Crazy John's caught manipulating confusing contracts

Mobile phone contracts are notoriously confusing and difficult to understand. Different carriers, different devices, different plans. Contract? Pre-paid? Free calls? Texts? 3G? Mobile TV? There has been a high degree of dispersed coverage throughout the media over the years commentating on the confusing nature of choosing mobile phone contracts.

Research conducted by Nina Weerakoddy of Deakin University associates "...inflexible mobile contracts, confusing and aggressive marketing strategies specifically aimed at the teenage market, and inadequate information provided to prospective subscribers..." (Kingston, p.1-2) with mobile cost blowouts resulting in financial pressures on teenagers. Simply, the fact that mobile phone contracts are so confusing is a contributing factor for teenage financial strife resulting from mobile phone use.

Weerakoddy's research builds on that conducted by Customer Experience Measurement company, Global Reviews. Findings released in 2006 suggest:

"Australia's largest mobile telephone companies are leaving customers confused and unsure of their options.... The study revealed that major telcos left many customers unable to identify a suitable mobile phone plan online, that large numbers of emails receive no response, and that many phone operators did not actively seek to help customers identify the right plan for them.... Websites were also found lacking, with only one of the four telcos offering and online tool that helps customers choose a suitable plan. Most companies offered plan and pricing options online, but made it complicated for customers to understand which of those options was most suitable." (Winzer)

The clear connotation behind the findings of this research is that the major mobile phone telcos are complicit - even intentional - in creating customer confusion. I may be a bit suspicious, but when the major responsibility of a private company is to their shareholders, customer confusion, resulting in larger bills being collected by the telco, may just contribute to higher profits. What incentive is there to provide higher quality service and aim for clarity and simplicity in mobile phone contracts, if confusion gives a greater pay-off?

Perhaps this is just personal bias, but as the old saying goes: just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after you! I have been thinking for a long time now about getting a new phone - a 3G - but have put off in a large part by the confusing complexity of the options available, not just in terms of the devices, but largely in terms of the contract options. So, it was with a smug sense of satisfaction that I read today of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) slapping a writ on Crazy John's (mobile phone provider) for misleading advertising.

The ACCC '...alleges the mobile phone dealer...engaged in "misleading and deceptive conduct" through its advertising. The ads offered handsets on its Crazy Phone Plans "free" of for "$0". But the ACCC alleges customers had to pay for the handsets through call rates that were higher than those available on comparable plans that did not include a handset. It says Crazy John's breached two sections of the Trade Practices Act." (Leyden, Jan 18, 2008, p.23)

No doubt Crazy John's will have a vigorous defence provided against this charge: that the ads are no longer running, that these plans are only a small percentage of their overall sales (10%), or perhaps that it has something to do with their use of the Vodafone network. Whatever the defence, and whether or not this mobile phone retailer is found guilty of false advertising, one thing is clear: the confusing nature of mobile communication options and contracts overall contributes to enabling manipulation of consumer perceptions of what is a 'good deal' when purchasing a phone.

A free phone no doubt sounds like a great deal, but with charges on mobile communications so varied across providers, how many consumers would really be able to tell if they were being charged to much for their use of the phone? Was it cheaper than any of the other providers? As the reserach of Weerakoddy and Global Reviews mentioned above points out, it frequently difficult to know.

References

Kingston, S. (June 27, 2007). Media Release. Deakin University. Retrieved on 18 January, 2008 from: http://www.deakin.edu.au/news/upload/A260620087Nina_phones_final.pdf

Leyden, F. (January 18, 2008). "Watchdog acts on phone ads." The Herald Sun, p.23.

Rennie, R. (January 17, 2008). "ACCC charges Crazy John's with false advertising." The Age.

Winzer, J. (May 10, 2006). "Mobile Telcos Not Helping Confused Customers." Global Reviews. Retrieved on 18 January, 2008 from: http://www.globalreviews.com/images/press10052006.pdf

Mobile Phones: from everyday to emergency

Much research demonstrates that a major motivation for having a mobile phone is for safety and security reasons. This is particularly evident in parental attitudes towards their children having mobile phones. The following two quotes come from separate – and very recent – reports conducted by the Australian Government’s Australian Communications and Media Authority:

“Parents…talked about the added security benefits that a mobile phone provided and how they relied on it to keep in touch with their children.” (2007a, p.10)

“Benefits arising from children’s mobile phone use are described in terms of including children’s safety and security, keeping in touch with family and friends, having the ability to make a phone call in an emergency and peace of mind for parents.” (2007b, p.31)

No doubt we can extend this belief in the comfort of always being connected, and the supposed safety and security this brings, to other individuals; that is, beyond simple parental concern for children. Certainly, children are not the only ones who find themselves in situations where their safety or security is threatened, situations where a mobile phone would come in handy.Recently in Australia there have been a number of instances where mobile phones have played a key role not just in individual safety and security, but in the resolution of emergencies that seem to transcend the everyday banality of their use. Three events drew my attention in recent months/weeks:

- miners caught underground during a Ballarat mine collapse in regional Victoria were able to contact authorities and rescuers on the surface using mobile phones. (Nov 19, 2007)

- recently two bushwalkers became lost in bushland. This was resolved largely with the use of mobile phones and the cameras on them: the lost bushwalkers were able to MMS images of surrounding topological features to authorities, facilitating a successful rescue. (Jan 3, 2008)

I would argue that mobile phones played a successful role in the resolution of the emergencies not because of their ‘special nature’ of being portable devices (of course this is important), but primarily due to their increasing banality! It is the very fact that they are found everywhere – in students’ pockets, in women’s handbags, in the briefcases and on boardroom tables – that meant they were actually present when needed in an emergency. It is the human element – remembering to use the capabilities of mobile technologies – that is the most innovative in these situations. In both cases, the people involved used these devices in such extreme situations only because they were such a part of their everyday life that they had them on their person. It is doubtful that the individuals involved actually thought in depth about how they their phones might be useful in such circumstances (though it may have crossed their minds), but rather, simply had the devices with them as part of contemporary everyday attire. It is not the devices themselves that are the exciting part, but the change in human behaviours.

We may frown at interruptions caused by mobile phones ringing at inappropriate times, but obviously, it is not the fault of the phones, but of the user: appropriate use of phones is a matter of individual behaviour. After all, these devices do not function all by themselves, but only through human interaction. The increasing capabilities of mobile devices are thus being utilized in a range of innovative circumstances: emergencies and life-threatening situations merely bring this more overtly to the attention of the media. But the use of mobile technologies in extreme situations is not wholly new, as was demonstrated by the use of ‘smartphones’ by embedded journalists during the Iraqi invasion of 2003.

Paul Levinson, in his text "Cellphone: the story of the world's most mobile medium and how it has transformed everything!" devotes a whole chapter of his text to the use of cellphones in warzones, pointing out how they change the way war is not only reported, but perceived by the media, and therefore, how the wider public understands such events.

It seems that the more these technologies become everyday and disappear into the fabric of social practice, the more likely they are to arise as tools of ‘salvation’ – or controversy (as depicted by the filming or articulation of crimes, such as during the Cronulla riots.). News reporting organisations no longer simply wait for something to happen involving mobile technologies, but actively solicit viewers to send in their own recorded footage of newsworthy events.

References

Australian Communications and Media Authority (Australian Government) (November, 2007a). Telecommunications today: Consumer attitudes to take-up and use. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

Australian Communications and Media Authority (Australian Government) (December, 2007b). Media and Communications in Australian Families 2007: Report of the Media and Society Research Project. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

Levinson, P. (2004). Cellphone: the story of the world’s most mobile medium and how it has transformed everything! Houndmills, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Litras, P (Nov 19, 2007). “Trapped Ballarat miners rescued.” The Sydney Morning Herald.

“Phone photos save bushwalkers.” The Australian, January 3, 2008. Retrieved on 10 January from: www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23002494-2702,00.html

Oh Warnie, Warnie, Warnie...what nxt?

"Warne caught cheating by text, says wife" (The Age, Melbourne, Sept 24, 2007)

What next for Shane Warne, famous Australian cricket spin-king, and infamous mobile phone text addict? His wife/ex-wife Simone, accuses him of ending their marriage reconciliation by having yet another SMS-maintained affair, brought to light by a miss-sent text message. Of course, today's news reveals his side of the story - of course he is not denying the text message, but instead saying that their marriage was not in a period of reconciliation at the time, but over.

