watch seems to be increasingly considered a residue of a previous identity, for children, which no longer serves to construct an active image in the stage of adolescence. Even though loaded with thousand activities and a very intense rhythm of living, the adolescent of today does not seem to take much notice of the passing of time and does not seem interested in having control over it. The organizational structure of his/her daily life is probably based on certain key containers of time (school or home) which have other ways of marking time: the school bell, for example, marking the beginning and end of lessons, or home where there is often a clock on a wall. It is worth noting that the facts that emerge from this research seem to contradict certain results given by clock manufacturers and mobile phone operators. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, there has been a slump in sales of cheap watches among young people, 1 owing to the competition from mobiles with the time on display. For the same reason, in February of this year a French telephone operator launched a publicity campaign in which watches were thrown into the rubbish because they had been made obsolete by mobiles. It appears that in this case the availability of a function in a given technology is confused with its automatic use. Clothes Actually it is fashion that continues to “dress identity” (Bovone, 2005), to be the most important accomplice in the presentation of the self. It is interesting to note that in the description of themselves that the sixty-one young people photographed gave in their questionnaires, most of them seem reluctant to admit to following fashion, almost as if this admission was perceived as something humiliating. Only 14.7% of the students in fact indicated that wanting to be fashionable was part of their reason for choosing their clothes; and yet, paradoxically, as many as 90.2% wear designer clothes (92.8% of the girls vs. 84.2% of the boys). 2 The girls tend to be drawn to designer clothes brands more than their 1

http://contenuti.interfree.it/114/IDNotizia7158htm It should be remembered that the socio-economic background of the young people targeted by the research is medium to high, which certainly explains these high percentages. This fact was also repeatedly highlighted by commentators (peers and adults) of the photographs. 2

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peers. But what is perhaps even more important to stress is that observing the photos we see that the girls are all in trousers and that the differences between males and females are very small (to the point that one of the adults made the mistake of exchanging one of the girls for a boy). From a reading of the figures presented below we find that the boys prefer two brands (Woolrich and Lee), while the girls spread their shopping over a wide range of brand names, but exclude Lee.

Brand

Gender Boys

Girls

Total

Benetton

0 (0.0%)

11 (25.6%) 11

Woolrich

3 (50.0%) 7 (16.3%)

10

Miss Sixty

0 (0.0%)

6 (13.9%)

6

Calvin Klein 0 (0.0%)

6 (13.9%)

6

Ralph Lauren 0 (0.0%)

4 (9.3%)

4

Sisley

0 (0.0%)

4 (9.3%)

4

Replay

0 (0.0%)

3 (7.0%)

3

Lee

3 (50.0%) 0 (0.0%)

3

Richmond

0 (0.0%)

2 (4.6%)

2

Total

6

43

49

Table 6: Most frequent designer brands in clothes The percentages are by column.

The most common articles of clothing among the young people are blue jeans, T-shirts, felt jackets, sports shoes, etc. – i.e. those articles of clothing that constituted the new and original vestimentary strategy of youth at the end of the Seventies. By dressing in this way, these young people were showing the bourgeois world that obliged to consume that one could instead dress and spend very little. They thus created a new fashion based on flexibility, the casual ease of maintenance (often with no need for a crease) against the formal and perfect one of the adult world. But with time these articles of clothing fell into the hands of the fashion industries. The following generations, in the incessant rhythm of novelty, accepted what the brands proposed. The formalisation of these articles of clothing went together with young people’s growing purchase power. It is also © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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interesting to observe that the following young generations also decreed greater gender indifference, based on male canons. This historical dynamic is completely unknown to our youth, who do not actually know why they are so interested in fashion brands. From an analysis of the reasons the majority use general expressions of the kind “I liked that article of clothing” or “I had to match it with others”. However, their strong interest in fashion brands is comprehensible if we remember that in our society fashion firms have taken over the role of authenticating and certifying modernity, actuality and fashionableness. In choosing the students do not seem to be very interested and informed as to the materials or the technologies of the fabrics. They just say that they have chosen this or that because the garment (generally a jumper, a jacket or quilted jacket) is warm and protects you from the cold. For twelve students (four males and eight females) the reasons are ones of practicality: ‘presence of pockets,’ ‘possibility of wearing on top’. Only one student declared that he wears a synthetic T-shirt because there is no need to iron it. The respondents are definitely more careful about style and the practicality of the garments than the kind of fabric or a specific technology of clothing. What is quite surprising is that the advice (and also direct purchase) of parents/relatives seems a very important factor in their choice. The figure of the mother as the ‘wise counsellor’ (the definition of one girl) is found in the responses of twenty girls and eight boys, a fact that illustrates an unexpected maternal influence as to the tastes and choices of the adolescents interviewed. Shopping advisors Gender Boys

Girls

Total

Base: 19

Base: 42

Base: 61

Mother

8 (42,1%) 20 (47,6%) 28 (45,9%)

Father

2 (10.5%) 3 (7.1%)

5 (8.2%)

Boy/girlfriend

1 (5.3%)

3 (7.1%)

4 (6.5%)

Friends

0 (0.0%)

3 (7.1%)

3 (4.9%)

Grandfather/mother 0 (0.0%)

3 (7.1%)

3 (4.9%)

1 (5.3%)

1 (2.4%)

2 (3.3%)

Uncle/aunt

Table 7: Shopping advice (or direct purchases)

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Another surprising aspect that emerged is that the places where the girls shop are very varied, ranging from the concert to the shopping mall, from the local workshop to places without a name, from shops ‘in the centre’ with the precise indication of the name and locality to fashion brand outlets, to distant towns and countries (Turin, Paris, Dublin, New York, Germany, California, England) where unique articles of clothing were found. The international dimension of the girls’ shopping activity is obviously related to the habit of travelling a lot. The boys, on the other hand, give the internet, the father’s factory or that of friends, the market, Tuscany, Montreal, a journey, a concert, Bologna’s Future Show, as answers. Both the boys (thirteen out of nineteen) and the girls (thirty-one out of forty-two) show that they are quite well informed as to the prices of their clothes. The fact that 72.1% of the respondents show they know the price of at least one garment definitely indicates the cost-consciousness of these young people. As for judgements about the clothes of the girl students expressed by their peers and adults, the peers are more critical and careful than the adults in assessing their clothes. The adults mention few elements in the match of the clothes and accessories. The distinctive elements indicated are above all frayed jeans and trousers with low hips, jackets and the way of tying scarves round the neck. Only one adult said that the jeans of one girl are not faded in the right places, but his age is quite close to that of the students (thirty-one). As many as fortytwo adults out of sixty-one (68.8%) did not recognise brands of clothes or accessories: their responses were brief, laconic and peremptory, at times even a little irritated. It is not very clear if they are comments about the brands or a sign of embarrassment at their incompetence, seen as a kind of social exclusion. On the contrary, the comments of the peers were very careful: they notice details that go beyond whether the article of clothing is a well-known fashion brand, but also mention the precise value of the article of clothing in fashion terms. The match of colours is the most observed aspect (31.2%), followed by scarves (18.7%) and then jeans (18.7%). On the whole only 52.3% of the girls’ choices of clothing are considered suitable by their peers. As for the judgement expressed by the adults on how the young men dress, these show only a few distinguishing elements: for example flared jeans, but only in two cases. As for the girls, the comments of their peers are much more © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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careful than those of the adults: they note details of clothing that regard not only whether they are well-known brands or not, but also how fashionable they really are. On the whole their judgement of the photographed young men is more severe than that of the girls. Their peers in fact maintain that only 42.1% of the boys’ choices of clothes are all right, which, in respect to the choices of the girls, is a difference of less than 10.2%. The reading of what is means to be fashionable is becoming increasingly sectorial and increasingly less inter-generational. It clearly emerges from this research that adults are quite incapable of understanding the fashion alphabet of adolescents, which appears to them as a hazy sort of universe. What young people perceive as fashionable appears casual in adults’ eyes. This impossibility of socially deciphering fashion-behaviours in the presentation of the self is the effect of the fragmentation of taste and social segregation of lived experience between the generations. Shoes One of the elements of clothing that turned out to be most typical of adolescents’ choices is without doubt shoes, which are a very ancient symbol of the transformation of the self, as many fairy tales show (Cinderella, Puss in Boots, The Wizard of Oz, and so on). On the symbolic plane they also represent the right of property, of taking over land (Chevalier & Gheerbront, 1987:336-38). Their special importance derives from the fact that they mark the rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. As Belk (2005:13) states, “our soles are the mirror of our souls.” Shoes in our convenience sample are mainly fashion brands: boys prefer Nike, Reebok (2), Le coq, Adidas and Clark; the girls: Adidas (2), Puma (2), Prada (2), Le coq, Nike, Benetton, Marvell, Hogan. In general, when speaking of their own shoes, as many as fifty-one out of sixty-one students (83.6%) give the precise brand name, with a greater proportion of males as opposed to females (89.4 versus 80.9) doing so (table 8).

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Brand name Gender Boys

Girls

Total

Yes

17 (89.5%) 34 (80.9%) 51

No name

2 (10.5%) 8 (19.1%) 10

Total

19

42

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Table 8: Shoes The percentages are by column.

Shoes can be important gender and age markers for adolescents (Belk, 2005) and in fact peers also had no difficulty in recognising brand names. The brand name is so identifiable by those who use it and by many interlocutors, because ‘style’ means being recognised. The post-industrial object, such as the mobile and the watch, is animated by a mystifying essence that is creating a new fetishism. Bauman (2000) points out how identity and the freedom to be different are constructed in contemporary society. It begins with the universal dependence on shopping: you attain independence by surrendering (these are his words). It is interesting to observe that shoe brands are different for boys (Circa, Clark, Pirelli, Reebok) and girls (Asics Tiger, Benetton, Converse All Star, Hogan, Marvell, Prada, Puma, Ugg). Only four have a unisex market: Adidas, Geox, Le Coq, Nike (table 9). The interest of adolescents in fashion shoes shows the strong tendency of fashion in society to qualify the individual look by means of accessories (something that is also found with technological accessories). The shoes of these young people are based on a generic culture of sport, an activity that they generally practise a lot.

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Brand names of shoes Gender Boys

Girls

Total

Adidas

4 (21.0%) 8 (19.0%) 12

Asics Tiger

0 (0.0%)

3 (7.1%) 3

Benetton

0 (0.0%)

1 (2.4%)

1

Circa

1 (5.3%)

0 (0.0%)

1

Clark

2 (10.5%) 0 (0.0%)

2

Converse All Star

0 (0.0%)

2 (4.8%)

2

Geox

1 (5.03%) 2 (4.8%)

3

Hogan

0 (0.0%)

1 (2.4%)

1

Le Coq

1 (5.03%) 1 (2.4%)

2

Marvell

0 (0.0%)

1 (2.4%)

1

Nike

5 (26.3%) 3 (7.1%)

8

Pirelli

1 (5.03%) 0 (0.0%)

1

Prada

0 (0.0%)

6 (14.3%) 6

Puma

0 (0.0%)

5 (11.9%) 5

Reebok

2 (10.5%) 0 (0.0%)

2

Ugg

0 (0.0%)

1

No name

2 (10.5%) 8 (19.0%) 10

Total

19

1 (2.4%) 42

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Table 9. Brands of shoe

The reasons given by the interviewees to justify the choice of model of shoe regard first and foremost comfort and practicality. This is defined in relation to the kind of sole that the shoe possesses: it does not make the foot perspire; its shape is anatomical; it is waterproof; it is insulated; anti-slip; you can put in an arch support or a corrective sole. Apart from generic reasons of aesthetic appreciation (I like them), the girls especially say: I bought them yellow even though everyone advised me against it; I bought them because I saw a lot of people wearing them; I looked for them in London because I couldn’t find them in Italy with the blue stripes; they’re in fashion (five replies); they are classics; they are smart; they are a symbol; I’ve been wearing this model for many years; I saw them in ‘Kill Bill’. These declarations confirm Simmel’s observations (1904) and recently the empirical findings of Ling (2003) that fashion serves to delineate boundaries between groups that are functional to the identity process in that they affirm belonging to a special group, or on the contrary, they signal exclusion. 220

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The replies of the boys, as opposed to the girls, instead use fewer arguments and are decidedly more aimed just at a descriptive statement: I was drawn to the design that makes the foot slimmer; I chose them to be more original (with gold stripes, seeing that everyone was wearing them with silver ones); they suit my style; I was looking for different shoes from those that everyone was wearing (then they imitated me); they were the latest fashion in the famous Montreal skate-shop (they came to Italy six months later). It is important to observe another two elements that are apparent in these replies of the boys and girls: the importance of the media as centres of diffusion of young fashion (the film ‘Kill Bill’) and the nonchalance already noticed when dealing with clothes with which the respondents show that they combine shopping with their trips. Hair Hair-does are a subject that has recently been important for male adolescents. Boys’ hair is rarely left nowadays “to grow without any cultural interference as with all animal furs” (Volli, 1998). Hair represents symbolically the characteristics of the individual, especially his vital strength (Biedermann, 1991:90-91), and is therefore one of the magical symbols of identification (Frazer, 1965). The cultural and symbolical value of hair is still enormous today and is linked to basic instinctual drives, such as narcissism and sexuality (Baldini, 2003). As pointed out by Flügel (1930), human beings use various strategies to change their appearance and influence others’ judgement. Some, like hair-does, tend to extend the boundaries of the ego, by amplifying bodily dimensions. In general, hair is a reflection of the state of mind and underlines a way of being and transmits synthetically information such as the desire for seduction or rebellion, a need for attention, and is also a silent presentation of the self. Changing your hair or cutting it is always an affirmation of the self, but it is also an element that reveals that emotions are under stress at a given moment, or it reveals a style that a person wishes to adopt. It can also be the exhibition of an ideological choice. At the same time Volli underlines how the language of hair (its movement and its style) is, together with clothing, one of the elements of the presentation of the self that are most subject to the influence of the mass media and easiest to imitate. The results that emerged in the course of our research show © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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instead few original solutions or reasons on the part of the interviewees. Hair is usually worn loose and straight (if it is not naturally straight, in six of our cases they had it artificially straightened out) with general justifications of pleasing others or personal taste. Aesthetic reasons seem to be decidedly a minority as compared to those of the practicality of hair tied in a plait or pigtail. As for the girls, only one has a rasta hairstyle for ideological reasons, two follow advice of the hairdresser without showing any particular interest, two choose a fringe and a layered cut “because it’s the fashion” and one replies that she wears her hair long and straight because it is more feminine. The boys turn out to be more involved than the girls in the treatment of their hair and seem more aware of the fact that hairstyle is part of voluntary and organised communication. It was, after all, Honoré de Balzac in his Treatise of the Elegant Life (1982 [1830]), who said that the ideas of a shaven man are not the same as those of a bearded man. Only one student follows the advice of the hairdresser, but gives reasons for the hairstyle with a great wealth of details (hair 12.5 cm long, with fringe to the left); three respondents chose to wear their hair long because they think it makes them look better than with short hair; the five who chose to wear their hair unkempt say that it’s for practicality, laziness or boredom, while as many as 52.6% declare ideological choices connected with their hair. The description and/or the reasons for the choice of haircut or hair style of the people photographed are: semi-military haircut and male valorisation; Brit-pop style with a good clean kid look; rock style of Pearl Jam and Jim Morrison of the Doors; my hero is John Lennon; long, to be against the system, which, however, I respect in general, and so I comb it; Nazi haircut; longish like Freddie Mercury, the seventies; without gel or lacquer because I’m not a lizard; I like my hair rasta style; usually with a smart cut; roughed up because I like to look scruffy. More than half of the students show that they are attentive to the ideological messages carried by singers, rock groups, musical currents or publicity, and take on corresponding ‘political’ positions through the conscious imitation of hairstyle and beard. Once again it is obvious how they tend to express complex ideas synthetically by means of non-verbal language. As Kaiser (2003) writes, they use the goods and ideas that are available on the market, but given their need to try out their identities, they innovate, partially adopt, contaminate and transform meanings by adapting them to their social and relational situation. 222

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Conclusion From what has been seen so far, it clearly emerges that in the presentation of the self there is no transparency at the levels of artificialisation embodied in the human body. Technologies and especially the mobile fall in fact in a cone of opacity. Appearance is clothed only in fashion. The self appears even less artificial than it is in reality. The presentation of the self in a fixed situation turns out to be completely a-technological. The mobile may be a personal technology but only at the same time as it is understood as being in the operational, mobile, space. When we neutralise the mobility variable in space, the mobile disappears in the presentation of the self. Our point of view is that it is very difficult for people, even if they are young, to be aware of this process of the embodiment of ICTs in their vestimentary order. In addition, the fragmentation of commodity consumption and of the practices of use of ICTs and clothes is so great that we are not able to see mobile phones and for this reason we cannot be aware of them. As often happens, empirical research leads us to also discover other unexpected secondary elements than those that we expected to find, which may be summarised as follows: • The mothers of our respondents have recovered an unexpected influence over how their adolescent children dress. • There is a widespread social illegibility of fashion at the intragenerational level. In other words, adults are not able to understand if young people are fashionable or not. The adults’ brusque responses show that outside their own cohort they have lost all landmarks or the categories with which to read vestimentary practices. These emerge as a kind of nebulosa. So the concept of fashion turns out to be very fragmented both at the generational level, and that of gender. • Travelling is more and more the occasion for doing shopping, so that the consumer is moving increasingly in a global market scenario. At the level of research instruments, the problem remains open if the photographic portrait is actually the right mode to understand the presence of the mo© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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bile on the body or if the video camera is the best. The freezing of the dynamic of the real that the photo shows makes the data that it can offer only a limited revealer of the practices of use of the mobile.

References Baldini, M. (2003): Capelli. Moda Seduzione Simbologia. Roma: Peliti Associati. Balzac, H. (1982 [1830]): Trattato della vita elegante. Milano: Longanesi. Bauman, Z. (2000): Liquid modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press. Belk, R.W. (2005): Les chaussures et le soi. In: Consommations et Sociétés. No.6. www.consommations-societes.net Biedermann, H. (1991): Enciclopedia dei simboli. Milano: Garzanti, pp. 90-91. Bovone, L. (2005): Vestire l’identità. Paper presented at the ‘Communicare le identità’ conference, Bolzano, 23-24 September. Calefato, P. (1996): Mass Moda. Linguaggio e immaginario del corpo rivestito. Genova: Costa & Nolan. Chevalier, J. & A. Gheerbrant (1969): Dictionnaire des symboles. Paris: Ed. R. Laffont & Ed. Jupiter. Cianchi, A. et al. (2003): Moda e Cellulare tra criteri d'acquisto e pratiche d'uso. Unpublished paper presented at the ‘Cultura: lavoro del futuro’ conference, Milano, 13-14 November. Corbetta, P. ( 1999): Metodologia e Tecniche della ricerca sociale. Bologna: Il Mulino. Flügel, J.C. (1930): The psychology of clothes. London: International Universities Press. Fortunati, L. (1981): L’arcano della riproduzione. Venezia: Marsilio. Fortunati, L. (1998): “Revêtir des technologies”. In: Réseaux. No.90, pp. 85-91. Fortunati, L. (2001): ‘The Mobile Phone. An Identity on the Move’. In: Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. Vol.5, No.2, pp. 85-98. Fortunati, L.; Katz, J. & Riccini, R. (eds.) (2003): Mediating the Human Body: Technology, Communication and Fashion. Mahwah. NJ: Erlbaum. Frazer, J. G. (1973 [1922]): Il ramo d’oro. Studio sulla magia e la religione. Torino, Boringhieri. 224

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Gergen, K.J. (2002): ‘The Challenge of Absent Presence’. In: Katz, J. & Aakhus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 227-241. Gergen, K.J. (2003): ‘Self and Community in the New Floating World’. In: Nyiri, K. (ed.) (2004): Mobile Democracy. Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 103-114. Giancola, A. (2003): ‘Accessori: strategie della moda e identità giovanile’. In: Valli, B.; Barzini, B. & Calefato, P. (eds.): Discipline della moda. L’etica dell’apparenza. Napoli: Liguori Editore. Gobo, G. (2001): Descrivere il mondo. Teoria e pratica del metodo etnografico in sociologia. Roma: Carocci. Gournay, C. de (1997): ‘C’est personnel…La communication hors de ses murs’. In: Reséaux. Nos.82-83, pp. 21-39. Heurtin, J.P. (1998): ‘La téléphonie mobile, une communication itinérante ou individuelle?’. In: Réseaux. No.90, pp. 37-50. Höflich, J.R. & Gebhardt, J. (eds.) (2005): Mobile Kommunikation. Perspektiven und Forschungsfelder. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang. Ling, R. (2003): ‘Fashion and Vulgarity in the Adoption of the Mobile Telephone Among Teens in Norway’. In: Mediating the Human Body, pp. 131-143. Ling, R. & E., Pedersen (eds) (2005): Mobile communication and the renegotiation of the social sphere. London: Springer. Lobet-Maris, C. (2003): ‘Mobile Phone Tribes: Youth and Social Identity’. In: Fortunati, L.; Katz, J. & Riccini, R. (eds.): Mediating the Human Body: Technology, Communication and Fashion. Mahwah. NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 87-92. Kaiser, S.B. (2003): ‘Fashion, Media, and Cultural Anxiety: Visual Representations of Childhood’. In: Fortunati, L.; Katz, J. & Riccini, R. (eds.): Mediating the Human Body: Technology, Communication and Fashion. Mahwah. NJ: Erlbaum, pp.155-162. Katz, J. (ed.) (2003): Machines that Become us. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. Maldonado, T. (2005): Memoria e conoscenza. Sulle sorti del sapere nella prospettiva digitale. Milano: Feltrinelli, Mattioli, F. (1991): Sociologia visuale. Torino: Nuova Eri. Nyiri, K. (ed.) (2003): Mobile Democracy. Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag. Nyiri, K. (ed.) (2005): A Sense of Place. The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication. Wien: Passagen Verlag. Schütz, A. (1979): Saggi sociologici. Torino: Utet. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Simmel, G. (1985 [1904]): La moda. Milano: Longanesi. Thompson, J.B. (2005): The New Visibilità. Paper presented at the ‘Comunicare le identità’ conference, Bolzano, 23-24 September. Volli, U. (1998): Block modes. Il linguaggio del corpo e della moda, Milano: Lupetti.

