[csaa-forum] Media at Sydney, Mobile phones and the Internet in the lives of people experiencing homelessness, Justine Humphry, Friday 22 August

[Cesar Albarran Torres]

Media at Sydney presents


The Cost of Contact: Mobile phones and the Internet in the lives of people experiencing homelessness

Dr Justine Humphry (University of Western Sydney)


This talk reports on a study of the use of mobile phones and the Internet by youth, adults and families experiencing homelessness. The research, supported by a grant from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) and carried out in early 2014, included 95 surveys and interviews with clients of specialist homelessness services located in Sydney and Melbourne. The study revealed that despite many possessing mobile phones and smartphones, users go for lengthy periods with limited access due to credit shortages, service restrictions, handset loss and damage, and high call and data costs. The talk examines the digital challenges encountered by participants and the strategies and innovations used to manage daily information and communication needs. It argues for a need to recognise the cost of contact as essential support and government services move online, and the differential power relations and life circumstances that shape digital access and use.
Date: Friday 22nd August, 2014
Time: 15:00-16:30
Location: S226 Seminar Room, Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney, John Woolley Building (A20)<http://db.auth.usyd.edu.au/directories/map/building.stm?ref=d08h15> level 2, entry off Manning Road.
Register at http://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-cost-of-contact-mobile-phones-and-the-internet-in-the-lives-of-people-experiencing-homelessness-tickets-12039334975


Justine Humphry is a Lecturer of Cultural and Social Analysis as the University of Western Sydney and previously was a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Digital Cultures Program in the Department of Media and Communication, University of Sydney. She has also taught media and communications, cultural studies and sociology of media at the University of Technology and Macquarie University. She researches and writes about mobile media and professional cultures, and issues of digital inclusion, participatory networks and service delivery. Her current ACCAN-funded research project, Homeless and Connected, examines mobile phones and mobile Internet in the lives of homeless families and young people.


Media at Sydney is presented by the
Department of Media and Communications<http://sydney.edu.au/arts/media_communications/>, University of Sydney

For more information contact
Dr Fiona Martin
T: 0428391122 or 02 90365098
E: fiona.martin at sydney.edu.au<UrlBlockedError.aspx> <mailto:fiona.martin at sydney.edu.au>
M: 0428 391 122


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