Social Uses of Mobile Phones
IS146:
Foundations of New Media
Prof. Marc Davis, Prof. Peter Lyman, and danah boyd
UC Berkeley SIMS
Tuesday and Thursday 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Spring 2005
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/academics/courses/is146/s05/
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 1
Lecture Overview
• Review of Last Time
– Information Theory
– The Telephone from Bell to Cellphones
• Today
– Social Uses of Mobile Phones
• Preview of Next Time
– Reading Visual Representations I
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 2
Lecture Overview
• Review of Last Time
– Information Theory
– The Telephone from Bell to Cellphones
• Today
– Social Uses of Mobile Phones
• Preview of Next Time
– Midterm Study Guide
– Reading Visual Representations I
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 3
Information Theory
• Claude Shannon in the 1940’s studying signal
communication
• Ways to measure information
– Communication
• Producing the same message at its destination as that seen at its
source
– Problem
• A “noisy channel” can distort the message
• Semantic aspects are irrelevant
Noise
Message
Source
Transmitter
Receiver
Destination
Channel
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 4
Human Communication Theory?
Noise
Message
Source
Transmitter
Receiver
Destination
Channel
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 5
Daniel Delmore on Salen & Zimmerman
• Weaver says that, "information is a
measure of one's freedom of choice when
one selects a message.” ... What are
some examples of games that test the
information theory and the description
listed above?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 6
Daniel Delmore on Salen & Zimmerman
• Noise increases the uncertainty of the
signal, and therefore the amount of
information it contains. Is this concept of
noise a good thing when it comes to
information? Specifically is this a safe or
not? In what context/environment is
“noise” good to exist in?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 7
Daniel Arnold on Salen & Zimmerman
• Salen and Zimmerman generally define
information as "a measure of how certain
you can be about the nature of a signal,"
emphasizing that the more uncertainty, the
more information. Does this definition
reduce the amount of information present
in society? Given this definition, would you
(still) consider people to be bombarded
with information overload?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 8
Daniel Arnold on Salen & Zimmerman
• Assuming that information simply is based
on uncertainty, would this decrease the
reliability of information? How do we
assign credibility if all information depends
on uncertainty?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 9
Daniel Arnold on Salen & Zimmerman
• According to Salen and Zimmerman,
"Noise increases the amount of
information and uncertainty in a message."
How would noise increase the amount of
information in any given message? Is not
all the information of a message contained
in the signal itself? How exactly, does
background noise add information?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 10
Daniel Arnold on Salen & Zimmerman
• Given the separation of meaning and
information, can meaning be labeled
information when it contains some
ambiguity? For instance, when a word
can be defined in several different ways.
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 11
Lecture Overview
• Review of Last Time
– Information Theory
– The Telephone from Bell to Cellphones
• Today
– Social Uses of Mobile Phones
• Preview of Next Time
– Midterm Study Guide
– Reading Visual Representations I
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 12
Mizuko (Mimi) Ito
• Annenberg Center for Communication
(University of Southern California)
• Stanford: PhD in anthropology; PhD in
education
• Believes in youth empowerment, youthcentered ethnography
• Studies mobile phone culture and media
mixing
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 13
Keitai Culture in Japan
• SMS (texting) vs. keitai internet email
– Different technological protocols
• Economics and social practice in Japan
– Myths: cheaper, easier
– Carriers
– ¥7,521 ($72) - average student bill/month
• Why does texting work there and not
here?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 14
Slides from Mimi Ito
• Slides from Mimi Ito shown in lecture not posted
• For a related web-accessible talk from Mimi Ito
see:
– Ito.ppt
Title: Understanding the Mobile User: The Case of
Japan
Author: Mimi Ito research associate, USC Annenberg
Center for Communication; Mellon Teaching Fellow,
USC department of Anthropology
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 15
Diary Study
• What is a diary study?
– Record every interaction with the mobile
– Indicate meta commentary
– Complements data record
• When are diary studies useful?
– Interactions over extended periods of time
– Want to know what people are thinking during
interaction before they forget
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 16
Cheskin Research: Who
• We are 23 musicians, 4 self-professed tech geeks, 8
public performers, 2 scuba divers, 1 competitive water
skier, 3 sailors, 2 futurists, 13 non-profit volunteers, 7
lefties, 2 aspiring novelists, 1 surfer, 4 fine artists, 1 pilot,
6 nature lovers, and 1 Taiko drummer.