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How To Be in Two Places at The Same Time? Mobile Phone Use in Public Places Amparo Lasen

Being an ethnographer has been described as being in two places as the same time (Pearson, 1993:ix). An ethnographic approach to mobile communications, such as the use of mobile phones in urban public places, also requires accounting for a simultaneous presence in two different settings that modify the way copresence in public is enacted. This complex modulation of presence entails particular forms of public interactions, the disclosure of personal information in public, and also changes in the uses and mood of public places. The ubiquity of mobile phones in urban spaces enables new practices and ways for city-dwellers. One of the implications of this pervasive mobile presence, always on, always at hand, and almost always in the hand, is the growing requirements to share one’s attention between two places and interactions, the mobile (conversation, texting, playing...) and the co-presence setting. In his study of interactions in elevators, Stefan Hirschauer (2005) shows how the presence of participants is produced and can be enhanced or deadened. He identifies a continuum of presence, “a complex variable composed of posture and decorum which influences the level of attention, perceptive tension, mutual noticing (verbal or non-verbal) and various degrees of participation (orientation, addressability, level of activism...)”. Acknowledging that presence in public can be modulated by the participants is also useful to describe other interactions in public settings. Thus, different modulations appear in different situations, and also different modulations characterise similar situations in different contexts, such as in different cities. Artefacts, such as the elevator in the Hirschauer study, or mobile phones, participate in these interactions and contribute to the modulation of people’s presence. Therefore, the different ways of sharing attention between the two contexts described below - mobile phone and co-presence - constitute modulations of people’s presence in public, which are the result of a collective performance played by the mobile and its affordances, the user and the people present. It will be shown in this chapter that these interactions in public vary ac© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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cording to cultural differences, and also evolve parallel to the widespread adoption of the device. This chapter draws on the results of a longitudinal study, part of the Vodafone Surrey Scholar Project (Lasen, 2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2005), based on fieldwork carried out in London, Madrid and Paris in 2002 and 2004. The study focuses on how people use the phone, what phones mean to them, and how they evaluate their and other people’s use. This research builds on previous studies undertaken in the Digital World Research Centre at Surrey University (Cooper et al., 2004; Murtagh, 2001a, 2001b; Vincent, 2003; Vincent & Harper, 2003) and a growing literature on the role and influence of mobile phone use related to etiquette, the distinction between private and public, behaviours in social spaces, and cross cultural comparisons (Bassett et al., 1997; Brown, Green & Harper, 2001; Ellwood-Clayton, 2003; Fortunati et al., 2003; Ito et al., 2005; Jauréguiberry, 2003; Kasesniemi, 2003; Kasesniemi & Rautianen, 2002; Katz & Aakhus, 2002; Katz, 2002; Katz et al., 2003; Kasesniemi, 2003; Kopomaa, 2000; Larsson, 2001; Ling, 1997, 1999, 2004; Ling & Yttri, 2002; Lobet-Maris, 2003; Oksman & Rautiainen, 2003; Plant, 2002; Skog, 2002; Taylor & Harper, 2002, 2003; Townsend, 2001; Weilenmann, 2003; Weilenmann & Larsson, 2001). Research into the social aspects of mobile phone use has formulated the hypothesis of an international mobile culture (Katz et al., 2002, 2003) and several publications show accounts of mobile phone use in different countries and continents (Katz et al., 2003; Nyíri, 2003; Lorente, 2002; Plant, 2002; Katz, 2003). There is a growing interest in cross-cultural studies although with few publications to date (Mante, 2002; Riviere & Licoppe, 2005; Ishii & Wu, 2006). The study of mobile phone use in London, Madrid and Paris aims to contribute empirical results to the definitions and limits of this international mobile culture, looking at similarities and differences in urban areas in a European context. However, this is not a research about national identities and I am not comparing nations but cities. Even though not all three capitals have been labelled as ‘global cities’ (Sassen, 1991), London, Paris and Madrid are characterised, at a different degree, by transnational dynamics and a multicultural and multiethnic population. This does not mean that the style of the urban practices analysed here is exactly the same. This style, borrowing De Certeau’s notion, is a com228

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plex combination of reciprocal relationships among city dwellers. Rather, these relationships are influenced by certain aspects common to big cities, such as commuting and crowds. They are also shaped by cultural elements that can be local, national, or regional and by other collective and personal features, such as age and gender. Another factor defining the style of urban practices is the urban material environment, the built order, such as the kind and size of pedestrian areas or the different elements of urban equipment. Finally, other objects and artefacts, such as mobiles and other technologies displayed and employed in the cities, play a role in the reciprocal relationships among city dwellers (e.g. personal stereos, MP3 players – see Bull, 2000). All these aspects of the material side of urban practices are also shaped, changed, actualised, ignored or resisted by people’s behaviours and interactions. The research found examples of how the use and presence of technological devices can change the perception of public places, the practices carried out in such places, and the amount and kind of personal information given to strangers, such as the widespread unauthorised but accepted mobile phone use in public places, be them cinemas, libraries, concert halls or hospitals. Another example of change in the use of public places found in London was people having long conversations while standing in the same place, in the middle of the street or in a square, which was a total novelty compared to what was observed in 2002. The interest of doing a cross-national study also comes from ‘the growing sense of limitations of single-nation studies’ (Livingstone, 2003; Haddon, 2004) where it is implied that what is found in one country applies elsewhere, without specifying the cultural context of those national studies. As Haddon points out, describing and explaining the similarities and differences across different cultures or nations help to assess the importance of globalizing processes and the local appropriation of technology. In this case, practices and attitudes towards mobile phone use in public places constitute a particular kind of urban practices and are related to co-presence interactions with strangers in public. Such interactions, attitudes and practices are not exactly the same in the three cities studied. After a presentation of the research and the particularities of its ethnographic work, some aspects of co-presence in public places will be examined. Description and discussion of the articulations between mobile use and co© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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presence in public places will follow, including their repercussions in the way presence in public is performed.

The ethnographic work The fieldwork carried out consisted of semi-structured in-depth interviews and observation of mobile phones users in public places, both outdoors and indoors. The places chosen for observation were museums, art galleries, libraries, railway stations and public transport, and also places that can be considered ‘socially central’, according to an expression borrowed from Henri Lefebvre. That is, densely populated places where people meet in commercial and business areas, such as bars, cafés and shopping areas in city centres, like Oxford Street in London, the Puerta del Sol and Preciados in Madrid, and the Rue de Rivoli area and Les Halles in Paris. The observation and videoing of people using their mobiles was carried out during ten days in each city in the spring of 2002, and repeated again in spring 2004, during a further ten days in each city. Ten interviews in each city were also realized in 2002 and in 2004, producing a total of sixty interviews. The interviewees were all adult users, aged twenty and over, men and women. The instances observed were recorded in notes describing phone users and their behaviours, paying special attention to the display of emotions, while talking, texting, and in some occasions when taking pictures: their gestures, body language, the direction of their gaze. People’s behaviours in relation to those in their surroundings and the reactions towards phone users (attention, disinterest, disapproval) were also taken into account, as well as the handling of the simultaneous use of the phone and face-to-face interaction. Whenever it was possible, these observations were related to the content of the communication. Observing mobile phone use presents some difficulties, depending on the mode of communication and also on where the observation is taking place. It is easier to know when someone is talking. But for non-vocal uses, if the observer is not really close, it is unclear what the users are really doing: texting, playing, going through their phone book, reading old messages? When observing mobile phone use indoors, such as inside a train carriage or in a restaurant, the ethnog230

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rapher has got the time to watch the position and movements of the user’s thumbs and the keys that are being pressed in order to know whether she is typing a message or playing a game. That becomes more difficult when users are moving and the observer only gets a fleeting glimpse of their behaviour. The use of video in these cases helps to obtain a more accurate observation. Therefore it is not possible to get the same amount of information from each instance observed. Variations depend on the action (talking, texting, reading SMS, playing, using the calculator, taking a picture), the place, the distance between the observer and the user, and what the user is doing while using the phone (walking, standing still, sitting, interacting with others present, taking notes). When a particular phone use is not evident, observing the duration of the action, the position of the thumbs, the keys pressed, the gaze and the simultaneous actions undertaken can give us clues to interpret people’s behaviours. People were videoed using their phones outdoors. The recording of images is a particular good research method for mobile communications, as it is particularly suited to the studies of interaction, the presentation of emotions and the studies of material culture (Harper, 1988). The visibility of the camera could make the observation less covert, revealing the presence of the observer. This time the filming was also restricted to open spaces where the camera presence is less intrusive. The widespread presence and use of cameras and video recorders, increased with the arrival of cameraphones, and then even more in these cities used to a continuous presence of tourists, made the task easier and reduced the risk of an unfriendly reaction if people realise that they are being filmed. The problem of filming is the need to divide one's attention between observing and using the device, which is characterised by its technical requirements. The use of recording devices increases the shared attention of the ethnographer. Handling the camera made her to be at least in three places at the same time. However, this problem was reduced by not recording all the instances observed, and by splitting the observation time between the traditional recording through notes and the videoing, which is carried out in fewer occasions and once a certain amount of observations has been accomplished. The filmed instances allow for a repeated and deeper observation of body language, gestures, and emotional display, and can also be used as examples and visual evidences for publications and presentations. But they can also be more than illustrations, that is, they can be© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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come integral elements to sociological research and understanding, when the images contain and express ideas that are sociological in their origin and use, and thus may not be as transparent as first viewing as other photographs (Becker, 1995). For instance, pictures and videos of Londoners phoning while standing in the middle of Oxford Street, adults sharing the mobile phone conversation, or revealing the shared attention of mobile users towards the phone conversation and the place where they are, need to be read in context, as they are counter-intuitive and refute common notions, such as that mobile phone are individual and individualistic devices that make people withdraw from the place where they are, forgetting other people around (Goldberger, 2003). The cultural skills necessary to carry out this research are also provided by my personal background and experiences. I know these three cities well, since I have lived in them and still visit them regularly. I lived in London from 1999 to December 2004, spent a decade in Paris, from 1988 to 1998, and was brought up in Madrid where I live again now. This background qualifies me to undertake this kind of research, because in order to capture information about the style of urban practices, about patterns of non-vocal communication, and also related to the display of emotions, patterns that are engaged in everyday situations by people unreflectively, the researcher has to understand the shared knowledge of those very same patterns of non-vocal communication. That is to say, one has to appear mundane, routine and ordinary whilst engaged in the observation task (Murtagh, 2001). Cross-national research involving qualitative methods, producing data that are contextually dependent, relies on the local knowledge of the researcher, including knowledge of the local languages (Livingstone, 2003). Contextualised interpretation requires the researcher to draw on insider knowledge, while rational interpretation, necessary to compare and to evaluate the differences between the interpreter’s and the actor’s point of view requires the researcher to draw on outsider knowledge (Bohman quoted by Livingstone, 2003). My personal background has therefore been an important part of my expertise in performing this double strategy: keeping the insider and outsider perspective in dialogue and tension, and consequently a powerful reason behind the choice of these three cities.

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Co-presence in public places: doing being a stranger Civil inattention, the concept coined by Goffman (1963), refers to the ways in which individuals show their awareness of other people’s presence, without making them the object of particular attention: a way of displaying disinterestedness without disregard, a competence to refuse relations without creating nonpersons (Hirschauer, 2005:41). For example by a mutual ‘eye catching’ exchange through which a person admits seeing another, swiftly followed by the withdrawing of attention “so as to express that he does not constitute a target of special curiosity or design” (Goffman, 1963:84). This is a refinement of Simmel’s notion of ritual space, the adjustment that people tend to make when they approach or pass by others. The interactional pattern of civil inattention is related to general problems of co-presence in public places: bodily navigation (Toiskallio, 2002), contact avoidance and staying unknown to each other - that is, stopping the automatism through which co-present bodies start interactions (Hirschauer, 2005). Civil inattention entails a disciplined body. Disengagement requires a control of expressions, movements, gesture, mimic, sounds and looks. These inactivity and inattention are accomplished by a body that “can’t simply be turned off” (ibid.:61). These interactional problems are present in public settings in every city, but the solutions are not always the same and they do not always fit Goffman’s concept. The level of body discipline performed is different. Civil inattention involves distance and indifference. However, observation revealed that Parisians and Madrilenians often keep physical distance without displaying a complete disengagement from each other’s activities and presence. The eye-discipline is not the same as in Anglo-Saxon cities. For instance, the skill of not looking at one another required in London in order to appear normal and polite may be interpreted in Madrid as a rude way of ignoring other people. There again, as in Paris, mutual gaze is not always avoided. Co-present bodies interact nonverbally, as faces show less reserve than in London. As Simmel points out, indifference is not as great as it seems, our minds respond with some definite feeling to almost every impression emanating from another person. The reserve of city dwellers, argues Simmel, is not only indifference but also antipathy and a slight aversion among strangers. Antipathy is a way of saving city dwellers from © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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the indifference and from the unbearable immersion into a chaos of multiple suggestions (Simmel, 1971b). Mobile phone conversations and personalised ring-tones increase the amount of suggestions and information city-dwellers have to take into account, and can also increase the antipathy and aversion among strangers, which is part of the urban socialisation. This seems to be especially the case in Paris, as is discussed below. The disclosure of personal information through mobile phone conversations and the display of emotions faciliated by the device also challenge urban reserve. Civil inattention not only involves courtesy. It is also a practice of strangeness, a normalised and social non-relation (Hirschauer, 2005). The way to accomplish strangeness, to keep distance and enact indifference are not the same in every city. In Paris and Madrid, the physical distance people keep in public places, such as in public transport, is closer than in London. People push each other, and are not bothered by physical contact among strangers. In both cities, co-present strangers can also have verbal interactions. It is not unusual to exchange some comments with strangers on public transport, cafés or even in the street. This behaviour would be considered intrusive in London, where civil inattention rules. Even for these cities, geographically and culturally not so distant, there is no common agreement about what is intrusive in urban public places. Hirschauer points out that unknown others become strangers because of a radical devaluation of physical co-presence as a chance for establishing contact, which has been accentuated by urbanisation and geographical mobility. This unrelatedness is maintained by having no interactional history and not producing any, as otherwise acquaintanceship would occur. The use of mobile phones in public transport could then be understood as a supplementary way of enacting indifference, accomplishing a similar function to looking through the window, reading a newspaper or observing other passengers from a distance. However, whereas the avoidance of acquaintanceship exists in the three cities, the thresholds of addressability and the probability of becoming acquainted, or of developing an interactional history with people we encounter regularly, do not appear to be the same. Observation, experience and interviews all reveal that being acquainted with fellow commuters is easier in Madrid than in the two other cities, and harder in London than in Paris. Therefore similar social situations, such as 234

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co-presence in public places, in different cultural contexts reveal a modulation of presence, that is, diverse ways of performing mutual perception without full reciprocity. This reveals different degrees of body discipline and levels of mutual attention, participation and adressability.

Mobile phone use in public: any topic, anywhere, anyone Mobile phone uses such as voice calls, texting, taking pictures, playing games or using the calculator, were observed and videoed in streets, squares, parks, trains, buses and tube, cafes and restaurants, museums, art galleries, shops and libraries of three European capitals. The widespread mobile phone use in such places appears to be similar. It has become banal and generally accepted. Everybody phones in the street in the three cities. Men and women, youngsters and older people, builders, policemen on duty and men in suits, are observed with the characteristic head position of the phone user, slightly turned down to one shoulder, and with the distinctive walk of mobile phone users in public places: they stand and then walk slowly in circles or pace a short distance back and forth, as a kind of compromise between walking and standing still that helps them to focus on the conversation. Mobile phone sounds, both ringtones and conversations, are part of the urban soundscape. People phone outdoors when the weather is good and, in Paris and London, they also make and answer calls when walking in the rain, sometimes managing to hold both, phone and umbrella, or under the temporary shelter of a doorway or an arcade. The variety of exchanges held with the mobile in public, such as work-related talks, meeting arrangements, small talk with friends and family, everyday tasks management, or long and intense personal conversations, confirm the interviews findings that a growing number of people use mobile phones for any kind of subject and almost in any place of their everyday life. More than a third of the interviewees affirmed that they use the phone everywhere and for any kind of communication and topic. In the words of Andrés, a fifty-something Madrilenian architect, they “trust the mobile”. Observation shows a growing number of older phone users in public settings, talking and also texting. This is more striking in Paris as they were almost © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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absent during the observation period in 2002, but now seem to have become more confident and used to mobile phones. They also seem to be attracted by the new multimedia handsets and to enjoy polyphonic ringtones. Like other age groups, they have adapted and learnt to use the device in different situations. Maybe they were not early adopters but, as observation and interviews reveal, mobile phones are becoming more than an emergency and safety tool for older people. Parallel to the widespread presence of the mobile phone, the research found an increased flexibility of the unwritten rules on mobile use concerning the use of mobiles when being with other people: in meetings, in places where their use is banned, and also related to the articulation between face-to-face interaction and mobile conversation. The ubiquity of mobiles not only refers to different places but also to the range of occasions when they are used. People negotiate the interdiction and evaluate the suitability of its usage depending on different information, such as the particularities of the face-to-face situation, the people with whom they are interacting, the tasks they are carrying out, the identity of the caller, the importance, or the time of the call. This negotiation of the etiquette rules results from social expectations to be always reachable, which is quickly becoming a social obligation, as well as from the ubiquity of the device. Therefore, according to the research, using a mobile phone when being with other people or in a meeting are not considered such bad manners anymore.

Presence modulation Using a mobile phone in public entails dealing with two sets of interactions: the phone conversation itself and the face-to-face interaction, that is, the surroundings, the place, the people present, strangers or acquaintances, and sometimes the other activities that mobile users carry out simultaneously. They have to manage their presence in two different contexts, performing particular ways of modulating their presence. It is not a case of people withdrawing from the urban public place, forgetting where they are, but rather of sharing their attention, therefore acting as strangers in a different way as other pedestrians do. For instance, mobile users contribute to modify the mood of public places by revealing 236

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public personal information about themselves through their phone conversations, and by displaying emotions linked to their phone conversation, such as joy, sadness or anger, that are not usually revealed by the disciplined bodies of pedestrians and strangers in public settings. Observation found different ways of dealing with both settings, the phone conversation and the co-presence in public, keeping them separate or connected. The body language used by phone users to create their own space (Murtagh, 2001a:85-86) can be observed in the three cities. This body language is a way of diminishing one’s presence. It includes gestures and spatial orientation aimed to create one’s own room in public space, to accentuate and protect personal space. Personal space is enlarged by turning your back on other people, avoiding eye contact, looking through the window, at the table, fixing the gaze on some object and talking with a low voice. This notion of “own space” does not mean “private space”. In a space out of our control, we certainly tend to create our own space. But the use and enjoyment of those spaces are not related to any supposed right not to be interrupted (Kopomaa, 2001:44). Indeed, the experience of strolling in urban spaces shows the opposite. Different images and information constantly interrupt us, demanding our attention. Moving to less crowded streets when one is going to have a longer conversation in order to avoid noise and to focus on the conversation is a way of improving that personal space that gives new meaning and uses to urban spaces and equipment. In the smaller streets off Rue de Rivoli in Paris for instance, people alone having long conversations were observed. In one of those streets, a young woman was phoning sitting on the stairs by the rear door of a church, making herself at home (picture 1).

