Author Howard Rheingold Kicks-Off the CITS-CNSI Life Online Distinguished Speaker Series

Howard Rheingold, futurist and renowned observer of technology, will speak at UCSB’s engineering II Pavilion on Friday October 17th, at 2 o’clock. Rheingold’s talk is the first in a new series of lectures titled Life Online Distinguished Speaker Series that are co-sponsored by the Center for Information Technology and Society and the California Nanosystems Institute.

Rheingold’s most recent book is Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. In this widely discussed volume, Rheingold explores the social consequences of portable wireless technologies which he views as the latest major revolution in the technologies of computing and communication. He believes that wireless capacities will fundamentally alter how people interact and cooperate with one another. A social revolution is at hand, he argues. He coined the term “smart mobs” to refer to technology-enabled groups of citizens accomplishing things together. Recently Rheingold has been heavily sought by the news media because of the “flash mob” phenomena occurring around the globe, which is akin to what he predicted and discussed in his book.

In Smart Mobs, Rheingold takes a journey around the world. From Tokyo to Seattle, Helsinki to Manhattan, he takes readers backstage into the lairs of the inventors and engineers who are creating smaller and more powerful devices. He also goes to the front lines, where people are experimenting with new technologies and creating new social structures. From the fanciful (e.g., “Lovegeties” in Japan that light up when a potential mate appears in the vicinity) to the extraordinary (e.g., the overthrow of repressive regimes in the Philippines and Senegal by cell-phone wielding activists) to the chilling (e.g., celebrity stalkers and terrorists coordinating via encoded text messages), these “smart mobs” represent a fundamentally new form of social connectivity in Rheingold’s view. He considers a wide spectrum of implications, such as the evolution of membership and “reputation” systems, evolving pressure from media cartels, and potential threats to privacy and security.

Howard Rheingold is one of the world’s best-known observers of the social implications of technology. He has traveled and written widely on the topic for more than twenty years, combining his own experience in formative technology communities, such as The Well, with his insights into how technology affects the lives of people in many cultures. He was founding executive editor of HotWired, editor of The Whole Earth Review, editor-in-chief of the Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, and online host for The Well. In addition to Smart Mobs, he is author of the three well known books: The Virtual Community, Virtual Reality, and Tools for Thought. He lives in Mill Valley, California and can be found online at: rheingold.com