"It's always there, it's always on": Australian freelancer's management of availability using mobile technologies

  • Authors:

  • Kirsten Sadler;Toni Robertson;Melanie Kan

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Technology, Sydney, Ultimo, NSW;University of Technology, Sydney, Ultimo, NSW;University of Technology, Sydney, Ultimo, NSW

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 8th conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices and services
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

The paradigm of "access, anytime, anywhere" has been critiqued within the mobile HCI literature as a broad assumption that simplifies understandings of actual work practice, and as an example of rhetoric that allows researchers to ignore the temporal aspects of mobility. The key aspect of technology use that remains unclear, however, when discussing this paradigm is the complexity of the concept "anytime, anywhere" from the perspective of the user. This paper addresses this gap by discussing findings from an empirical study of freelance workers, across both work and social contexts, in which availability emerged as an important concern for participants. This paper explores the ways in which freelancers use their mobile devices to manage their availability to others. Finally, we also consider implications for the ways in which mobility is conceptualised within the mobile HCI literature.