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She was a fine illustration of Benjamin’s definition of a Parisian flâneur as someone who considers streets as an interior, an indoors space. Mobile phone users rediscover this way of inhabiting urban spaces, which does not mean that they are making a public space private or individual. They do not forget where they are, in a public urban space, susceptible to be inhabited and used in many more ways than simply as a transient area. People using mobile phones find new uses for urban furniture and construction elements, which become improvised chairs, tables and places to lean when one is talking, texting, playing, checking something on the phone screen or taking notes from a phone conversation. Instead of disconnecting people from their urban surroundings, mobiles allow for new connexions, for new uses of urban elements and spaces. Observing people using their phone in public and on their own also reveals this shared presence and attention. While creating their own space helps them to focus on the conversation, phone users’ gaze also moves around. Their gaze entails a modulation of presence that, unlike the body posture intended to accentuate their own space, enhances their level of presence. They fix their attention on what happens around, revealing their orientation and participation in the copresence setting, such as following the passing girls with their eyes, for instance, or noticing the presence of the ethnographer, staring back and forcing her to withdraw, momentarily, her attention. People phoning and walking in London often keep looking at the floor and only from time to time raise their eyes, sharing their attention between the conversation and the pedestrian navigation. In Paris and Madrid, phone users’ gaze wanders, looking around, at other people, at the shop window. Observation reveals many examples of how phone users are aware of what happens in their surroundings. In most occasions, when someone stared at them they returned the gaze in only a few seconds. Another example is given by a Parisian waiter, who was talking besides the glass-pane bordering the side of the terrace. He turned around, walked back and forwards, gave a swift glance to a young woman sitting at a table and also looked at and touched the glass. Once he ended the call, he went into the café and came back with a piece of tape that he placed onto the glass, as he had seen some damage when he was using his phone. A young woman commuting in a Madrid train revealed another example that phone users do not withdraw from their surroundings. She was writing a text and visibly overhearing the conversation kept by two other women 238

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sitting in front of her. This time it was the mobile phone user who was eavesdropping. Very often in the three cities people typing SMS in public places were observed looking alternately at their phones and at their surroundings. Even when mobiles are not being used, the presence of the object represents the virtual presence of other people and other places. Mobiles embody the virtual presence of those who call us and whose numbers are in the phone book. This connexion to another setting is acknowledged by people’s uses and etiquette of unwritten rules. The mere presence of someone’s mobile is already affecting, modulating, their presence, sending the message that the mobile owner is also in another place at the same time. In London and Paris, phones are not usually displayed on the tables in cafes and restaurants, unless the phone owners are women on their own. If people are waiting for someone, phones are removed and placed in pockets or bags when the person arrives. In many cases they have fulfilled their function of indicating to those around that the woman is not alone, that she is not available. Women on their own in Parisian cafes have been observed using their phones intermittently during the whole time they stayed in the café, more than thirty minutes. They were not making phone calls, but texting, playing games, using the calculator and simply holding it in their hands or leaving it on the table the rest of the time. Etiquette in London and Paris seems to require that phones be kept out of sight when sharing a meal with others. Otherwise it could suggest that the phone owners are not paying enough attention to those present, and that they are more interested in the absent presence of those who could phone them. This is explicitly affirmed by some of the Londoners and Parisian interviewed. As Fabrice, a Parisian thirty-something says, “it doesn’t need to be on display. That’s giving it too much importance (…) It’s annoying when people do that, it’s like if they were going to make a call at any moment, it upsets me”. Most English and French interviewees affirm not to do that unless they are expecting a call. Spaniards do not seem to share this view as the presence of mobile phones is commonly accepted, taken for granted and probably even unnoticed, and consistent with not being specially annoyed when those in their company use their mobiles. The presence of people at the other end of the phone, real or virtual, is readily accepted, shared and integrated to the co-present interaction. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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There are different ways of separating both settings: avoiding mobile use in public or moving away to be alone, stopping the co-presence interaction and creating one’s own space through gesture, posture and gaze during the phone call. Observation also found diverse forms of connecting the two settings and the two interactions: when the phone user and those present stay together, keep eye contact and even exchange words, either keeping parallel conversations or including a third party in the phone conversation, this illustrates when using the mobile becomes a collaborative action. Trying to be only in one place at a time In 2002, people interviewed in Paris and London affirmed that they tried to restrict their mobile use when they were not alone. Either they switched their phones off or tried to keep conversations short when answering a call, telling the caller that they were not alone and would call back later. Most of the mobile users observed in both cities were on their own. A change observed nowadays in London and Paris is people using the mobile when they are not alone, though they are still a minority. According to the interviews, using the phone in such circumstances does not seem to be as bad manners as it was before. In 2002 many users, especially in France, complained about the priority given to the phone call over the face-to-face conversation. When in their friends’ company, in bars, parties or dinners, they considered the calls they received as disruptive. They thought that cutting the conversation and talking to somebody else was bad manners and annoying, but they always answered the phone anyway. The conflict of etiquettes, co-presence and phone conversation, was clearly perceived but it did not prevent the use of the phone. The change of attitude observed in 2004 is another example of the widespread use of the mobile phone and the flexibility in evaluating when its use is suitable or not, according to the situation, instead of following general rules of etiquette valid for all occasions. In Paris and London on several occasions people were observed using their mobile while being with others and staying together, standing on the platform or sitting at the café table, instead of moving away, as it was observed two years before. 240

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Mobile phone users deaden their public presence with the help of those around. When someone makes or answers a call, their companions show a polite lack of interest, looking away, avoiding eye contact with the phone user and pretending not to listen. Therefore they cease to notice each other’s presence and do not participate in the same activity. The face-to-face interaction is interrupted and those present act as if they were not together anymore. When people using the mobile move away, leaving the café’s table or going out of the restaurant, they make explicit the diminished face–to-face presence created by the mobile phone conversation. Moving away when making or receiving a call is also a way of leaving the front stage of social performance, using Goffman’s terms, when one does not want to share some personal information with the others present. For instance, Guillaume, a young Frenchman, moves away when he is with his work colleagues and the conversation could reveal to them that he is gay or what he does in the evenings and in his private life. Most Spanish users observed try to maintain the phone conversation while being available to those who are with them. Thus, Spanish users tend to integrate the mobile phone conversations into their face-to-face conversation. Therefore when they are with other people and make or receive a call they tend to stay within the group, unless it is too noisy or it is a special conversation, e.g. with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Moving away, going backstage, also depends on who is calling, whether it is someone known to the group or not. If it is another friend, they stay. Young Spanish interviewees seemed to be more bothered by noise than by other people overhearing. If they move away from the group, it is mostly because of the difficulty of hearing than because they are worried by others listening to their conversation. Connecting both settings Articulations between phone uses and face-to-face conversation, without sharing the phone conversation or using the phone collectively, were observed in the three cities. In 2004, changes were observed in London and Paris, in the way mobile phone users and those present modulate their presence, that is, the different degrees of attention, orientation and participation in the co-presence setting. The boundaries between the two settings are not as clearly established as they were in 2002. People initiate phone calls while they are still talking to those in © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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their surroundings and look and listen to them, with the phone in their ear, until their call is answered. Young men in Paris and Madrid have been observed kissing a woman while holding a phone at the ear and resuming the phone conversation after the kiss. Users also text while listening to others. Another way of keeping simultaneously two different interactions, face-to-face and phone use, is by briefly interrupting the phone call to make a comment to someone which is not related to the phone conversation. Sometimes, this simultaneity also includes other tasks, like the young man in Madrid, who was holding the phone between his right ear and his shoulder while using an ATM and addressing his mother. Other examples observed are: youngsters and young adults having phone calls and listening to personal stereos at the same time, the phone at the right ear and one headphone at the other; texting while walking and dialling a number while walking, stretching out the arm and putting the phone in front of the head slightly turned down. Women in the three cities were observed texting or calling with one of their hands and holding a child or a stroller with the other while walking. Multi-tasking also entails the modulation of one’s presence. The research found that as people get more and more used to texting and calling, the dexterity and easiness also increase. The repeated use of the mobile develops people’s ability to accomplish the gestures required quickly and smoothly, and also the capacity to share their attention between the call or the typing of the SMS, their surroundings and the other actions they are carrying out simultaneously. This is one of the ways in which mobiles affect our bodies, extending their abilities and instigating new disciplines. In Madrid, as it was already the case in 2002, many mobile users are not alone. Phone users do not tend to move away and those around them do not pretend that they are absent: eye contact, gestures and sometimes even comments keep the co-presence interaction going on. Observation in public spaces in Madrid revealed another way of reconciling phone use and face-to-face interactions; as if the person at the other end of the phone was joining the conversation. An example found in Madrid in 2002 was a couple in their thirties on a café terrace keeping a phone conversation for 20 minutes (picture 2), passing the phone from one to another and listening to what the other was saying. They made eye contact from time to time, acknowledging the other’s presence. 242

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Picture 2

A common instance observed in Madrid, both then and now, is couples walking or sitting together (pictures 3 and 4), when one of them uses the phone while the other listens to the conversation. In groups of teenagers and young adults observed (picture 5), the phone user seemed to address the person on the phone as much as the friends there, who followed the conversation, made comments and laughed. Those present followed the phone conversation and, according to the content and the persons involved, made comments or reacted with gestures. For instance, the teenage boy, who smiled and gesticulated when his friend was asked by his mother for his whereabouts and the reason why he had not come home to do the school homework instead of going to visit a friend. In 2004, some adults in London and Paris were observed sharing a mobile phone conversation. Some technical features such as the loudspeaker are used to facilitate the inclusion of third parties in the conversation. As it was observed in a London store, two middle-aged women were talking to a third woman on the phone. Instead of passing the handset, one of them was holding it facing both women whereas the loudspeaker allowed them to listen to the third person at the same time.

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Pictures 3 & 4

Picture 5

Then, mobile phone use is sometimes a collaborative action, when texting together, opening the conversation to a third party present, or trying to sort out problems with the reception with the help of friends. The phone itself is an object of interaction. This has already been observed for teenagers (Taylor & Harper, 2002; Weilenmann & Larsson, 2001), but in Madrid collaborative use of the mobile characterised all ages. For instance, women strolling and showing their phones to each other, a couple of young men who exchanged some comments while walking and using their phones, children and parents looking at the phone screen, maybe reading a message. In another case, a group of male teenagers in a commuter train even discussed whether they had to answer a call or not, after having seen who was calling. Although this happens less often than in Madrid, mobile use evolution in Paris and London reveals that adults also share the device sometimes. Using the mobile without excluding third parties challenges the claim that mobile phone use implies “fewer possibilities for media244

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tion and circulation of speech, owing to the generalisation of an exclusive form of two-way (dyadic) communication” (de Gournay, 2002:195). Without undermining the importance of one-to-one exchanges, other mobile phone practices, such as the use of SMS for political mobilisation (Rheingold, 2002) or the sharing of picture, MMS and SMS, explore further possibilities for mobile phone communication.

Conclusion The elements of the comparative study of mobile phone use examined in this chapter reveal how a phenomenon which already existed before mobile phones, such as the interactional performing of presence in public, gains visibility when mediated by the presence of the device. Our research found different solutions to the handling of the shared presence between the mobile and the face-to-face location, stressing the connection or the separation of both settings, going from avoiding the use of mobile phone in public and when being with other people to the collaborative use of the mobile when those present take part in the phone conversation. Between both choices other practices appear such as moving away from other people when using the phone, deadening one’s physical presence through body posture, gaze and the help of those around, an intermittent attention to both settings, or keeping parallel conversations and interactions. The study found cultural differences about how to be in these two places at the same time, such as a greater preference for connecting both settings in Madrid, opening the phone conversation to third parties or keeping both interactions in parallel. An evolution of practices in the three cities was found between 2002 and 2004 related to the widespread use of the mobile and to the expectation of being accessible that increases the weight of social obligations. Different ways of dealing with such expectation are also culturally influenced, depending on the nature of obligations among friends and relatives. Therefore people in Madrid feel less free to reduce their accessibility, but are also less bothered by being always reachable and display a more integrated and less problematic articulation between phone use and face-to-face interactions. They tend to connect both settings and display a collaborative use of © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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the device more often. In London and Paris, the simultaneity of face-to-face interactions and phone conversations seems to be less problematic now than in 2002 and people do not always try to keep both settings separated by moving away. New articulations of face-to-face interactions and phone uses appear, without keeping both settings physically separated and without pretending that the conversation is not heard by those in the company of the caller. Therefore new ways of acting as a pedestrian and as a stranger reveal a double presence and attention to two different places and interactions. The research shows a fast pace of change, parallel to the spreading use across age groups, different places, times and situations. Changes are revealed by the growing number of older mobile users in public places, the growing ubiquity of mobile phones; of their use in places where it is banned, the tendency to keep the phone always switched on, the willingness to use the mobile phone for any kind of exchange and topic, also when being with other people; and the growing tolerance about being interrupted by a mobile call. The longitudinal study of mobile phones in London, Madrid and Paris reveals that the way people perform their presence in urban public settings is also mediated by the use and presence of mobiles. Being in the city, being a pedestrian among strangers, is also influenced by being elsewhere at the same time. The multiple and numerous examples of multi-tasking and simultaneity of interactions found in the three cities, revealing the integration of both settings, constitute new ways of being present in public and new disciplines for the body developed by mobile use. The awareness of this shared attention and presence between two different settings could have implications for urban planning and for the design of handsets and services, facilitating a collective and collaborative use with those present, or for the inclusion of third parties in the mobile exchange. Improved design could also help mobile users to share their attention between the mobile use and the face–to-face situation in public.

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Hirschauer, S. (2005): ‘On Doing Being a Stranger: The Practical Constitution of Civil Inattention.’ In: Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. Vol.35, No.1, pp. 41-67. Ishii, K. & Wu, C.-I. (2006): ‘A comparative study of media cultures among Taiwanese and Japanese youth’. In: Telematics And Informatics. Vol.23, No.2, pp. 95-116. Ito, M.; Okabe, D. & Matsuda, M. (2005): Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life. Cambridge: MIT Press. Jaureguiberry, F. (2003): Les branchés du portable. Paris: PUF. Kasesniemi, E.-L. (2003): Mobile messages. Young People and a New Communication Culture. Tampere: Tampere University Press. Kasesniemi, E.-L. & Rautianen, P. (2002): ‘Mobile Culture of Children and Teenagers in Finland.’ In: Katz, J.E. & Aakhus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact. Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 170-192. Katz, J.E. (ed.) (2002): Machines that Become Us: the Social Context of Personal Communication Technology. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Katz, J.E. & Aakhus, M. (2002): Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Katz, J.E. et al. (2003): ‘Cross-Cultural Comparison of ICTs’. In: Fortunati, L.; Katz, J.E. & Riccini, R. (eds.): Mediating the Human Body. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 75-86. Kopomaa, T. (2000): The city in your Pocket. Birth of the mobile information society. Helsinki: Gaudeamus. Lasen, A. (2003): A Comparative study of mobile phone uses in public places in London, Madrid and Paris. DWRC: University of Surrey. Lasen, A. (2004a): ‘Affective Mobile Phones. An insight into how mobile phones mediate emotions based on fieldwork carried out in London, Madrid and Paris’. Proceedings of the Fifth Wireless World Conference. DWRC: University of Surrey. Lasen, A. (2004b): ‘Affective Technologies. Emotions and Mobile Phones’. In: Receiver. No.11. http://www.receiver.vodafone.com/11/articles/index03.html Lasen, A. (2005): ‘History Repeating? A Comparison of the Launch and Uses of Fixed and Mobile Phones’. In: Hamill, L. & Lasen, A. (eds.): Mobile World: Past, Present and Future, London: Springer, pp. 29-60. Lefebvre, H (1991): The Production of Space, London: Blackwell.

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Ling, R. (1997): ‘One can talk about common manners! The Use of Mobile telephones in Inappropriate Situations’. In: Haddon, L. (ed.): Communications on the Move: The Experience of Mobile Telephony in the 1990s. COST 248. Sweden, Telia AB. Ling, R. (1999): ‘Restaurants, mobile phones and bad manners: New technology and the shifting of social boundaries’. In: Elstrom, L. (ed.): Human Factors in Telecommunication. 17th International Symposium, Copenhagen, May, pp. 209221. Ling, R. (2003): ‘Fashion and Vulgarity in the Adoption of the Mobile Telephone among Teens in Norway’. In: Fortunati, L.; Katz, J-E. & Riccini, R. (eds.): Mediating the Human Body. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 93-102. Ling, R. (2004): The Mobile Connection. The Cell Phone’s Impact on society, San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann. Ling, R. & Yttri, B. (2002): ‘Hyper-coordination via mobile phones in Norway’. In: Katz, J.E. & Aakhus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact. Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 139-169. Lorente, S. (ed.) (2002): ‘Juventud y teléfonos móviles’. In: Revista de Estudios de Juventud. No.57, June, pp. 9-24. Livingstone, S. (2003): ‘On the Challenges of Cross-National Comparative Media Research.’ In: European Journal of Communication. Vol.18, No.4, pp. 477500. Lobet-Maris, C. (2003): ‘Mobile Phone Tribes: Youth and Social Identity’. In: Fortunati, L., Katz, J.E. & Riccini, R. (eds.): Mediating the Human Body. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 87-92. Lobert- Maris, C. & Henin, L. (2002): ‘Hablar sin comunicar o comunicar sin hablar: del GSM an SMS’. In: Revista de estudios de juventud. No.57, June, pp. 101-114. Mante, E. (2002): ‘The Netherlands and the US Compared’. In: Katz, J.E. & Aakus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 110-125. Murtagh, G.M. (2001a): ‘Seeing the "rules": preliminary observations of action, interaction and mobile phone use’. In: Brown, B.; Green, N. & Harper, R. (eds.): Wireless World. Social and Interactional Aspects of the Mobile Age. London: Springer-Verlag, pp. 81-91. Murtagh, G.M. (2001b): Ethnography in Public Space: Competence, Communication and the Research Process. Paper submitted to the ‘Language Study Group’ conference on ‘Workplace Studies’. Manchester Metropolitan University. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Oksman, V. & Rautianien, P. (2003): ‘Extension of the Hand: Children’s and Teenagers’ Relationship with the Mobile Phone in Finland’. In: Fortunati, L.; Katz, J-E. & Riccini, R. (eds.): Mediating the Human Body. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 103-112. Pearson, G. (1993): ‘Foreword. Talking a good fight: authenticity and distance in the ethnographer’s craft’. In: Hobbes, D. & May, T. (eds): Interpreting the Field: Accounts of Ethnography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. vii–xx. Plant, S. (2002): On the Mobile. The Effects of Mobile Telephones on Social and Individual Life. Motorola. Riviere, C.A. & Licoppe, C. (2005): ‘From Voice to Text: Continuity and Change in the Use of Mobile Phones in France and Japan’. In: Harper, R.; Palen, L. & Taylor, A. (eds.): The inside text: Social, cultural and design perspectives on SMS. London: Springer, pp.103-126. Sassen, S. (1991): The Global City: New York, London and Tokyo, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Simmel, G. (1971a): ‘The Metropolis and Mental Life’. In: Simmel, G.: On Individuality and Social Forms. Selected writings. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 324-339. Skog, B. (2002): ‘Mobiles and the Norwegian teen: identity, gender and class’. In: Katz, J. E. & Aakhus, M. (eds.): Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 255-273. Taylor, A.S. & Harper, R. (2002): ‘Age-old practices in the ‘New World’: A study of gift-giving between teenage mobile phone users. Paper presented at the ‘Human Factors and Computing systems’ (CHI) conference, Minneapolis. Taylor, A.S. & Harper, R. (2003): ‘The gift of the gab: a design oriented sociology of young people’s use of mobiles’. In: Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Vol.12, No.3, pp. 267-296. Toskallio, K. (2002): ‘The impersonal Flâneur. Navigation Styles of Social Agents in Urban Traffic’. In: Space & Culture. Vol.5, No.2, pp. 169-184. Townsend, A. (2001): ‘Mobile Communications in the Twenty-first Century City’. In: Brown, B.; Green, N. & Harper, R. (eds.): Wireless World. Social and Interactional Aspects of the Mobile Age. London: Springer-Verlag, pp. 62-77. Vincent, J. (2003):‘Emotion and Mobile Phones’. In: Nyíri, K. (ed.): Mobile Democracy. Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, pp. 215-224. Vincent, J. & Harper, R. (2003): ‘Social Shaping of UMTS - Preparing the 3G Customer’. In: Report 26 UMTS Forum. http://www.umts-forum.org 250

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Weilenmann, A. (2003): Doing Mobility. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Informatics, Goteborg University. Weilenmann, A. & Larsson, C. (2001): ‘Local use and sharing of mobile phones’. In: Brown, B.; Green, N. & Harper, R. (eds.): Wireless World. Social and Interactional Aspects of the Mobile Age. London: Springer-Verlag, pp. 92107.

