One way into this would be to look at Howard Rheingold (2002). Smart Mobs. Basic Books. [I'm reminded of his discussion of the Lovegety dating service in Japan where a key-chain device lights up when a compatible Lovegety subscriber is in the area; plus various games played using location-aware phones. Rheingold's website for the book, www.smartmobs.com posts updates for the various sections of the book] And other work on mobile phone networking, like Ito, Okabe, and Matsuda (2005). Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life. MIT Press. There's also the ambient computing approach, e.g.,: Adam Greenfield (2006). Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing. New Riders Press. And someone already mentioned Moreville's Ambient Findability. In terms of surveillance, there's the online journal Surveillance and Society (http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/) as well as a brand new book: David Lyon (2006). Theorizing Surveillance: The Panopticon and Beyond. Willan Publishing. In terms of people voluntarily giving up privacy to be surveilled, some of the studies on webcams might be useful, especially home webcams (work by Mark Andrejevic [see his book, Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched, as well as an essay in Couldry and McCarthy's MediaSpace, Theresa Senft, Hille Koskela [who has pieces in Surveillance and Society and in Lyon's new book] would be places to start. It also reminds me of the Marauder's Map in the Harry Potter books, except in this case everyone gets a copy. Cheers, Greg Wise -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Bunz, Ulla Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:39 PM To: air-l@aoir.org Cc: njt06@garnet.acns.fsu.edu Subject: [Air-l] theory to explain plazes.com? An undergraduate student in my program is researching plazes.com, a website like myspace and facebook in that it is a social networking site, but in addition it adds a physical location. The technology behind it enables friends to know one's location through a cellphone or internet connection. Thus, issues of privacy (invasion) are huge. The student is looking for a theory that explains or relates to people's willingness to engage in such activities even at the expense of inhibiting personal privacy. In a way we have a third place here that is tied to a physical location again. The student is approaching this topic from a background in rhetorical criticism. Does anyone have suggestions for theories and places to look for them? As-complete-as-possible references would be very much appreciated. Please send to me directly. I will compile and send both to the list and to the student. Thanks, Ulla --- Ulla Bunz Assistant Professor Department of Communication University Center C, Suite 3100 Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306 Email: ubunz@fsu.edu Phone: 850-644-1809 ----------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/