Visual mobile communication, mediated presence and the politics of space

Abstract

Visual mobile communication, mediated presence and the politics of space MIKKO VILLI and MATTEO STOCCHETTIThis article is a study on the role of mobile phonesparticularly camera phones and photo messaging -in the management of social space, or what we like to call the 'politics of space'. Our notion of social space is a metaphoric representation of the nature and intensity of the involvement that inspires the uses of mobile communication technology for interpersonal communication. We discuss three themes: the motives for communicating with photo messages, the role of visuality in visual mobile communication and the role of visual mobile communication in the politics of space. In our study, we apply the proxemic theory developed by Edward T. Hall and the ritual view of communication as defined by James W. Carey. Our empirical engagement with photo messaging as a communicative practice suggests at least two insights. First, it has all the traits of ritual communication. Second, the distinctive value of visual communication in this type of telecommunicative practice seems to consist mostly of mediated presence and the synchronicity of the gaze. We conclude that the mobile phone is an ambivalent technology for ambivalent desires: a tool for maintaining a feeling of presence in the state of absence while preserving the possibility for absence.

Rapidly co-evolving technology adoption and diffusion models

“…Hence, photo-messaging is understood to be ''an innovation with a social purpose in mind'' (Hunt et al, 2014b: 172) or ''socially driven forms of visual communication'' (Hunt et al, 2014b: 176). This view of the sharing of multimedia, within a personal social network and as a social activity (Kim et al, 2011;Villi and Stocchetti, 2011), has a strong influence on the type of research undertaken and some research focusses on motives for adopting the technology that differ from those where the context is commercial or instrumental. For example, sharing photographs is predominantly in order to maintain existing personal relationships (Hunt et al, 2014a) although a relatively new set of uses support political causes, contribute to community information (such as reporting pot holes in streets) or even collect evidence of anti-social behavior (Lillie, 2012).…”

Mobile Phone Visual Ethnography (MpVE): Bridging Transformative Photography and Mobile Phone Ethnography

“…Extant research establishes that in addition to possessing the power to determine what photographs to take, participants are empowered to decide whether to share their photos (e.g., Jacucci, Oulasvirta, and Salovaara 2007; Plowman and Stevenson 2012). Moreover, sharing photographs increases intimacy and commonality between users (Villi and Stocchetti 2011) and can help build rapport and trust between participants and researchers (i.e., Hein, O’Donohoe, and Ryan 2011; Sun 2012). In our MpVE study, when possible, photo sharing between participants and the researcher took place almost every day.…”

“…The identified studies typically used supplementary data collected from participants’ mobile phones to complement primary data sources, such as written diaries (Okabe and Ito 2005) and interviews (Oksman 2006), and provided much-needed insight into social meaning creation (Villi and Stocchetti 2011) and the sharing of social experiences (Jacucci, Oulasvirta, and Salovaara 2007). These studies tended to focus on informant use of mobile technology, thus attending more to the technology than to the participants.…”

A vizuális kommunikáció tudáselemei, alkotói részképességeinek fejlesztése és értékelése

“…A hangsúly az alkotói folyamatra, az egyéni alkotóképességre, a kreatív vizuális nyelvhasználatra került, amely tanulságos, ugyanakkor felszabadító az egyén számára (Csíkszentmihályi, 1988;Freedman, 2010;Steers, 2009). A számítógép mint új médium új alapokra helyezi a képi kommunikációról való gondolkozásunkat (Villi & Stocchetti, 2011): az itt jelen lévő képek nem a befejezettséget, lezártságot hordozzák magukban, hanem csupán a pillanatnyi állapotot tükrözik (Manovich, 2001). A képek száma napjainkban folyamatosan sokszorozódik, képmegosztó oldalak óriási mennyiségű képfájlt raktároznak, a képi kommunikáció és a képi gondolkodás folytonosan változó, izgalmas területté vált (Csiszár, 2013).…”