Cell Phone Culture

We stand close together, but we are so far apart

The MIT Communications Forum serves as a site for cutting-edge discussion of the cultural, political, economic and technological impact of communications, with special emphasis on emerging technologies. In November of 2005, the Cell Phone Culture forum examined the cell phone as a technological object and as a cultural form whose uses and meaning are increasingly various, an artifact uniquely of our time that is enacting,"a ceaseless spectacle of transition."

This forum featured James Katz, professor of communication and director of Rutgers University's Center for Mobile Communications Studies, and Jing Wang, professor of Chinese cultural studies at MIT. Below are a few insightful excerpts for the edited summery of their talk:

The ubiquity of the cell phone has caused changes in certain cultural norms, as well. Businesses, movie theaters, parks and restaurants are just some of the spaces in which the appropriateness of cell phone conversations is disputed and unclear. The Metropolitan Museum of Art doesn't allow cell phones, but this doesn't always stop people from using them. (Katz shows a picture of a museum patron crouching to avoid being seen while using his cell phone.) Cell phones seem to prioritize communication with distant people over those sharing one's space, and the ethics of this new behavior are not universally agreed upon.

Cell phones are enabling people to create their own micro-cultures; they are changing cultural norms and values, and demonstrating consumers' ability to modify and repurpose technology for their own use. I believe that cell phones, by allowing people to insulate their private interactions from the culture around them, will encourage a kind of "walled garden" of micro-cultures that is complex, but exclusive. -- James Katz

Jing Wang gives her perspective from working on the Motorola account while at O'Gilvy. I assume the phone she is talking about is the failed ROKR.

We decided to prioritize youth culture in general over music, since music is not the primary driving force among young people in China.. There are four basic assumptions underlying traditional music marketing strategies. First, segmentation hinges on the basis of musical taste. Second, people specialize in terms of musical taste. Third, music is youth's main currency for self-expression. These assumptions have worked fairly well for transnational marketers, but so far they haven't in China. So my assignment was less about music than about the Chinese "linglei" youth.

In China, fashion, more than music, drives personal expression. Music is seen as a form of entertainment, not a form of self-expression. Not much yet about creating new art or new media. The kids we picked for this project don't have a lot of spending money, though the girl whose video diary you saw was able to convince her parents to buy her a new digital camera for this project. Other kids got less than $100 per month of spending money. Price is definitely a factor for any cell phone content. -- Jing Wang

MIT: Cell Phone Culture

Cell Phone Culture

We stand close together, but we are so far apart The MIT Communications Forum serves as a site for cutting-edge discussion of the cultural, political, economic and technological impact of communications, with special emphasis on emerging technologies. In November of 2005, the Cell Phone Culture forum examined the cell phone as a technological object and as a cultural form whose uses and meaning are increasingly various, an artifact uniquely of our time that is enacting,"a ceaseless spectacle of transition." This forum featured James Katz, professor of communication and director of Rutgers University's Center for Mobile Communications Studies, and Jing Wang, professor of Chinese cultural studies at MIT. Below are a few insightful excerpts for the edited summery of their talk:

The ubiquity of the cell phone has caused changes in certain cultural norms, as well. Businesses, movie theaters, parks and restaurants are just some of the spaces in which the appropriateness of cell phone conversations is disputed and unclear. The Metropolitan Museum of Art doesn't allow cell phones, but this doesn't always stop people from using them. (Katz shows a picture of a museum patron crouching to avoid being seen while using his cell phone.) Cell phones seem to prioritize communication with distant people over those sharing one's space, and the ethics of this new behavior are not universally agreed upon. Cell phones are enabling people to create their own micro-cultures; they are changing cultural norms and values, and demonstrating consumers' ability to modify and repurpose technology for their own use. I believe that cell phones, by allowing people to insulate their private interactions from the culture around them, will encourage a kind of "walled garden" of micro-cultures that is complex, but exclusive. -- James Katz

Jing Wang gives her perspective from working on the Motorola account while at O'Gilvy. I assume the phone she is talking about is the failed ROKR.

We decided to prioritize youth culture in general over music, since music is not the primary driving force among young people in China.. There are four basic assumptions underlying traditional music marketing strategies. First, segmentation hinges on the basis of musical taste. Second, people specialize in terms of musical taste. Third, music is youth's main currency for self-expression. These assumptions have worked fairly well for transnational marketers, but so far they haven't in China. So my assignment was less about music than about the Chinese "linglei" youth. In China, fashion, more than music, drives personal expression. Music is seen as a form of entertainment, not a form of self-expression. Not much yet about creating new art or new media. The kids we picked for this project don't have a lot of spending money, though the girl whose video diary you saw was able to convince her parents to buy her a new digital camera for this project. Other kids got less than $100 per month of spending money. Price is definitely a factor for any cell phone content. -- Jing Wang

MIT: Cell Phone Culture