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V.

Ethnography?

Beyond Talk, Beyond Sound: Emotional Expression and the Future of Mobile Connectivity Richard Harper & Steve Hodges

Preamble The chapters in this book are testament to the range of possibilities enabled by current communications technologies. Our own interest in this is reflected in articles and books that we have written that report on the use of various technologies, whether it be SMS (Harper et al., 2005) or fully duplex mobile telephony (Brown et al., 2001). In this chapter, we want to take a different view: a view not on what communication technologies have done and do, but a view on what they might do when designed in novel ways. More particularly, in this chapter, we would like to explain why it is that, in the Socio-Digital Systems Group in Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England, we have set up a programme of inquiries into what we are calling New Communications Genre. This is a longterm programme where we hope to invent and demonstrate the value of a variety of new ways of communicating, of expressing and being in touch.

Background Why would we want to do this? After all, aren’t there too many communications channels already? Do we want to simply push more technologies on to people who are already confronted with too many? Certainly, if one looks at the history of communication, one can readily understand why the Victorians invented the stamp so as to allow paper mail to flourish; one can understand, too, how paper mail served as an instrument to bring the USA together; but today, why would we want another channel to communicate with? To what end? Why? One reason why is reflected in the research presented in this book: some channels do different things. Thus, readers of this book will know that the reason why the telephone has not replaced paper mail because it appears that peo© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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ple like to write as well as speak. But if we understand this (and believe it to be true), perhaps we do not know all the reasons why email, which affords written communication rather than spoken, has not replaced paper mail. People may want to talk and to write, but if so, why not use the quickest, cheapest form for each? Email is, on these counts, better than paper mail. Yet, despite this, paper mail persists. And, even if we disregard why paper mail still gets used, one can still be perplexed by that fact that if is text is what people want, then why has email not been replaced by another, more recent medium that would appear to be ‘better than’ email if measures of better are quickness, cheapness and so on? We are thinking here of Instant Messaging (IM). Why hasn’t IM replaced email? Obviously technology drives change – after all, the paintbrush allowed people to leave their mark on cave walls. Similarly the quill and velum allowed people to start the currency of letter writing. And, if one wants to go on, one could note that the Internet allowed email. And so it could be that what we ought to be doing is develop technologies that best satisfy the variety of human needs for communication – defined thus far as the need to talk and to write. But this seems too simple: it sounds like a case for technology which is merely ‘better’ than what was – is – available before. Perhaps another way of thinking about it might be to ask better in what sense? According to what measure? In relationship to communication technology the answer is typically thought of as one to do with the problem of telos, i.e. separation by physical distance: ‘You are here, in Cambridge, they are there, in Redmond’, as a case in point from our own organisation. It is the problem of ‘near and far’, ‘close and remote’. Accordingly, one could argue communication technology has developed, historically, to reduce this problem, the problem of geography. This seems persuasive. But is communication always a question of solving physical distance? Chapters in this book have already created an orthogonal dimension: that sometimes one wants to use the written word to cross distance and at other times the spoken word. But is this all? Take the example of paper mail again – a written form of expression if ever there was one. Letters do solve the problem of sending words across distance but that is not always what letters do: summonses and answers may be a question of telos, perhaps, but what about documenting and receiving? Even when one or other of us is with someone, they may choose to document something of mutual interest and may give it to one256

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self, there and then. But why? For what end? It is not because ‘I am here and they are there’. No, something else is going on. Take another example: this time from the mobile domain. Here we find a curious parallel with what we noted above about the written and spoken word: we have mobile talk and we have mobile text. Does each offer different ways of solving the telos problem? In part, surely the answer is yes, according to some chapters in this book, but they are sometimes used to do other things too, as we ourselves have argued elsewhere (Taylor & Harper, 2003:267-296). We have noted that many of the SMS messages teenagers send one another are artfully created, one might say crafted artefacts. Teenagers (and sometimes older people, too!) often put a great deal of effort into SMS, certainly more than is simply necessary to create a message. Reflecting this, many of these messages get kept and treasured by the recipients, sometimes even shown to friends. This hardly sounds like merely a way of dealing with telos. Thus we argued that texting can be thought of as a way of sustaining and creating bonds between people, bonds through the giving and receiving of text ‘gifts’. There is, needless to say, a long history of anthropological research about giving and receiving; all our research did was show that giving and receiving is a contemporary practice: with text gifts, people, especially teenagers, build the social fabric of their world. So how does one move on from this and ask not what communications technologies do, but what, when redesigned, might they do? How can one stop focusing on the present and instead focus on the future? Could we design other channels to allow gifting, for example, and let people build their social relations? Could we use email? Or even the traditional letter? In some ways many other channels already support gifting (and much else beside) but, of course, one could always find ways of improving their design. Yet, if we were to turn to other, currently existing channels we would, to some degree, be constrained. As we noted above, it is clear that different channels do afford different things. The perplexing point, though, is that part of the reason for this has to do with matters that are essential to the channel, that are technical issues if you like, and, on the other hand, with issues that are essentially human – to do with what people are endeavouring. Unfortunately, and as this book shows, these essentially human issues cannot always be understood so easily. To make matters worse (though all the more human for that), what people do with technology evolves: thus what © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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was something that designers might have understood, changes into something that they might not understand. We have seen this evolution of the human and technical in action with SMS: at first the channel was for merely communicating short messages about network traffic, stuff for the maintenance engineers, basically. But soon, text came to be used as a kind of channel that is intimate, for personal, close and private matters. Our research has suggested that this has to do with where it arrives and when it arrives: pushed to the hand immediately after its sending. An email, by way of contrast, is official, long, though doubtless collegial. An email has these properties in part because of its content and in part because of where it arrives and how it is dealt with – an email is typically pulled and triaged, rather than dealt with immediately after its creation. Nor are most emails intimate: after all they arrive in one’s desktop in-tray, hardly the place for love notes and tenderness (and Blackberries do not alter this: they only allow users to put their hand into that in-tray even when they are away from the office) (for a review of the evolution of email see Baron, 2000).

A way forward In the Socio-Digital Systems group we have been thinking a great deal about this relationship between human endeavour and communication technology. It seems to us that this relationship should not be reduced to the problem of geography. It is clear that different communications channels offer different possibilities and experiences for people: some of these do indeed relate to the problem of distance, but other functions – or affordances if you like – encourage different things. These new doings in turn create new roles for the technology. There is, then, a kind of mutual shaping: people do this and then learn with technology that they can do that; once they learn that, they then alter the technology to do yet more, different things. If this is so, it seems to us, we might be able to combine new communication technologies with new forms of human endeavour to create ways of expressing, ways of communicating, which are fresh and novel. We have in mind not a view that there is either the personal or the official, the one intimate, the 258

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other cold, the one currently supported by SMS and the other by email as just alluded to, but instead a view that these are but two possible dimensions amongst many. We want to approach this possibility with as much of an open mind as possible, but we also do not want to miss an opportunity. The opportunity we have in mind is leveraging the already existing literature on technologically-mediated human communication, irrespective of the technology in question. It seems to us that one might be able to discern some insights and lessons from this research that will help guide our efforts to create new genres. One of these areas of prior research relates to what is called emotional communication – on the ‘who’, the ‘why’ and the ‘what’ of our emotional lives. There is, beyond all this, considerable research on the values, some of which are emotional, that mobile connectivity in particular affords – some of which is reported in this book. We have been exploring this prior knowledge, with a view that doing so will ensure that the directions we take are both well-founded and likely to succeed. We cannot, at this point, either report on what technology we are planning to assemble (for reasons that are obvious), nor, as yet anyway, can we present findings on the usage of those technologies ‘to the public domain’. We are at the start of our work. But in any event we want, in this chapter, to present a review of the literature on the expression of emotion and emotional value enabled by mobile devices of various sorts, with a hope that so doing might not only indicate how we are planning to use evidence to guide our own design work, but might offer others, too, encouragement, a basis for their own thinking about what the future might hold. In particular, we want to report that there are four main categories of inquiries into this topic, as follows. The first set attempts to construct conceptual definitions of emotion and how various emotions might be technologically mediated. It is important to understand that these papers do not derive from the social psychology of emotion nor from sociology: they are ‘best efforts’ by the technology industry researchers to approach the problem sensitively (for an overview of the importance of the turn to ‘emotion’ in Human Computer Interaction, HCI, see Cockton et al., 2002; Sengers et al., 2002:87-98; Marcus, 2003:29-34). As we shall see, measures of success for this work are hard to © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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come by, but that it is design-oriented needs to be borne in mind when one tries to learn from them. The second main set of papers that one can delineate in the literature relate to studies of technologies for particular expression. These encompass everything from expressing ‘I love you’ to more tactile behaviours, the most intimate included. The third group, perhaps the largest in terms of numbers of papers, reports studies that stretch current channels to let them afford more in terms of user experience. One of the reasons for the popularity of such papers is that researchers in the technology design domain would appear to have a preference for the ‘next step’ approach to design, rather than for radical, ‘leap ahead’ methodologies. The fourth set report various technologies intended to be part of the ecologies of devices, each enabling various individual expressions. These ‘building block’ papers detail anything from emotional badges that label wearers as ‘feeling this’ or ‘feeling that’, right the way through to papers that describe wearable clothes that enable sounds to be made, sounds that are an expression of a particular kind of emotion. Having reviewed these papers we will then attempt to summarise what we take from them and what guidance they offer in terms of our direction for research. We will then allude, as carefully as we can, to some of the technological and user studies research endeavours we are now embarking upon.

Conceptualising emotion for design Within the general HCI and technology design disciplines there are many papers on what emotion might be, how it might be measured, and how it is communicated. There are also books on this area, Don Norman’s being the most well known (2004; see also Jordan, 2000). These books and papers cover a great deal of ground, and it becomes clear when reading them that emotion and emotional expression, even when approached from the limited set of concerns of technologists and designers, are labels for a very wide range of behaviours and ideas. Emotion is not something confined to two lovers, nor is it simply what one feels when one is sad or angry. Emotion and emotional expression are relevant to oneself, to the relationships one has, and to the groups of people of which one 260

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feels, in whatever way, a part: thus, and as we say above, it really is about the who, the what and the why of it. This results in the literature being amorphous. To take two extremes: there is Battarbee, for example, who explores what she calls ‘co-experience’: what groups of people feel about each other and as a group. Emotion is one aspect of this, though not hugely important. At the other end of the scale are Mattelmaki and Keinonen (2001), who explore how to design for brawling, the ultimate expression, one would think, of emotion. In-between is Paulos’ Connexus (2003), an exploration of what kind of infrastructure would allow the expression of anything and everything just as long as it does not include words. This non-verbal stuff is, apparently, the domain of emotion. Nevertheless, there is a tendency in the literature, as a whole, to focus on certain aspects or points of view on emotion, and the most important of these foci is on intimacy. Bell et al. (2003), for example, explore what might be an intimate expression, a form of expression that they and many others seem to think is exclusively a question of emotion. In the same vein, Kaye and Goulding (2004) delve into various forms of ‘intimate objects’, objects that enable, somehow and in various ways, the ultimate form of communication: intimate and emotional (or so they would have us believe!). Howard et al. (2005; also Kjeldsko et al., undated) probably offer the most thorough explorations of intimacy and its ‘technological mediations’, partly through the use of experience prototypes or probes and partly through a taxonomy of intimate expressions (see also Buchenau & Suri, 2000).

Technologies for particular expressions The second group of papers report on technologies for what one might call particular expressions, intimate included. As noted, it is these latter that are the most common, and certainly the area that seems to be the most intensively mined. Kaye et al (undated) report on the Virtual Intimate Object, for example, which consists of a click-ometer that users select whenever they have ‘intimate thoughts’ about another. These others have these clicks relayed to them in graphical form. Eagle and Pentland’s Relationship Barometer is similar (2003). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Then there is the SenseBed: this device can relay the emotionally charged virtual presence of another in one’s bed (Goodman & Misilim in Bell et al., 2003). Beds are of course the site of various forms of behaviour, as Goodman and Misilim are at pains to point out. Digital hugs is somewhat similar, and, it has to be said, equally beyond what one would imagine is socially acceptable (Di Salvo, undated). There are other technologies reported in the literature which seem designed for even more limited tasks (if one can bear for the moment to reflect on the range of things that might be conveyed in a bed or by a hug). There is for example, the Gustbowl, a virtual bowl by the front door that allows people to announce they are home through the dropping of their virtual car keys into it (Hoog et al., 2004). There is, too, the Love Bomb, a device that allows people to broadcast their romantic state (Hansson & Skog, 2001). There are one or two papers that report on technological possibilities that, though limited in these sorts of ways (i.e. are tied to some particular human practice), nevertheless seem more likely to receive widespread acceptance. Vonray et al.’s (undated) PhotoStory, for instance, is an attempt to link audio files with images so as to enable photos to convey more of the emotional values associated with them: the key here is of course to let them ‘talk’. This is, needless to say, something that has been extensively researched by printer and camera manufacturers and is best summarised in Frohlich’s AudioPhotography, a book published in 2004. Going the other way, towards more generic technologies to support emotion, one finds perhaps the boldest and certainly the most curious of all technologies in the literature and that is the emotional wardrobe, a set of technologies that allow people to express a limited set of meanings through the changing properties of their clothes: these are designed to announce such things as sadness, joy, even lust (Stead et al., 2004).

Stretching channels Another group of papers report what one might consider to be efforts to ‘stretch’ current channels. By this we mean that they explore how to offer certain added features to technologies that have already proven their basic value. An early example of this stretching can be found in Nelson et al.’s (2001) paper on Quiet 262

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Calls, the idea here being that one of the options that could be made available to users on mobile devices is to provide a ‘whispering voice message’ that would convey to callers the need to hush more effectively than does the ‘meeting setting’ typically available as an option on a mobile phone. What is interesting, given the age of this paper, is what little influence it has had on mobile design. A similar fate seems to have beset Woodruff and Aoki’s Push-to-Talk-makesPeople-Less-Pushy paper, where they discover that the ability to have ring-less phone calls enhances the variation of experience provided by mobile telephony. Today, of course, this hardly needs stating, but this paper, published in 2003, is more or less the only academic paper on the user experience of push to talk and, as far as we can tell, is never cited in commercial explorations of the potential of that communications genre (as we label it). Taking a slightly different tack on stretching, Chag et al. (2002) report a device that allows touch to be shared alongside voice telephony in their Comtouch. The argument seems plausible enough, but the paper does not effectively explore how touch may in practice be an augment to certain types of technologically mediated human communication (such as audiotelephony) rather than a distraction: if truth be known the Comtouch devices reported in that paper would seem to offer touch at the price of other faculties, including auditory. Poupyrez et al. (2002), by way of contrast, explore how touch can enable more effective navigation through information, though avoid explorations of how this might enable more effective emotional expression. In any event, many more papers focus on Instant Messaging (IM), and indeed one could say that if intimacy is the main topic of research on emotion, then IM is the main channel that gets explored in relation to this area. There are many attempts to stretch IM in the literature, such as through embedding IM presence metaphors on to new devices, particularly handhelds (see Tang’s ConNexus, 2001; also Tang & Begole, 2003). Indeed, stretching the idea of presence seems to be the key concern of most of these papers (see also Fabersjo et al., 2005). Other papers combine presence with the idea of rich media, which can mean anything from peripheral displays (Guzman et al., 2004) or the use of more icons to express types of presence. More icons apparently allow a greater range of expression (as in an icon for ‘I am doing this’ or an icon for ‘I am doing that’). Presence can also be linked to other data sources, such as the media © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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files that are being watched by others in a buddy list (see Zaner et al. in Bell et al., 2003).

The building blocks of expression If these prior groups of papers have shown some interest in human endeavour, then the next set have little concern with what those endeavours might be and focus instead on defining technological infrastructures that might enable a range of human action. These include the delightfully entitled Tactons, by Brewster and Brown (2004), small, possibly wearable devices that offer rather basic functions such as on-off, yes-no – though nothing seems to have come of the idea since that paper (it is only a year or two old, so perhaps it is too early to judge). In a similar vein is the Bubble Badge, a wearable device that contains a small screen that can be used to display messages – though quite what the messages might be is unclear (Falk & Bjork, 1999). The Love bomb mentioned above comes to mind, though what kind of couple would willingly wear such a device does not bear thinking about. The delightfully eccentric paper on ‘Kensai expression’ reports on the design of clothes with interactive auditory broadcast functions; this enables gangs of ‘users’ to meet in public places and hear each other ‘playing’ their own clothes (Nakatsu et al., 2001). The prospect brought to mind by this infrastructure seems all the more amusing when it is understood that the clothes only broadcast to a predefined set of headphones and so, for most of those passing by, the musicians merely look like odd people shaking and touching themselves. There are various other papers that explore similar infrastructures but without some of this glorious daftness. Maddam et al. (2004) explore how auditory response rates and head-movement can be measures of or pointers toward a ‘group index’ of such things as interest in a conversational topic. Partridge et al. (2001) meanwhile, do not worry about what users might do with an infrastructure that captures bodily expression, by which they mean capturing electrical signals regardless of what the user intends. Laasonen et al. (2004), in contrast, insist that automatically generated location information is important for users to express themselves and thus report their efforts to build such a system, combin264

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ing GPRS and mobile phone cell data with a range of probalistic measures. They conclude their efforts by saying that the value thus provided is not equal to the effort put into the system. They then suggest, rather pessimistically it seems to us, that if users were to broadcast their location themselves, it would probably offer a solution better allied to the effort entailed (as against the effort required to produce an automatic procedure). Perhaps the most well thought out of these infrastructures, though, relates to a set of technologies which, at first glance, seem irredemiably human. These are the papers that explore the idea of digital jewellery (see Cameron et al., 2001; Russell in Bell et al., 2003). When we say better thought out we mean that these papers report on a series of inquiries into the possibility that wearable devices could merge with jewellery. This would result in it being more likely that the computer devices were worn. This much seems obvious, of course: it’s a choice between Coco Channel and Bill Gates. But having got thus far, the researchers then recognise that the aesthetic value of the resulting jewellery may be compromised if they embed into it too many user interactive functions, like keyboards, buttons and switches: ‘It’s all very well saying that you are going to build jewellery, but how does one make it a computer?’ one can hear them ask. Consequently Russell and others came up with the idea of building a system that splits the control of the jewellery onto other, server and PC-type devices: the solution they come up with is, if you like, an appliance one, albeit that much of this research does not claim affinity with that credo. In any event the resulting applications have the following character: a message is created on a PC and is sent to a receiving jewel; this will glow. In reverse, when a jewel is pressed, a remote piece of jewellery glows or an icon glows on the PC desktop. Of course, the meanings of these pressings and glowings is wrapped up with already existing systems of meaning and effect – the glowing of a jewel standing as a presence icon for example, designed to lead the user to turn to an IM text client on a nearby PC.

