Los teléfonos móviles en la vida cotidiana

The article attempts an approximation to behavioral and sociocultural transformations produced in contemporary daily life, derived from the massive use of mobile phones. Part of the rapid development of mobile technologies and growth of its coverage that in diverse countries exceeds number of inhabitants, which it has converted to these resources into objects of privileged consumption with a high rate of technological obsolescence. It describes how in relation with the use of mobile phones have changed, in practical terms the concept of public and private spaces.El artículo intenta una aproximación a las transformaciones socioculturales y comportamentales producidas en la vida cotidiana contemporánea, derivadas del uso masivo de los teléfonos móviles. Parte del acelerado desarrollo de las tecnologías móviles y del crecimiento de su cobertura que en diversos países supera al número de habitantes, lo que ha convertido a estos recursos en objetos de consumo privilegiado con una alta tasa de obsolescencia tecnológica. Describe cómo en relación con el uso de los móviles ha variado en términos prácticos el concepto de espacios públicos y privados

Group identities in Kenyan SMS messages

Short Message Service (SMS) as a new form of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) seems to dissolve interaction and social hierarchies, thus resulting in the emergence of social groups. To determine how SMS has resulted in the emergence of social groups, this article explores the issues of group identities and language use in Kenyan text messages. Group identities and language use are examined in terms of age, social hierarchy and gendered identity. An integration of social structures and linguistic structures is emphasised. The findings reveal that a “new” language which presents the group identity of the users has evolved through SMS. Group identities are determined through the social agents of SMS language

The transformation and reshaping of South African languages via cell-phone messaging: sms speak as a local practice

Magister Artium - MASouth Africa is a diverse, multilingual country with a majority of its youth owning or using cellular phone technologies. The cell phone interaction between multilingual individuals from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds suggests that a range of multilingual styles are being developed in the electronic domain, particularly when sending SMSes (Short Message Service messages). This study uses the Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective (SFL) to analyse how English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa are being transformed through the medium of text messaging at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). In using methods such as thematic analysis and SFL this research is interested in the linguistic choices individuals make when engaging in SMS/Mxit messages to express themselves. The study aims to look at the effects of concepts such as globalization, stylization, polylingual languaging and transidiomatic practices on text messaging itself; and in turn to see how these text messages are typified by the mixing and blending of languages and their multimodal aspects are then considered to be a coherent and cohesive social practice among the youth. In addition, considering new developments in language studies, particularly the notions of language as social practice and hybrid languaging practices, it also looks at SMS/Mxit messages and examines them against the ‘traditional’ monolingual concepts of codeswitching and code-mixing. The linguistic analysis of this text based data presents a framework for exploring how members of the youth portray their identities as it allows the researcher to deal with interpersonal dimensions of language in texts in a systematic manner. These interpersonal dimensions view the relationships between participants in relation to their performance of identity. Drawing on SMS/Mxit data from 60 third year university students, the focus of this thesis is to investigate if the languages used during SMS/Mxit interactions are being modified and transformed by this medium of communication. It simultaneously looks at these student communicators performing a range of identity options. The study concludes that English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa are not used as separate language entities but are instead used as one language resource. It highlights how speakers use features of any language as linguistic options for a communicative event. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that SMS speak is not seen as an alternative language used within a third space but has instead become a norm in terms of language practices among the youth

Orthographic practices in SMS text messaging as a case signifying diachronic change in linguistic and semiotic resources

From 1998, SMS text messaging diffused in the UK from an innovation associated with a small minority, mainly adolescents, to a method of written communication practised routinely by people of all ages and social profiles. From its earliest use, and continuing to the time of writing in 2015, SMS texting has attracted strong evaluation in public sphere commentary, often focused on its spelling. This thesis presents analysis of SMS orthographic choice as practised by a sample of adolescents and young adults in England, with data collected between 2000 and 2012. A threelevel analytical framework attends to the textual evidence of SMS orthographic practices in situated use; respondents’ accounts of their choices of spelling in text messaging as a literacy practice; and the metadiscursive evaluation of text messaging spelling in situated interaction and in the public sphere. I present analysis of a variety of representations of SMS orthographic choice, including facsimile texts, electronic corpus data, questionnaire survey responses and transcripts of recorded interviews. This mixed methods empirical approach enables a cross-verified, longitudinal perspective on respondents’ practices, and on the wider significance of SMS orthographic choice, as expressed in private and public commentary. I argue that the spelling used in SMS exemplifies features, patterns, and behaviours, which are found in other forms of digitally-mediated interaction, and in previous and concurrent vernacular literacy practices. I present SMS text messaging as one of the intertextually-related forms of self-published written interaction which mark a diachronic shift towards re-regulated forms of orthographic convention, so disrupting attitudes to standard English spelling. I consider some implications represented by SMS spelling choice for the future of written conventions in standardised English, and for teaching and learning about spelling and literacy in formal educational settings

English Language Butchered: A Study of the Correlational Relationship Between Text Messaging Frequency and the Instance of Jargon in Formal Writing

