It’s a question of

balance – mobile

methodologies and

studies of mobility

Ben Fincham

University of Brighton

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• Capturing elements of the social

world that involve movement

through space

• Methodologies specifically

designed to translate the

experiences and meanings of

types of mobility, for different

populations and different contexts

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• Introduce methodology

employed during study of bicycle

messengers

• Examine potential of

corroboratory mobile methods

• Discussion of ethnography and

methodological fetishism

Anytown, UK.

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• selection and recall bias

• documentary purism

• Intention to get closer to

the moments of the

experiences that would be

analysed retrospectively .

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• Right. I’m at the bottom of

St Paul’s Street on the way

in. I’ve already had two

near misses and couldn’t

crash because of the police.

Crash the lights. It’s very

strange the driving is

quite aggressive but its

often like that on a Friday.

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• [short of breath] Just got up to [TV company], Hell TV as it’s otherwise known because it is such a long way… it’s kind of two miles uphill and now I’m going across to [media company] and I’m completely knackered. The thing is I’ve taken my jacket off because it is too hot and now I’ve taken it off I’m far too cold. Perennial problem.

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• … bit of a mad time

because none of us have

got any spare inner tubes

and DJ got a puncture up

north which was a bit of a

bummer, so we’ve all

been running around like

crazy, and he’s walking

three miles into town

now, he’s very pissed

off.

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

[20 minutes later] Talk about a risk environment. I just handed my folder to a secretary at [law firm] and she caught her finger on it and there was a bit of a fuss about the injury she sustained, which was a slightly red finger. I was going to bang on about… well I dunno… other risks. I’ve just bumped into DJ at the side of the road, Middle Road very fucked off, wants to go home. No inner tube, started to rain, very boring.

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• [Out of breath] Currently coming through the park, Cathedral

Park going to [media company] …er…it’s about sort of

lunchtime… I’m feeling a bit tired… but the weather is

fabulous, it’s a bit windy but it’s dry and the sun’s come out

out… er… the traffic’s actually been ok today. I mean a few

near scrapes but this was something that came out in one of the

interviews. Is the job dangerous if you have near misses and to

what extent are your expertise as a worker keeping you safe? The

other thing to say is that it’s one of the rare occasions when we

have a woman working today, and she’s getting the same sorts

of jobs as everyone else, there doesn’t seem to be any

distinctions between the sorts of work she’s doing. I, on the other

hand, am getting odd looks for looking like I am talking to myself

most of the day.

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• Highlighted the mundane

• Screened out situatedness

• Allowed space for reflection –

contradictory to the intention

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• Introduction of visual and

aural data re-introduces the

unusual in everyday

experiences

• Adds another dimension to the

surety of assertions

• triangulation?

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• Development of techniques

– Data capture

• Techniques of gathering data

that more closely describe

situations

– Data analysis

• Post-hoc reflections on data

intended to capture phenomena

that are temporally specific

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• Sounds like ethnography to

me

• Use of technologies and

techniques across disciplines

• Distinctiveness in analysis

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• The conundrum:

– How to best capture

elements of the social

world that involve

movement through space

– Difficulties inherent in

examining the dynamic

and the danger of fixing

the flow

mobile methodologies and studies of mobility

• Methodological fetishism

and scholarship

• Problem centred research

vs. methods centred

research

It’s a question of

balance – mobile

methodologies and

studies of mobility

Ben Fincham

University of Brighton