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Lessons Needless to say whether the resulting articles satisfy as jewellery (being beautiful, desirable, a worthy ornament of a loved-one) is of course open to doubt, though the researchers in question wisely avoid confronting that issue directly: after all their primary audience is the computer industry, not the fashion one. But what their ideas point towards is a new kind of communications channel or at least an extension to the means whereby people communicate with one another. Whether theirs is the route to take or not remains unclear. Nevertheless, if one were to try and distil from all these papers, the conceptual, the specific, the stretching and the building, then what one can say about the literature as a whole, it seems to us, is that there is a strong conviction that new communications genres are worth devising, though how, what they will be, or what will attained thereby, is not agreed. As we have seen, this conviction leads researchers in various directions: through stretching what appear to be the successful bits from current channels, such as the presence idea from IM, for example; or through the creation of a wholly new genre, particularly ones close to the body, and thus intimate. The papers and the research they report also attest to the finding that new forms are constrained not by the technology but by user practice. Thus remote monitoring applications – such as clicking to say ‘I am thinking of you’ – are popular at first, but soon wither: their value turning out to be essentially gimmicky and short-lived. Moreover, it also appears that they wither in part because what is communicated (and to some degree how) is sometimes too literal from the user perspective. As Gaver notes (undated; see also Gaver & Martin, 2000), solutions that succeed, he argues, do so because they are evocative rather than literal. They provoke a reaction; they do not simulate one. Part of the success, he goes on, is through the use of evocative materials. Together this produces genres that succeed because they are expressive rather than constrained, allowing users to evoke ‘this’ meaning rather than that, and thereby allowing users to create richer, more diverse expressions: not simply ‘I love you’ but ‘I love you this way’ and ‘this way’ and ‘this way’. Furthermore, several of the papers argue that in addition to these requirements, success is more likely if the channel is linked to other, already existing 266

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ones; not in the sense of piggy-backing on those other channels, as just suggested, so much as that they have a close affinity with and linkage to those channels. Thus, ‘presence’ (a notion from IM which we assume the reader is familiar with) expressed on a necklace is not sufficient unto itself but is rather a queue to provoke the subjects to turn to another, probably richer channel: thus a glowing jewel is used to say: not only ‘I am thinking of you’, but ‘do you want to chat’ (on IM)? Given this, then, the form factors, the ways that a new genre needs to evoke rather than simulate, and so on, all this and more begs questions about design, about how to unpack elements of technologies to fit human needs and of how the practical and the emotional need to function together (see Karan, 2004). Design, until very recently, has not been a concern in our own organisation, though it is beginning to have a more central place. Indeed, one of the shifts in practice that has resulted from this review has been the appointment of designers to our research group, Socio-Digital Systems. At the moment we are unable to recount the benefits of this realignment, though we hope to do so at some time in the future. Be that as it may, the research in the literature, despite its scope, the way it opens up issues and concerns, is still, nevertheless, limited and limited in ways that are quite consequential. For one thing, most of the user studies reported in it suffer from the fact that the users were selected because of their likely receptiveness to the application in question. A tool to express intimacy is given to those who profess such intimacy beforehand; lovers are given tools for loving and so on. There are few if any studies of how a new genre would come into people’s lives, of what would make them buy the ‘thing’ or take it up if given to them; of what, in short, would make the ‘genre’ move beyond a limited application in to something that has a life of its own. If this holds true for what one might call one-to-one applications (of the ‘I Love You’ sort), the same also holds true for one-to-many applications: what one would call the group expression applications. Nor do any of the papers report on the value a new genre would have when expressed in financial terms. Where would these new genres fit in the overall ecology of ordinary people’s budgets, one wants to ask; useful, thoughtful, yes, but how much, how often, with what demonstrable effect? All this and more is avoided in the literature. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Conclusion So, what does one take from this review? Can one claim any certitude about what emotion might mean or be enabled? Are there some basic technological infrastructures that we can turn to to build future communications genre? We think ‘No’ on both counts. Nevertheless we do think one can learn some important lessons. First of all, we read this literature as saying that there is, indeed, a need or a potential role for emotional expression. We take from it also that this expression must not be too simple or specific and should allow users to ‘express’ – i.e. communicate more than one limited thing. Success in doing so needs to be achieved through evoking rather than simulating expression: thus a Touch-phone (as a hypothetical illustration) should not replicate touch as it should be a mechanism for conveying various sorts of meanings, touch itself being only part of these meanings (if it is meant at all). It is in light of this claim that we take it that new genres or technologies for expressions are more likely to succeed if they fit into or link with already existing infrastructures and communications practices: thus if a ‘touch’ is made or done, doing so might be used as an indication that a phone call is desired for instance; or a ‘touch’ could be used to say that a phone call should end, and so on. Consequently, we think that even though intimacy is sometimes spoken of in the literature as isomorphic with intense feelings and expressly emotional matters, a sense of emotional connection could have, in fact, many forms: a sense of presence does not equate, for example, with a declaration of love; and besides, such individual expressions are part of the assembly that makes up experience. Beyond this, we also read the literature as saying that any new genre we develop may allow new forms of emotional connection, bringing family members closer to one another in ways that they had not thought of before, or allowing people to express to each other in ways that are more delicate and nuanced than had been possible. In sum, and without wanting to be too vague, we read the research as saying that we must be open-minded about what our technology might, in fact, let people do. To us, the literature should be read as encouraging: suggesting that certain mistakes should not be made; that there are values, even if they are not 268

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measured, and that yes indeed, we should try and explore what is beyond talk, beyond sight, to touch if you will, talk-as-it-will-be-in-the-future.

References Baron, N. (2000): Alphabet to Email: How written English evolved and where it is heading. Routledge: London. Batterbee, K. (2003): ‘Defining Co-Experience.’ In: DPPI'03. June, ACM Press, pp. 23-26. Bell, G. et al. (2003): ‘Intimate Ubiquitous Computing.’ In: Proceedings of Ubicomp 2003. ACM Press. Brewster, S. & Brown, L. (2004): ‘Tactons: Structure Tactile Messages for NonVisual Information Display.’ In: Cockburn, A. (ed.): 5th Australasian User Interface Conference. Vol.28, pp. 15-23. Brown, B.; Green, N. & Harper, R. (eds.) (2001): Wireless World: Interdisciplinary perspectives on the mobile age. Heidelberg & Godalming: Springer. Buchenau, M. & Suri, J. (2000): ‘Experience Prototyping.’ In: Proceedings of DIS2000. ACM Press. Chang, A. et al. (2002): ‘ComTouch: Design of a Vibrotactile Communications Device.’ In: DIS’02. ACM Press, pp. 312-320. Cockton, Gilbert (ed.) (2002): ‘From doing to being: Bringing emotion into interaction.’ Special issue of Interacting with Computers. No.14. De Guzman, E. et al. (2004): ‘Exploring the Design and Use of Peripheral Displays of Awareness Information.’ In: CHI’04, pp. 1247-1250. DiSilov, C. et al. (undated): The Hug: An exploration of Robotic Form for Intimate Communication. Eagle, N. & Pentland, A. (2003): ‘The Relationship Barometer.’ In: IEEE Computer Magazine. Special Issue on Handheld Computing, IEEE, USA. Fabersjo, H. et al. (2003): ‘Amigo-Wireless Image Based Instant Messaging for Handheld Computers.’ In: CHI’03. ACM Press, pp. 910-911. Falk, J. & Bjork, S. (1999): ‘The BubbleBadge: A Wearable Public Display.’ In: CHI’99. ACM Press, pp. 318-319. Frohlic, D. (2004): AudioPhotography. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Gaver, B. (Undated): Provocative Awareness. London: Royal College of Art. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Gaver, B. & Martin, H. (2000): ‘Alternatives: Exploring information appliances through conceptual design proposals.’ In: CHI’00, ACM Press. Goodman, L. & Misilim, M. (2003): ‘Sensing Beds.’ In: Bell, G. et al.: Intimate Ubiquitous Computing. Proceedings of Ubicomp 2003. ACM Press. Harper, R.; Palen, L. & Talyor, A. (eds.) (2005): The Inside Text: Social perspectives on SMS. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Hansson, R. & Skog, T (2001): ‘The LoveBomb: Encouraging the Communication of Emotions in Public Spaces’. Proceedings of CHI’01. ACM Press, pp. 333-343. Hoog, W.; Keller, I. & Stappers, P. (2004): ‘Gustbowl: Technology Supporting Affective Communication through Routine Ritual Interactions’. In: Proceedings of CHI’04. ACM Press, pp. 775-776. Jordan, P. W. (2000): Designing Pleasurable Products: An Introduction to the New Human Factors, London: Taylor and Francis. Karan, B. (2004): Communicating with Emotions, Project Report, Umea Institute of Design, Sweden. Kaye, J. & Goulding, L. (2004): ‘Intimate Objects’. In: Proceedings of DIS’04. ACM Press. Kaye, J. et al. (undated): Communicating Intimacy One Bit at a Time. Kjeldskov, J. et al. (2004): ‘Using Cultural Probes to Explore Mediated Intimacy’. In: OZCHI’04. Laasonen, K.; Raento, M. & Toivonen, H. (2004): ‘Adaptive On-Device Location Recognition’. In: Pervasive 2004. Heidelberg & Godalming: Springer, pp. 287-304. Madan, A.; Caneel, R. & Pentland, A. (2004): ‘GroupMedia: Distributed Multimodal Interfaces’. In: ICMI 04. ACM Press, pp. 309-316. Marcus, A. (2003): ‘The Emotion Commotion’. In: Interactions. November December, pp. 29-34. Mattelmaki, T. & Keinonen, T. (2001): ‘Design for Brawling-Exploring emotional issues for concept design’. In: Proceedings of International Conference in Affective Human factors Design. London: Asean Press. Miner, C.; Chan, D. & Campbell, C. (2002): ‘Digital Jewelry: Wearable Technology for Everyday Life’. In: CHI'01. ACM Press, pp. 45-46. Nelson, L.; Bly, S. & Sokoler, T. (2001): ‘Quiet Calls: Talking Silently on Mobile Phones.’ In: CHI’01. ACM Press, pp. 174-181. Nakatsu, R.; Tadenuma, M. & Maekawa, T. (2001): ‘Computing Technologies that Support Kansei Expression Using the body’. In: MM'O1. ACM Press, pp. 358-364. 270

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Norman, D.A. (2004): Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books. Partridge, K. et al. (2001): ‘Empirical Measurements of Intrabody Communication Performance under Varied Physical Configurations’. In: UIST 01. ACM Press, pp. 183-190. Paulos, E. (2003): Connexus: A Communal Interface. ACM Press. Poupyrev, I.; Maruyama, S. & Rekimoto, J. (2002): ‘Ambient Touch: Designing Tactile Interaces for Handheld Devices’. In: UIST’02. ACM Press, pp. 51-60. Russell, D. (2003): ‘Appropriate Expressions of Intimacy: Lessons of Digital Jewelry and Large Displays’. In: Bell, G. et al. (2003): ‘Intimate Ubiquitous Computing’. Proceedings of Ubicomp 2003, ACM Press. Sengers, P. et al. (2002): ‘The Enigmatics of Affect’. In: Proceedings of DIS’02. ACM Press, pp. 87-98. Stead, L. et al. (2004): ‘The Emotion Wardrobe’. In: Journal of Personal Computting. Vol.8, pp. 282-290. Tang, J. & Begole, J. (2003): 'Beyond Instant Messaging’. ACM Press, pp. 2937. Tang, J. et al. (2001): ‘ConNexus to Awareness: Extending awareness to mobile users’. In: CHI'01. ACM Press, pp. 221-228. Taylor, A. & Harper, R. (2003): ‘The gift of the gab: A design oriented sociology of young people’s use of mobile’. In: CSCW, pp. 267-296. Vetere, F. et al. (2005): ‘Mediating Intimacy: Designing Technologies to Support Strong-Tie Relationships’. In: CHI‘05, ACM Press. Vronay, D.; Farnham, S. & Davis, J. (undated): PhotoStory: Preserving Emotion in Digital Photo Sharing. Woodruff, A. & Aoki, P. (2003): ‘How Push-to-talk Makes Talk Less Pushy’. In: Group'03. ACM Press, pp. 170-178. Zaner, M.; Chung, E. & Savage, T. (2003): ‘3° and the Net Generation: Designing for Inner Circles of Friends’. In: Bell, G. et al.: Intimate Ubiquitous Computing. Proceedings of Ubicomp 2003, ACM Press.

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A Mobile Ethnographic View on (Mobile) Media Usage? Maren Hartmann

Media ethnography is both a fashionable and an old-fashioned concern within media and communication studies. As with several other approaches, the arrival of digital media on the mass market – and thus in the average users’ hands and/or home – has led to a reconsideration of established research concerns and methods. Media ethnography was amongst these – a fact that this book is a vital proof of. But despite this renewed interest in media ethnography within media and communication studies as well as – or rather especially in – many other fields of study, this research approach (and/or research philosophy and/or research method) is still lagging somewhat behind in terms of its application to the study of mobile media. While this claim appears to be contradicting the basis of this book – and the fact that most of the studies presented here are a) about mobile media and b) using ethnographic methods – I want to propose that only specific aspects of ethnography have so far been applied and that what is missing is the mobility of the researcher him- or herself. Some of the here presented studies are beginning to move into that direction, but there is potentially still more that can (and should) be done in order to approach the phenomenon as a whole. This lack (or lag), i.e. the question of what this is that can be done (and how) is the core question of this article. It is also the suggestion that media and communication studies are not (yet) present enough in this field. The chapter will begin by returning to ethnographic media research in general and the question of what it attempted to do (and how). It will move on to consider more recent applications of ethnographic approaches, particularly within the field of mobile media research and in so-called experimental ethnographies. This review will be used to question the notion of mobility in relation to ethnography. The article will end with a summary of what might be understood by a mobile ethnographic view on mobile media.

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Ethnographic media research “… a critical ethnographic practice best equips us to map out the media’s varied uses and meanings for particular social subjects in particular cultural contexts.” (Moores, 1993:1) The first ‘ethnographic turn’ in media and communications research already took place in the late 1970s. 1 In the early days, the ethnographic turn primarily implied a change of the research philosophy rather than actual ethnographic studies. Since the 1980s then, an increasing number of actual ‘ethnographic’ research projects began to emerge. Moores’ reference to the “media’s varied uses and meanings for particular social subjects in particular cultural contexts” is exactly the range of concerns the qualitatively oriented researchers were trying to engage with. Hence the variety of studies that were labelled ‘media ethnography’ was large and covered a wide area of concerns. The ‘ethnographic nature’ also differed: while some projects only used certain aspects of what they saw as a particular qualitative research method, others interpreted media ethnography as an epistemological framework that needed to be taken on board as a whole. Ethnographies were mostly used to find answers to questions of meaning making, of social context, of the ‘situational embeddedness’ of cultural practices (and of the researchers respectively) – here more specifically in relation to media. The early (cultural studies inspired) media ethnographies ranged from studies on soap opera consumption (Hobson, 1982), on romance reading in interpretative communities (Radway, 1984), on watching Dallas (Ang, 1985) to family television viewing more generally (Morley, 1986; Lull, 1988). While they keep being quoted as early ethnographic work (although they themselves did not necessarily call their work that), methodologically they used only very few elements of what ethnographic work can entail (such as qualitative interviews). 2 1

This applies differently within different cultural contexts. The kind referred to here was used especially in the UK, Australia and some Scandinavian countries, since it came about within a primarily cultural studies context. 2 Long-term ethnographic studies only became more common later. The most quoted one of these is Marie Gillespie’s study on Television, Ethnicity and Cultural Change (1995), for 274

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Instead, they often shared a theoretical basis. For example, many of these studies argued against the then dominant textual determinism and aesthetic formalism in British media studies. They rather referred to Hall’s encoding-decoding model (1980) and similar frameworks that stressed the interpretative and also ‘media usage’ agency of the audiences.

Domestication approach One of the approaches that used ethnographic methods fairly early on was the domestication framework. The team from Brunel University that first developed this in the late 1980s was also concerned with media use in everyday life (e.g. Morley & Silverstone, 1990; Silverstone, Hirsch & Morley, 1992). They extended these concerns into the home environment. Here, it was thought, the most crucial negotiations between public and private lives took place (were ‘mediated’ so to say). Moral cultures (or, to speak in their terms, a moral economy) surrounding the adoption of media technologies into existing cultures were seen to clearly influence the adoption process. This process was described as having several dimensions: from the development of the technology (imagination and commodification) to the adoption into the household (appropriation), its spatial arrangement (objectification) and its ritual and time integration (incorporation). Last, but not least, the conversion is about the presentation of the media technology and/or its adoption into the household to the outside world, or, as Moore (1995) calls it “a ‘trading in’ of competencies, meanings and pleasure cultivated in the private domain”. Overall, the process refers to a taming of wild technologies (Silverstone, 1994:11). 3 Domestication is a framework for understanding both reception (in relation to media use) and consumption (in relation to the appropriation of objects and meanings more generally). Especially the latter point is crucial in considering which the author lived and worked several years in a specific part of London (Southall) to engage with Punjabi youth and their media use in the context of their everyday lives, identities, etc. This particular study, in contrast to many others, cannot easily be attacked in terms of a lack of engagement with the subjects and places researched (quite the opposite). 3 For further explorations of this and other domestication aspects see Berker et al. (2006). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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mobile technologies and rather unusual within the media and communication studies framework of the time. Also crucial is domestication’s emphasis on the context of media use – the already mentioned ‘situational embeddedness’ and wider social and cultural contexts need to be taken into consideration when media use within everyday life is meant to be understood. This is crucial for mobile media research as well. Methodologically, the domestication framework used ethnographically inspired research methods. In the beginning, this meant an attempt to conduct participant observations in the chosen households, plus additional methods to engage with the household members’ media use (discussions of photo-albums, psychological tests, maps of the social networks outside of the home, maps of the domestic space (with indications of where the media were located), lists of the technologies that existed in the households and the discussion of household budgets). Later, the studies were changed to qualitative interviews (over a longer period of time), plus other additional methods (such as time use diaries, observations from the interviews, drawings, etc.). It had turned out that observations alone could only provide very limited accounts of the reasons and motivations for certain actions. This is a crucial point when it comes to thinking about the appropriate methods in ethnographic research. The multi-method approach is also crucial. The reason for mentioning the domestication approach is, because it has faced (or is still facing) fairly typical problems when it comes to thinking about mobile media. What can easily be applied is the idea of the adoption of technologies into everyday life – the biography these technologies develop in the hands of their users, the way they become familiar, even indispensable. What remains crucial also is the awareness of the media as objects – as products that users take on board not only in terms of their usage of the services or contents – and its concentration on context. The domestication approach has thus repeatedly been used as a framework in mobile media ethnographies (e.g. Oksman, this volume), especially when it comes to questions about how something is integrated into everyday life, how rules begin to be established (see Lasen, this volume), how certain aspects of the technologies (or even the technologies as a whole) become ‘naturalised’. 276

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Haddon himself (2001) eventually asked whether the fact that we are now dealing with mobile technologies changes something for the domestication approach. His answer is that many studies can be found that are very similar in their approach (and often also their findings) to the early domestication work. According to Haddon, a specific need to adapt (and re-apply) the domestication framework to mobiles is not necessary. What he does not fully acknowledge, however, is the specificity of the domestication approach in exactly the idea of the boundary of the home. His review thus remains insufficient in terms of the ethnographic nature of the domestication approach. Equally ignored is the idea of the double articulation of media as content and object. Many of the mobile media ethnographies either ignore content or limit themselves to very specific forms of content (such as the use of MMS). Bakardjieva and Smith (2001), on the other hand, provide an attempt at extending the domestication framework into the now with regard to content. While they do not look at mobile technologies in particular (and/or mobility), they begin to deal with social networks beyond the home. In their study of domestic Internet users, they include these as a major factor. They explore the processes that their participants employ to shape the Internet, partly by observing them directly while using the Internet, asking them to also show their Internet history via bookmarks and to ‘think aloud’ while they surf. Their shaping behaviour is then linked to socio-biographical circumstances, i.e. embedded in wider frameworks. A core element of the original domestication approach is, however, its focus on the home, i.e. a relatively clearly defined spatial boundary and media use therein. For mobile media research this limitation is indeed problematic (cf. Haddon, 2001), even if the boundary was never a clearly definable one. 4 However, space and mobility matter. Everyday life is a spatially constituted field of practice. This is underestimated in the domestication approach.

