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Science Fiction and Smart Mobs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the palmtops-for-pitchforks dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Henry Jenkins is director of the Program in Comparative Media Studies at the MIT. In this article, he compares the new science fiction comic book from Warren Ellis, Global Frequency and the more serious book from Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs. 'It is almost as though Ellis was illustrating arguments that Howard Rheingold makes in his new book, Smart Mobs.' As Rheingold explains, 'Smart mobs consist of people who are able to act in concert even if they don't know each other. The people who make up smart mobs cooperate in ways never before possible because they carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities.... Groups of people using these tools will gain new forms of social power.' Check this column for some excerpts or read the original article for more details. More information about topics discussed in Howard Rheingold's last book can be found at the Smart Mobs weblog." T. adds: Here's Curtis Frye's review of Smart Mobs .

4 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Global behavior by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Can't the internet and it's constituents be considered a "smart mob"?

  2. OSS and Smart Mobs? by einhverfr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Smart mobs consist of people who are able to act in concert even if they don't know each other. The people who make up smart mobs cooperate in ways never before possible because they carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities....

    Sounds a whole lot like how OSS projects are developed-- and we communicate and collaborate through devices with computing capabilities known usually as personal computers ;-)

    --

    LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
  3. Resistance is futile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The people who make up smart mobs cooperate in ways never before possible because they carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities....

    Is this the start of a Borg society?

  4. Lessons from the past by tijnbraun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The people who make up smart mobs cooperate in ways never before possible because they carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities.... Groups of people using these tools will gain new forms of social power.

    If you keep out the "carry" and change it into "own"... you have the internet... And what is it used for by most people.... Download mp3, porn and troll on newgroups .... If data from the past is any foresight for the future, i'm not so sure how "smart" the mobs will be...

    Maybe technology will become smarter, people however will probably stay the same.