e-Culture and m-Culture: The Way that Electronic, Computing and Mobile Devices are Changing the Nature of Art, Design and Culture

Abstract

We are now becoming used to the notion that electronic devices and communications systems are creating new categories of art forms, such as television programs, computer-generated special effects in movies and electronically enhanced music. However, we need to be aware that this process is accelerating and is likely to have an even larger significance in the future than has already been the case. Computer games, for example, while apparently being just an ephemeral way to use a little spare time, are actually an embryonic new art form, since they require detailed design and creative input analogous to computer-generated movies and special effects, but with the great difference that many different options must be available, depending on the choices of the user. They can thus be seen as a new type of interactive art form which can also be interpreted from the technological standpoint as a very rich form of interaction between the human being and a relatively powerful computer. Just as, in their early days, movie films, still photographs and television programs were originally seen as trivial and ephemeral, but were later recognized as having long-term artistic merit, the same will surely apply to computer games and to other forms of human interaction with computers. This can be termed ‘e-culture’.

Although these fields have evolved relatively rapidly on the desktop computer, another major change is now occurring, in that mobile devices, particularly advanced mobile phones (smartphones) are now acquiring the ability to do many of the things that the desktop or laptop computer can do. While they have the obvious disadvantages that the screen size is much smaller and the input interface is very restricted (typically, fewer keys and a touchscreen or other imprecise navigation control, rather than a mouse), they have the major positive aspects that they are carried more or less permanently on the person by a high proportion of people in developed societies and a rapidly increasing proportion in developing societies as well. In this respect, they appear to represent one of the most radically transforming technologies the world has ever seen, with over half the population of the world now having a mobile device of some sort. This proportion is rapidly rising, as are the abilities of the devices.

This new mobile aspect can be termed ‘m-culture’ and we are only just beginning to think expansively about its implications. Experience indicates that it can only be properly addressed and understood by taking a very comprehensive view of all of the interlinked aspects, taken together:

• The aesthetic design of the device

• The design of content to be displayed on the screen

• The design of the software to implement particular functions within the device

• The electronic engineering design of the hardware functions within the device

• The business model that ensures sufficient revenue to fund the design and development of advancing devices.

Young people are the most important users of such devices and their experience and insights are of immense importance in advancing designs and trying to determine the probable path of development: it is important to seek the opinions of them and to involve them actively in these matters.