It’s Ulan Bataar in the middle of the winter and the two disciples in red flowing robes kicking a football around a stony courtyard look up to see an approaching stranger. Social interaction is easy when you’re obviously ‘not from around here’ and in broken English they extend an invitation out of the bitter cold and into the monasterial calm. When the conversation drifts to my employer disciple #1 extends a hand into his sleeve and slides out his mobile phone comparing it to the newer, bulkier, 3G model that I’ve borrowed for this trip.… read on

Johannes is a farm labourer in South Africa’s Mpumulanga province, far away from a major town and further still from the country’s world-class banking infrastructure. Working for cash, Johannes had never opened a bank account before banking consultant Beyers Coetzee flew a two-seater plane to the farm he worked on and opened his first account..… read on

Have you just updated your Facebook status? Watched a video on YouTube? Uploaded your latest holiday photos to Flickr, perhaps? If not, you’re quite unusual. Hundreds of millions of us have caught the user-generated content habit over the last couple of years and many now regularly slide or flip open their mobile to participate in this revolution.… read on

Looking at infrastructure, resource distribution, organisational issues, culture and pedagogy suggests that rural communities, ethnic minorities and the urban dispossessed, whatever the setting, share many attributes of disadvantage with societies in sub-Saharan Africa. We should be conscious of what mobile learning there can teach us wherever we work.… read on

“I want my phone to last for as long as I live,” remarks Rajesh as he shows off his new Nokia phone. The phone cost Rajesh about a month’s salary and he protects it with a plastic cover against dirt and scratches. It has a monochrome screen, a keypad and no web browser. We stand admiring the phone in the small, spartan tenement Rajesh shares with six other men in the slums of Mumbai.… read on

Brazil finished 2007 with 121 million cell phones – a 63% penetration rate. The exponential cell phone increase in developing countries is a worldwide tendency. However, in a place with economic inequalities like Brazil, it is fallacious to think that cell phone use is homogeneous across different sectors of the population.… read on

A range of profit-motivated enterprises are deploying innovative technologies, novel approaches and communication tools to solve some of the most pressing problems faced by the vast majority of the world’s population. Against such an entrepreneurial backdrop, the mobile phone is emerging as an unexpectedly effective and flexible tool.… read on

In China, not answering your mobile telephone is considered rude, no matter where you are, whom you are with, the time of day or what activities you are engaged in. And voice mail does not exist. Despite this cultural imperative to be available anytime and anywhere, there is a simple work-around practiced by hundreds of millions of Chinese. Manually removing the telephone battery creates a message to in-coming callers that the telephone’s owner is out of range and thus unable to answer the phone… read on

It didn’t take us long to find it. After all, mobile phone masts aren’t that easy to hide, and Masindi is a tightly-knit, flat little west Ugandan town. After a few short minutes, driving past countless mobile phone dealerships, internet cafés and village phone operators, there it was. I was last in Masindi in 1998, not that long ago in the grand scheme of things, but a lifetime in the short history of the mobile phone..… read on

Many are saying that the next Big Thing - somewhat inevitably termed Web 3.0 - is the arrival of the semantic web. My concern with the semantic web being on the menu for the third course, is that this is a technology-centric vision, at a time when we are only just learning how to be user-centric. Does it not strike anyone else as odd that in the year after Time elevates you, me and us to the lofty heights of person of the year, the chatter about what is next concerns technology, not people? The most successful internet services have great technology, but it is the benefits to individuals that mark them out - Google, eBay, Skype and Amazon. They cut great swathes of inefficiency out of creaky, overweight systems, handing mountains of value back to the users. And the latest darlings, social networking startups, are the essence of user-centricity - they figured out that people care about their friends (duh) and would be keen to have better and richer relationships with them than has been provided so far with deaf, dumb and mute address books.… read on

The real world map shows what we humans have been given to work with. The Web shows what we have chosen to care about. And that’s exactly what’s so special about the Web place. It is made not out of mountains, oceans, deserts and forests. It is made out of humans caring about things together. That last word is important: “together”. The Web is in fact a new place for us to be humans together. On the Web, we can be together in new ways. In a sense that’s obvious. The Web gave us email, which is a new way for us to connect with one another. And it gave us chat rooms, and instant messaging. You and a friend could even set up web video cameras and wave to each other online. These are all new ways of connecting. But that’s not what’s so exciting and important about the Web. The Web is a different sort of place. But why has it kicked up a fuss like nothing else in 50 years?… read on

