Information Research Weblog

Getting to grips with this new IRWeblog is quite a business! I think I need a techie in charge here. :-)

However, my purpose is not to deal with Weblogs, fascinating though the subject may be, but to share some thoughts about a book. In this case, "Smart mobs: the next social revolution" by Howard Rheingold - well known in the Internet world for his other books, perhaps most famously for "The virtual community".

I'm only part way through reviewing it for Information Research, but this log is supposed to be about stuff like this, so I thought I would share it. My impression, I realised yesterday, is that it has the air of a kind of travel guide - for people thinking of a trip to the future.

The main message is that the combination of the Web and mobile telephony will bring about major social change - and there is some support for the idea in the existence of groups campaigning for social change (the anti-globalisation groups, for example) which have used mobile telephony (mobiles in the UK, cell-phones in the USA) to organize themselves during demonstrations. However, the main use appears to be to set up dates through texting (aided in Japan by the existence of Web-based dating services), or otherwise aiding (or abetting) social communication of various kinds.

Frankly, I regard them as a pain in the bum - I carry one for emergencies and I think that is their key function, but the clamour of mobiles on the street, and in trains is a nuisance. They also contribute significantly to information (or communication) overload - some business people daren't even switch the damn things off when they go on holiday. In fact, in one organization we found one person who took holidays in Nepal and Peru to avoid getting a signal - but kept her mobile 'on'.

The writing style is somewhat breathless - the author rushes around from place to place, scattering famous names all over the place - but it is readable. Not un-put-downable, but readable.

Anyone else reading it?

Tom