User:Tonygrimaud/smart mobs

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Rheingold, H. (2002). Smart Mobs - The Next Social Revolution. Basic Books.

In this book Rheingold talks about wireless communication devices and how they are shaping modern culture. He interviews people around the world who work and play with their mobile phones, pagers and PDAs to observe how this social revolution is taking shape. This study shows the possibilities and dangers of communications innovation by describing how mobile devices are being used in a variety of ways and in diverse circumstances by people around the world. At one end, there are the youngsters in Tokyo, who would assemble with their wireless devices in WiFi enabled areas around the city to engage in virtual interactions with their peers, while at the other end, demonstrators around the world rely on their mobile phones to organise their actions and avoid police barricades. The author also describes many ways in which people are using their mobile devices in an innovative way to suit their purposes, and how companies have exploited and adapted these creative ideas and turned them into big business.

Chapter two of the book, ‘Technologies of Cooperation’, relates particularly to how people use their mobile devices to interact and cooperate in a virtual social scene. This is of particular interest to my area of research.