4

An early example of this is the Simon family studied by Silverstone et al. They owned two homes: one house in London and one in Cornwall. According to the authors, these two locales are not simply extensions to each other, but are juxtaposed in their meaning for the members of the family. This leads to “an occasion for the problematising of the boundary of the household” (Silverstone & Hirsch, 1992:41). © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Once again: what are media ethnographies? Let us briefly return to the question of what a (mobile) media ethnography could entail, before looking at existing mobile media ethnographies. When Murphy and Kraidy ask whether it is true that media ethnographies have often been “theoretically sophisticated, but empirically thin” and/or “not ‘ethnographic enough’” (Murphy & Kraidy, 2003:3), we can ask the same about mobile media ethnographies. Shaun Moores, in an early summary of media ethnography research, summarised the debate as follows: “the question has early on been posed whether there is anything very ethnographic about ‘the new audience ethnography’” (Moores, 1993:4). 5 What then is something very ethnographic? As Friedrich Krotz points out in his article in this book, ethnographies attempt an engagement with everyday life as lived – and as a whole, not in previously defined bits and pieces. It is one of the only research approaches that clearly asks the research to emerge (and change) over time and to engage so clearly with real life. People are at the heart of ethnographies or – as Clifford Geertz, a well-known ethnographer, stated – ethnography leads to an understanding of a people’s culture which “exposes their normalness without reducing their particularity” (Geertz, 1973). Ethnographers research (amongst other things) routines and rituals rather than outstanding or singular media events. They are not interested in effects or even needs of media users (at least not solely), but in the meaningmaking processes that media uses are a part or constitutive of. Early media ethnographies were more specifically criticised (or criticised themselves) for the problem that participant observation provided only an analysis of micro-narratives and mostly ignored macro-narratives. There was eventually a paralysis thanks to the prevailing outcome that everyday life was every5

The debates concerning the relevance of ethnographic research approaches within media and communication studies have not too long ago been revived when so-called virtual ethnographies emerged together with the more widespread use of the Internet and similar media (e.g. Hine, 2000; Miller & Slater, 2000). These studies were again accused of not fulfilling ethnographic criteria. The defendants of such approaches, on the other hand, stress the newness and ease of accessibility of the field for fieldwork. Third generation Internet research (cf. Silver, 2000) focuses increasingly on the interchange between the virtual and the offline worlds. 278

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thing, while the actual observations of media use were rather limited. In a second wave of critical (media) ethnographies related their analysis back to general power-structures. They asked for a radical contextualism (or ‘methodological situationalism’), which looks more specifically at “the multidimensional intersubjective networks in which the object is inserted and made to mean in concrete contextual settings” (Ang, 1996:251). It is thus an extension of the context approach in the domestication framework. Part of this wave is also the idea of multi-sited ethnographies, i.e. a situated analysis of mediation’s place in our lives. This will now be discussed in more detail, since it is considered to be crucial to understanding mobility and mobile media.

Mobile media ethnography? “Ethnography …can be used to explore the complex links between the claims which are made for the new technologies in different arenas.” (Hine, 2000:4) “The extroverted, out-of-doors nature of mobile communication, as well as its low-profile origins in the pedestrian technology of telephony, has meant that the ‘online’ domain of mobile communications has not been experienced as cut off from everyday reality, places, and social identities. … [mobile communication] represent the … motion of the virtual colonizing more and more settings of everyday life.” (Ito, 2005:6) In the following section, I will concentrate primarily on one (well-known and widely used) theoretical text to further locate the idea of a mobile ethnography. This text has been chosen because it broadens the idea of mobile ethnography to the above-mentioned critical engagement with wider phenomena. It does this more explicitly than most approaches. 6

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The text is George Marcus’ 1995 piece on multi-sited mobile ethnographies (Marcus, 1995). Moving away from the idea of a single site of intensive investigation (traditional ethnography), Marcus stresses instead the need not only for a multi-sited investigation, but also for the inclusion of macro-theoretical theories: “This mobile ethnography takes unexpected trajectories in tracing a cultural formation across and within multiple sites of activity that destabilizes the distinction, say, between ‘lifeworld’ and ‘system’ (…) by means of which much ethnography has been conceived. Just as it investigates and ethnographically constructs the lifeworlds of variously situated subjects, it also ethnographically constructs aspects of the system itself through the associations and connections among sites that it posits.” (ibid.) Marcus traces the differences to traditional ethnographies via the research methodologies. He stresses the fact that taking mobile positions, i.e. changing viewpoints is crucial to a critical engagement (he refers here to Haraway and what she calls ‘mobile positioning’). This refers to the fact that identity politics, too, are often referring to one clear position only. This, however, is not enough if one wants to include the excluded. A mobile ethnography thus needs to be mobile in the widest sense of the word and examines the circulation of meanings, identities, objects, etc. in diverse time-space constellations. Hence the cultural formation, not a set of subjects is the object of study (ibid.). According to Marcus, media studies has actually been one area where multi-sited ethnographic research has been implemented for quite some time now. Both production and reception of media texts, but also increasingly the combination of the two has been at the forefront of these approaches (cf. Teurlings, 2005). Another important area at the forefront of these developments mentioned by Marcus is the social and cultural study of science and technology (and authors such as Bruno Latour and Donna Haraway). Marcus stresses that multi-sitedness is as such not a totally new phenomenon, but that the dimensions have changed. Plus he delivers good reasons for considering such a multi-sited ethnography a very appropriate approach for researching the networked communication and interaction flows of today’s world: 280

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“Multi-sited research is designed around chains, paths, threads, conjunctions, or juxtapositions of locations in which the ethnographer establishes some form of literal, physical presence, with an explicit, posited logic of association or connection among sites that in fact defines the argument of the ethnography. Indeed, such multi-sited ethnography is a revival of a sophisticated practice of constructivism, ... Constructivists viewed the artist as an engineer whose task was to construct ‘useful objects,’ much like a factory worker, while actively participating in the building of a new society.” (Marcus, 1998:90) Again, there is a hint that a critical and also engaged stance towards society needs to be taken, while one should simultaneously participate in the construction of society. Hence Marcus’ ideas pose important questions concerning the role of the researcher. The implementation takes place through following different threads (as we will see in one of the examples below, where pockets and actual threads are developed). One can follow the people and/or the thing and/or the metaphor and/or the plot/story/allegory and/or the life/biography and/or the conflict. Intertwining different threads helps to produce a thick description. Plus, to return to the beginning of the reference to Marcus, the embedded nature of the single site with the larger system is crucial. Whatever takes place on the micro-level affects our understanding of the macro-level (and vice versa). The true complexity and contingency of the researched site is thus acknowledged. Both the site and the connections between sites need to part of a mobile ethnography. Movement is thus crucial – both for the researcher as well as recognising it as an object of research. Long-standing assumptions about the connections between space, place and culture are thereby challenged and questioned (cf. Rapp, 1999). Building on Marcus, then, what would a multi-sited, mobile ethnography look like in the field of mobile media studies? A fairly ‘typical’ example of the work done in this field can be seen in Lasen’s (2003 – see also Lasen, this volume) study of mobile phone use in public places in three cities (London, Madrid & Paris), sponsored by Vodafone. The breadth of locations distinguishes this study from most, but it is otherwise rather similar to the approaches generally taken. It hence bases itself on observations, video material (as an extension of © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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the observations) and interviews. 7 Lasen explicitly refers to the ethnographic traditions with both problems and advantages (ibid.:8-11). In her report, however, she remains fairly descriptive and points primarily to cultural differences in mobile phone use. Only towards the end, more open questions concerning the wider consequences of mobile phone use in public have been asked (ibid.:3940). Multiple sites then allow a cultural comparison in this case (which in itself is interesting), but not much else. A similar approach has been taken by Sadie Plant (2002) in her work on mobile media use in a set of different countries. Again, this can maybe be described as a multi-sited form of ethnography. Methodologically, Plant ‘simply’ combined fieldwork that contained extensive observations with many diverse interviews with both individuals and groups and the analysis of photographic and other material. 8 She visited eight locations (Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Peshawar, Dubai, London, Birmingham and Chicago) and had the possibility – thanks to her funding – to let the interviews develop over time (I will return to the issue of funding below). The research results are indeed continuously related back to wider social and cultural issues, although the overall direction of the research report still remains primarily on the micro-level. It tells stories – as it should – and does not always live up to the analysis of the complexity that a multi-sited ethnography could contain. Equally important for the concerns of this paper is the fact that Plant did not actually move beyond traditional methods – apart from visiting a large number of different sites (and, for example, including email interviews). The standpoint within each site still appears to have been a fairly stable one. The next step is therefore to look at projects that try to engage with mobility on another level – by introducing mobility to the methods as such (and not just between larger single sites). Whether these also pursue the theoretical embedding process differently to the two projects just mentioned, remains the other question.

7

In Lasen’s case this means a week of observations of public places plus ten interviews (across an age and gender range) in each city. 8 Plant was commissioned to do this study by Motorola. 282

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Urban Mobilities/ Urban Journeys 9 The following section talks about two projects, Urban Mobilities: Locating Consumption of Ubiquitous Content and 73 Urban Journeys, which are interrelated, but not identical. The Urban Mobilities project was originally conceived by Nina Wakeford, a sociologist and director of INCITE, the ‘incubator for critical inquiry into technology and ethnography’ located at the University of Surrey. 10 The part that I am referring to here is only a smaller part of the larger research project originally developed for collaboration with Intel Research Council. The relationship between mobility and the experience of place is a key focus in this overall project. Particular reference is made to the use of digital content within that setting. Urban Mobilities involved a qualitative study of spaces in London in which people consume information (INCITE, 2005). In the part under consideration here, the researchers – in comparison to other projects – ‘doubled the mobility’. They did not only observe mobile media use from a fairly stable position, but observed it while on the move themselves: to be precise, they originally observed mobile phone use while sitting on the bus No.73 in London. 11

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I would like to thank Katrina Jungnickel for responding to an earlier draft of the chapter and correcting some inaccuracies therein. All remaining inaccuracies are obviously my responsibility. 10 Adam Reed also conducted research within this project. 11 For anyone who has ever lived in London (especially the North East), this bus is a wellknown element of everyday life. It begins at Victoria station, moves right through the city centre (crossing Oxford Street amongst others), moves on to King’s Cross and then continues towards Tottenham. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Image 1: Bus boxes (© Jungnickel)

73 Urban Journeys is a further extension of this: it comprises of more than just these journeys (Jungnickel, 2005). At the same time the journeys become an extension of the actual project focus: a weblog. The project is led by Katrina Jungnickel, a research fellow with experience in commercial research and with an MA in Visual Culture (and also involved in the Urban Tapestries project described below), currently writing her PhD on the subject matter. 73 Urban Journeys is an ethnographic study of mobility in the widest sense, building on the Urban Mobilities project: “My project builds upon this research by undertaking an ethnographic and observational study of the No.73 bus exploring its route, passengers, history and iconic place in the urban landscape” (Jungnickel, 2004). Although a part of the project is also based on observations and interviews, other methods are involved that differentiate it further from traditional ethnographic work. Thus, for example, ‘bus boxes’ are built, which use photographic material from the route of the 73 bus. These are then integrated into a toy-like ‘bus box’ (see image 1). 12 Other design experiments are used to visualise the 12

These are an adaptation of the Proboscis StoryCubes that Jungnickel worked on before going to work at INCITE (see http://proboscis.org.uk/storycubes). 284

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mobility aspects (e.g. so-called bus cards and postcards are made, paper folding is used). Movement studies and ethnographic sketches are made (see image 2 below). 13 Furthermore, the blog is used to document the research and let others be involved in the project. For Jungnickel, the blog is the core element of the project in which a variety of people contribute to the project in diverse ways. The range of features are mentioned here simply to point to the fact that observations and interviews can (and probably should) be extended to other, more creative methods and forms of engagement. Photographic and video material is already widely being used, as are movement sketches and similar features. Jungnickel’s study, however, combines a large number of these ‘ethnographic extensions’. How, however, are the users involved in these processes beyond being interviewed? Are they, too, more engaged in the study? The answer has to be ambivalent, but will be postponed until after two other concerns have been raised. I would therefore like to return to the first part of the project, i.e. the mobile phone use on the bus and the commercial background of that particular project. Secondly, I will briefly reflect on the just mentioned user involvement.

Image 2: Ethnographic sketches (© Jungnickel)

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One part of the Urban Mobilities project involved observations of people on the bus using their mobile phones. A mobile researcher and a mobile technology met here (Hermida, 2001). 14 Another possible form of mobility used thus far has been the movement between countries, as stated above. Most researchers who observe public spaces also move around in them (not all the time, but sometimes). But to be more or less constantly on the move while researching a mobile technology adds an additional layer (see also Okabe & Ito, 2005) and opens up the question of how the researcher can become mobile and follow mobile users. The bus (or underground) journey is one answer, but for obvious reasons not a sufficient one for other kinds of user movements. In itself, the bus is still a fairly closed environment. Plus one does not yet actually follow the movements of specific people and thus cannot observe how their use potentially changes when they move through different spatial (and other) environments. This question about mobility should be added to the theoretical concerns explored by Marcus, since this then is even more than ‘multi-sited’. Locating the findings within wider frameworks will require even more movement – on the theoretical level. Finding answers such as the bus appears to be a good beginning (and creates interesting stories). Another issue is the commercial funding. The Urban Mobilities project was originally supported by Intel, the company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets microcomputer components of desktop and server systems. 15 It was lauded as a new form not only of collaboration, but the research methodology was also seen as “… a new form of industry research called ethnography. This involves studying people to find out the difference between what they say they do and what they really do in their daily lives” (Hermida, 2001). While the use 14

According to the BBC report, the most important outcome of the research was the notion that “new opportunities for the same really important sorts of social relationships” come about through new technologies. 15 The conversations with Jungnickel and Lane have shown that it is difficult to get complete information on the funding situation as an outsider. My description of the situation should thus be read with that warning in mind. The same applies to some methodological issues and their exact role in the projects. It hence needs to be stressed that Jungnickel’s project was never funded commercially, but builds on a 3-month research fellowship from the University of Surrey. 286

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of ethnographic methods in industry research is not new, the increasing use and acceptance thereof is indeed remarkable. This, however, does not make it unproblematic. The argument here is not meant to be criticism from a comfortably funded university-position, but just a question mark behind the consequences such involvement has. This is best summarised in the following quote from an early BBC report on the Urban Mobilities project: “‘One of the things that makes a successful technology is a technology that supports experiences that people want to have,’ explained Dr Genevieve Bell, senior researcher and design ethnographer at Intel” (Hermida, 2001). This reflects the eternal bias of technology design and development: surely it is good if technologies are developed in ways that are useful for and desired by people, but on the other hand, selling as many of these technologies as possible is obviously good for the producer as well – in terms of profit. The desire then is not a clearly existing one that simply needs to be unearthed – it is also produced. Thus the relationship is a bit more complex than a simple ‘it is good for them’. The design ethnographer or similar roles are caught in that tension and contradiction. On the other hand, many possibilities are created when such backing takes place. Many of these research projects are developed as group work. That in itself is a highly useful brainstorming device and an interesting alternative to traditional academic pursuits. Plus the whole project can become larger, involve different actors, use other materials, etc. And it is not necessarily restricted to academic conventions in the same way that other projects often are. It thus offers opportunities that purely academic work often does not have. But the extent of this also depends on the freedom offered by the sponsor – and many other factors. Again, this point is meant to raise questions rather than give answers, but it was rather interesting to see that the more innovative ethnographic projects seem to have such funding behind them. The other, related point I wanted to raise in this context is the point about user involvement (user meant in the broadest sense of the word). In the Urban Mobilities project (at least the here presented part), users are still primarily ‘objects’ of research. Users (in this case mostly people who ride buses) are observed in diverse ways, sometimes interviewed, but they do not actually move much beyond being the usual objects of study. This is different in the 73 Urban Journeys project. The extension of the ethnography does not remain limited to an extension to visual material, since it asks for an involvement on the weblog © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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level. It helps to get several diverse groups involved: readers of the study, the researcher herself, the people riding and driving the bus, etc. Hence the innovation in the 73 Urban Journeys project lies in the whole approach to the overall research topic (the bus). The question remains whether the user involvement should be extended even further in order to take the ethnographic work more into the direction of in-depth concerns. It could then better fulfil the interweaving of theoretical concerns and empirical outcomes. When technology development is the aim of the project (which is not the aim of 73 Urban Journeys), this is, as indicated above, not unproblematic. But even without this added complexity, the question remains how users can be subjects within the ethnographic research process. The Urban Tapestries project seems to have found another possible answer to this question.

Urban Tapestries 16 Another example of innovative – or ‘experimental’ – ethnography is the collaboration between the London School of Economics (LSE) and Proboscis, a “nonprofit creative studio and think tank which researches, develops and facilitates innovation”. Proboscis “conceived, initiated and is developing Urban Tapestries as the lead partner in the collaboration” (UT, 2005). Next to the LSE (or rather Media@LSE), France Telecom R&D, Orange and the Ordnance Survey were also involved in the project. Funders included the UK Department of Trade and Industry, the Arts Council England and the Daniel Langlois Foundation as well as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Creative Partnerships Hull and EPSRC. Hewlett-Packard Labs and Locustworld collaborated and Apple Computer UK, Garbe (UK) Ltd & Sony Europe also supported the project. It is thus a high profile project with a large emphasis on technology development, but with the primary focus on social involvement. Urban Tapestries – which has by now been expanded to Social Tapestries – was implemented to develop a public authoring tool: 16

I would also like to thank Giles Lane from Proboscis for reacting to an earlier draft of this chapter. He, too, sent some suggestions for changes and engaged in a stimulating (brief) discussion on the issues concerned. 288

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“Urban Tapestries is an experimental software platform for knowledge mapping and sharing – public authoring. It combines mobile and internet technologies with geographic information systems to allow people to build relationships between places and to associate stories, information, pictures, sounds and videos with them.” (UT, 2005) Urban Tapestries is a funded project, but with less commercial interest than appears to be taking place on first sight. Only sixteen percent of the funding was truly commercial, the rest came from public funding bodies and a private charity. Nonetheless their overall structure and aim is very different from a ‘purely’ academic project. First of all, funding of any sort can impact on the project. Although ‘purely’ academic research does not exist as such (even less so in the mobile area), these underlying structures need to be carefully considered when understanding the nature of any project. The initial project idea needs to be attractive in some sense, certain deliverables will be agreed upon, certain aims will be defined, etc. The claim here then is to openly include these kinds of information in public project presentations – be they ‘academic’ or not. However, in this particular project, the more interesting differences can be found within the project’s focus on ‘transdisciplinary research’ that aims to provide an “anthropology of ourselves”. The discourse underlying the project is very much based on an understanding of ‘enriching civil society’, ‘building collective memories for communities’, etc. It is meant to “enable people to become authors of the environment around them”. This kind of involvement of users is rare in the more purely academic environment. 17 The technological focus of Urban Tapestries was on mobile devices, i.e. PDAs and mobile phones. These were developed as devices that create a local network of stories, i.e. a combination of technological and content development was supposed to take place with the help of a set of possible end-users. The devices were eventually given to people, who then added their so-called threads and pockets to the description of local spaces. This can be little stories, anec17

Cultural studies and some forms of ethnography as well as other social research traditions would not necessarily be included in this claim – at least in principle, but not necessarily in practice. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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dotes, pieces of information, etc.: “Prototype Pockets are the relationship a user makes to a specific geographic place (….) and contain the media the user chooses to associate with that place (such as a story and/or audio file and/or a picture). Threads are the thematic relationships between pockets and geographic places and can vary from the practical, 'Fair Trade Goods Sold Here' to the personal, 'My Favourite Bars & Cafes'” (UT, 2005). In order to get people involved, they were not simply given the technology and sent off. Instead, a rather complicated process of research preceded the actual giving away of the technology. Ethnography is only one part of this research process. The project team called it a transdisciplinary “action research project”, which blended “prototype development with desk-based and field work”. The action is especially taking place in what they call a ‘bodystorming’ experience (UT, 2005b). 18 Building on techniques used in product design and again in theatre, bodystorming is a playful group experience that looks at the application of ideas in a physical setting. Limitations and possibilities of the technology use and people’s attitudes towards it are shown. The actual bodystorming event in this case included a map of a certain area of London, i.e. Bloomsbury, which was put on the floor and on which participants had to move (see image 3 below). They were given props and were encouraged to build their own materials (that they could later take home with them). Participants in this particular bodystorming experience used post-it notes to map the area and (non-functional) mock-ups of the PDA and its relevant software (see image 4 below). 19 This was part of the so-called experimental eth18

Weblog comment on the bodystorming experience: “Yesterday I took part in a bodystorming session as part of the Social Tapestries experiment. … So there we were, tip-toeing over parts of London … trying to think-through everyday life scenarios in which mobile technologies might play a role. As long as you understood from the outset that this was a solution trying to get to grips with its problem, it kind of fell into place, if I can put it like that. I really value the Proboscis metaphor of social networks as tapestry, it helps to see how different threads exist between people, get broken, tangled, frayed, renewed, and so forth.” (http://neighbourhoods.typedpad.com/neighbourhoods/2004/09/social_tapestri.html) 19 There is an interesting observation in the description of different bodystorming experiments run by Proboscis. An intergenerational one run in a community centre in London worked rather well as a networking event while a more ‘artistic’ one in New York left only individual, unconnected impressions (UT, 2005b:7-10) 290

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nography, in which social scientists from the LSE were crucially involved (Silverstone & Sujon, 2005).

Images 3 & 4: Map & mock-up in bodystorming event (© Proboscis 2003-2006)

In a later part of this ethnographic research, the researcher (Zoe Sujon) took the participants to go for an actual walk around Bloomsbury, in which they used note pads (or rather a specially designed notebook), local maps, stickers and disposable cameras. They were encouraged to capture places and thoughts which were later used as annotated maps (ibid.; UT, 2005b). The experimental ethnography used “methodological triangulation of participant observation, phase interviews and experimentation” (UT, 2005a:13). There were eight interviews with nine people from diverse backgrounds. The bodystorming and the walk around Bloomsbury were leading up to a public trial of the initial prototype in December 2003 and a later 4-week field trial of the mobile phone prototype (see image 5 below) across central London in June 2004.

