I am increasingly interested in the privatization of public space. Mobile phones have facilitated the rise of “network individualismâ€; community forming around the individual without the dependancy of place. This allows for greater choice in social networks and arguably greater bonding social capital (contact amongst strong ties). Has it also lead to a decline of serendipity? Reduction in the diversity of social ties? Privatization of public space? I increasingly believe that it has, but have some hope that public uses of WiFi and cell phones encourage some spontaneity of interaction. All questions that I hope to address in my ongoing Network Awareness project. Interesting article on this subject in Metropolis Magazine – Disconnected Urbanism.
My two most recent publications on Netville were published this month (likely the last publications on this project). From the “publications†section of my website you can download a “draft†version, or if you or your institution have a subscription from the journal publisher, the final version of “Grieving For a Lost Network†and “Neighboring in Netville†(with Barry Wellman).
Thanks to the assistance of my student, Cameron Marlow, I have completed the transfer of my homepage to my very own domain www.mysocialnetwork.net. If you are using rss to monitor my blog, please visit my website to update the location of the rss files, the old files will disappear soon (those located on e-neighbors.mit.edu).