Abstract
A series of mobile phone prototypes, called The Swarm, have been developed in response to the user needs identified in a 3-year empirical study of young people’s use of mobile phones. The prototypes take cues from user led innovation and provide multiple avatars that allow individuals to define and manage their own virtual identity. This paper briefly maps the evolution of the prototypes and then describes how the pre-defined, colour-coded avatars in the latest version are being given greater context and personalization through the use of digital images. This not only gives ‘serendipity a nudge’ by allowing groups to come together more easily, but also provides contextual information that can reduce gratuitous contact.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersen BL, Jorgensen ML, Kold U, Skov MB (2006) iSocialize: investigating awareness cues for a mobile social awareness application. In: Kjeldskov J, Paay J (eds) Proceedings of the Australian computer–human interaction conference 2006 (OzCHI’06), Sydney, Australia, ACM Press, New York, pp 7–14
Boyd D (2004) Representations of Digital Identity. CSCW 2004 workshop: November 6, Chicago
Emerson RM, Pollner M (1976) Dirty work designations: their features and consequences in a psychiatric setting. Social Probl 23(3):243–254
Gaver B, Dunne T, Pacenti E (1999) Design: cultural probes. Interactions 6(1):21–29
Gaver W (2001) Designing for ludic aspects of everyday life. ERCIM News. 2001; 47. Available from: http://www.ercim.org/publication/Ercim_News/enw47/gaver.html
Goffman E (1967) Interaction ritual: essays in face-to-face behavior. Anchor Books, Garden City
Howard S, Kjeldskov J, Skov MB, Garnæs K, Grünberger O (2006) Negotiating presence-in-absence: contact, content and context. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, Montréal, Québec, Canada, April 22–27, 2006
Hulme M, Peters S (2002) Me, my phone and I. The role of the mobile phone. In: Proceedings of CHI workshop on mobile communications, Seattle, Washington
Hutchinson H, Mackay W, Westerlund B, Bederson BB, Druin A, Plaisant C, Beaudouin-Lafon M, Conversy S, Evans H, Hansen H, Roussel N, Eiderbäck B (2003) Technology probes: inspiring design for and with families. In: Proceedings of the 2003 SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI’03), ACM Press, New York, pp 17–24
Ito M (2005) Intimate visual co-presence. Pervasive image, capturing and sharing workshop. Ubicomp. Tokyo, Japan
Ito M, Okabe D (2003) Technosocial situations: emergent structurings of mobile email use. Retrieved May 27, 2004, from http://www.itofisher.com/PEOPLE/mito/mobileemail.pdf
Jacucci G, Oulasvirta A, Salovaara A, Sarvas R (2005) Supporting the shared experience of spectators through mobile group media. In: Proceedings of GROUP’05, ACM Press, New York, pp 207–216
Jaureguiberry F (2000) Mobile telecommunications and the management of time. Social Sci Inform (Information sur les Sciences Sociales) 39(2):255–268
Kakihara M, Sørensen C (2004) Practising mobile professional work: tales of locational, operational, and interactional mobility. J Policy Regul Strategy Telecommun 6(3):180–187
Katz J, Aakhus M (eds) (2002) Perpetual contact: mobile communication, private talk, public performance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Kerouac J (1957) On the road. Viking Press, New York
Minichello V, Aroni R, Timewell E, Alexander L (1995) In-depth interviewing: Researching people, 2nd edn. (Chap. 4, In-depth interviewing). Longman, Melbourne, pp 61–104
Myerson G (2001) Heidegger, Habermas and the mobile phone (post modern encounters). Icon Books Ltd, Cambridge
Nardi BA, Schiano DJ, Gumbrecht M (2004) Blogging as social activity, or, would you let 900 million people read your diary? In: Proceedings of CSCW’04, ACM Press, New York, pp 222–231
Nippert-Eng CE (2003) Drawing the line: organisations and the boundary work of “Home” and “Work”. In: Paulsen N, Hernes T (eds) Managing boundaries in organizations: multiple perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp 262–280
Rouncefield M, Hughes JA, Rodden T, Viller S (1994) Working with “constant interruption”: CSCW and the small office. In: Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on computer supported cooperative work (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, October 22–26, 1994). CSCW `94. ACM, New York, NY, pp 275–286. doi:http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/192844.193028
Satchell C (2005) The mobile phone as a globalising artefact. In: Proceedings of HCI International. Las Vegas, Nevada
Satchell C, Singh S, Zic J (2005) 3G multimedia content production as social communication. In: Proceedings of the OzCHI. Australia
Satchell C (2003) The swarm: facilitating fluidity and control in young peoples’ use of mobile phones. In: Proceedings of OzCHI’03, Wollongong, Australia
Satchell C (2008) Cultural theory and real world design: Dystopian and Utopian outcomes. In: Proceedings of CHI 2008, Florence, Italy. ACM Digital Library, New York
Silverstone R, Hirsch E, Morley D (1992) Information and communication technologies and the moral economy of the household. In: Silverstone R, Hirsch E (eds) Consuming technologies: media and information in domestic spaces. Routledge, London, pp 15–31
Spasojevic M (2005) Camera phone use and its implications. Pervasive image, capturing and sharing workshop. Ubicomp, Tokyo, Japan
Strauss A, Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. (Open Coding Procedures). Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA, pp 61–74
Swallow D, Blythe M, Wright P (2005) Grounding experience: relating theory and method to evaluate the user experience of smartphones. In: Proceedings of the 2005 annual conference on European association of cognitive ergonomics (Chania, Greece, September 29–October 01, 2005). ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, vol 132. University of Athens, pp 91–98
Taylor AS, Harper R (2002) The gift of the gab: a design oriented sociology of young people’s use of mobiles. CHI 2002
Urry J (2003) Social networks, travel and talk. Br J Sociol 54(2):155–175
Urry J (2004) Connections. Environ Plan D: Soc Space 22:27–37
Van House N, Davis M (2005) The social life of cameraphone images. pervasive image, capturing and sharing workshop. Ubicomp, Tokyo, Japan
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Satchell, C., Graham, C. Conveying identity with mobile content. Pers Ubiquit Comput 14, 251–259 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-009-0254-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-009-0254-3