A growing marketplace for ideas, innovations, and uniquely qualified minds is changing the long-standing rules of innovation and talent management. Companies seeking solutions to seemingly insoluble problems can tap the insights of hundreds of thousands of enterprising scientists without having to employ everybody full-time. This shift is changing the way companies invent and develop products and services. Companies’ turning to external ideagoras for innovations doesn’t mean traditional employees are taking a back seat in the creative process. New social computing tools such as wikis and blogs put unprecedented communications power in the hands of employees. A growing number of firms believe the benefits of new collaboration tools far outweigh the risks. These tools stimulate innovation and growth, by helping employees connect with more people, in more regions of the world, with less hassle and more enjoyment, than earlier generations of workplace technology… read on

Once revered by ancient Egyptians as an emblem of grace and poise, cats have once again risen to a position of particular cultural prominence. Riding invisible bicycles, demanding cheeseburgers, and regularly in need of “Halp!”, pictures of cats caught mid-adventure and annotated with grammatically playful captions have emerged as a recent manifestation of the internet meme. Time magazine’s profile of the lolcat phenomenon (”lol” being an acronym for “laugh out loud” used in internet forums) describes internet memes as a form of cultural curiosity that self-replicates across the “collective imagination” of the internet. More than just a running gag, however, the internet meme serves as an object around and through which communities are formed. While perhaps apparently “mindless” in form, they provide a sort of cultural glue that’s used in a variety of ways to bring people together across an increasingly fragmented media landscape.… read on

A mass of independent people, with different information, skills and outlooks, working together in the right way, can discover, analyse, strategise, coordinate, create and innovate together at scale. We are developing new capabilities to participate and collaborate, to have our say - through blogs and video - but also to listen and learn from others - through wikis and social networks. We have only just begun to explore how this will change how we think, our sense of ourselves and indeed in what mixture this capacity for collective innovation will be good and bad for us. This is the world of We-Think. Efforts at We-Think are successful only when they are organised. They are not an anarchic free for all. Yet they are organised without the hallmarks of a traditional organisation with ranks of people in positions of authority. They can be structured without anyone obviously being in control; they get work done without a division of labour imposed from on top. People seem to work best in We-Think when they assign themselves to tasks and most management is exercised through consent and peer review… read on

One Starbucks Coffee is just like any other, right? Since its founding in 1971, the company has grown to over 12,000 stores worldwide, becoming the epitome of global brands. There are over 180 locations in the New York City area alone; 153 of which have wireless internet access provided. However, for a new breed of mobile professionals, choosing a Starbucks is a deliberate, strategic and, sometimes, daily decision. For Generation Mesh, Starbucks - as well as independent cafés, parks and other public spaces where it is possible to access the wireless internet - is a vital site for social interaction, professional support, collaboration and, even, community. I use this term in reference to mesh networks, sometimes called ad hoc networks, which are decentralized wireless networks in which every node can both send and receive information. Generation Mesh adeptly negotiates organizational, technological and spatial boundaries - participating simultaneously in the networked “space of flows” while transforming Starbucks into a “space of place” filled with opportunities for social interaction, collaboration and community. … read on

Unlike the pub on the corner where you run into the same old folks night after night, in a synthetic world you can run rampant with a pack of global cronies from every corner of the world. From doctors in New York, to students in Mexico City, to a barber from Liverpool, the crowd is diverse, interesting and engaged. Residents of synthetic worlds are global citizens who just might take a break from slaying a dragon to talk about their real life businesses and make real connections. And unlike the mix of networking and play in the real world, no one has to break a sweat, hit a ball, or wear funny pants. Whether it’s a real company in Second Life or a cooperative effort to save the virtual world in Entropia, residents of synthetic worlds are making real world connections while they play. We know. You’ve heard that social synthetic worlds like Second Life are just full of degenerates who want to gamble, cross dress, and have sex. Hmm … doesn’t that happen in the real world too? It’s true that there is some aberrant behavior but this doesn’t define the space as a whole so don’t be put off.… read on

In Western societies, we are experiencing what could be called a democratic revolution in consumerism: demands for participation are spilling over into the world of business. This new participation society is driven by brand communities, which express themselves in the freedom of online forums: consumers are swapping experiences more and more in brand communities or brand networks, in discussion forums, weblogs or web video services such as YouTube or MySpace. In recent years there has been a rapid growth in individual, independent and dynamic brand communication, which is free from the influence of the organisation: consumers increasingly act independently and have a significant and creative influence on brand communications. In the media age, people are much more spontaneous when talking about brands and they make judgments in a more independent and differentiated manner. They are interested in me-focused factors. ‘Cultural Creatives’ or ‘Lohas’ form exciting trends, functioning in what is basically a very democratic manner and exerting massive pressure on organisations.… read on

