Mobile Snapshots and Private/Public Boundaries

Abstract

This study attempts to focus on how the boundaries of both the private and the public domain are lived out in people's practices of taking mobile snapshots via camera phones and sharing them on the Web. From private photo-taking practices in public places to online disclosure of camera phone pictures, private/ public boundaries are no longer firmly fixed. Based on qualitative interview data collected from 20 Korean camera phone users in their early twenties, this study takes a closer look at how private/public boundaries are blurred or rearranged in people's everyday camera phone usage in a public space, as well as in their sharing of camera phone photos on the Web. By examining the concrete cases of "displaced moments" captured by camera phones and their circulation on the Web as a form of self-presentation, it discusses how mobile snapshots have served as a medium that is shaping the dynamic reconfiguration of private/public boundaries.

Uses and Gratifications of digital photo sharing on Facebook

“…Previous literature on SNS gratifications recognizes disclosure as one of the prominent gratifications (Hollenbaugh & Ferris, 2014;Quan-Haase & Young, 2010). Furthermore, numerous platforms for sharing photos online encourage users to disclose information about themselves as well as their surroundings (Lee, 2009;Stefanone & Lackaff, 2009). Despite the fact that there is an increasing privacy concern among Facebook users (Fogel & Nehmad, 2009;Orito, Fukuta, & Murata, 2014;Torres, 2012), study results interestingly suggest that users engage in photo sharing activities to disclose more about themselves, as well as those close to them, through their Facebook profile.…”

“…Finally, photos are also deemed to be an imperative form of content used for self-disclosure purposes with the aim of sharing more information about oneself (Lee, 2009;Stefanone & Lackaff, 2009). …”

The place of emplaced visualities: A case study of smartphone visuality and location-based social media in Shanghai, China

“…Moreover, Jiepang plays into the growing phenomenon of mobile microblogging in China, especially in terms of the burgeoning role of the camera phone in shaping how place is experienced and shared co-presently. As part of the multimodality of mobile media, we are seeing the rise of networked visualities (Villi 2010;Lee 2009). In order to understand this locative media phenomenon we conducted online surveys with ba ling hou users about their online media practices from May to June 2011.…”

“…While globally camera phone genres like self-portraiture have blossomed, we are also witnessing the flourishing of vernacular visualities that reflect a localized notion of place, social, and identity making practices (Lee 2009;Hjorth 2007). LBS like Facebook Places, Foursquare, and Jiepang further overlay place with the social and personal whereby the electronic is superimposed onto the geographic in new ways.…”

The Photograph as a Cultural Arbitrator in the Design of Virtual Learning Environments for Children and Young People

“…They are increasingly recognised as key creators, producers and sharers of this digital content worldwide and the immediacy of sharing photographs has been compared by Palmer (2002) to the sharing of everyday experience itself. These experiences become micro-spectacles -details of everyday life (Lee, 2009), made immediately accessible online through social networks, blogs and wikis, supporting a growing visualisation of cultural context through the snapshot that is unprecedented.…”