Image 5: Mobile prototype (© Proboscis 2003-2006) © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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The results were made public through a website and especially a blog. This can still be found online and shows how far users were actually involved (UT, 2005c). Technology was both the object of research, but also an important tool within the research project. Technology appears to be understood here as important passageway to making things public and transparent. The research project does not appear to be removed from the users, but actually attempts to let them play a key role. Content-wise, the experimental ethnography was meant to help understand the relationships between geographic locations and the way that these relationships and stories are created by people. For many people, the sensory awareness of the city was increased in the project. This was related to the experience of the group and the fact that they were able to add to it all through their own authoring. For many participants, their perception of the landscape was changed through the project and they claimed to have had what can be described as ‘conversations with the city’. The physical connectivity to others was also increased comfortably through the use of the technology, which allowed them to be distant enough not to be intrusive, but at the same time created a feeling of connectivity (Jungnickel, 2004:5-10). All this then appears to point to a successful research project – the technology and the content were developed with the help of users who saw themselves reflected in the project and learnt something new about themselves and the city (and about the technology). The project used fairly new methods (such as bodystorming), which contained moments of mobility. It also let the people in question move around the city with the technologies in hand and traced these movements (or rather the threads and pockets that were added at different points within Bloomsbury). This allowed them to create a ‘thick description’ of the area in question, tracing (and creating networks) and connecting places and people. The researchers did not actually need to move themselves with the people – the technology did that for them. Nonetheless there are again a few questions to be asked. Some are rather simple: obviously, such technology trials are not often possible within the already mentioned ‘purely’ academic context. The already mentioned concerns about funding (commercial and other) – despite its apparent advantages – remain questions to be asked. The user involvement here is high, but the actual 292

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embedding within the users’ everyday lives is limited. The bodystorming event at least seems to create a sense of sharing stories with others – it is also less visibly ‘functional’ for the technology development, i.e. users potentially feel less ‘used’ to develop something useful for the project. The sense of involvement obviously depends on the individual user group, but the particular nature of this event seems to have worked. After the actual walk, many valid questions were raised concerning different levels of technology savvy-ness and interest in the devices and its potential content. Thanks to the qualitative engagement with each user, a differentiated picture of use was created. Plus the mobile nature of the technology was actually taken seriously in the research, i.e. it was allowed to be mobile both in the hands of the users walking around and in its content. However, hesitations remain concerning the nature of the involvement of users plus in terms of the applicability of such methods to other settings/technologies/users. The overall feeling was rather well expressed by a bodystorming participant who said that it was “a solution trying to get to grips with its problem” (cf. earlier footnote). Maybe we need to concentrate more on problems.

The (im)possibility of a mobile ethnography? “…we suggest that media ethnography be understood as a research process of forming communities and making conversations that underscore a systematic and long-term investment in form, purpose and practice.” (Murphy & Kraidy, 2003:4) Ethnography is still – and will remain to be – an important research approach and method for studying media use in everyday life. It centres on a ‘holistic’ approach in the sense that it attempts to understand people within their own settings, within their life patterns, values, networks, etc. It enters people’s lives and does not stay outside, aiming at a supposedly ‘objective’ report on behaviours, values, etc. But it, too, cannot itself explain the complexity that is everyday life:

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“Perhaps then, the everyday is the name that cultural theory might give to a form of attention that attempts to animate the heterogeneity of social life, the name for an activity of finding meaning in an impossible diversity” (Highmore, 2002:175) And perhaps then, mobile media ethnography is the name that cultural theory might give to a research approach that gets a bit closer to understanding the impossible diversity. Several problems, however, remain. There is not just a gap between commercially funded and other research that becomes rather visible in this field, which leads, for example, to a future orientation of some research that limits the engagement with what is actually going on at the moment. More importantly, however, none of the above projects actually deals with mobility itself – although they try. And they are not necessarily self-reflective in the way that only an ethnography can (and should) be. The mobility then remains the actual challenge. One approach could be to follow the subject (just as ANT suggests to follow the actor – here both human and non-human actor would be followed at the same time). But this could not be done undercover. Actually shadowing someone poses crucial ethnic and practical questions. Places were mobility is high have already been a focus of research (e.g. train stations – see Sussex Technology Group, 2001), but this reduces the potential engagements to very specific spaces yet again. Mobility has also been observed in terms of observations coupled with movement drawings, photographs and videos (Höflich, this volume). Again, these are interesting methods, but the researchers remained fairly stable and chose a rather limited space to observe (nor did they question the uses through actual engagements with the subjects researched). This chapter has raised more questions than it provided answers. What the above was meant to illustrate is the importance of finding new, more ‘mobile’ methodologies for researching mobile media. It is an encouragement (also to myself) to liberate oneself from traditional methods, while holding on to the idea of an at least partial immersion into the field that one is about to research. This immersion can take many forms – being too rigid about it does not seem to be very productive. At the same time, the experimental and innovative methods used in the projects described, only provide partial answers as well. They increase the mobility of the researchers (and find innovative ways of following the 294

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thing), but they do not (yet) embed their research in the way that Marcus seemed to suggest as necessary. The experimentation in the methods hence needs to be expanded to the theoretical frameworks.

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Ethnography, Related Research Approaches and Digital Media Friedrich Krotz

Doing research in the rapidly changing environment of digital media We live in a historical period in which everyday life and social relations, work and leisure, culture and society are changing rapidly. This is especially the case because of the changes in communication that are based on the development of digital media. These are becoming increasingly established in the everyday life of most people. An example for this development, which will here be called the meta-process of the “mediatization of everyday life, culture and society” (Krotz, 2001), is the advent of mobile media. Besides mediatization, there are further meta-processes of social change, such as globalisation, commercialisation and individualization at play. They are all of high relevance for the communication amongst people and thus for questions of identity, social relations and subcultures, but also for culture and society in general. As a consequence, academic research needs new and good theories to conceptualise and to analyse the communicational, social and cultural changes and their consequences. In order to develop such new theories, adequate research methods and approaches are necessary. Taking into account the complex changes implied in all abovementioned meta-processes, such research methods must also be useful for researching foreign cultures and diverging subcultures. If we take a look at discussions about academically useful research methods, research approaches are usually segmented into two types: quantitative and qualitative ones. The qualitative ones include those which are called interpretative and those which serve to construct and confirm theories in unknown fields (such as, for example, Grounded Theory). In this paper, we will argue that ethnography is the best combination of empirical approaches if we take the above two conditions as a basis for research in a changing world: ethnography belongs to a type of research that aims to construct valid theories in mostly unknown fields. In addition, we will show that ethnography must be understood as a hybrid research approach, in the frame of which interpretative, quantitative and © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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other methods may be used, depending of the research question that guides the research process. The strength of ethnography is to learn to understand what takes place. As the anthropologist Clifford Geertz put it, ethnography starts with the question: “What the hell is going on there?” (quoted by Aman & Hirschauer, 1997:20). This will lead to a so-called thick description and theory, which is to be understood as an answer to the original research question. In the following sections, we will sketch out how this type of research functions and what the special characteristics of ethnography are. We will do so in a specific way, since discussions on methods are often rather strange when they reach the point where they state that there are qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches. Whether a researcher is a supporter of this or that approach seems to be a question of belief, and in consequence, most researchers use only methods of one type and never those of the other. Thus such discussions mostly come to the conclusion that qualitative research methods are good and quantitative are bad (or vice versa). This at least is the impression one gets when looking at research reports, articles or textbooks. It is equally strange that most researchers, while e.g. writing a research report, never present any argument about their reasons for choosing to do their research in the way they do. From a pragmatic point of view this is not very helpful. We begin with a different assumption: all empirical methods within the social sciences such as interviews or observations and the complex research approaches such as quantitative or qualitative methods are not inventions of academic social science, but stem from the everyday life of people. If we have a problem or a (research) question in everyday life, we ask or interview others, we observe what people are doing, we try to learn to understand how, for example, members of other cultures or subcultures solve the problem, we make a content analysis of books and reports and so on. We sometimes even ask a high number of people, whom we select via given criteria, and we ask them all the same questions in order to compare the answers. Thus, we get results for everyday problems and questions by doing an everyday life version of empirical research. These results we assess in two ways: we may try whether the result is practically helpful, and we may speak with others about 300

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their experiences and ideas about the result and whether it is sufficient. Thus, in everyday life, the purity of a method is not important, but the practical usefulness of the result and the communication and agreement about it are at the core. Of course, academic research is not the same as solving problems in everyday life, but nonetheless our assumption here is that all scientific or academic methods are specializations and further developments of prior everyday life methods. Academic methods consist of more strict rules. Furthermore there are criteria for what one should do or not, for what the value of a result is and so on. In the single methodologies there are also rules about what a result such as a description or a theory is supposed to look like. Content is not the answer to the research question, but what form it may have. There is also a lot of discussion about how far a specific research approach leads to specific results and/or what counts as scientific. But in general, all these academic methods stem from everyday life and have not changed fundamentally; they are only more precisely elaborated and more specialized. Thus, the discussion whether quantitative empirical research is good and qualitative is bad (or vice versa), does not make sense. Instead, one should assume that if one starts with a research question, different methods and approaches may be used and that it would be helpful to use them in order to get as much valid information about the research objects as possible. Every tested method may help us to understand the cultural and social reality better, and which method and what approach should be used, depends on the research question we start with. This view has some important consequences. Firstly, to repeat it once more, we do not accept that one empirical approach is good and the other is bad. Instead, if it is the case that a method is accepted as scientific, it should be assumed that it has specific advantages and disadvantages, and that – with a given research question – we must select the adequate empirical approach. For example, if we wanted to find out how many people have a mobile phone, how long and for what they use it on average per day and how much money they spend on it, we should choose a quantitative approach and perhaps conduct a representative study with standardized interviews. But if we wanted to find out why a person loves his or her mobile phone even though she or he never uses it in order to speak with others, then we should take © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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an interpretative approach, which aims at context explanations a person can give if one asks him or her. 1 Secondly: Which set of rules we use to empirically solve a question is not given by fate or belief, but is an object of argumentation and decision. In other words: If a researcher intends to answer a research question, and if s/he selects his or her research approach and the adequate methods, s/he must argue, why s/he does so in this way and not in another. If we pose the problem like this, we immediately see that the labels ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ are just labels. As mere labels they are not helpful in deciding what to do: it surely makes a difference whether you describe reality through texts or through numbers, but no researcher uses only words or only numbers in her research. Instead, we need substantial characterizations of the different methods and empirical approaches – of quantitative, interpretative and theory generating research. As was stated already, it is the goal of this chapter to be helpful in this respect. We thus attempt in this chapter to provide a rather rough description of the different empirical approaches and to sketch the respective advantages and disadvantages. 2 We start with the confrontation of qualitative and quantitative approaches, before we then try to differentiate between the different qualitative approaches. In the next step, we characterize those methods that especially aim at constructing theories – of which ethnography is one – and finally we characterize ethnography. Let us emphasize again: the aim is not to exclude all other methods but to contribute to the question what method is adequate for what research question. But we agree with the assumption that ethnography and the other theoryconstruction approaches are especially helpful today, as the rise of digital media makes interpretative research even more necessary. Digital media allow and promote an individual use of media that depends very much on personally defined contexts. Hence the concept of ‘audiences’ who behave in similar ways is only partly helpful in this case (cf. Ang, 1991).

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This does not mean that such type of research is ‘only’ explorative research. This text mainly builds on Krotz (2005).

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Some basics about empirical research Before we now start with the first comparison, it seems necessary to clarify the terminology that we will use: we will differentiate between ‘research method’ on the one hand and between ‘empirical approach’ or ‘research approach’ on the other hand. This is necessary, because the concept ‘method’ is used in two different ways. On the one hand, people call the way a researcher collects data a method – by questionnaire, experiment, observation and so on. On the other hand, people speak also of methods when they speak about Grounded Theory, ethnography, quantitative or interpretative research. In this second case, complex empirical approaches that solve a research question are understood to be a method, while in the first case a method is the way data is collected. Of course, such an empirical approach is obviously much broader than a simple method, as it serves as a frame for different activities of a researcher: it consists of rules of how to collect data and of how to use specific methods, but it also consists of ways to evaluate the collected data, of rules about what a description is and what a theoretical statement or even what a theory should be. For example, the same method such as an ‘interview’ must be operated in very different ways in different research frames, as e.g. an ethnographic interview is usually rather different from a standardized interview in a quantitative research setting. In the following we thus speak of a ‘method’ if we speak about datagathering rules, and of an ‘empirical approach’ if we speak of the general concept of how to answer a research question. On this basis, it has to be said that all empirical research approaches can become divided into three groups: the quantitative type, the interpretative type and a theory generating type, the last two constituting qualitative approaches. Let us now begin with the fundamental distinction in the field of methods and approaches, the distinction between quantitative and qualitative research. It is well known that these two approaches are different in a lot of ‘dimensions’ of research. They are different in how they understand social and cultural reality and how a researcher faces it, how an empirical fact is grasped and what its context is, what a theory is and what research can contribute to theory, and so on. The core ideas of quantitative research are the concepts of measurement and of the variable, as Lazarsfeld (1972) already put it. ‘Measurement’ means that © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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the researcher and the social and cultural reality are strictly separated and that the researcher uses an instrument (a method) to get – for each of the investigated objects – a specific value for a prior defined variable. And a variable here is a general concept, which may have a value of a specific type for each measured case. For example, a thermometer gives each place and time a specific value, and the underlying variable is called temperature. Similar, each standardized question on a questionnaire gives a person a specific value for the variables age or for the amount of time he or she uses his or her mobile phone. The advantage of such an assumption on how to operate with reality is that we can compare and aggregate these measured values. The disadvantage is that we lose the individual case as we must forget the context of his or her behaviour. This is the reason why Wilson (1973) called quantitative methodology normative, as it substitutes the personal context of a fact with the general scientific context of the researcher. In contrast, any qualitative and especially any interpretative researcher is not very interested in such single values of variables, which are understood as facts. Instead he or she is concerned with single cases, which he wants to understand by reconstructing the relevant contexts of acting and arguing. Of course, he also registers the age of a person he interviews. But in his or her main work such a researcher is interested in getting verbal descriptions, answers with background, explanations of what happens and how it is connected with other things or in relation to the biographical experiences of the interviewed person. To say it with an example of the anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1991): an interpretative researcher does not only count how often a person twinkles his eyes. Instead, he wants to know whether it is a nervous tic, a silent hint, an ironic message or whatever, and under which conditions the twinkling takes place. This aims at a generalized, theoretically directed description of the single case. Of course this is only a first step within the research, as these different descriptions must later be brought together. We can thus conclude that quantitative approaches are interested in facts, which are conceptualised as variables and can be used to compare people with other people. In contrast to that, qualitative approaches in general are interested in the contexts which are relevant for facts, such that a researcher can understand what takes place in each single case, and he or she will try to find out 304

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conditions and consequences which hold in all investigated cases. Consequently, we can say that qualitative research refers to context, while quantitative research is interested in facts. Further, the approaches differ in their goal. Of course, the goal is always a description of the field or a theoretical insight into what happens there. In the case of quantitative research descriptions, theoretical insights must be expressed through variables and their relations, as nothing else can be measured: a description is then, for example, a percentage of the investigated cases or a mean value, and when we bring two or more variables together, if we, for example, calculate a correlation of two variables, we get the mathematical form of a hypothesis: “If this, then that” or “If more of this, then also more of that” (c.f. e.g. Friedrichs, 1973; Opp, 1999). We can thus conclude that quantitative researchers assume that it is possible to describe the world scientifically through such logically constructed statements about variables and their relations (which may sometimes be the case). They must even assume that social reality can only be described in such forms, a consequence that I do not accept. In addition, for quantitative researchers the resulting theory therefore consists of such statements. It also holds true that quantitative research has not got a systematic way to construct theories, it can only test whether such statements hold in specific cases or not. This is the only contribution quantitative research can do to theory. Of course, all this is different in the case of qualitative research. Here a description is a systematically structured text, which reconstructs the facts and their relevant contexts. These contexts may be understood as conditions and consequences of what takes place. A theoretical text then is a generalization of one or more descriptions that describe the general structure and the development of the investigated area. Theory in the case of qualitative research thus consists of a report, a book or at least an article, and not of a single statement. Of course, such resulting theories may have rather different forms, as it is well known – compare, for example, the empirical and historical work of Habermas (1990) on the public sphere, the empirical work of Bourdieu (1987) on life worlds and distinction or the research results about mobile communication as they have been presented in Höflich (2005) or Nyiri (2005). Now, a wellknown question comes up: when we conduct any kind of research, we investigate a small number of cases. But in general we tend to be interested in a description or a theory (or at least in statements) that are valid in many more cases. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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So how do we get from some single cases to general statements, descriptions or theories? Usually it is assumed that quantitative research has at least one advantage: one can take a representative selection of cases, and then the statistical conclusion guarantees the confirmation of a generalization. But this holds true only in part, as such a statistical conclusion is only valid if two restrictions apply: first, one has to have a representative sample to generalize the statistical conclusions. But one cannot generalize a complex theory through statistical conclusions. One can only generalize single statements in this way. Thus, theory in the case of quantitative research can only consist of single statements, as we already stated above. Second, the quantitative experiment does not argue with a statistical conclusion, as the cases selected here are not necessarily representative (e.g. Friedrichs, 1973 or any other quantitative textbook). The argument for the overall validity of the results of a quantitative experiment is that in such an experimental study all relevant variables have been controlled. This means that if age or gender or what else is relevant for a result, people of different age groups and gender must be investigated. Only if the final statements hold for all of them, the result is accepted as typical for everybody and all similar situations. In this sense, an experiment is a controlled case study, in which different cases are treated in the same way, independent of their representative nature or a statistical conclusion. Now, nearly the same argument can be used in the case of a generalization of qualitative research results, which refer to case studies with different cases. A qualitative researcher is not interested in the generalization of single statements, and he does not collect data about variables, as mentioned above. Instead, a researcher, using e.g. Grounded Theory following Glaser and Strauss (1967), develops a description or theory referring at the same time to all the cases he has investigated. This text then is of course valid for all the investigated cases. And if the researcher has taken into account all relevant cases which may exist, as it is prescribed by Glaser and Strauss, then of course he may generalize his result

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with the same argument: it is valid for all analogous structured cases. 3 This argument obviously holds in all cases of qualitative research. The follow up problem is evident: why do we think that approaches such as the quantitative or the qualitative ones are helpful in getting valid theoretical insights that may be called scientific? It is well known that there are a lot of books and texts on that, also many that underline that things are not so easy (c.f. Kuhn, 1974). But the problem here is that in most cases philosophers trained in the rules of formal logic and not empirically oriented researchers are working on that field. The philosophers, for the most part, take only the quantitative approach into account, the results of which follow the rules of mathematics and formal logic. But we have argued above that the social and cultural world cannot be described via logical rules alone. We give an example for that argument: if we accept that I am a human being and if we agree with the logical statement that the parents of a human being are also human beings – then my parents are also human beings. But if we apply this argument, let’s say, a hundred thousand times to say that all the other generations beforehand were also human beings, then we get a problem with Darwin’s theory of evolution. Thus we can conclude that quantitative research may be helpful in some cases, but not in others. In general, qualitative research on the other hand is not very clear in putting arguments forward that refer to its background. The best position here is a pragmatic (and not a logical) one: All research methods stem from practices which people use in their everyday life, regardless whether we speak about quantitative or qualitative methods and approaches. They have become more abstract and more clear through their move into the academic or scientific context, but they have not fundamentally changed their character. As they are helpful in everyday life, it is helpful to use them in a more controlled version in academic research. And as we judge a result in everyday life by whether it is helpful or not and by discussing it with other people, the same holds in academic research: it is the task for the scientific communities to discuss a study and decide

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This sounds as if an infinite number of cases and views must be analysed. But this is not the case, because in each single study there is only a restricted and in fact small number of differcases, which must be taken into account for theoretical and empirical reasons – for example, the different types within a typology of people who are concerned with the object. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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whether this study is valuable or not, at least in as far as the best argument is decisive here.

