Mobile Media Practices, Presence and Politics The Challenge of Being Seamlessly Mobile

As an example of convergence, the mobile phone—especially in the form of smartphone—is now ushering in new promises of seamlessness between engagement with technology and everyday common experiences. This seamlessness is not only about how one transitions between the worlds of the device and the physical environment but it also captures the transition and convergences between devices as well (i.e. laptop to smartphone, smartphone to tablet). This volume argues, however, that these transitions are far from seamless. We see divisions between online and offline, virtual and actual, here and there, taking on different cartographies, emergent forms of seams. It is these seams that this volume acknowledges, challenges and explores—socially, culturally, technologically and historically—as we move to a deeper understanding of the role and impact of mobile communication’s saturation throughout the world.

1.Between the Seams: Mobile Media Practice, Presence and Politics Kathleen M. Cumiskey & Larissa Hjorth Section I: The Digital Divide Reimagined: Seams of Adherence, Access and Equality 2. Conceptualizing Social Media and Mobile Technologies in Risk and Crisis Communication Practices Michael J. Palenchar & Karen Freberg 3. Is mHealth a Silver Bullet to Improve Maternal and Child Health in Rural Uttar Pradesh, India? Results of a Health Information Needs Assessment Nandita Kapadia-Kundu, Tara M. Sullivan, Basil Safi, Geetali Trivedi & Sanjanthi Velu 4. Remotely Connected: Is There a Seamless Solution to Address the Digital Divide in Remote Indigenous Communities? Tracey M. Benson 5. Staying Connected: How Adult Literacy, Education and Income Influence Mobile Phone Use: A Comparative Analysis of 30 Countries from 2001 to 2009Marian Stewart Titus 6. In a World with Mobile Data, Survey Questions About Internet Use Should No Longer Implicitly Favor PCs Jonathan Donner & Cecile Bezuidenhoudt Section II: Mobile-Mediated Presence: Seams of Intimacy, Identity and Connection 7. Organizing ‘my mind is with you’: Continued Interaction After Closed Interaction via The Mobile Phone Ditte Laursen 8. Wandering Between Self-expression and Recognition: A Case Study of the Mobile Microblogging Practices of Young Chinese Women in Hong Kong Meng Di 9. The Networked Familiar Stranger: An Aspect of Online and Offline Urban Anonymity Raz Schwartz 10. Checking-In or Checking-Out?: Self-Presentation and Privacy Considerations of Foursquare Users Kelli S. Burns Section III: Mobile Media: Reading Between the Seams of Expression & Sharing 11. MobileTV @ the Crossroads? Broadcasting vs. IP-based Services in Germany and Austria Veronika Karnowski & Claudia Riesmeyer 12. Mobile News Life of the Young Oscar Westlund & Jakob Bjur 13. From SMS to SNS: The Use of the Internet on the Mobile Phone among Young Danes Troels F. Bertel & Gitte Stald 14. Visual Mobile Communication on the Internet: Publishing and Messaging Camera Phone Photographs Patterns Mikko Villi

Kathleen M. Cumiskey is Associate Professor at the College of Staten Island -- City University of New York, USA. Larissa Hjorth is an artist, digital ethnographer and Associate Professor at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia.