How do ICTs fit into physical space?

ICTs are often out of place in terms of design and cost with many of the wider physical environments in which they are embedded: The ubiquitous nature, status functions and social importance of ICTs, and in particular cell phones, means that they may seem out of place in the physical environments in which they are embedded. In the town, I visited a monk at the local Daoist temple who fished his extremely large smart phone out of the folds of his orange robe when it rang in the middle of our interview.

And when I noticed that one of these migrant workers had large books under the thin mattresses on his bed, I joked that was he trying to sleep on books to absorb their knowledge. He replied that it was because he was poor and didn't have a pillow, holding in his hands his iPhone. This was almost certainly a joke but most jokes work because there is an element of truth to them.

These seemingly poor environments are often the most ICT rich in terms of the space and place of objects in the room because ICTs are one of the first investments made with discretionary cash. On the stool that doubled as a bedside table, in this photo, sits tissues, a USB key, the air conditioner controller and the cell phone attached to its chargers and while these two migrant workers live in simple, cheap accommodation the fact that they don't scrimp on their technology indicates the extent of its importance to their lives.