Mobile Media and Political Collective Action

Development of social informatics as a step of optimization the higher education process in Kazakhstan

“…Communication devices or application encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware, software, satellite systems as well as various services and applications associated with them -text messaging, e-mails, weblogs, online petitions, photo and video sharing have constituted a sort of new reality the world have never faced before. Social networking is a tool makes life easier and helps to solve certain tasks assigned to a person, though this form of communication in some cases might be more complicated and requires a virtual person more effort, it is possible to point out the most common ones: First, possibility of simultaneous communication of a large number of the people being in different parts of the world, and, therefore, living in different cultures; secondly, impossibility of use of the most part of nonverbal means of communication and self-presentation; thirdly, pauperization of an emotional component of communication; and, fourthly, anonymity and decrease in psychological risk in the course of communication (Rheingold, 2008). Above that there is one more challenge.…”

“…Various networked devices have become routine information appliances in people's social lives, and the web has become an increasingly pervasive and important source of information, communication and connection. Howard Rheingold describes this form of social co-ordination, which utilizes modern technology as the "smart mobs", which "contrary to the usual connotations of a mob, behave intelligently or efficiently because of its exponentially increasing network links" (Rheingold, 2008). The life and the Internet make us to discover what makes particular technologies relevant to people's lives -researchers have to ask deeper and more profound questions about how our lives have become bound up with technologies.…”

Flâneriebetween Net and Place

“…1 In this article, we build on the rapid developments of information and communication technology (or ICT henceforth) that have opened up new possibilities for engaging the public, not as passive respondents to planners' proposals but as active agents engaged in the local planning process. Already, as Benkler (2006, chapter 7) points out, ICT creates opportunities for individuals to participate in formal organizations outside the market sphere, thereby nurturing a new form of empowerment, which ranges from world-scale collaborative projects like Wikipedia and nationwide political action (Rheingold 2008) to small grassroots hybrid communities (Antoniadis et al 2008). We argue here that current ICT advances offer also new possibilities for genuine and sustained engagement of the public in shaping their immediate environment, thanks to more and more frequent free Internet access in public spaces, affordable laptops and home desktops, and a new generation of cell phones with embedded cameras and Internet capabilities.…”

Mobile Communication and Relational Mobilization in China

“…More specifically, most studies have addressed the technological affordances, or actionable properties (Gibson 1979), of mobile phones -such as widespread accessibility, decentralized diffusion of information, high message credibility, and asynchronous communication -for mobilization (e.g. Castells et al 2007: 188;Hermanns 2008;Rafael 2003;Rheingold 2008;Suárez 2006). Nevertheless, there is not necessarily any causal explanation between these affordances and the mechanism of mobilization.…”

“…Ibahrine 2008;Rafael 2003;Rheingold 2008). As early as in 2002, Rheingold discussed the emergence of 'smart mobs' in virtue of the proliferation of mobile communication technologies that dramatically amplify people's organizational capability for political activism.…”