Constant connectivity, selective participation: mobile-social interaction of students and faculty

  • Authors:
  • Dana Rotman

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

  • Venue:
  • CHI '10 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

beyond voice and textual communication, by enabling ubiquitous online connectivity and changing mediated social interaction. We report the results of a study of the mobile-social practices of students who use such devices, and the ways in which hierarchical relationships between students and professors were affected by the use of smart-mobile devices. The common premise is that because such devices enable continuous interaction, students are constantly using social networking and communication applications on the go, across different types of relationships. Our study shows that in hierarchy-based interaction mobile-social communication is more limited than could be expected. Social norms and usability issues both played a part in shaping students' mobile-social practices, resulting in "selective participation" - as students carefully crafted their mobile interaction to maintain hierarchical distance.