Considering Cell Phone Use in Macau and Finland

• In Event: Employing Local Strategies Research to Understand the User Experience (UX)

Abstract

In this brief pre-recorded presentation, Poutiainen discusses the ways in which Finnish national identity is connected with mobile phones in meta-talk about Finnish mobile phone communication. The cultural discourse on Finnish mobile phone communication reflects so-called Finnishness talk (suomalaisuuspuhe), which is the widely recognized and produced negative or critical talk about Finnishness among Finns that is either negative and critical or positive (see e.g. Apo, 1998; Lehtonen, Löytty & Ruuska, 2004). She will discuss an analysis focusing on the myths of Finnishness based on research of over 300 newspaper and magazine articles and over 40 interviews collected in the early years of this century.
In the cultural discourse, mobile phones are discussed as a part of being Finnish, a part of being a typical Finnish. Yet, in the meta-talk, mobile phones are seen as objects that have changed Finnish communication. A question arises: Is a Finn still a Finn even she/he has a mobile phone? The analysis of the ways in which the myth of Finnishness is recreated in meta-talk about mobile phone communication can help us in detecting and understanding the cultural beliefs about identity, communication, and technology.
In comparison, Sandel and Wu will describe the government restrictions on the use of the Internet in China and the implications for social media platforms similar in design to Facebook and Twitter, that are not blocked, namely WeChat and Weibo. These social media platforms are very popular and ubiquitous, especially among China’s youth. This presentation will describe an investigation into participants’ use, evaluations and interactional dilemmas associated with the practices and messages sent and received within these media.

Authors

• Saila Poutiainen, U of Helsinki

• Todd L. Sandel, U of Macau