But the content of the text message was interesting in itself, revealing that someone whom we would expect to be quite competent in the use of SMS, made a slip-up, or a typo, or an error.

• "Hey beautiful, I'm just talking to my kids, the back door's open." - Shane sent
• "You loser, you sent the message to the wrong person." - Simone replied

I must admit, my first reaction was to laugh. Apart from the fact that popular news media discourse plays up the drama of Shane Warne's private life to the level of soap opera, I was entertained by the literacy event that had occurred.

When I first entertained the concept of 'mobile literacy', the generative thoughts arose from SMS language as a linguistic form of communication. I had seen far too many uses of 'txt' language emerging in formal English essays and exams, where they didn't belong. However, the New Literacy Studies approach - drawing on such researchers as the New London Group (1996; 2000), Gunther Kress (2003), James Paul Gee (2000; 2001; 2003), Victoria Carrington (2004; 2005) - opened up the nature of multimodal literacy to me, and a connection to the social life of individuals using mobile technologies. The connection between mobile technologies and multimodal literacy (or design) forms the core relationship for a concept of mobile literacies.

In terms of Shane and Simones' SMS conversation, how might we talk of the 'mobile literacies involved there?

First I suppose I should begin at the traditional concept of literacy as related to linguistic communication. In terms of grammar, language use, syntax, the messages are surprisingly traditional. There is no evidence of 'squeezetext', 'txt', 'acronymy', 'emoticonymy', etc (Carrington, 2004; 2005; Bodomo & Lee, 2002). This is not the language of digital natives, but rather, the traditional grammar of 'digital immigrants', imported into SMS as part of their immigrant accent (Prensky, 2001a). What was the purpose in this conversation for using full and expressive language, or is this they way they use language in txts all of the time? If the latter, then they may be an example like Larissa Hjorth (2005) uncovered in a Melbourne study, where a student indicated that there were different rules and expectations for the use of language in SMS conversations: long and expressive writing was a sign that the person writing it did not have full control of expected conventions of SMS language. Either way, at the level of linguistic literacy, both Shane and Simone seem to conform to traditionalist conventions.
What other literacy practices are involved then?

Gestural design? (New London Group, 2000, 25). Well there was an extent to which Shane's gestures in pressing the buttons on his phone were involved in the error of selecting the correct recipient for his message. Despite his dexterity as the 'king-of-spin' in cricket, did his fingers make an error in this instance? Then again, amid all the other SMS that this self-confessed text addict probably sends, what is just one mistake? Well, it did result in his wife/ex-wife finding out about a new indiscretion. The thumb-pads of mobile phones are not really designed for writing alphabetically based messages. Still, some young people seem amazingly adept at it, resulting in the development of such terms as 'thumb cultures' (Glotz, Bertschi & Locke, 2005).

There are however, specific features to mobile technologies which I do not believe that mutiliteracies approaches have yet adequately dealt with, and therefore I need to move further afield, into discussions of specific technological, digital, ICT, information and cultural literacy realms.

There has been a good deal written on the literacy practices involved in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has formed a point of focus for a literacy researchers and educators, seeking to understand how this technologies are, and can be best used. From Gilster's concept of 'digital literacy' (1997) to research into the literacy practices involved with hypertext reading and writing, and the whole raft of other communication and entertainment mediums that this makes available. (Snyder, 1996; 1997; 2002; Snyder & Beavis, 2004).

I would like to draw from a single paper at this point, where Yoram Eshet-Alkalai (2004) reinterprets Gilster's concept of 'digital literacy' (1997) in the light of recent and continuing technological development. Eshet-Alkalai breaks digital literacy down into:

• Photo-visual literacy: the art of reading visual representations
• Reproduction literacy: the art of creative recycling of existing materials
• Branching literacy: hypermedia and non-linear thinking
• Information literacy: the art of scepticism.
• Socio-emotional literacy (1997).

