Institute For The Future

Vodaphone Receiver Magazine: Special Issue on East Asia

Issue #13 of Vodaphone's Receiver magazine hit the web last month with a special issue on mobile communicaitons in East Asia.

 

I contribuuted an article on Seoul's emerging cybernomadic urban culture...

 

In this article I tried to capture a bit of the dynamism that one finds in the communications and computing practices of Seoul's everyday street life. I described three driving forces that have come together in a synergystic way to accelerate the deployment of network infrastucture, standardization and diffusion of devices, and the development of new social and cultural practices around these systems - industry, the government, and the Korean people.

 

I also argued that if Korea is any indication of the future of pervasive/ubiquitous computing, then the mobile phone is likely to be the platform of choice. In any case, in much if Asia it already is. It is entirely possible to survive in Seoul without a wallet these days - phones can be used as point-of-sale payment devices at any conveinence store or supermarket, in cabs and subways, and at an increasing array of independent retailers.

 

I concluded this article by talking about Digital Mobile Broadcasting (DMB), which is a new DirectTV-like satellite broadcast service for mobile phones - watching TV on your mobile. Similar services have been launched in the US, but none come close to DMB in terms of progam variety, quality of the video, and price. For about $12 per month, one can view over a dozen separate stations. I left Korea before DMB hit the streets, but I plan on returning for a conference on "Urban play and locative media" in October at the Nabi Art Center.

 

It will be interesting to see how much things have changed in 12 months.