"Seamlessly Mobile?" ICA Preconference

by Kathleen M. Cumiskey, College of Staten Island/CUNY

Seamlessly Mobile? Mobile Communication @ a Crossroads
2011 International Communication Association (ICA) Workshop
Wednesday, 25 May 13:00 - 19:00, and Thursday, 26 May 9:00 - 17:00
This preconference will courteously be hosted by the Microsoft New England Research & Development Center.
Limit: 60 Faculty & 15 Students
 
Mobile phones are becoming increasingly adept as ubiquitous tools that serve purposes beyond that of mere voice and text communication.  How we conceptualize mobile -mediated communication alongside computer-mediated communication is less distinct as access to the internet becomes more integrated into mobile phone devices.  Are people moving toward a more seamless integration of mobile and computer media as supporting their communication needs?  Is the integration of the internet into mobile phones shifting how people conceptualize what it means to be "online" vs. "offline"?  Does this shift in mobile communication bear any social consequences? 

This preconference will provide a venue for innovative scholars from around the world who are doing research in the area of mobile communication.  It will give them a chance to gather and discuss the challenges that this shift in the use of mobile phones poses not only for the users but for those doing research on mobile communication.  The papers presented will focus on the following areas related to
these provocative questions:

• Patterns of mobile phone use and differences related to gender, age, lifestyle, culture, and/or access
• Ethics and social responsibility of use, shifts in social expectations of remote vs. copresent others
• Threats to privacy and issues of surveillance as they relate to technological innovations like GPS & location devices.
• Research design and methodological challenges, including finding venues for one's work
• The expansion of online and offline social networking and its demands
• Technology, design, and accessibility issues/challenges/expansion and development (i.e. emerging markets)
• Perceptions of use and imagining use beyond current capabilities (i.e. mobile fantasies, mobile art, mobile personalities, mobile witnessing/activism)
  

The preconference will be comprised of formal panel presentations, opportunities for informal discussions, and time for networking.  In addition there will be invited performances of innovative artists whose work focuses on mobile communication as it relates to the themes of this preconference. 

Please visit our website for more details: http://sociomobile.org/mobile2011/Mobile2011/home.html 

To Register, please visit: http://www.icahdq.org/conferences/2011/index.asp

Lead Organizers:

• Kathleen M. Cumiskey, Associate Professor, Psychology Department, Director of Social Media Lab, College of Staten Island/CUNY, Staten Island, NY USA; Katie.cumiskey@csi.cuny.edu
• Richard Ling, Head of Group Design, Culture and Mobility and Communication, IT U of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; rili@itu.dk
• Scott Campbell, Assistant Professor and Pohs Fellow of Telecommunications, Department of Communication Studies, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA; swcamp@umich.edu
• Lee Humphreys, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Cornell U, Ithaca, NY, USA; lmh13@cornell.edu
• Yi Fan Chen, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Theater Arts, Old Dominion U, Norfolk, VA, USA; Y5Chen@odu.edu