Building social discourse around mobile photos: a systemic perspective (original) (raw)

Mobiphos: A study of user engagement with a mobile collocated-synchronous photo sharing application

Photographs have always been artifacts for creating memories and engaging in storytelling activities with others. To date there has been much research in the HCI community towards sharing of both analog and digital photographs. With recent advances in network technology further research has been done with photos being shared almost immediately after capture. However, most of the research has focused on synchronous sharing with groups of distributed users and little has been done to focus on how synchronous capture and sharing could benefit a group of collocated mobile users. To help start exploration in this area we have created Mobiphos. In this article we present how synchronous capture and sharing affects how groups of mobile, collocated users engage with their environment and each other while touring a city. We also discuss the design guidelines of Mobiphos and the implications for future photoware for the mobile, collocated context. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Publishing and Messaging Camera Phone Photographs: Patterns of Visual Mobile Communication on the Internet

Mobile Media Practices, Presence and Politics: The Challenge of Being Seamlessly Mobile, edited by Kathleen Cumiskey and Larissa Hjorth, 2013

Nowadays, photography and photo sharing form an important part of mobile communication, as evidenced by the rather ubiquitous camera phone. In the chapter, the author explores how the mobile Internet affects the circulation of camera phone photographs. In pursuing this goal, two dimensions of remote sharing of camera phone photographs—publishing and interpersonal messaging—are utilized as conceptual framework. In addition to reviewing the sharing of photographs on the web, the chapter focuses on the emerging field of mobile photo applications (apps), which are increasingly becoming an important platform for sharing camera phone photographs. The conclusion in the study is that a very potential context of sharing camera phone photographs on the Internet, somewhere between messaging and publishing, are micro-community platforms and apps. These are directed towards communicating photographs in communities that are smaller than those that operate on, for example Facebook, and therefore intimate enough for sharing most personal photographs. In addition to a theoretically oriented analysis, the author utilizes results from a qualitative study focusing on the mobile photo sharing practices of a group of Finnish camera phone users.

Ephemeral Photowork: Understanding the Mobile Social Photography Ecosystem

Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media

For many years, researchers have explored digital support for photographs and various methods of interaction around those photos. Services like Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr have demonstrated the value of online photographs in social media. Yet we know relatively little about these new practices of mobile social photography and in-situ sharing. Drawing on screen and audio recordings of mobile photo app use, this paper documents the ephemeral practices of social photography with mobile devices. We uncover how photo use on mobile devices is centered around social interactions both through online services, but also face-to-face around the devices themselves. We argue for a new role for the mobile photograph, supporting networks of communication through instantaneous interactions, complemented with rich, in person discussions of captured images with family and friends; photography not for careful selection and archive, but as quick social play and talk. The paper concludes by discussi...

Camera phone use in social context

2006

Abstract. The primary contribution of this paper is in identifying social uses and practices of camera phone images in co-present settings. Three distinct practices were observed:'sharing a moment now','sharing a moment later', and using photos to initiate social interaction with strangers. We propose that interactive problems with existing systems might be a starting point to generate user requirements for technology supporting social practices in co-present settings.

The uses of personal networked digital imaging: an empirical study of cameraphone photos and sharing

CHI'05 extended …, 2005

Developments in networked digital imaging promise to substantially affect the near-universal experience of personal photography. Designing technology for image capture and sharing requires an understanding of how people use photos as well as how they adapt emerging technology to their photographic practices, and vice versa. In this paper, we report on an empirical study of the uses made of a prototype context -aware cameraphone application for mobile media sharing, and relate them to prior work on photographic practices. By reducing many of the barriers to cameraphone use and image sharing (including increasing image quality, easing the sharing process, and removing cost barriers), we find that users quickly develop new uses for imaging. Their innovative communicative uses of imaging are understandable in terms of the social uses identified from prior photographic activity; new functional uses are developing as well.

The roles of time, place, value and relationships in collocated photo sharing with camera phones

2008

Photo sharing on camera phones is becoming a common way to maintain closeness and relationships with friends and family. How people share their photos in collocated settings using camera phones, with whom they share, and what factors influence their sharing experience were the themes explored in this study. Results showed that people exhibit different photo sharing behaviour depending on who they share photos with, where the sharing takes place and what value a picture represents to its owner.

User experience of camera phones in social contexts

2008

Abstract This chapter reports on a qualitative study into people's use of camera phones for social interaction in co-present settings. The study examined people's behaviour and positive experiences (eg, fun, enjoyment, or excitement) when camera phones were used in different spaces (public and private). It was found that camera phones influence social practices. Three distinct practices were observed: sharing a moment now, sharing a moment later, and using photos to initiate social interaction with strangers.

Message threads: Exploring interpersonal communication through smartphones: how we weave our lives in a hypermediated world

2014

This thesis is about human behaviour as it relates to computer mediated communication. Smartphones are an accepted part of everyday life. We use them to wake us up in the morning, we play games on them while we wait for the bus, and take photos with them. Smartphones also enable communication. We can phone while in transit, coordinate meeting up with friends, share our lives on social networking sites, and check in on email and text throughout the day. How does this technology affect how we interact? In public situations we retain contact online, but this multitasking affects how we relate to others socially. Smartphone texting allows us to keep in constant touch with friends and family, though interaction is fragmented and asynchronous. As we are always available, and never alone, these open lines of communication also affect how we see ourselves. In choosing the smartphone I critically question the attention and priority given to these devices in daily life. Mobile phones have changed the soundscape in public places: dialtones, beeps and people speaking in public on their phones is common. Users interact continually with their phones, store substantial data on them, communicate through, and consequently develop a bond to, the physical object. What could these ubiquitous portable computers tell us if, instead of being passive agents in a dependent relationship of user and phone, they actively listened, or could reflect back the nature of their role in our lives?

Some Social Uses of Camera Phones

2005

camera phones, multimedia messaging, mobile phones, user studies, mobile imaging This paper presents aspects of a study into how and why people use camera phones. The study examined people's intentions at the time of image capture and subsequent patterns of use. Motivated by current interest in "picture messaging", we focus on images taken to communicate with absent people and look at how they were actually used. We consider the timeliness of communication and the role of common ground to derive implications for design.