[csaa-forum] 'Family life ... Mobile communication'/Prof James E. Katz/public lecture/UNSW 5 June, 5pm

[Gerard Goggin]

'Perpetual contact? Family life in an age of mobile communication'
a public lecture by
Professor James E. Katz (Rutgers University)

5pm Thursday 5 June 2008
Webster Building, Room 327 (Theatrette)
University of New South Wales, Kensington

supported by the ARC Cultural Research Network &
Journalism & Media Research Centre UNSW

All welcome, please rvsp to Gerard Goggin: g.goggin at unsw.edu.au

Abstract:

Now that the overwhelming majority of teens and parents in the developed
world have mobile phones, it is worth considering how this technology is
affecting social interaction among family members. This question is
important because families are relying on mobiles for communicating and
coordinating even as the family as a system is being put under greater
stress by demands from the larger society. The role of mobile communication
devices in family life is also an important question because policymakers
are increasingly looking to mobile phones to address critical social
problems ranging from educational quality to public safety.

In this lecture, I examine what is happening to family communication
patterns as a result of mobile technology. My focus is primarily on the
USA though I also draw on data from other countries. My sources range
from surveys and case studies to interviews and news reports. Based on
this examination, I seek to identify the way mobile phones are used in
family life and the implications of these practices for parent-child
relationships, social integration, and peer socialization.

About Professor James E. Katz:
 
James E. Katz, Ph.D., is chair of the Department of Communication at Rutgers
University where he also directs the Center for Mobile Communication Studies
(http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/ci/cmcs/director/). His present focus is on
how personal communication technologies, such as mobile phones and the
Internet, affect social relationships and how cultural values influence
usage patterns of these technologies. Currently he heads an NSF-sponsored
project with the New Jersey Liberty Science Center museum to investigate
ways to stimulate teens from urban environments to use mobile communication
technology for informal science and health learning.
 
Professor Katz has devoted his career to exploring the relationship among
the domains of science and technology, knowledge and information, and social
processes and public policy. He has been granted two patents and has won
several awards including the 2009 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Twentieth
Century Communications History, which will take him to Italy, as well as
Bellcore's Distinguished Member of Staff Award, a Mellon Foundation Scholar
award, and the Distinguished Scholar Award of the Society for the Social
Study of Mobile Communication. He has won post-doctoral fellowships at
Harvard and MIT. Katz is also the author of more than 50 refereed journal
articles. His books, which include 'Magic in the Air: Mobile Communication'
and the 'Transformation of Social Life and Social Consequences of Internet
Use: Access, Involvement, Expression,' have been translated into Chinese,
Italian, Japanese and Spanish. His latest volume, published by MIT Press, is
'Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies'.
 
Location: The seminar will be held in Room 327 (Theatrette), Webster
Building, Kensington campus, University of New South Wales. Further details
and maps may be found at: http://www.facilities.unsw.edu.au/Maps/maps.html

For further information, contact Professor Gerard Goggin, Journalism and
Media Research Centre, University of New South Wales: g.goggin at unsw.edu.au

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Gerard Goggin
Professor of Digital Communication 
& Deputy Director
Journalism and Media Research Centre
University of New South Wales
Sydney 2052 NSW Australia
e: g.goggin at unsw.edu.au
w: +61 2 9385 8532
f: + 9358 8528
m: +61 428 66 88 24