The most relevant of these for this circumstance is that of branching literacy. Here I apply it to the idea of writing an email, then linking it to a chosen address from the phone's address book or entered by hand. It is clear than unless Shane intentionally sent this text to his wife/ex-wife, and then this is where his error occurred: whatever method he used to select the recipient for his message was incorrect. Whether he used a recent call or message sent/received list, selected from the address book (perhaps the name of his mistress is similar to Simone), or entered the number manually (would he really keep track of a whole lot of numbers in his head?), this is where the misstep in his branching literacy practice occurred. Why this happened? Well, the only person to know would be Shane himself. When he sent the message did he realise immediately that it had been to the wrong person, and hope to hell his wife didn't understand it or take it seriously? Or did he just go "Oh shit!" and expect consequences?

In terms of a concept of cultural literacy as developed by Shirato and Yell (2000), where one understands the cultural and social restrictions for a particular form of communication, well, we can say that Shane simply wasn't paying enough attention. Considering his professional life has been plagued with incidences of womanizing and accusations from women all over the world that he had affairs or one-night-stands with them, he still wasn't paying enough attention in this case to avoid sending the message to the wrong person. Apart from being a personal stuff-up, it may also be indicative of a social move where the use of SMS has become more normalised, more invisible, and for some people, and essential part of their communication regime. The use of SMS as a culturally confirmed communication medium - if we are to take the popular media as a measure - is confirmed in its increasing use across a range of popular media, from television, to newspapers, to advertisements, radio, websites, etc. SMS has become a typical communication tool integrated into the everyday lives of an increasing number of people in Australia - and worldwide, to differing degrees. Shane Warne's careless use of the SMS medium to conduct what the wider public may see as another example of his womanising, resulted in his 'backstage', private life, coming to fore in the public forum (thanks to his wife/ex-wife giving the story to a women's magazine) (Fortunati, 2005).

The activities of Shane Warne and his text messaging, provides a seemingly continuous source of soap opera drama for the Australian media to feed to the public. But what this incident demonstrated is it also provides an interesting insight into the ways in which social practice using mobile technologies can reveal a range of important literacy practices occurring. Competence in the use of mobile technologies for effective communication – or capable mobile literacies – requires an individual to have competence in a range of multimodal literacy or designs. The indication here is that Shane Warne slipped up in some of these.

References

Bodomo, A. & Lee, C. (2002). Changing forms of language and literacy: technobabble and mobile phone communication in Hong Kong. Literacy and Numeracy Studies, 12(1), 23-44.

Carrington, V. (2004). Texts and literacies of the Shi Jinrui. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 25(2), 215-228.

Carrington, V. (2005). Txting: the end of civilization (again)? Cambridge Journal of Education, 35(2), 161-175.

Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2004). Digital literacy: a conceptual framework for survival skills in the digital era. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93-107.

Fortunati, L. (2005). Mobile Telephone and the Presentation of Self. In Ling, R. & Pedersen, P. E. (Eds.). Mobile communications: re-negotiation of the social sphere. London: Springer-Verlag, 203-218.

Gee, J. P. (2000). Teenagers in new times: a new literacies studies perspective. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 43(5), 412-420.

Gee, J. P. (2001). Reading as situated language: a sociocognitive perspective. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(8), 714-725.

Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Glotz, P., Bertschi, S. & Locke, C. (Eds.) (2005). Thumb Culture: The Meaning of Mobile Phones for Society. London: Transaction.

Hjorth, L. (2005). Postal presence: A case study of mobile customization and gender in Melbourne. In Glotz, P., Bertschi, S. & Locke, C. (Eds.). Thumb Culture: The Meaning of Mobile Phones for Society. London: Transaction, 55-66.

Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the New Media Age. London: Routledge.

The New London Group (1996). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92.

The New London Group (2000). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. In Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures. London: Routledge, 9-37.

Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the horizon, 9(5), 1-2. Accessed at: www.marcprensky.com/writing/ (25 Sept, 2007).

Prensky, M. (2001b). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do they really think differently?. On the horizon, 9(6). Accessed at: www.marcprensky.com/writing/ (25 Sept, 2007).

Schirato, T. & Yell, S. (2000). Communication and cultural literacy: an introduction. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Snyder, I. (1996). Hypertext: the electronic labyrinth. Carlton South: Melbourne University Press.

Snyder, I. (Ed.) (1997). Page to Screen: taking literacy into the electronic era. St Leondards: Allen & Unwin.

Snyder, I (Ed.) (2002). Silicon Literacies: communcation, innovation and education in the electronic era. London: Routledge.