The rapidly evolving text messaging phenomenon among teenagers and young adults is noteworthy. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between text messaging frequency and use of text messaging jargon in formal writing. The sample consisted of 152 Year 11-13 secondary school students (68 males and 84 females) ranging from ages 14 to 18. The participants were taken from three Secondary Schools and Colleges in the greater Wellington area. This study used a non-experimental quantitative design; specifically, a correlational research design. A ten- item questionnaire was used to assess general text messaging behaviours and text messaging frequency. The participants‘ formal writing pieces were also assessed and text messaging jargon forms such as alternative phonetic spelling, vowel deletion and alphanumerisms were identified. The participants‘ language ability (represented by their NCEA scores for the previous year) was also assessed. The results revealed that the participants sent an average of 95 text messages per day with girls averaging about 126 messages per day while the boys averaged 64 messages per day. Overall, the research revealed that there was a weak negative correlational relationship (-0.01; p=.986) between frequency of text messaging and instance of text jargon in formal writing. Therefore, the principal conclusion of the study was that the two variables, frequency of text messaging and instance of jargon in formal writing were not statistically related

Textese and secondary school learners : identifying textisms in formal written English

This inquiry employs a purposefully designed proofreading protocol to obtain empirical data on the ability of the target population (i.e. South African secondary school learners aged 13 to 17 – grades 8 to 11 – with English first-language proficiency from the upper-middle class socio-economic sphere in the urban Pretoria region) to identify textisms in formal written Standard English. The proofreading protocol is supplemented by a teacher survey to obtain attitudinal data on teachers’ views on textese and their learners’ written work, and the data obtained from the two research instruments are compared. It is argued that the target audience of secondary school learners, as part of the ‘digital native’ generation, might have reached the ‘point of saturation’ and will therefore struggle to identify textisms in a formal writing context because they are so used to seeing them in informal writing contexts. Register theory is accordingly used to argue that due to the target population’s frequent exposure to and use of textese, they might not have a precise grasp of register and will therefore struggle to identify textisms in formal written Standard English. The results indicate that the 288 secondary school learners who participated in this study do, in fact, have a precise grasp of register and will not struggle to identify textisms in formal written Standard English. The results further suggest that textese does not currently pose a threat to Standard English in South Africa as it merely reveals English’s remarkable ability to adapt to its users’ ever-changing demands and needs.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015.Humanities EducationUnrestricte

Negotiating connection without convention: the management of presence, time and networked technology in everyday life

This thesis explores the social processes through which technological change and technologies themselves are negotiated in everyday life. I look to interpersonal communication as a site of such negotiation and focus on the networked practices that extend from mobile telephones, personal computers, and online social platforms. The management of everyday life and interpersonal relationships are shaped by practices of communication management that work through the use of these technologies. I extend and inflect the phenomenological approach to co-presence in interpersonal communication, also reassessing notions of time, for the context of constant networked connection. Drawing from divergent theoretical approaches for understanding technology, an entry point for this thesis was formulated through social interaction. A grounded qualitative approach was used to engage with individuals’ experience of interpersonal communication across everyday domains and contexts of activity. A selection of 35 participants was asked to complete two in-depth interviews, thinking-aloud tasks, and a communication diary. The empirical findings are explored from three perspectives. First, individuals’ relationships to communication tools as objects in an everyday environment are understood for the perceived temporal pressures and a need for networked connection. Second, individuals’ management of those pressures is explored through their imposition of individually controlled barriers to interaction, through which domains of activity are managed by communication practices as relational domains, developing a form of networked awareness between individuals. Third, I examine the forms of negotiation taking place through the interdependency of individual practices, captured by notions of authenticity and perceptions of technologies, as well as a discourse about technology that is enacted through practice rather than communicated through content, what I call meta-communication. I conclude that the negotiated use and role of technologies in interpersonal relationships has implications for the negotiation of wider social changes to the role of technology and to everyday life itself

Annotations of maps in collaborative work at a distance

This thesis inquires how map annotations can be used to sustain remote collaboration. Maps condense the interplay of space and communication, solving linguistic references by linking conversational content to the actual places to which it refers. This is a mechanism people are accustomed to. When we are face-to-face, we can point to things around us. However, at a distance, we need to recreate a context that can help disambiguate what we mean. A map can help recreate this context. However other technological solutions are required to allow deictic gestures over a shared map when collaborators are not co-located. This mechanism is here termed Explicit Referencing. Several systems that allow sharing maps annotations are reviewed critically. A taxonomy is then proposed to compare their features. Two filed experiments were conducted to investigate the production of collaborative annotations of maps with mobile devices, looking for the reasons why people might want to produce these notes and how they might do so. Both studies led to very disappointing results. The reasons for this failure are attributed to the lack of a critical mass of users (social network), the lack of useful content, and limited social awareness. More importantly, the study identified a compelling effect of the way messages were organized in the tested application, which caused participants to refrain from engaging in content-driven explorations and synchronous discussions. This last qualitative observation was refined in a controlled experiment where remote participants had to solve a problem collaboratively, using chat tools that differed in the way a user could relate an utterance to a shared map. Results indicated that team performance is improved by the Explicit Referencing mechanisms. However, when this is implemented in a way that is detrimental to the linearity of the conversation, resulting in the visual dispersion or scattering of messages, its use has negative consequences for collaborative work at a distance. Additionally, an analysis of the eye movements of the participants over the map helped to ascertain the interplay of deixis and gaze in collaboration. A primary relation was found between the pair's recurrence of eye movements and their task performance. Finally, this thesis presents an algorithm that detects misunderstandings in collaborative work at a distance. It analyses the movements of collaborators' eyes over the shared map, their utterances containing references to this workspace, and the availability of "remote" deictic gestures. The algorithm associates the distance between the gazes of the emitter and gazes of the receiver of a message with the probability that the recipient did not understand the message