Pervasive Image Capture and Sharing:
New Social Practices and Implications for Technology

Tokyo, Japan - September 11, 2005

Recent additions:

• Workshop position papers

• Notes from the workshop sessions

Organizers

Mirjana Spasojevic, Yahoo!
Mizuko Ito, Annenberg Center for Communication, University of Southern California
Nancy Van House, University of California, Berkeley, School of Information Management and Systems
Ilpo Koskinen, School of Design, Industrial Design, University of Art and Design Helsinki
Fumitoshi Kato, Keio University, Faculty of Environmental Information
Daisuke Okabe, Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus
 

Theme

The time-honored practice of image capture, sharing, and archiving has gotten a new twist with the advent of digital imaging technology. The portable digital camera captures images at zero marginal cost with the ability to instantly view and delete images. The result is more prolific photo capturing in a variety of formal and informal settings. Digital images enable photo sharing via an expanded repertoire of mechanisms and modalities, including exchange of physical prints, sharing of digital copies via email, posting images on web pages and blogs, or simply showing images on the imaging devices during face-to-face encounters.

More recently, camera phones have expanded both image capture and sharing even further. New ways of sharing now include MMS (multimedia messaging) between phones, sending images via email from the phone, posting images to blogs and webpages directly from the phone, transferring images via IR or Bluetooth between phones, and showing others images on a handheld screen. These new functions, embedded in a device that is always close at hand, has led to the emergence of pervasive image capture and sharing.

These ubiquitous devices enhance many social activities. They make it possible to share experiences with remote people during a particular event or soon thereafter, or to accomplish a task through the use of images. As a result, we see emergence of new social practices, where image capture and sharing is much more fluid and spontaneous and frequently focused on new kinds of photographic subjects. These rich imaging interactions are getting interwoven into the regular communicational context, thus becoming a part of everyday life.
 

Goals

In this workshop we aim to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of researches and practitioners for a free exchange and discussion around the emerging phenomena of pervasive image capture and sharing. Our goal is to examine up-to-date technology developments and current social practices, and to understand implications for further research, including design and development of new devices, applications and services. In recognition of the differences in camera phone and other mobile device technology and practices in different regions and among different cultures, our organizing committee represents a range of perspectives; we will strive to attract an equally diverse set of participants.

Topics

In this workshop we will address the following broad questions:

• What happens when image capture and sharing becomes an integral part of everyday life?
• What social practices exist today and what new practices are likely to develop?
• What are the implications for technology?
• What are the possible implications for social relationships and for practical activity?
   

Possible topics to be discussed among the workshop participants include (but are not limited to):

• How and why do people capture and share images and what do they value? Are new purposes for image capture and sharing emerging with cameraphone use?
• What are the current social barriers in image capture sharing? What are the technical obstacles? How do cameraphones overcome these barriers? Violate boundaries and norms? How is image capture and sharing being regulated?
• What context factors affect image sharing? What are the implications for design?
• Which are the preferred mechanisms for image sharing? What factors influence users’ choices of mechanisms?
• What’s the relationship between different modalities of image sharing – e.g., desktop versus cameraphone?
• What is the state of the current UI for image capture and sharing?
• How does pervasive image capture and sharing articulate with desktop photo archiving and sharing applications and services?
• How does pervasive image capture and sharing relate to new models of social interaction and communication? What are the privacy implications of these new practices?
• How are camera phones being adopted and used differently based on national context and factors such as age and gender? What are the current differences across cultures in the use of cameraphones and in image sharing? What factors influence these differences? What cautions are necessary when we consider what we can learn about possible adoption in countries like the U.S. that lag behind countries like Japan?
• What are the current issues for research and design for camera phones and other mobile imaging devices?
• What are the current issues for social research on the uses and implications of camera phones and other mobile imaging devices?
   

Participation & Process

The number of participants will be limited to 25 people. Prospective authors are invited to submit their position paper describing their interest and experience in this field  (2-3 pages), in PDF format, electronically to Mirjana Spasojevic at spasojevic@yahoo.com  no later than June 24, 2005. Authors may submit the papers in standard ACM SIG Proceedings format.

Proceedings

The workshop proceedings will be distributed to the workshop participants, and are also available online in PDF format.

Important Dates

June 24, 2005: Deadline for submissions of workshop papers
July 15, 2005: Notification of acceptance for workshop papers
August 25, 2005: Deadline for preparing camera-ready copies
September 11, 2005: Pervasive Image Capture and Sharing 2005 workshop at Ubicomp 2005