Snyder I. & Beavis, C. (Eds.) (2004). Doing Literacy Online: teaching, learning and playing in an electronic world. Cresskill: Hampton Press.

Rudolph Giuliani's interrupting mobile

The debate around the proper use of mobile phones in different social situations has again manifested itself, this time through the actions of the former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani during a speech to the NRA (September 21, 2007). In the midst of his speech he was interrupted by a mobile phone call, apparently from his wife, which he answered, dealt with, and then reflected on the dual positive/negative aspect of modern communications, that one can be contacted anywhere, anytime. The most curious thing about this event though, is whether or not it was an authentic interruption, or a staged performance.

One video on YouTube [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NljO7w8fXKc ] discusses this very fact through a comparison with a previous speech, made in June this year (2007) to a different group (a Latino based-group). Both mobile phone interruptions occurred in the middle of the speech, and both featured the "I love you" comment to his wife. Whether or not this incident was authentic or not was not the issue for myself. Rather, what interested me was the performance aspect and the meaning-making (literacy) practices at play - authentic or not.

Let's assume first that the "surprise" calls were actually authentic, that they were really calls from a loving wife to her loving husband, whom she was not aware was in the middle of the speech. In contemporary post-industrial societies there is an emerging social expectation that there are times when it is appropriate, indeed, important, to switch off one's mobile phone. It seems to me that a formal speech to a group of constituents would be such a situation. In answering his mobile phone in the middle of his speech, this forms a moment where the "backstage" is brought to the front. This phenomena was observed by Leopoldina Fortunati observed on trains in Italy: when individuals spoke about private matters on a mobile phone in public, there was a sense in which the public persona of the person was changed by the emergence of their private lives - the "backstage" (2005). The fact that we only hear half of the conversation creates a further sense of mystery, in that something has been revealed, we are just unsure what. However, we might also call it an error in his "cultural literacy" (Shirato & Yell, 2000) practices: he has misread the situation as one where it is appropriate to answer a phone and have a personal conversation. Then again, he does keep the phone conversation short, to the point and indicates that he will call back. However, in such situations, what is indicated to an audience may be that the personal call is more important that all of the people in the audience. It is interesting to note than in NEITHER case did he appear to apologise to his audience for the interruption (although I have not seen the entirety of either speech). Does this imply that his actions were a natural part of this activity, to be tolerated, indeed accepted and applauded? In both cases he did receive applause for his candor and involved the audience either through reference, or in the first instance holding up the phone and encouraging the audience to say hello. One could surmise that this is one such way in which the social practices around 'mobile fields' are being negotiated and transformed: despite reworkings of traditional rules of etiquette suggesting you give your full attention to your audience in such situations, this public figure has sought to change the predictability of the practice of the public speech, which "...change over time as people engage in them in partially idiosyncratic ways." (Dimitriadis & Kamberelis, 2006, 67). Will we see further examples transforming the field of the public speech and the habitus of the public speaker, through the use of new technologies in the future?

In any case, if the incident was indeed accidental and unintentional, then there is an extend to which more is revealed of the humanness of the politician - he has a wife whom he loves and commitments beyond the scope of the presentation he is giving - which is perhaps one reason why there is speculation that this was a staged performance, intended to humanise this public figure.

If these 'unintentional' speech interruptions were actually staged, there is still an extent to which they are important and indicative of changes in the way we communicate and make-meaning. In terms of literacy practices involved, a whole raft of multimodal design strategies are in play. There is the fact that he takes the personal call loud enough, using aural design, ensures that the audience is involved in, and drawn into the conversation. His gestural design, or body language - despite dropping his head initially to answer the call - remains open and directed to the audience, suggesting that this conversation is for them as well as himself. He additionally reflects in the latter speech on the nature of this 'modern age' and it's technology. Thus the mobile phone call becomes yet another way for the politician to draw comparisons and similarities with the lived experiences of his audience: "See, I get phone calls at all sorts of strange times too! It can be bad and it can be good, but it is a part of the modern world that we share." In such a case the mobile technology serves as a form of symbolic communication (Katz & Sugiyama, 2006) or even symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1977). In both these cases, the incident of mobile communication means more than simply taking a phone call: in the particular context of use, it takes on a range of connotations and meanings. The "I love you" line to his wife, repeated in the latter speech, obviously draws on a discourse of domesticity, drawing Giuliani as a caring and loving husband. The fact that the call arrives in the middle of a formal speech - apart from providing a ready-made audience for his gushing sentiments - also creates a performance of an imperfect human, prey to the inconsistencies and interruptions of daily life. The mobile phone in this case, becomes a tool of communication, to create discourse of humanness around the political figure. As a form of symbolic capital it may be surmised, mixed results are achieved. Whilst the place of a private mobile phone call in the midst of a formal presentation provides a catalyst for debate around 'mobile manners', in this case it is used to bring the "backstage" - or his private life - to the fore, to create a positive image of his domestic life (Fortunati, 2005). The most telling indicator of this is the loving and positive nature of the call. What a different image would have been put across if the call had been from his wife, berating him for something, or accusing him of being unfaithful. The symbolic value of the mobile phone in such a case would be far from positive.

