Everyday Practices with Mobile Video Telephony

The mobile phone allowed people to communicate when and where they wanted, dramatically changing how audio telephony was integrated into daily life. With video telephony services now available on everyday mobile phones, comparable arguments are being made that this will change how people relate to and use video telephony. The mobile and personal natures of mobile phones remove factors that previously hindered use of video telephony. Mobility also brings new challenges and concerns that may hinder use of video telephony in particular contexts. With this in mind, the paper revisits the notion of video telephony but within the context of mobile phones. A study is presented of people’s everyday use of mobile video telephony using diary techniques and ethnographic interviews. The study uses real episodes to highlight key motivations and circumstances under which mobile video telephony was and wasn’t used. Implications for adoption of design of mobile video phones are discussed.