Mobile Media and Social Interaction

This chapter discusses the new social configurations society is undergoing on the basis of media emergence. Media are embedded in the arousal of communication and information transmission becoming the form, the infrastructure and the institution for the social and culture. This chapter focuses on mobile communication, having as central goal to debate on the processes of mediatization and mediation of society, as well as on the processes of belonging and social cohesion. Data from mobile internet adoption and use will be discussed in the light of the above mentioned theoretical approaches. An empirical case study will also be approached and results will provide contributions for the understanding of this type of technology adoption processes and the increasing importance of mobility in cultural and social practices, promoting an exciting discussion on the centrality of media nowadays and the current transformation processes society is undergoing.

Mobile Big Data

Mobile technologies have given rise to tremendous amounts of data in real-time, which can be unstructured and uncertain. This growth can be attributed as Mobile Big Data and provides new challenges and opportunities for innovation. This chapter attempts to define the concept of Mobile Big Data, provide description of various sources of Mobile Big Data and discuss SWAI (Sources Warehousing Analytics Insights) model of Big Data processing. To understand this complex concept, it is important to visualize the Big Data ecosystem, respective players. Moreover, mobile computing, Internet of things, and other associated technologies have been discussed in light of marketing and communications based applications. The current trends in Mobile Big Data and associated value chain help us understand where the next frontiers of innovation are and how one can create value. This is linked to the future aspects of the Mobile Big Data and evolution of technologies from now onwards.

Behavioural Targeting in the Mobile Ecosystem

Personal information is a key intangible asset for companies. In particular, for those companies that collect personal data to attract advertisers through being a channel to reach their target markets, i.e., through offering targeted advertising. A universe of always located and always connected potential consumers enhance the potential of behavioural targeting, which is seen as the business model on which the success of new mobile content, applications and services relies. This chapter aims to explain the implications of the use of behavioural targeting within the mobile environment. It provides an overview of the exploitation of personal data, a comprehensive description of the behavioural targeting ecosystem, and a view of the promises and pitfalls associated to the rise of mobility.

The Message Is the Medium

The aim of this chapter is to examine in depth the potential for ecological awareness that emerging artistic and creative narrative practices involving mobility may possess. In order to do so, this chapter will analyze the current situation in reference to several projects that exemplify this potential. Our time sees the coming of the Creative Activist in a practice that uses art and media to scale up the ecological message to a global level, to reach a lot of people and to move them.

Research, Development and Creativity in Ubiquitous Technologies in University

In 2009 the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) proposes the creation of a truly transdisciplinary research platform, suitable for the development of integral projects of excellence in R&D, technology transfer and professional training in all phases of the digital contents evolution cycle: CIDUS Platform for Innovation and Experimentation and Innovation in Digital Contents (www.usc.es/es/Servizos/cidus). Although this chapter covers some of the finest CIDUS exponents in the field of ubiquitous technologies, we need to emphasize that we believe that the main innovation of CIDUS is not only its innovative projects but also the very experience of interdisciplinarycollaborationbetweeneighty-onereferenceresearchers in the field of digital content (assigned to seven groups with such a pure technological base as a social communication profile), respectively located in Faculty of Communication Sciences, Singular Research Centre in Information Technologies, Technical School of Engineering and Institute of Technological Research at USC.

Mobile Content and Walking Documentary

This chapter presents creative strategies to teach Science using Smartphones and focuses on projects by researchers and teachers from the international “Big History” network. They teach scientific based knowledge from a cosmic point of view starting from the theory of the Big Bang. A large number of contributors believe that connecting learning to the physical, natural world is the key to stimulating the interest of students before studying the theory in the classroom. This is where Mobile Content is invaluable. A general selection of interesting outdoor learning projects are presented, together with experimental, hypermedia creations achieved by the author in collaboration with scientists. The original concept of a “Walking Documentary” is advanced as a way for students to experience large scales of space and time by walking with a smartphone synchronized with every step of the walker. Finally, some emerging technologies are mentioned, announcing new ways to teach and learn Science with technology.

Who Brings the News?

The spread of mobile devices and digital networks generate new perspectives for the circulation of news. The development of mobile communication technologies and the migration of habits consolidated in personal computers promote the expansion of news aggregators for smartphones and tablets. This work seeks to inquire the operational logic of applications designed to aggregate journalistic content. An immersive analysis shows that the general operations of these apps are based on three dimensions: integration between news and online social media, always-on recommendation systems, and parameterization of outputs. It is argued that the approach between aggregators and social media makes the news extrapolate its information domain and start to circulate as symbolic reference for online interaction. Finally, this work posits that the operational logic of aggregators neglect fundamental aspects of new technologies related to locative information.

Mobility Matters

Researchers generally have not been able to keep up with the rapid pace of mobile app innovation in many ways. One of those holes is with typology. Not being able to clearly describe mobile app artifacts, as a way to start a discussion about them, is a key factor holding researchers back. This chapter splinters off a promising but relatively underdeveloped genre of mobile apps, the locative ones that juxtapose interactive digital media with particular physical environments, for closer examination and better labeling. This piece quickly provides theoretical, historical, and contextual overviews to help situate locative apps as a genre of importance. It then provides informal frameworks, as thought exercises, for examining and understanding apps through a locative perspective. Two cases, also led by the author, will then be taken through this process to illustrate what can be learned from it, followed by reflections and suggestions for related future areas of inquiry.

From Personal to Mobile Healthcare

mHealth is an emerging field that comprises the delivery of health through mobile technologies, being part of a broader concept: eHealth. With the rapid advances and adoption of mobile technologies and applications, mHealth opens new opportunities to deliver healthcare and wellness promotion through personal mobiles. This will transform the current delivery of services linked to particular places to a delocalization and personalization of services delivery. Although the adoption and integration of mobile technologies is high across the globe, the particular adoption of mHealth remains low and scattered due to some remaining challenges. This chapter presents the current picture of mHealth and it later discusses the opportunities both at market level and with regards to healthcare delivery. Then, it presents future research directions as big data; and it closes with conclusions on this challenging emerging field.

Examining Mobile Search Adoption

The multimedia features brought by the rise of the mobile access to internet are tightly linked to the massive access of the public to mobile search. To date, there is limited knowledge on how distinct groups make use of mobile search in their everyday life. Attempting to fill that void, the purpose of this chapter is to describe and explain how mobile search behaviours have gained traction among distinct groups in Sweden from 2010 to 2012. The findings evidence a growing uptake among all groups over time. Smartphone ownership and age score the highest odds ratios, revealing smartphone users and 16–29 year olds as most inclined to use mobile search. In addition, a high education and use of a personal or company subscription show significant results.