Mobile Interface Theory: Embodied Space and Locative media

by Jason Farman

Mobile media – from mobile phones to smartphones to netbooks – are transforming our daily lives. We communicate, we locate, we network, we play, and much more using our mobile devices. In Mobile Interface Theory, Jason Farman demonstrates how the worldwide adoption of mobile technologies is causing a reexamination of the core ideas about what it means to live our everyday lives. He argues that mobile media’s pervasive computing model, which allows users to connect and interact with the internet while moving across a wide variety of locations, has produced a new sense of self among users – a new embodied identity that stems from virtual space and material space regularly enhancing, cooperating or disrupting each other. Exploring a range of mobile media practices – including mobile maps and GPS technologies, location-aware social networks, urban and alternate reality games that use mobile devices, performance art, and storytelling projects – Farman illustrates how mobile technologies are changing the ways we produce lived, embodied spaces.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Design

185 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 2, 2011

About the author

Jason Farman is a professor and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also a faculty member with the Human-Computer Interaction Lab. He writes about how technology has transformed society throughout history. His work has been featured in The Atlantic, GQ, Aeon, Vox, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, NPR, 99% Invisible, Atlas Obscura, ELLE Magazine, Brain Pickings, and others.

Reviews

[Kars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting out, I was sceptical this book would reveal anything new, as I've been a practitioner in the field for more than a while. The title and cover art didn't help in getting me excited.

However, this turned out to be a concise, comprehensive and at times even refreshing look at mobile, pervasive computing. I was particularly impressed with the many canonical examples Farman discusses from both the art and commercial worlds.

Finally, for non academics the theory invoked here—both phenomenology and post structuralism—can be a bit chewy, particularly in the first chapter. After this however it is mostly in service of interesting reflections on the role of mobile technology in the production of space. I was particularly pleased to see Farman close with a critique of the idea that technology keeps accelerating and its implicit dogma of progress. In stead, he argues for "dwelling" as an act in and of itself. A bit of mindfulness for the terminally techno-distracted. Good.

[David Leroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mission was to find a book dealing with Mobility and modern trends. The Amazon search engine universe manifested the book "Mobile Interface Theory." This is the very first book I have "rented" for $9.00. The content of the book was both engrossingly interesting and also difficult to follow, due to all the new buzzwords. Is it worth it? Yes! However, be prepared to have your hair blown back with a flash flood of new terms. "Mobile Interface Theory" is an academic book attempting to shed some light on the basic theory behind this new digital mobile revolution, without being hopelessly outdated the minute the book hit the stands.

Cyberculture / Micro-Places / Smart Mobs / Pervasive Computing / Wearable Computing / Mobile Interface Embodiment / Biomapping / Locative Interfaces / Site-Specific Storytelling / Artifact Engaged Interaction / Unpracticed Databases / Digital Tagging / Mobile Media Narrative / Sensory-inscribed / Mobil Urban Markup / Polyvocality / Mobile Media bubbles /....... I need to stop now.

"Mobile Interface Theory" will absolutely deliver on the promise of expanding your mental horizon of this new emerging mobile world. Did I understand everything written in the book? NO, and I have a degree in Philosophy. This is a book that demands to be taken seriously, and read at least twice if not three times. It is challenging not only due to the new words, but also to the fact that it provides a broad overview of mobile media culture at a level that most of us would not experience.

While reading this book, I started to become much more aware of examples of mobile Interfacing, such as the Streetmuseum application. This mobile device application will show you an overlay of a modern photograph with a historical photograph, and I believe uses GPS technology to guide the user in the field. I began to notice photographs of this application being shared on Facebook by friends in England.

The notes of this book are a source of future reading and research. Jason Farman is likely one of the few academic scholars who have attempted to tackle from a philosophical view just what in the world is going on between society and Mobility. Reading this book has changed my perspective when I watch people engage with mobile technology, providing new insight to the driving factors behind this mobile media social revolution.

I will absolutely be reading his future work.

[Laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first, feature-length, look at mobile technology from a cultural perspective. This was a difficult read, and unfortunately, too much for more undergraduates (I had hoped to use it as a reading in an internet studies class). Farman presents some intriguing ideas and happily notes that his examples will be quickly outdated. I do think this is a fascinating subject and hope to see other cultural critics tackle subjects as smart phones (and who knows what else), allow us to live our lives online.

[Frankie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to better understand human behavior utilizing mobile phones for communication and localization. Great case studies and research into UX, navigation, interface and art.