Mobile phones are no longer devices used exclusively for voice communications between one or more parties. Instead, mobile phones are hardwired to cyberspace in various manifestations that make them far more than the simple communications devices they were certainly originally intended to be.
Drawing inspiration from Howard Rheingold's article, "Mobile Phones, Ritual Interaction and Social Capital", I will argue that modern cell phones, with their digital connection to cyberspace, are not only helping to close the divide's gap within rural agricultural areas in the U.S., but changing how they go about planting, watering, fertilizing, and harvesting their crops.
Works Cited:
Benedikt, Michael. “Cyberspace: First steps.” David Bell and Barbara Kennedy. The Cybercultures Reader 2nd Ed. New York: Routledge, 2007. 19-33
"NWS National Digital Forecast Database" National Weather Service 9 May 2007. http://www.weather.gov/ndfd
Rheingold, Howard. "Mobile Phones, Ritual Interaction, and Social Capital." TheFeature.com Archives. 21 Apr 2005. http://www.thefeaturearchives.com/topic/Culture/Mobile_Phones__Ritual_Interaction_and_Social_Capital.html
Shirky, Clay. "Here Comes Everybody." New York: Penguin, 2008.
Uncapher, Willard. "Electronic Homesteading on the Rural Frontier: Big Sky Telegraph and It's Community." The Cybercultures Reader 2nd Ed. New York: Routledge, 2007. 191-212
Interesting Maurice. Mobile phones seem to have changed all aspects of our daily activities. I look forward to hearing your presentation.
ReplyDeleteOk. I hope you didn't revert to this topic just because I said I thought it was interesting -- I mean, I hope you are actually interested in it!
ReplyDeleteYou might want to mention worldwide use too, as either a historical note (did this use become more popular elsewhere first, or the US first?) or as a comparison (e.g. US is not just weird or special).
General notes from the standard bag:
* I cannot evaluate your sources as they do they have annotations providing a summary, assessment, and reflection regarding the source and its place in your work (see assignment sheet).
* Contact me via e-mail if you want to work out any aspects of your argument or organization along the way, or to evaluate scholarly sources (provide citation and annotation in the e-mail), or to bounce presentation ideas off me.