Mobile media in the social fabric of a kindergarten

Abstract

At first blush, mobile media may appear a promising solution to the problem arising from the fact that parents in the present-day kindergarten institution rely almost solely on teachers' retrospective reports on their child's daily activities. However, a kindergarten is a delicate social fabric that mixes professional roles (the teachers') with socio-emotional relationships (parenting and caring) and involves stakeholders who are dependent on adults in the use of technology (the children). To date, no studies have been reported that critically examine the boundary conditions for successful mobile media applications in such settings. We present a study of Meaning, a one-button capture-and-push-to-Web solution that was used by a Finnish kindergarten for a month. Interviews and the amount of media sent suggest that the intervention was a success, and we report on seven uses of media. However, all uses were critically affected by the users' social fabric, in which the teachers were the nexus. We conclude by discussing various ways in which the heterogeneity of the user group affected mobile media use.