ian christie, “towards a personalised ethnography of mobile communications: mobile learning and...

Towards a personalised ethnography of mobile communications: mobile learning and other uses Pour une ethnographie personnalisée des communications mobiles: mobile learning et autres usages

Ian ChristieBirkbeck College, LondonPalacky University, Olomoucwww.ianchristie.org

The reign of McLuhanism épopée de McLuhan1967 -72

Williams (1974) stresses the importance of technology in shaping the cultural form of television, while always resisting the determinism of McLuhan's dictum that 'the medium is the message'...

Williams argues that, on the contrary, we as viewers have the power to disturb, disrupt and to distract the otherwise cold logic of history and technology - not just because television is part of the fabric of our daily lives, but because new technologies continue to offer opportunities, momentarily outside the sway of transnational corporations or the grasp of media moguls, for new forms of self and political expression.

Raymond Williams: ‘mobile privatisation’

Giddens: time-space distanciation

Doreen Massey, A Global Sense of Place

Stuart Hall, Modernity and its Futures (1992) - ‘cultures of hybridity’ due to the arrival of ‘the Rest in the West’

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/tuse/

- the digital divide - not everyone has smartphones or tablets or wi-fi

- age and gender divides

- understanding access and usage of mobile devices in terms of lifestyle (and life-opportunities)

UK – Offcom http://www.ofcom.org.uk

http://www.ofcom.org.uk

- the digital divide - not everyone has smartphones or tablets or wi-fi

- age and gender divides

- understanding access and usage of mobile devices in terms of lifestyle (and life-opportunities)

Cinema is changing…

In 2008, the UK Film council commissioned a study of the cultural impact of British film: Stories We Tell Ourselves.

This meant looking objectively at how UK films reach their audiences – in the past and today – and trying to assess what measurable impact this has had.

Both reports downloadable from ex-UKFC and BFI websites. Audiences downloadable free from Amsterdam University Press website (but do please get your library to buy a copy!)

How many film viewings per year in the UK?5 billionTotal UK population 63m= 80 pa/1.5 pw

Jullier and Leveratto distinguish ‘academic cinephilia’ from the continued evolution of ‘lay cinephilia’ in the digital era

Personal Media Engagement project:

- How do young people spend and value their time?