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Publications - Abstracts: Community and Social Interaction in the Wireless City: Wi-Fi use in Public and Semi-Public Spaces. Abstract
A significant body of research has addressed whether fixed internet use
increases, decreases or supplements the ways in which people engage
in residential and workplace settings, but few studies have addressed
how wireless internet use in public and semi-public spaces influences
social life. Ubiquitous wi-fi adds a new dimension to the debate over
how the internet may influence the structure of community.Will
wireless internet use facilitate greater engagement with co-located
others or encourage a form of ‘public privatism’? This article reports
the findings of an exploratory ethnographic study of how wi-fi was
used and influenced social interactions in four different settings: paid
and free wi-fi cafes in Boston, MA and Seattle,WA.This study found
contrasting uses for wireless internet and competing implications for
community.Two types of practices, typified in the behaviors of ‘true
mobiles’ and ‘placemakers’, offer divergent futures for how wireless
internet use may influence social relationships.
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