The mobile phone; an indispensible part of our lives. But does it hold or encourage creative production potential?

Technological growth and technological determinism vs social determinism Technological development has been an area of huge growth in the past 40 years, and the development of the mobile phone is a perfect example of how technology has evolved and converged. What is the impact of technology evolving so quickly? As with all new technology, but particularly due to the speed at which it has evolved, the mobile phone been subject to fears of technological determinism. The idea that technological growth can potentially de-humanise society. Can the definite changes in society be pinned down to technology? There is evidence to suggest that communication technology has effected human behaviour, but Does technology shape society or does society shape technology? Perhaps it is society and individuals who have consciously adapted to suit their own needs from the evolving technology around them. I would like to consider the encouragement of creative practice in this evolution of technology, and the convergence of the device in our pockets. But before we consider the impact that technology such as the mobile phone may have on human behaviour and creativity, we need to understand how it has evolved and its place in society. For many young people today, the mobile phone has become a fundamental part of society. But just over 30 years a other was no such thing as a mobile phone. Brief history 1983 saw the invention of the mobile phone, with Martin Cooper and his team at Motorola, releasing the first portable device, the commercially available Motorola DynaTac 8000X. On the market for a mere $4000- 2600/ A price clearly confining its use to those of a wealthy class. They had seemingly overcome practicality issues of weight, size and transmission frequency. Ownership Cooper expressed his hope that one day everyone would have the opportunity to own the device he had invented, and just over 30, with the introduction of satellite signals, and decreased manufacturing costs we are well on our way to fulfilling his dream of world mobile ownership. DATA According to a recent survey by Ofcom 2011 92% of adults own a mobile phone Over a quarter of adults (27percent) and almost half of teenagers (47 percent) now own a smartphone Data on screen, Ofcom 2011 Communication Survey
"The battery lifetime was 20 minutes, but that wasn't really a big problem because you couldn't hold that phone up for that long." Martin Cooper BBC article 2007 KERCHING NOISE

A theory which points to technology being the force behind changes in society.

when technologies are adopted they become part of an already established social context, and this context often shapes the use of technologies A. Taylor &R. Harper Gift of the Gab

Clips students talking about why their phones are important

Convergence leading to creativity? So everyone has a phone/ but whats so special about them? CLIPS The response show varying degrees of importance and uses with regard to the mobile phone. We have established that a large portion of the population hold these devices, and feel they are important- but what creative potential is held within this technology? The functionality has dramatically changed. You were unable to do anything that creative with a mobile phone until relatively recently where the convergence of media functions have now equip us with creative potential in our pockets. This increased functionality includes the converged technology of gaming consoles, computing, internet access, photography, radio and MP3, messaging and video. But it is the functions which allow the individual to capture and create which can more convincingly been argued to hold creative potential. Digital natives In conducting this study it made sense to focus on the generation who have been born into the technological world. Marc Prensky describes the young generation as digital natives, individuals for whom this new converged pocket technology is undaunting and infact natural. It is with this viewpoint that I choose young teenagers as my audience for this survey.

Technological convergence that all devices could converge into one central device that did everything for you.

IMAGES all functions Then camera and video camera

Buckingham Digital Generations

FLOATING QUOTES
thumb generation Brooke 200 2 digital native Prensky net generation Buckingham

To what extend the digital natives are creative natives and if the technology in their pocket encourages creative practice in them.

Prensky suggests that it is the digital immigrants- those us who have had to convey to the digital world who are unable to se the skills which technology brings. In some ways suggesting that digital natives have embraced these skills. OFCOM 2011 Almost half of those asked said they used the video camera and cameras on their phone often, but to create and capture what? I wonder though if perhaps these digital natives are so comfortable with the technology in their pockets that they lack the ability to seek creative potential. It is undisputed that mobile phone video footage and pictures have become more and more common as an acceptable window of information. Used not just to capture memories for personal consumption but indeed moments which are then shared by millions, and more often now as an essential and immediate tool in capturing authentic footage of events such as natural disasters and war zones. The video and camera function have undoubtedly contributed to the creation of a participatory culture. With everyday individual capturing and sharing.

Zoom in to results

Montage of videos of mobile phone footage

Title Is this creative practice?

This bring us to David Gauntletts theory of everyday creativity.

I will use the word creativity and the phrase everyday creativity, in relation to the activities of making which are rewarding to oneself and to others. Gauntlet sees credit of creativity in everyday making.
Jenkins sees creative practice as being born out of the bringing together of information and participatory culture that convergence encourages when people take media into their own hands, the results can be wonderfully creative in the world of media convergence, every story gets told To explore this idea I have focussed on a group of young people, 65 inner city youths aged between 16-18; the very digital natives that Prensky appoints a familiarity and fluency with technological skills to. In a fast growing technological world, they are the individuals who require such skills to thrive in the future. But . . . do they use these skills, and particularly the increased functionality of the devices in their pockets to create anything that could be deemed creative practice. EXAMPLES OF WHATS ON THEIR PHONES SURVEY I conducted a survey compiling details on mobile phone ownership and use among the group, the results showed interested parallels and similarities between the national data and this small group. RESULTS 100% of those asked owned a mobile phone. Within that 82% owned a Blackberry. When asked which function they used the most no one put calling as there most commonly used function, instead preferring text communication with 75%, 50 out of 65, citing network messaging such a BBM as their preferential use. The use of the video camera was the 5th most used function for 55%, 36 out of 65 of them.

Gauntlett, 2011

Jenkins, Convergence culture

Present this information as a pie chart/ bar graph Next to Ofcom data?

CONTENT So it is clear that my surveyed group were using phone sin the same way as the nationally recorded. They were using their video camera function and camera function often, but to capture what exactly? The rest of the content shared was personal pictures of family and friends captured to keep memories and a wealth of embarrassing videos which were commonly used to bribe or threaten each other with exposure. Students also shared with me what at first seemed to be a mobile created piece of footage of a monkey with an AKA47. I later found this to be the result of viral marketing for Fox Entertainment. Leading me to investigate further the use of authentic mobile

footage as marketing aimed at this young generation of mobile users. So it seemed that the technology of the converged mobile phone had created a culture of capturing which centred around shocking or humorous video clips. But was this creativity? I found that authentic mobile phone capturing in fact shown credibility as an art form, with its own genre of film festivals and competitions. Some people were using this device in their pocket to capture and produce in the same way as film makers, but what of the digital natives I had surveyed? Well I was yet to be convinced that they used their devices for creative production practice. TASK I then set a mobile phone only task. Taking into account Gauntlet idea of self expression as an important in creativity, I devised a task for this group which I felt had very little restrictions. Make a short video which represents yourself. Be Creative. I was disappointed with the outcome of the task as I had expected a far more creative outcome from this group of media students. I found myself criticising the result as a media teacher; the lack of creative framing and variation of shots. Upon closer examination of their evaluations, my views were altered. Did the justification in their explanation of decisions make their work creative? End Thoughts The theoretical concept of creativity is complex and debatable, but can we attribute any creative credit to the practice of capturing on a mobile phone?. Is actively capturing the same as everyday creativity? Has technology made us more creative? Has it in fact made us less creative? Or is it down to the individual? Buckingham, technological change affects us all, yet the consequences of technology crucially on how we use it, and these things are subject to a considerable degree of social variation within groups as well as between them

everyday creativity offers us a celebration of humanities imperfections Gauntlett