No Incentives to Interact: A Case Study of Mobile Phone Interactions with Martin Luther King Jr. Memorials in Washington, DC

The Instagram Interview: Talking to People About Travel Experiences Across Online and Offline Spaces

“…I understand these sites as sites of public memory and tourism, and for both types of engagement, visitors who carry their internet-connected mobile devices can be present at the site while at the same time engaging in the online realm. The fieldwork from this overarching project, however, has shown that visitors do not, in fact, use their mobile devices to look up information while on-site, so they are unable to bring information from the online realm into the physical space, nor do they frequently convey information out of the space, by sharing on social media, for example (Hugentobler, 2022). Instead, mobile phone use at the site was largely limited to taking photographs (Hugentobler, 2022).…”

“…The fieldwork from this overarching project, however, has shown that visitors do not, in fact, use their mobile devices to look up information while on-site, so they are unable to bring information from the online realm into the physical space, nor do they frequently convey information out of the space, by sharing on social media, for example (Hugentobler, 2022). Instead, mobile phone use at the site was largely limited to taking photographs (Hugentobler, 2022). While the site itself can be considered a "hybrid space," one which is "created by the constant movement of users who carry portable devices continuously connected to the internet and to other users" (de Souza e Silva, 2006, p. 262), much of the online interaction with the memorial and its surrounding narratives does not happen in that physical location, but most often after the visit.…”

“…Instagram functions according to a similar logic: as the prime visual social networking site, it is ideally suited to sharing tourism images, one of the main uses of social networking sites (e.g., Christou et al, 2020). Additionally, posting on Instagram is used to construct or negotiate personal identity (e.g., Lee et al, 2015), often done by showing an ideal version of oneself, which can include the self as a traveler (Lo & McKercher, 2015) who shares recognizable images (Hugentobler, 2022) or has ideological allegiances. Second, Instagram is an inherently visual medium, as are memorials.…”