The WELL: inkwell.vue.166: Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs

#280: Brian Slesinsky (bslesins) Mon 14 Jul 03 10:12

Mon, 14 Jul 2003 10:12:00 PDT

Thought this was interesting:

A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html

"So these are human patterns that have shown up on the Internet, not because of the software, but because it's being used by humans. Bion has identified this possibility of groups sandbagging their sophisticated goals with these basic urges. And what he finally came to, in analyzing this tension, is that group structure is necessary. Robert's Rules of Order are necessary. Constitutions are necessary. Norms, rituals, laws, the whole list of ways that we say, out of the universe of possible behaviors, we're going to draw a relatively small circle around the acceptable ones." [Read entire topic]

#279: Howard Rheingold (hlr) Wed 25 Jun 03 09:49

Wed, 25 Jun 2003 09:49:00 PDT

Bruce, go to http://www.smartmobs.com and use the search feature and I'm sure you will find links to info about WiFi access in San Francisco. [Read entire topic]

#278: Bruce Bartholomew (blackbart) Thu 19 Jun 03 10:24

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 10:24:00 PDT

Hi Howard, I read your book a month ago. I found it to be educational about the emerging technologies and potential of Wi-Fi access, however I remained skeptical about the adoption of local open ended Wi-Fi access. I did appreciate you candor at the end of the book illuminating the current limitations of the Smart Mob revolution.

Nonetheless, Michael Oh in Boston has found a way to make money and provide free Wi-Fi access using NewburyOpen.net. Apparently this story was in Wired News, so I'm sure you have heard about it. Is there any Wi-Fi free access comparable to NewburyOpen.net in the Bay Area or Web sites tracking Wi-Fi accessibility for people who prefer to compute in public places? [Read entire topic]

#277: Gail Williams (gail) Thu 6 Mar 03 09:45

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 09:45:00 PST

Nice! [Read entire topic]

#276: Howard Rheingold (hlr) Thu 6 Mar 03 09:44

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 09:44:00 PST

I'm putting the compost in the corn beds as we speak. Well, not really. Later today! [Read entire topic]

#275: Gail Williams (gail) Thu 6 Mar 03 09:44

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 09:44:00 PST

That's sanity. Airport and a garden is halfway to heaven. Planting any corn this season? [Read entire topic]

#274: Howard Rheingold (hlr) Thu 6 Mar 03 09:42

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 09:42:00 PST

I use a Treo 300 for telephone and mobile email and mobile web access. I'm hooked! I never leave home without it. Of course, I tend to not want to leave home if I don't have to. Ever since Airport, my spring-summer-fall office is under the plum tree in my garden. [Read entire topic]

#273: Gail Williams (gail) Wed 5 Mar 03 09:51

Wed, 05 Mar 2003 09:51:00 PST

Howard, how mobily networked are you these days? Do you use telephone, email, or more when you are out and about in your regular routine? [Read entire topic]

#272: Howard Rheingold (hlr) Tue 4 Mar 03 18:17

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 18:17:00 PST

I talk about some of these disconnects in Chapter One, (satyr).

FYI:

<http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030310-428047,00.html> [Read entire topic]

#271: in search of this thread's end (satyr) Sat 1 Mar 03 16:57

Sat, 01 Mar 2003 16:57:00 PST

Actually, I want to stop talking about it; I never meant to go on at such length in the first place.

My perspective has been basically that of the practice dummy in bayonet school, a safe target that keeps taking the jabs...not a useful focus for inquiry...it was mostly just for practice.

But where there is practice there is usually utilization, and I wouldn't want to dull your imagination as to what that might mean with the petty examples I've seen/heard first-hand. [Read entire topic]