Mobile Culture for Tourism Communication

Mobile devices and the corresponding culture, are transforming the way we understand and sense social, urban and intercultural processes. The aim of this text is twofold: firstly, to circumscribe the main ideas and concepts which clarify the process of mobile culture, activated through the use of mobile apparatus (cell phones, etc.). Secondly, inquiry why and how mobile culture and its instruments facilitate or difficult communication within tourism activities. Tourism is one of the most relevant processes within the contemporary city, in the sense that it activates multiple urban mobilities and their modes and means of communication, in particular the social and cultural exchanges among native citizens of a destination place, and tourists visiting this locality.

A taxonomy design for mobile applications in the Spanish political communication context

The new mobile ecosystem that now defines the so-called mobile society and the mobile culture is already a key territory for contemporary political communication. Within this culture, mobile applications have become a common ground for the meeting between organisations and citizens interested in participating in political matters through the direct experience that these platforms allow. Despite this development, it is difficult to find a complete and reliable taxonomy of apps in the academic or professional literature that analyses how these relationships impact the field of political communication. This study tries to address this gap, introducing the first systematic taxonomy of political communication apps in Spain based on the development of a self-produced taxonomical model that gathers in detail all the variables required to understand the nature of these applications that are available for any smartphone. This rigorous taxonomy comprises political communication applications available at the main app stores (about 316 found in Play Store and App Store). Specifically, the methodological classification was elaborated based on the following categories: promoter agent, app objective, level of interaction, level of autonomy and predominant tone. A very complete picture was obtained from the empirical analysis, which defines and explains the landscape of political communication applications for mobile devices in Spain.

Worldly Tastes

In the interwar period, increasingly mobile Australians began to contemplate travel across the Pacific, both toward Asia as well as to America. Contemporary writing reflected this highly mobile culture and Pacific gaze, yet literary histories have overlooked this aspect of cultural history. Instead of looking to Australian novels as indexes of culture, as literary studies often do, this article explores the range of writing and print culture in magazines, concentrating on notions of mobility through the Pacific. Its focus is on the quality magazines MAN and The Home, which addressed two distinct, gendered readerships, but operated within similar cultural segments. This article suggests that the distinct geographical imaginaries of these magazines, which linked travel and geographical mobility with aspiration and social mobility, played a role in consolidating and nourishing the class standing of their readers, and revealed some of their attitudes toward gender and race.

Transparent Classrooms

This article analyzes the use of the mobile phone in Portuguese classrooms in order to examine new practices of disclosure and transparency. A literature review provides a global context of the nature of the mobile phone, and contextualizes an overview of the current usage trends in Portugal. The high uptake rates of mobile phone usage in Portugal means that this country can be considered an interesting case study for the usage of mobile phones in educational settings. Evidence of a young mobile culture gathered in recent research studies conducted at the national level and on a qualitative case study of high-school teachers, provides a basis for a practical discussion of the impact of the mobile phone on the Portuguese education system. Building on the views from different actors- students, teachers, parents, and school administrators- the paper closes with the proposition of the mobile phone as a valid educational tool that requires new skills and strategies for a successful integration.