This paper describes the Cellphone Diaries project, which engaged African-American residents of historic South Park East Raleigh, North Carolina in the use of “smartphones” to document places that had meaning to them in Chavis Park, a neighborhood undergoing rapid change. The project was a component of an effort by North Carolina State University to support a neighborhood revitalization framework organized around a community vision plan. Cellphone Diaries attempted to 1) train residents in the use of smartphone digital videos for individual on-site asset mapping, and 2) compare the results of individual on-site smartphone based approaches to concurrent engagement efforts such as individual off-site interviews and off-site community workshops. The successes and challenges of the cellphone diaries approach are discussed.
Boone, K. (2012). Cellphone diaries: Mobile technology and self-authored digital videos in asset mapping. PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement, 1(2), 172-183. Full Text.