Overall, the most curious thing about this event was simply the disruption of a traditional social practice by an individual's engagement with a mobile technology. Does this mean we are on the verge of witnessing a new wave of transgressions of traditional literacy inspired by social practices around mobile technologies. We have already seen this with the emergence of SMS - where traditional rules of written communication and grammar are transgressed and transformed in the emergence of a new written form. To what extent will social and literacy practices around mobile technologies continue to change other aspects of our literate lives?

Needless to say, in the wider media (e.g. morning news television) it has sparked debate and discussion about when and where it is appropriate to use mobile phones, and various other features of mobile technologies (SMS) and other technologies (email). This is of course one area that my current research with high school students seeks to examine.

References

Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dimitriadis, G. & Kamberelis, G. (2006). Theory for Education. New York: Routledge.

Fortunati, L. (2005). "Mobile telephone and the presentation of self." In Ling, R. & Pedersen, P.E. (Eds.). Mobile communications: re-negotiation of the social sphere. London: Springer-Verlag, 203-218.

Katz, J.E. & Sugiyama, S. (2006). "Mobile phones as fashion statements: evidence from student surveys in the US and Japan." new media & society, 8(2), 321-337.

Schirato, T. & Yell, S. (2000). Communication and cultural literacy: an introduction. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Impact of Mobile Phone on Work/Life Balance - ANU Preliminary Report

Recently released preliminary findings from an Australian National University (ANU), AMTA/ARC study has supported the belief that the mobile phone is becoming an indispensable part of everyday life for the majority of Australians.

This large quantitative research project, reporting on findings from Phase 1 of the research, is based around a questionnaire, mobile phone log and 24 hour time diary. The result is a sample size of 1358 individuals from 845 households. Of this sample, the age-group that used mobile phones the most were aged between 18-39. Can we really have a moral panic about student use of mobile technologies in secondary schools, when many of their teachers use them even more frequently?

Some other interesting findings to come out of the research, even at this early stage, have to do with the factors influencing the individual's choice of 'different communication modalities'. These include why individuals use mobile phones as opposed to landlines, and why people send text messages instead of making a phone call.

When choosing a mobile phone over a landline, 'convenience' is the major influence, but when choosing and landline over a mobile, the major factor is 'cost' (Wajcman, et.al., 2007, 11). Making decisions between texting or calling are also related to financial, contextual, as well as intra- and interpersonal dimensions:

"The major reasons for sending text rather phoning someone were convenience, consideration for the other person's situation, and cost. Convenience is also an important consideration when deciding to use the mobile to phone someone rather than sending a text but the main reason is how important or time critical the topic is. " (11)

It is refreshing to see some research into the effect of contextual factors on the modalities of contextual practices.

There was also some interesting preliminary findings on how people use their mobile technologies, focusing on what features they use. The vast majority of uses were for talking and texting, though there was still other uses emerging around using the visual (photos), voting, Internet and music functions of phones (around 20% each). It would be further interesting to see how contextual factors (such as those for choices between landlines, mobiles and texting) influence choices around these other modes of semiotic engagement.

This research is laying important new ground in scholarship about mobile technologies and their effects on the everyday social lives of Australians. It provides a statistical backdrop for more detailed ethnographic or case-study based investigations that can flesh out the lived experiences of people as expressed in the findings of this research.

