Personal, Portable, Pedestrian

Stacey Ball
Personal, Portable, Pedestrian
Book Review
10-06-09

Throughout Personal, Portable, and Pedestrian, the researchers who compile the chapters mainly use empirical research. Most use interviews and surveys of keitai users, historical research on social technology use such as bell-tomo, dengon dial, and telekura, and other statistical data. Because keitai is integrated into everyday use and users are so connected to them, using observational and ethnographic methods to study keitai use is the most logical method of study.

I chose to focus on part three of the book, “Social Networks and Relationships.” The first three chapters, “Mobile Communication and Selective Sociality,” The Mobile-izing Japanese,” and “Accelerating Reflexivity” all use either a combination of interviews and surveys or only surveys. The last chapter of the section, “Keitai and the Intimate Stranger” uses only historical evidence and statistics. Only one chapter includes quantitative methods in its research method.

For the “Mobile Communication and Selective Sociality” survey, Matsuda collects data from users, mostly through questionnaires, but also through two interviews, one over the telephone and the other, I assume, in person. The users interviewed or questioned ranged in age from youth to senior. The research itself tends to be number heavy and rely more on statistics than user feelings or thoughts. I imagine if Matsuda would have used more conversational methods of interviewing users, then more information about how and why keitai users are selective about who they are social with would have been more evident and revealing.

In “Mobile-izing Japanese,” the researchers take data gathered through a survey about social relations conducted through mobile phones and personal computers, then analyze it in a local (Japan) context, then apply it globally by comparing Japanese relationships with those in the United States. In the notes, the researchers address a couple of cultural differences. One being that New Years cards are analogous to Christmas cards in the U.S. and the other being that most Japanese people are not willing to disclose information about their personal lives as easily as most Americans makes comparing the cultures difficult.

“Accelerating Reflexivity” uses empirical data from youth interviews. The interviews were extensive and helped form Habuchi’s eventual hypothesis. Other quantitative data was gathered from a professional research study. Habuchi’s use of the interviews to change and focus the research echoes the point made in the “Producing Work That is Meaningful Across Time, Space, and Culture” chapter in Internet Inquiry. Markham suggests that by talking about your project with a peer, mentor, or even the subject being interviewed, that those discussions might lead you in a completely different direction than you at first envisioned, but that the process might lead to a more focused and interesting study.

The “Keitai and the Intimate Stranger” chapter studies the concept of the intimate stranger by studying historical developments that enabled this new social category to emerge. Tomita studies statistics regarding use of early social networking technologies. By looking at the past and how keitai became integrated into personal lives and allows for intimate connections with strangers, Tomita is able to conclude that intimate strangers will become even more commonplace in everyday life as keitai becomes more flexible.

Observing how people use and function with keitai is best shown through empirical, ethnographic study because of its social nature. Observing users and hearing or reading about what they think about keitai seems to be the most logical method for actually coming up with new thoughts and questions regarding keitai use, though surveys of statistical use weaved into the theory has great value as well.