Smart mobs and technology probes: evaluating texting at work
Keith Cheverst, Dan Fitton, Mark Rouncefield, Charles Graham · Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) · 2004
3. INTRODUCTION: INVESTIGATING TEXTING In ‘Smart Mobs’ Howard Rheingold (2002) makes some dramatic claims about the social and political impact of texting, drawing particular attention to the emergence of ‘thumb tribes’ and ‘generation txt’ and the potential impact of texting on practices as diverse as teenage mating rituals and demonstrations. Like Rheingold we are equally interested in one of the most surprising phenomena to have occurred within the field of mobile computing within recent years the uptake of SMS (or Short Message Service) text messaging. Unlike Rheingold we are reluctant to speculate wildly on what exactly this development might amount to or mean – instead our interest is in carefully evaluating the developing use of a novel technology. Our studies are particularly concerned to understand a use of SMS texting that has received little investigation to date the use of texting as a means of enabling people to send messages to displays situated in the fabric of a setting rather than to another mobile device owned by a particular individual. Such a facility has clear potential in cooperative work settings where the need to distribute awareness amongst members means that messaging to a place may be more appropriate than messaging directly to a particular individual. The potential utility of ‘situated displays’ is articulated by O’Hara et al. (2002):