• We come from more than 20 different countries and
cultures. We speak English, Spanish, Portuguese,
Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Tagalog
and a few others.
• We also have professional design principles. We have
academic credentials in psychology, sociology,
anthropology, design, e-business, media, branding,
identity, communications, advertising, product
development and packaging. We have long experience
in many markets. And we find that all of the above feeds
all of the above.
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 17
Cheskin Research: Design Principles
•
Understand what others don't.
–
•
Be a powerful presence.
–
•
Discover the thing that makes you unique, and use it to differentiate yourself. Express it in
everything you do and mind the details. Go beyond the norm by finding creative ways to add
value to every brand experience.
Make change.
–
•
Listen. Observe. Pay attention to the needs and aspirations of others, and strive to fulfill them
-- but only promise what you know you can deliver. Make compassion and responsiveness
your hidden agenda.
Distinguish yourself.
–
•
Know who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you different. Create a distinct
position through your products and practices, and use design to tell the world. In all your
actions, be authentic -- use your own voice, your own words, and your own style.
Be relevant.
–
•
Observe the world. Be rigorous as you face the facts. Look past conventional wisdom,
question everything, and keep on diving until you find a unique perspective.
Catalyze your community with positive action. Be passionate in your beliefs, prescient in your
observations, and proactive in your behavior. Stick your neck out, and make a real
difference.
Evolve or die.
–
Size, age, and wealth are no defense against change and no excuse for complacency. Stay
alert, stay flexible, stay current, and embrace change.
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 18
Cheskin Research: Methods and Goals
• Methods
– Quantitative primary research with teens, age 13-18,
and young adults, age 19-24
– Interviews with industry experts
– Secondary research
• Motivations for wireless study
– Youth influence larger consumer trends
– Figure out new wireless product and service offerings
• Goals
– Understand the phenomena being observed
– Advise customers about what actions to take based
on that understanding
– Sell these services and the value of their approach
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 19
Cheskin Research: The Wireless Future
1. Social connectivity and entertainment will be
the primary defining characteristics of wireless
devices in the youth market, and likely the
consumer market at large
2. Young people will build relationships via
wireless devices
3. Multitasking capabilities will flourish within the
youth market
4. Personal security and convenience will
continue to be motivating factors for first time
mobile phone consumers
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 20
Cheskin Research: The Wireless Future
5. Personalization of design, function, and
interface will be a common expectation
6. Wireless entertainment and information
applications will become favored "gapfillers"
7. Strategic convergence will define the
most successful wireless devices
8. Entertainment will drive the development
of wireless cross-platform content
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 21
Ito and Cheskin on Mobile Youth
• How do their methods, motivations, and
goals compare?
• How do their findings compare?
• What factors affect the similarities and
differences?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 22
Nick Reid on Ito and Okabe
• How do “social spaces” intersect? What I
mean is, if there is a situation where a
group of people are together, and through
telepresence, how does this outside party
enter into a group? How is their presence
felt by people who are there or are not
there, would it really seem like the person
is in the next room?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 23
Nick Reid on Ito and Okabe
• A question that would be fun to discuss is
what counts as “contact”? Is contact a
hug or is contact a SMS? Does a
communication not being “physical”
demean the communication? “When a
situation is predictable there is no
information present.” Another question
would be, does contact actually have to
transmit information?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 24
Steven Lybeck on Ito and Okabe
• Ito and Okabe show that new technologies
are spawning the creation of virtual social
spaces that are quite analogous to
physical ones. Could these virtual spaces
supersede or even replace interaction in
physical spaces? Why or why not?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 25
Steven Lybeck on Ito and Okabe
• Are there any examples of virtual spaces
constructed without the use of new media
technologies?
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 26
Lecture Overview
• Review of Last Time
– Information Theory
– The Telephone from Bell to Cellphones
• Today
– Social Uses of Mobile Phones
• Preview of Next Time
– Midterm Study Guide
– Reading Visual Representations I
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 27
Midterm Study Guide
• Midterm structure
– Short answer questions
– Ethnographic analysis question
– LOGO programming analysis question
• Studying tips
– Use midterm study guide
– Study in groups
– Be prepared to answer all questions on your
own
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 28
Readings for Next Time
• Gunther R. Kress and Theo van Leeuwen.
Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual
Design, London: Routledge, 1995, p. 1-42.
– Discussion Questions
• Onesta Francis
• Natalie Torin
IS146 – SPRING 2005
2005.03.08 SLIDE 29