I will remain interested in how this research progresses, it's further findings and how they may tie in with and inform my own studies.

The full preliminary report is available through the ANU website at the following URL:

http://polsc.anu.edu.au/staff/wajcman/pubs/Report_on_Mobiles_and_Work_Life_Balance_June_07.pdf

References

Wajcman, J., Bittman, M., Jones, P., Johnstone, L. & Brown, J. (2007). The Impact of the Mobile Phone on Work/Life Balance: Preliminary Report. Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association and Australia National University. Retrieved on 17 July, 2007 from: http://polsc.anu.edu.au/staff/wajcman/pubs/Report_on_Mobiles_and_Work_Life_Balance_June_07.pdf

Walliker, A. (July 17, 2007). Mobiles change world. Herald Sun, p.7.

Levels of iPod literacy as social practice

I just watched a news report about the imminent release of the iPhone in the U.S.A. People were sitting in a queue along 5th Avenue in New York City, to get in early when they are released tomorrow.

In Australia we won't see it for about a year more, but it got me thinking about why the news would focus on such a story. The iPod has indeed risen to the level of a cultural icon. Already, there is a rapidly evolving realm of writing and scholarship on these compact music libraries (Jones, 2005; Kahney, 2005; Levy, 2006; Thomas, 2006).

For my part, I considered what meaning-making practices seem to be generally at play. iPods are generally used, in meaning-making process in terms of 'interpretation' (Kress, 2003) as opposed to 'articulation'. In terms of the multiple modes of textual design that are interpreted, they manifest in individual practice in two main fields: the outside world, or context of iPod use, and the soundtrack the iPod provides. The relationship between these two sets of texts is an example of multimodal social practice. But is it literacy?

How do individuals use the soundtrack the iPod provides to augment their external reality? To what extent are emotion, intellect, sociocultural influences, purpose and physical environment each involved in the choice of what one listens to on an iPod at any one time? There is a distinct different in the multimodal literacy practices where one intentionally listens to specific music because one is in the mood for a certain song in a certain situation, as opposed to simply putting the iPod on shuffle and randomly hearing (and enjoying or not) a selection of songs that evoke individual memories (Jones, 2005). Listening to a news podcast on a train in order to prepare for a meeting, is a different multimodal literacy practice compared to surreptitiously listening to pop songs whilst in class. And this is only considering the audio features of the iPod.

Meaning-making designs other than audio are present in the multimodal textual landscape of iPod use. Showing photos to friends using an iPod is another literacy event distinct from spending hours organising playlists. Identity, s is often displayed through different social practices during the use of iPods: the overt display of an iPod in public has a range of different (and related) meaning-making potentials to the intentional hiding of the device within one's clothing. To display an iPod is in way to claim: I am part of this! Or so it seems.

The problem about the relationship between the soundtrack one runs on an iPod and the context of its use, is that sometimes they don't fit neatly together. A man was recently critically injured after being hit by a tram in Melbourne. Witnesses reported that he had ear-phones in and appeared not to have heard the tram coming. Was he listening to an iPod? A music player of any kind? It doesn't really matter: the point is, the soundtrack he was running and the dangers of his physical environment were not congruent. The same situation may be observed by students listening to iPods during lessons: where attention is required, it cannot be fully given; the soundtrack generally doesn't match the focus of a lesson. Of course, this may not always be the case.

One can imagine situations where the soundtrack of an iPod could be used productively, to augment a specific situation to create a congruent multimodal experience. This has clear implications for learning. The use of podcasts to augment class based lessons is one example. One can also imagine guided audio tours of cities or landmarks using podcasts. Then again, there are already examples of this: in some Japanese cities you can access information on specific places in your physical vicinity using mobile phones (Thompson, 2005).

Well, now that we have the iPhone coming out, with an iPod fan base ready to go crazy over them, further possibilities may emerge for ways to augment reality using technology. What new soundtracks will we run to our lives? More importantly, how will we choose to access soundtracks? We will of course have to wait and see.

References

Jones, D. (2005). iPod therefore I am. New York and London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Kahney, L. (2005). The Cult of iPod. San Fransisco: No Starch Press.

Levy, S. (2006). The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness. New York: Simon & Schulster.