Some basics on qualitative research approaches We now understand the differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches better – in the conceptualisation of theory and description, in the way how a researcher operates in his field and so on. And it should be clear that the selection of a research approach does not take place through nature or belief, instead, it is a question of what we want to know and what we assume about reality. While quantitative research in its theoretical contributions tests the distribution of facts and their relations through measurements, qualitative research is more intensely concerned with contexts of facts. In general, it aims at an understanding of what takes place and why, and tries to reconstruct the meaning which an action, an idea, an opinion or an attitude has for a person. As a consequence, the sense of an action, an idea or anything else is of importance. We can thus argue that a quantitative approach may be helpful in case a specific research question is posed. But if this is not the case, the question “Why which research approach?” is still not answered, since there are many different qualitative approaches. And it has to be said that it is much more difficult to decide which qualitative approach may be helpful if there is a given research question – as this has not, until now, been investigated systematically. We can distinguish very roughly between at least four types of qualitative research: The first type of qualitative research may be called highly theoretically justified. Psychoanalytic research for example demands an orientation on the work of Freud. And discourse analysis starts from a semiotic base or with the work of Foucault. And if you want to know how people construct reality by speaking about it, you should use conversation analysis – it refers to ethnomethodology, to Garfinkel’s (1973) crisis experiments and to the phenomenological sociology of Schütz (1971) and Berger and Luckmann (1980). And if we want to find out which meaning a ring-tone of a mobile phone and which meaning the weekly change of such a tone has for a person, we should refer to Symbolic Interactionism following Mead (1973) and Goffman (1997). In these and further cases, a 308

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lot of theory is demanded, and, in consequence, specific steps of investigation have to be followed in the case of empirical research. Secondly, there is the naive approach to qualitative research: in a lot of methodological textbooks on research it is recommended to simply conduct qualitative interviews and to interpret them on a plausible level. ‘Interpretation’ here means mainly to describe the field through a plausible collection of different statements. But this may happen with different claims: it may happen just as explorative research, or it may happen with the claim to get valid results. This for example is what the so called qualitative content analysis sometimes intends to do (cf. Mayring, 1997) or if a researcher looks systematically for cases with which he can test theoretical insights. In each case, such a qualitative approach may evidently be helpful if one does not know much about a research area or wants to avoid a theoretical orientation. The third type of qualitative approaches consists of those, which specifically aim at constructing theories. The well-known Grounded Theory, heuristic research and ethnography are examples for that. We will describe these approaches in more detail in the next section. And finally, there is a residual category of qualitative methods and empirical approaches, which mostly concentrate on specific objects and questions. For example, research approaches that analyse a picture or a film belong to this type. Also the method of the semiotic interpretation of a text is such a specific qualitative approach, which is only available for very specific questions. In sum, the given distinction into four categories is not really an answer to the question we posed above: “Which qualitative approach for which research question?” But more is not systematically known yet. At least we can emphasize the fact that with a given research question, a researcher must choose between different approaches. Often even the application of more than one approach will be helpful: for example, if we want to describe the use of a mobile phone, it is helpful to know quantitative measures and also to understand what people are doing with such devices by qualitative approaches. A discourse analysis could be used to find out why a mobile phone, which is nothing other than a mobile computer, is called a phone. In such a case, we speak of hybrid research approaches. They are especially important if we work on a rapidly changing field such as research on digital media. © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Some basics about research in order to construct new theories Now, we will concentrate on the specific type of research approaches, which explicitly aim to construct theories. We here sketch three approaches, one of which is ethnography. All these approaches are pragmatically founded. The best-known approach to develop new theories through empirical action is the socalled Grounded Theory of Glaser and Strauss (1967). A researcher in Grounded Theory starts with a research question and some preliminary knowledge. He then selects specific cases, which he uses to collect data. He subsequently analyses them, draws conclusions about theoretical concepts and a theory and thus improves his preliminary knowledge. He then selects a further number of different cases, collects more data, draws conclusions, compares them with prior knowledge and already existent theoretical insights and thus continues, as the following picture shoes.

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A remark may be helpful here: like ethnography, as we will see below, this is a process-oriented approach. It should not be seen in the dichotomy of inductive or deductive. Instead, with a preliminary research question, the researcher starts with some prior knowledge about the field he or she is interested in. Of course, this may be incomplete or wrong. He then collects data, evaluates the data and constructs theoretical insights, which then must be compared with the prior knowledge. Thus, the prior knowledge improves. Then the researcher starts again with this circle until he knows enough to present his results to the academic community. Grounded Theory thus is a comparative and process-oriented method (which should not be confused with intercultural comparisons or anything like this). A similar, but more abstract approach, which explains in more detail what a researcher should do, has been developed by the sociologist Gerhard Kleining, who calls this heuristic social research (Kleining, 1982, 1995; Kleining & Witt, 2001). Here, theory consists in the understanding of the structure of the research area and its development as a process. Research then is a dialogue between the researcher and the empirical reality, by which the researcher learns about reality. To do so, four rules must apply: the researcher must be open for reality, if he wants to construct new theories. The research object remains open until the end of the research process: the researcher does not know it until she/he has finished. To find out what the object is, the researcher must take over all possible views and perspectives on the object, as far as he or she has empirical or theoretical reasons that these views construct the object in a different way from the others. He must ask representatives of all these different views for their practices, experiences and opinions concerning this object. This means e.g. that in order to understand what a mobile phone is the researcher must learn from all people who together produce the social and cultural object that is called mobile phone. He thus must ask e.g. the industry, the owners of a mobile phone, the people who feel disturbed by ringing phones in public places and so on. If the researcher has collected all this data from all possible perspectives, he or she must analyse the data to find out what is common in all the different views and perspectives. The idea behind this is that what is common in all different perspectives must be relevant for the socially and culturally constructed object itself. In the case of a heuristic analysis the process character is not as © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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evident as it is the case with Grounded Theory, but the systematic nature of the research is similar. The third empirical approach to construct new theories is ethnography, which at the same time differs in two important characteristics from the other two theory constructing approaches. We will discuss this in the next section.

Some basics about ethnography Often, ethnography is described as a long-term observation. But this is a misleading characterization. Here we can learn from Hollywood movies, which have often represented the typical historical setting of ethnography: a white male in the 19th century goes to a far-away culture, preferably in the South of the world. This is called ‘going native’. There he lives some years in order to understand what takes place there and how culture and society function. In the following period the ethnographer falls in love with a native person. This can be seen as an allegory that he becomes a part of the investigated culture. After having collected enough data, the period of ‘coming home’ begins, as the researcher leaves the investigated culture, together with all the collected material and data and returns to his country of origin and finally writes a book about all that and becomes famous. The latter bit implies that his/her research has been accepted by the scientific community. It is thus evident that ethnography aims to understand a culture. This implies that the researcher must construct a description and a theory based on real life and the sense making processes within the researched culture. Thus, ethnography is like Grounded Theory and heuristic research of the type of constructing theory on an empirical base. And it is evident that nobody can understand a foreign culture and society only through observation. ‘Long term observation’ thus means that the ethnographic researcher lives in the culture he or she investigates (and it may be seen as an indicator of the quality of his research if he can do so). Further, it should be clear that an ethnographer uses himself with his and her life experiences, his or her body and whole identity as a sensible instrument to experience and learn the unknown culture and thus find something new, but also to test what he has found. This is very different from other empirical ap312

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proaches, which more or less only use formal instruments like questionnaires and others. In the frame of this setting, an ethnographer uses a lot of different methods to collect data – he may make observations, he will conduct interviews, he will go all possible ways to understand the way a culture and society function. And ‘all possible ways’ may also include quantitative research. For example, an ethnographer uses, if available, statistics about how many people live in a village, how and what they trade with whom or how long their life expectancy is, and so on. Of course, an ethnographer will in some cases also use other complex research approaches, e.g. psychoanalytic instruments (Parin et al., 1971; Morgenthaler et al., 1986). And, as recommended by Hammersley and Atkinson (1995), he or she can use Grounded Theory to solve one of the various research tasks. Thus, ethnography is a broad and hybrid method – more precisely, the only one that exists. We now sketch a set of steps, what an ethnographic researcher usually does – we here follow at the same time the ethnographic approaches of Hammersley and Atkinson (1995), Fischer (1998) and Machin (2002): an ethnographer usually starts with a clear research question. But an ethnographer knows that before this question can be answered, the cultural background of the respective society and culture (or for example in the case of the internet, a subculture) must be understood. An ethnographer will first collect all knowledge that is available about the research question and the cultures, which are important for it. The researcher must then decide whether ethnographic research is really necessary, or if the already collected knowledge is enough to answer the research question. If ethnographic research is necessary, it must be decided when, where and how this will take place. Then one has to prepare the research: how to get there, how to get into contact with the people there and so on. In the next step, the ethnographer (today often a team) must learn to understand the foreign culture, as far as it is necessary – this includes, e.g. to learn the language. For that, he will participate in activities, speak with informants, observe how life takes place and so on, and collect data wherever it is possible and makes sense. As far as possible, he will also order the data and start with preliminary interpretations and evaluations. An ethnographer will also test some of his conclusions © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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in speaking with informants or in observing the cultural life in his village in order to validate them. After she or he has learned enough about culture and society as a background, the researcher will concentrate on the research question, which was the reason why he or she went there in the first place. Again, she or he will collect data in this phase and analyse the data and construct preliminary theoretical insights, which he can test – as far as that is possible. When it becomes clear that the relevant data has been collected, the researcher will return home. This is a complicated activity, as the ethnographer must leave the guest culture without damaging it. In addition, he sometimes must learn again to live in his own culture, which may be a problem after a longer time of a ‘second socialisation’ in another culture. At home, the researcher will finally analyse his data, draw his conclusions and then write a book in order to transfer the result of his work to the scientific community, as it is common in academic work. This, as already mentioned, means that not only the process of collecting and analysing data is of importance – ultimately it is the scientific community, which – in an academic discourse – will assess the value of the work. If we look at these steps, a further highly relevant characteristic of ethnography becomes important: it is obvious that ethnography consists of two main tasks. An ethnographer intends to answer a research question, but before that he or she must solve the task to get to know the respective culture in order to be able to communicate and to understand the meaning of the facts that must be analysed. Thus, we can say that ethnographic research is more general then the other approaches sketched here, because it is the only approach that cares for the question what is necessary in a research project before you can investigate it: it is necessary to understand the others in order to be able to communicate. And therefore a broad approach is necessary, in as far as culture is, following Raymond Williams (1958), “the whole way of life” of a person and a society, and in as far as subcultures today become more relevant for people. Finally, let us mention some examples of ethnography concerning media, especially digital media and cultures in the net. Of course, in such a case ethnography functions differently, as, for example, in order to participate in such a culture a researcher must not leave his chair. Thus, in such a case, the radical sepa314

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ration between the investigated and the ‘home’ culture is not given. Such problems are discussed in the existing research reports, but need further attention: Nancy Baym (2000) analysed a mailing list, Christine Hine (2000) investigated the case of a social movement on the Internet, Friedrich Krotz (2001a, 2001b) did ethnographic research in order to find out how chats, which belong to TV talk shows, function as a specific Internet culture. Miller and Slater (2000) studied the Internet use of people in Trinidad, Dracklé (1998), Lindlof and Shatzer (1998) and Machin (2002) developed some basic ideas about virtual ethnography.

Conclusion Let us sum up: if one tries to understand what happens in the world (and why) with the goal to construct a theory, those empirical approaches should be used that help us best to do so. Grounded Theory and heuristic research should be chosen, if one wants to analyse a more or less clearly defined problem with no difficulties in communication with the other, and ethnography should be chosen if the question is complex and deeply rooted in a specific culture. Ethnographic research is sensible for the problem that a researcher must learn to understand the other culture in advance, and that it is not possible to transfer ideas and instruments from one (sub-)culture into the other in a direct way. It is helpful in this case that ethnography is a hybrid method, since different approaches and methods may be used in an ethnographic framework. The result then will hopefully be what Geertz calls a thick description (1991), which includes a theory. It is evident that research on the use of the mobile phone and its meaning should be seen as such a case. Good qualitative research in general does not take place in laboratories, but in the field where people are living and acting, as this is helpful to understand the context and meaning of their activities. For example, in his first empirical project on the modes of understanding of a tabloid television programme, the cultural studies researcher Morley started out with discussions with homogeneous groups of people to find out how they brought the TV text together with an adequate cultural context (which means he tried to find out how they understood © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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this tabloid programme). But then he learned that one gets a more detailed understanding of what people do (and why) if one observes them at home, in their ‘natural’ environment. Thus, in the second of his studies, he went into the families and tried to observe them at home, understanding TV viewing as part of the politics of the family. Of course, none of Morley’s studies was ethnographic in the abovementioned sense. But both studies – and the movement from an artificial to a ‘natural’ situation – underline that trying to understand “what the hell is going on there” (Geertz – quoted by Aman & Hirschauer, 1997:20) needs the participation of the researcher in the natural setting. The same is true in the case of doing research on the mobile phone. It is especially true if we take into account that a mobile phone is not only a phone, but a complex portable computer connected with a telephone net. This instrument is the result of some convergent, long-term development, which offers all digital services a person may need while being mobile in one instrument and all available at the same time. The mobile phone as such a convergent object is made by both the subjects and the industry, as both gave it its – still changing – form and function. In addition, a mobile phone is characterized as an object that belongs to a specific person in a very specific way. As a very private connection to a very private net of contacts and relations, the meaning it carries is very personal and can hardly be understood through standardized research. Thus, in order to understand the different aspects that are important for the meaning of an activity, we need to understand such activities together with their respective conditions. Take, for example, a mobile phone user in public, surrounded by other people. It now makes a difference whether the mobile is used to write an SMS or to take a photo or whether the person separates him/herself from the situation by using the mobile as an MP3-player to hear music. The differentiated reactions of the people being together in a common situation with this user need sensible research if it should lead to a thick description that includes theoretical insights. It must happen through ethnographic research, and the articles in this book are important steps into this direction.

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Authors Amalia Cianchi graduated in sciences and multimedia technologies, as well as in classical studies in Italy. Her field of research is practices of use of the mobile phone and youth fashions. Bella Ellwood-Clayton is a sexual anthropologist (PhD, the University of Melbourne in Australia.) She has received numerous awards, worked in several cultural settings and with various organisations (e.g. National Geographic). She holds special interest in the ways in which different cultures incorporate technologies, particularly in terms of desire, intimacy and well-being. Her most recent publication is ‘Folk Catholicism in the cyber Philippines: The lord is my textmate’ (in Nyiri’s (2004) The Global and the Local in Mobile Communications: Places, Images, People, Connections. Passagen Verlag). Bella's novel 'Fieldnotes of a Sexual Anthropologist' is currently being considered for representation in New York. Leopoldina Fortunati teaches sociology of communication and sociology of cultural processes at the Faculty of Education of the University of Udine, Italy. She has conducted several research projects in the field of gender studies, cultural processes and communication technologies. She is the author of many books, among which The Arcane of Reproduction (Autonomedia, 1995) and (coedited with Katz and Riccini) Mediating the Human Body: Technology, Communication and Fashion (2003). She has also published many articles in international journals and her work has been published in nine languages. Leopoldina is involved in several European research networks and a co-chair of the International Association ‘The Society for the Social Study of Mobile Communication’ (SSSMC). Richard Harper is Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research, in Cambridge, England. He is a sociologist by training, though he was appointed England's first Professor of Socio-digital Systems at the University of Surrey prior to joining MSR. He has published over 140 articles, including eight books, the most recent © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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of which is The Inside Text: Social, cultural and design perspectives on SMS (co-edited with Palen and Taylor, Kluwer). Maren Hartmann joined the University of Erfurt, Germany, in 2004 (and can soon be found at the University of Bremen). Before, she had several university posts first in the UK and later in Belgium, both as a researcher and a lecturer. She has published a book on Technologies and Utopias: The cyberflaneur and the experience of ‘being online’ (Reinhard Fischer Verlag, 2004) and co-edited The Domestication of Media and Technologies (Open University Press, 2006) as well as several articles. Maren is also involved in several European initiatives. Her research interests include media ethnographies, cybercultures and the domestication concept. Steve Hodges currently works at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England. He has a background in a broad range of computer-related technologies, with both an electronic engineering and robotics and computer vision background (the latter was the area of his PhD). Prior to joining Microsoft, he was the Technical Director of Cambridge Auto-ID Lab. Steve has also worked as a Research Engineer at the Olivetti and Oracle Research Lab and the Xerox Research Centre Europe. Joachim Höflich is a professor at the University of Erfurt, Germany. He is also a leading expert in the field of mobile technologies and interpersonal communication. Joachim has published several books on the topic in German (e.g. Mensch, Computer und Kommunikation. Theoretische Verortungen und empirische Befunde. Peter Lang, 2003) as well as many articles in English. He is a regular attendant at the relevant conferences and a co-founder of the ‘Society for the Social Study of Mobile Communication’ (SSSMC). Lee Humphreys is a Ph.D. candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication, at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA. She is the co-editor of Digital Media: Transformations in Human Communication (Peter Lang, 2006) and has published articles on the social construction of technology and mobile 322

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phones. She is currently working on her dissertation which explores the use of mobile social applications in urban public spaces. Mizuko Ito is a cultural anthropologist of technology use, focusing on children and youth’s changing relationships to media and communications. She has been conducting ongoing research on kids’ technoculture in Japan and the US, and is co-editor of Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life (MIT Press, 2005). She is a Research Scientist at the Annenberg Center for Communication in the USA and a Visiting Associate Professor at Keio University in Japan. http://www.itofisher.com/mito. Friedrich Krotz is Professor for Social Communication/Communication Science at the University of Erfurt, Germany. In the past, he was a researcher and scientific head of the department at the Hans-Bredow-Institute for Media Research, affiliated at the University of Hamburg. He has also taught in Jena, Zürich, Potsdam and was a professor in Münster. His work includes several European and other research and network experiences (amongst them the IAMCR, where he is section head). His research interests range from the mediatisation of the current world to young people’s media use. His latest publications include ‘Mobile Communication, the Internet and the net of social relations’ in Nyíri’s Communication in the 21st Century: Mobile Communication (forthcoming, Passagen Verlag) and Connectivities, Networks, Flows. An Introduction (co-edited with Hepp, Moores & Winter, forthcoming, Hampton Press) as well as Neue Theorien Entwickeln (Halem, 2005). Amparo Lasen is a lecturer at the School of Political Science and Sociology, University Complutense of Madrid, Spain. From 2001 to 2004 she was the main researcher of the Vodafone Surrey Scholar project at the Digital World Research Centre (DWRC), UK. Her main research interests in the field of mobile phone studies are the affective dimensions of the shared agency between people and mobile phones, and the multiple manifestations and implications of the presence of mobile phones in urban spaces. Some recent and forthcoming publications are ‘Affective Technologies. Emotions and Mobile Phones’, published in Receiver (www.receiver.vodafone.com/11/articles/index03.html); ‘History Repeating? A © Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur

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Comparison of the Launch and Uses of Fixed and Mobile Phones’ in Hamill and Lasen’s Wireless World: Mobiles - Past, Present and Future, (Springer, 2005); Understanding Mobile Phone Users and Usage (2005, Vodafone R&D Group) and Affective Mobile Phones. A Cross-national Study of Mobile Phone Uses (forthcoming, Ashgate). Rich Ling is a sociologist at Telenor R&D near Oslo, Norway. A native of the US, he received his PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado. Ling taught at the University of Wyoming in Laramie before coming to Norway on a Marshall Foundation grant. For the past thirteen years, he has worked at Telenor R&D and has researched the social dimensions of new information communication technology with a particular focus on mobile telephony. He has been a visiting Professor at the University of Michigan. Among his latest publications is The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone's Impact on Society (2004, Morgan Kaufman). Santiago Lorente was a Professor of Sociology at the Polytechnical University of Madrid, Spain, where he also obtained his PhD after an M.A. from the University of Chicago. He was an expert in the information society field and in domestic technologies (including smart houses). He was also involved in several European research networks and has published widely in the field. His last publications include the Sociedad de la Información y Juventud (2000) and a study on youth and mobile phones in 2002. Daisuke Okabe is a cognitive psychologist specializing in situated learning theory. His focus is interactional studies of learning and education in relation to new media technologies. He is co-editor of Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life (2005, MIT Press). He works as a Research Associate at Keio University in Japan. Virpi Oksman (Researcher Scientist, Media and Mobile Usability) is currently working for VTT Information Technology in Tampere, Finland. She has been in charge of a research project called ‘Mobile Visuality’ carried out at the University of Tampere in the Hypermedia Laboratory. The aim of the project was to 324

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map the proliferation of visual mobile and Internet trends through the observation of young people's and families' communication and social networks. The project analysed the role of MMS communication, the digital image and video in the interaction between people through the use of an ethnographic methodology. Virpi is currently writing a dissertation on the developments of mobile media. She has published widely in the field of mobile communication.

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