Guerrilla cell phone: subversive uses of mobile technology in Brazil

Authors

  • Adriana Braga Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
  • Robert Logan University of Toronto / Ontario College of Arts and Design

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.16921/chasqui.v0i129.2508

Keywords:

cell phone, ethnography, communication, social interaction

Abstract

As soon as a technology is implemented in a culture, it is possible to observe social uses that were not intended by the inventors or producers of that technology. People create strategies to take advantage of the new resource. Using social interaction theories and an ethnographic approach in the natural setting of cell phone use in Brazil, we observed how people use the mobile phone technology for interpersonal communication. This paper addresses three subversive uses of mobile technology, namely, i) strategies of mobile phone coding; ii) SIM card management; and iii) criminal uses of mobile phones.

Author Biographies

  • Adriana Braga, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
    Professora do Departamento de Comunicação Social da PUC-Rio. Pesquisadora do CNPq.
  • Robert Logan, University of Toronto / Ontario College of Arts and Design
    Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics, University of Toronto. Chief Scientist, Strategic Innovation Lab, Ontario College of Art and Design.

References

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Published

31-03-2016

Issue

No. 129 (2015): Comunicación e integración desde el Sur

Section

Monográfico

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