Full Text Article: “Geo, Audio, Video, Photo: How Digital Convergence in Mobile Devices Facilitates Participatory Culture In Libraries”

The following article was published in the The Australian Library Journal from the Australian Library and Information Association and published by Routledge.
We are providing a link to the full text article (published version) that’s available in the Bond University repository.
Title
Geo, Audio, Video, Photo: How Digital Convergence in Mobile Devices Facilitates Participatory Culture In Libraries
Authors
Peta J. Hopkins
Bond University
Joanna Hare
Bond University
Jessie Donaghey
Bond University
Wendy Abbott
Bond University
Source
epublications@bond
Also Published in: Australian Library Journal, 64(1)
Abstract

Libraries are often hailed as the cultural and learning hub of their communities. To deepen community engagement and social inclusion, libraries are adopting new technologies to facilitate a participatory and learning culture. With market saturation of smartphones and tablets and their associated apps, new affordances for content creation, curation and sharing show great potential to enhance participatory culture. The typical smartphone or tablet now incorporates digital technologies such as geo-location, audio, video, photo and web technologies. Bringing these technologies into a single device has enabled the development of apps such as Instagram, HistoryPin and SoundCloud. It has also changed the way users engage with established social networks and photo-sharing sites. Users can now create and share content on an unprecedented scale from any accessible Wi-fi or mobile phone network. Libraries are embracing these technology-rich apps to interact with their customers in many different ways. Examples in this article examine how libraries are taking up opportunities enabled by the convergence of technologies into mobile devices in the participatory culture context – tapping into new communities, engaging with their stakeholders in meaningful ways, enhancing their social impact and transforming their essential roles in today’s knowledge society.

Direct to Full Text Article (18 pages; PDF)

Filed under: Libraries, Open Access, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries