NCSU Department of Communication

COM547::Mobile Technologies and Social Practices
Instructor: Dr. Adriana de Souza e Silva

 

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Part I: Introduction & basic concepts

 

Week Day Topic / presentation Videos Readings due Class activities Assignments

0
Introduction

Wed.
08.19

 

Course overview

 

 

 

Talk about experiences with mobile phones

Choose presentation days / topics

 

 
1
Mobility
Wed. 08.26

Mobility

 

 

Presentation 1: Jordan Frith

Castells et. al.,"Communication and mobility in everyday life" (pp. 77-126) in MCS

Jensen, "Flow of meaning, cultures of movements" (pp. 139-158)

Brewer & Dourish, "Storied spaces" (pp. 1-14)

 

Discussion posters

Blog post 1

Wiki 1

2
Place / Space
Wed. 09.02 Changing our perception of space and place / Networks

 

 

Meyrowitz, "The rise of glocality" (pp. 21-30)

Wellman, "Little boxes, glocalization, and networked individualism" (pp. 10-25)

de Souza e Silva, "From cyber to hybrid" (pp. 261-278)

Gordon, "Redefining the local" (pp. 21-36) in DC

 

 

 

 

 

Explanation final project/paper

Blog post

2

Wiki 2

3
History
Wed. 09.09 History of wireless technologies and cell phones

 

Denise calls up (movie)

Abrahamson, "Hear Me Now"

Farley, "Mobile telephone history" (pp. 22-34)

Agar, "Different countries, different paths to mobility" (pp. 29-101)

****

de Souza e Silva, "Hybrid reality and location-based gaming" (pp. 404-424)

 

 

 

Blog post

3

Wiki 3

 

 



Part II: Mobile interfaces

 

4
Cell phone generations
Wed. 09.16 Cellular generations 2G / 3G / 4G Lecture Rheingold (TED)

Presentation 4: Maurice Mathis

Wilson, "3G to web 2.0?" (pp. 229-242)

Golding, "The future of mobile in the 3G era" (pp. 235-249)

Javaid, Rasheed, Meddour, Ahmed, & Prasad, "A novel dimension of cooperation in 4G" (pp. 29-40)

Saveri, Rheingold, & Vian, "Technologies of cooperation" (pp. 11-23)

 

  Blog posts

4

Wiki 4

5
Ubicomp / Pervasive computing
Wed. 09.23 Ubicomp / Pervasive computing

Iroshii Ishii
Pattie Maes (TED)

 

Greenfield, "Section1: What's everyware" (pp. 9-34)

Greenfield, "Section2: How is everyware different from what we're used to?" (pp. 35-88)

Dourish & Bell, "The infrastructure of experience and the experience of infrastructure" (pp. 1-18)

Andrejevic, "Surveillance in the digital enclosure" (pp. 295-317)

 

Discuss project proposals Blog posts

5

Wiki 5

Proposals for final project due

6
Locative media

 

Wed. 09.30

Connecting information to places

- Track

Presentation 5: Kati Fargo

de Souza e Silva & Frith, "Locative mobile social networks"

Perusco & Michael, "Control, trust, privacy and security" (pp. 4-16)

Hemment, "The mobile effect" (pp. 32-39)

Tuters & Varnelis, "Beyond locative media" (pp. 357-363)

 

 

Discuss paper proposals Blog posts

6

Wiki 6

Proposals for final paper due



Part III: Social uses

7
Macro-coordination

AOIR: Rick's demo

Wed. 10.07 Cell phones as social organizers

Cyberman
Where 2.0.

Castells et. al. "The mobile civil society" (pp. 185-214) in MCS

Keyani & Farnham, "Swarm: Text messaging designed to enhance social coordination" (pp. 287-304)

Rafael, "The cell phone and the crowd" (pp. 399-425)

Bimber et. al. "Reconceptualizing collective action in the contemporary media environment" (pp. 365-388)

 

 

Blog posts 7

Wiki 7

8
Safety and security
Wed. 10.14 Cell phones used for safety, security, and war

 

 

Gordon, "The mobile phone and the public sphere" (pp. 307-319)

Cohen & Lemish, "When the bombs go off the mobiles ring" (pp. 117-128)

Goggin, "Mobile panic: Health, manners, and our youth" (pp. 107-125)

 

 

Discuss storyboards Blog posts

8

Wiki 8

Storyboard for final project due

 

9
Identity / self

 

Wed. 10.21 Cell phones as fashion items / influence on youth behavior

 

 

 

Castells et. al., "The mobile youth culture" (pp. 127-170) in MCS

Harper, "From teenage life to Victorian morals and back" (pp. 101-113)

Fortunati & Cianchi, "Fashion and technology in the presentation of self" (pp. 203-226)

Ling, "Goffmann on ritual interaction in everyday life" (pp. 57-72)

 

 

Discuss paper outlines Blog posts

8

Wiki 8

Paper outlines due

10
Mobile learning

 

4S

 

Wed. 10.28 Cell phones as educational tools - Environmental Detectives
- Frequency 1550
- Savannah

Presentation 7: Kim Burky

Katz, "Mobile phones in educational settings" (pp. 87-101)

Delacruz, Chung, & Baker, "Finding a place" (pp. 251-268) in DC

Benedeck, "New vistas of learning in the mobile age" (pp. 121-132)

Srivastava, "Dissemination and acquisition of knowledge in the mobile age" (pp. 159-168)

 

 

 

Blog posts 10

Wiki 10



Part IV: Site-specific case studies

11
Asia

 

Wed. 11.04 Case studies: Asia

 

Presentation 8: Jessica Vincent

McLelland, "Sociocultural aspects of mobile communication technologies in Asia and the Pacific" (pp. 124-134)

Hjorth, "The politics of being mobile" (pp. 83-99) in DC

Bell, "The age of the thumb" (pp. 67-87)

Keferi & Kilian, "Mobile creation -- the Japanese way" (Vodafone Receiver)

 

 

Discussion of project prototypes Blog posts

11

Wiki 11

 

12
Africa

NCA

 

Wed. 11.11

Case studies: Africa

 

Show ppt and ITU statistics

Lecture mobile technologies (New Yorker)

Castells, et. al., "Wireless communication and global development" (pp. 215-244) in MCS

James & Verteeg, "Mobile phones in Africa" (pp. 117-126)

Kyern & LeMaire, "Transforming recent gains in the digital divide into digital opportunities" (pp. 1-16)

Donner, "The social and economic implications of mobile telephony in Rwanda" (pp. 37-51)

 

  Blog posts 12

Wiki 12

13
South America
Wed. 11.18 Case studies: South America  

Presentation 8: Richard D'Angelo

Donner, "Research approaches to mobile use in the developing world" (pp. 140-159)

de Souza e Silva, "Cell phone appropriation and social mobile use in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"

Ureta, "Mobilising poverty?" (pp. 83-92)

Horst & Miller, "Welfare" (pp. 137-158)

 

  Blog posts

13

Wiki 13

 

14
Thanksgiving

 

Wed. 11.25 no class
15
Discussion
Wed. 12.02 Final paper presentations  

 

 

Final paper due

 

16
Finals week
Wed. 12.09 Final project presentations  

 

 

  Final project due