Mediated Pedestrian Mobility: Walking and the Map App

While walking has always been mediated, the arrival of smartphones with multiple apps has changed how we walk and how we use apps. In this study, we investigate the relationships of pedestrian-in-the-street and app-user-on-screen actions. We display and describe a series of intersubjective practices constituted by, and with, walking while using a mobile device. The video data used are from a larger study of pedestrians using smartphones in urban settings, with our analysis here turning on how a smartphone is used and interacted around to accomplish walking together. Our approach draws upon ethnomethodological conversation analytic studies of the sequential and category-based organisation of mobile and on-screen actions. The analysis shows how walking actions (such as unilateral-stopping, turning, restarting) are connected to map actions such as displaying the map, manipulating the scale and monitoring the movement of the you-are-here dot. We conclude with remarks on the collaborative inter-subjective nature of walking with apps.