No Cover Image

Journal article 771 views 97 downloads

Locative mobile media and time: Foursquare and technological memory

Michael Saker, Leighton Evans Orcid Logo

First Monday, Volume: 21, Issue: 2

Swansea University Author: Leighton Evans Orcid Logo

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.5210/fm.v21i2.6006

Abstract

Foursquare is a location-based social network (LBSN) that can be used to explore locations and mark one’s movements in the form of ‘check-ins’. This paper investigates why some Foursquare users are choosing to record their locational past, and in so doing using it as a ‘mediated memory object’ (Dijc...

Full description

Published in: First Monday
ISSN: 13960466
Published: 2016
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa37681
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Abstract: Foursquare is a location-based social network (LBSN) that can be used to explore locations and mark one’s movements in the form of ‘check-ins’. This paper investigates why some Foursquare users are choosing to record their locational past, and in so doing using it as a ‘mediated memory object’ (Dijck, 2009). The paper explores the different ways users then interact with their preserved spatial pasts, owing to Foursquare’s mode of preservation. A close engagement with phenomenological theory on the importance of engagement with technology and technicity as a shaping force on the experience of time conceptualises the use of Foursquare as a memory object. The functionality of Foursquare is positioned as a key element in how the location-based social network is significantly different from older memory related practices, as well as signalling its importance for the individuals that employ Foursquare in this manner.
Keywords: location-based social networking, Foursquare, time, phenomenology, memory
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issue: 2