Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality

287 Pages·2017·2.7 MB·English

by  Meryl Alper

Giving Voice
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital
Media and Learning
Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth, edited by W. Lance
Bennett
Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility, edited by Miriam J. Metzger and Andrew J.
Flanagin
Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected, edited by Tara McPherson
The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning, edited by Katie Salen
Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media, edited by Anna Everett
Youth, Identity, and Digital Media, edited by David Buckingham
Engineering Play: A Cultural History of Children’s Software, by Mizuko Ito
Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Me-
dia, by Mizuko Ito et al.
The Civic Web: Young People, the Internet, and Civic Participation, by Shakuntala Banaji
and David Buckingham
Connected Play: Tweens in a Virtual World, by Yasmin B. Kafai and Deborah A. Fields
The Digital Youth Network: Cultivating Digital Media Citizenship in Urban Communities,
edited by Brigid Barron, Kimberley Gomez, Nichole Pinkard, and Caitlin K. Martin
The Interconnections Collection, developed by Kylie Peppler, Melissa Gresalfi, Katie
Salen Tekinbaş, and Rafi Santo
Gaming the System: Designing with Gamestar Mechanic, by Katie Salen Tekinbaş,
Melissa Gresalfi, Kylie Peppler, and Rafi Santo
Script Changers: Digital Storytelling with Scratch, by Kylie Peppler, Rafi Santo, Me-
lissa Gresalfi, and Katie Salen Tekinbaş
Short Circuits: Crafting E-Puppets with DIY Electronics, by Kylie Peppler, Katie Salen
Tekinbaş, Melissa Gresalfi, and Rafi Santo
Soft Circuits: Crafting E-Fashion with DIY Electronics, by Kylie Peppler, Melissa
Gresalfi, Katie Salen Tekinbaş, and Rafi Santo
Connected Code: Children as the Programmers, Designers, and Makers for the 21st Century,
by Yasmin B. Kafai and Quinn Burke
Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap, by Carrie James
Education and Social Media: Toward a Digital Future, edited by Christine Greenhow,
Julia Sonnevend, and Colin Agur
Framing Internet Safety: The Governance of Youth Online, by Nathan W. Fisk
Connected Gaming: What Making Video Games Can Teach Us about Learning and Lit-
eracy, by Yasmin B. Kafai and Quinn Burke
Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality, by Meryl Alper
Giving Voice
Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality
Meryl Alper
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2017 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information
storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Stone Sans and Stone Serif by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Alper, Meryl, author.
Title: Giving voice : mobile communication, disability, and inequality /
Meryl Alper.
Description: Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, [2017] | Series: The John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on digital media and learning |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016022991 | ISBN 9780262035583 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780262533973 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Communication devices for people with disabilities--Social
aspects. | Voice output communication aids--Social aspects. | Assistive computer
technology--Social aspects. | Sociology of disability.
Classification: LCC HV1568.4 .A47 2017 | DDC 362.4/0483--dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016022991
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of Evelyn and Irving Alper and Beatrice and Martin Weitz

The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and
something is bound to come of it.
—Vannevar Bush, As We May Think (1945)

Contents
Series Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Introduction 1
2 Talking iPads and the Partial Promise of Voice: What Is Voice? 35
3 Making a Case for iPad Cases: What Is a Mobile Communication
Device? 65
4 The “Fun iPad” and the “Communication iPad”: What Is an iPad
For? 85
5 Augmenting Communication with New Media and Popular Culture:
What Does It Mean to Communicate with an iPad? 107
6 “You’ve Gotta Be Plugged In”: How Do Media Shape Understandings
of the iPad? 123
7 Conclusion 151
Methods 173
Notes 187
Bibliography 225
Index 259