Our friends are on messenger, Facebook or MySpace, in Second Life or another online game. They could even be around the corner or on their mobile phone. Friendship is the glue that binds the human world together. It exists in our minds and is evident in the actions and efforts that we make with each other. Friendship comes from sharing things with each other, from helping each other, from the way we support each other every day but also in times of crisis. Is the only difference between a virtual friendship and a real one that we don’t meet in the physical world? Play and communication technologies both help us to develop deeper relationships with each other. They help us to create bonds of understanding, stimulate our minds and examine the many possibilities that we have in life. Play gives us the potential to act out our fantasies in a safe environment, while communication technologies help us to connect with each other while we are apart. And on the internet, play and friendship form one of the largest areas of interest. Are they merging? Are they different?… read on

So, what exactly are teens doing on MySpace? Simple: they’re hanging out. Of course, ask any teen what they’re doing with their friends in general; they’ll most likely shrug their shoulders and respond nonchalantly with “just hanging out”. Hanging out amongst friends allows teens to build relationships and stay connected. Much of what is shared between youth is culture – fashion, music, media. The rest is simply presence. This is important in the development of a social worldview … read on

I suppose there are break-ups happening via text message these days. That’s a sad thought. I know people who have been fired through emails as well. There are methods of communicating that are somewhat less personal, which make it easier for the non-confrontational types to just say what they need to and not deal with the other person’s emotions. At least with a phone call you get the chance to respond immediately. Although maybe that’s not always the best thing… read on

Established broadcast organizations are currently renegotiating their relationship with the new kids on the block: internet giant Google recently bought up YouTube for the hefty sum of 1.6 billion dollars after Murdoch Inc acquired MySpace about a year ago. Ever since the popularization of the internet in the mid-1990s, technology gurus have prophesied the decline and eventual demise of broadcasting. The trendy expression “postbroadcasting” has come to signify the idea that television, after its convergence with the internet and other digital technologies, will gradually disappear as a distinct institutional practice… read on

A friend of mine has taken to texting his eldest son when he wants to ask him a question. Nothing strange about that, you may think. Except that he does it even when he knows that his son is in another room in the same house. The reason that he texts his son is simple. It’s because he knows that he’ll get a proper reply. Teenagers were never that communicative even when I was one. But since the onset of the digital communications era, text, instant messaging and email have become preferred means of interaction. They depersonalize communication and take away embarrassment, awkwardness and the undertones and overtones that come with eye-to-eye spoken communication… read on

Everything seemed insubstantial. The only solid evidence he had was a lump the size of a dodo’s egg with a pain that bourbon couldn’t kill. He had enough information to sail a ship on, but no clues to navigate by. Only a raft of words taking him nowhere, very, very slowly. They offered to tell him everything, but so did the dictionary. The victim was more eloquent. And those crumpled sheets on the bed spoke volumes that the flat white sheets of paper could never match. On those there were only words, words, words… read on

1947 was a big year. That year, Bell Labs invented the transistor and Levittown, New York, the first modern American suburb and the model for most others to come, opened for business. 1947 was not only the beginning of the Baby Boom, but of a whole new lifestyle of electronic home appliances. The Boomers, who begin to retire this year, are the first generation (at least in the US) that mostly has no direct experience of pre-suburban life and pre-electronic media. Their perspectives are deeply embedded in our view of home life: what houses are for, how to use them, how to see ourselves in them. From silvery refrigerators that say we mean business when we’re cooking for pleasure to video game systems that recreate the bowling alleys that have disappeared from corner strip malls, the shape of appliances reflects the values of this generation… read on

In an industry which is very forward looking, one interested in the future development of information and communications technologies, it can be useful to have a sense of, and learn from, history. The recent pioneering of the use of texting by youth is a well known and much cited example of unexpected innovation. But in fact there have been numerous occasions where technologies have entered our everyday lives through the influence of users, or at least some users, in ways that were unanticipated by industry. Radio technology was first developed to convey a signal to places where a fixed line, i.e. telegraphs, could not reach – such as for contacting ships at sea. But it was ham radio enthusiasts who developed the practice of using radio for social communication… read on

During television’s first fifty years, the practice of consuming TV changed very little. A limited number of broadcasters determined the content, and the viewer could choose to watch or not to watch. Except for the transformation from black and white to colour, the soaps, movies, news and children’s programmes merely changed according to the times, and we watched either together or alone in one particular setting: the home, more specifically, the sitting room. The magical 3D TV and programmes using smell and touch that were predicted to be the future of television in the 70s never really appeared. The structure of different types of content such as TV series, the Saturday night movie and the news was solidly ingrained as the predominant concept of television… read on

The home environment can greatly benefit from mobile technology that enhances the user’s experience through easy interaction with the immediate environment. Designing the home of the future, integrating communication devices, is not an easy task. It is a challenge that includes consideration of home dwellers’ opinions, preferences and tastes. In the well-known scenario, that of the fridge letting me know that the yogurt is about to run out, it may be that I don’t want to be interrupted by futile information… read on