Thomas, M. (2006). iPod Education: Innovations in the Implementation of Mobile Learning [Electronic Version]. The Knowledge Tree: An e-journal of learning innovation, 10, 4-15. Retrieved 8 December, 2006 from http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/edition-10/ipods-in-educationinnovations-in-the-implementation-of-mobile-learning/

Thompson, H. (2005). Phone Book: a handy guide to the world's favourite invention. London: Thames & Hudson.

ESSI Money Program - Financial Literacy for Adolescents

A new program has been designed by the 'Financial Basics Foundation' to teach 'financial literacy' skills to students. The ESSI Money Program (Earning, Saving, Spending and Investing), takes around 6 hours and is based on simulating financial decisions over a 6 month period.

www.essimoney.com.au

"The game is a teaching resource designed around the concept of a challenge or quest. It is a structured exploration of financial concepts using mentors and educational scaffolding to create a valuable learning experience primarily for teachers and students, though individuals can register and play at their own pace."

What was interesting to me with regard to ICT literacies, was not just the fact that the whole program is computer based, but that understandings about the financial impact of communication using different technologies, is addressed within the framework of 'financial literacy'. Some of the key learning areas addressed relate directly to the use of specific technologies, such as 'Spending on mobile phones' (bills) and 'Investing scams' (such as bogus emails).

When channel surfing whilst having my morning coffee, I happened upon a segment on a TV about this, where Katrina Birch, from the Financial Basics Foundations was discussing how the program worked. The example given was that students are required to read mock newspapers that emerge in the course of the game. Later in the game, they receive a scam email: if they had not read the article on this scam in an earlier mock-newspaper, then it is highly likely they will fall for the scam. Part of financial literacy it seems, as configured by this Financial Basics Foundation program, is being aware of the contextual surroundings of individual financial decisions. This seems to be an extension on the concept of "cultural literacy" (Shirato & Yell, 2000), where an essential component is contextual understanding of communications. In this case, it is important to have an understanding of the financial risks involved in responding to some emails, whilst having knowledge of social and cultural practices occurring in the wider society (ie. the existence of scammers). A social practice is configured in this situation in terms of monetary understandings and knowledge.

Examining the use of mobile technologies by young people under the key learning area of 'spending', seems to reinforce a common cultural discourse that young people experience financial difficulties as a result of mobile phone bills. Whilst the alarmist promotion of this issue by the media is seemingly supported by an array of anecdotal evidences (testimonies from tearful teenagers and families who have experienced financial ruin as a result of runaway mobile phone bills), this idea is not always supported by research. In conducting focus groups with young people, the Australian Psychological Society found that dramatic difficulties over paying for mobile phones was not a massive issue for young people, with most able to manage this financial commitment competently (2004). I am not suggesting that a focus on 'Spending' on mobile phones is not an important part of a concept of 'financial literacy' - rather, in today's world it would seem to be a rather natural and common bill for most people - rather, I would suggest that we should not automatically assume that young people need our help in this respect.

It must be remembered that this new ESSI Money program is not limited to young people. Indeed, anyone can play it, although your character in the game - you - is only every 18 years old. With current Australian personal debt being at an all-time high, perhaps there are wide swathes of the rest of the community who would benefit from playing this game.

Of course, just how financially literate young people and adolescents already are, is still an area in need of more research.

The concept of financial literacy also got me thinking about my own concens with mobile technology costs, which I had termed broadly as a form of 'economic literacy'. Are 'financial literacy' and 'economic literacy' the same thing? Are these two concepts interchangeable or are they different?

References

The Australian Psychological Society (2004). Psychosocial aspects of mobile phone use among adolescents. Sydney/Melbourne: The Australian Psychological Society. Accessed on 16th January, 2007 at: www.psychology.org.au/news/mobilephoneresearchreport.pdf

Financial Basics Foundation (2007). Earning,Saving,Spending,Investing. Essi Money Website. Accessed on 22nd June, 2007 at: www.essimoney.com.au .

Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Broadcast Friday, 22nd June, 2007. Sydney/Melbourne: Channel 9. Accessed on 22nd June, 2007 at:
www.kerri-anne.com.au/news.php?newsid=437

Schirato, T. & Yell, S. (2000). Communication and Cultural Literacy: An Introduction (2nd ed.). St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.