Abstract

The ubiquitous mobile phone and handheld smart device have become part of the social fabric of 21st century life and increasingly they are being harnessed and utilised for artistic work and creative media production and dissemination. This paper will trace the history and meteoric rise of the mobile device from a luxury status symbol affordable only to a very few wealthy and privileged people, to a mass social and cultural communication revolution. Cameraphones are used every minute of every day to capture images of 21st century life and death, mobile phones are recording, if not defining the early 21st century. Mobile phones and the web are being used to record, publish and disseminate, personal and collective memories. The humble telephone has evolved into a mobile multimedia computer with ever increasing processing power, memory, still and moving image capturing capabilities, that we carry in our pockets everyday, wherever we go. This evolution has accelerated exponentially since the beginning of the 21st century and their impact is resonating throughout every aspect of everyday culture.