Folks, I want to thank the at least a dozen people who sent me great info about diasporas and the Net today. I will summarize it when I get a chance, which may not be till March, because of 2 deadlines. The best story I heard was about the guy giving a Powerpoint talk at a major US grad university that is wireless equipped, when his mother's babytalk chat to her little son popped up in an Instant Messaging window to the amusement of all. As you may have gathered, I am pushing towards finishing a review piece. I have a few other queries for info? 1. I'd appreciate leads into IM and SMS. Not just prevalence, and who is doing it for what. Both adolescent and adult based. And special kinds of speech communities. 2. Anything about teens' use of the Net to engage in community would also be appreciated -- IM, email, chat, Usenet, etc. 3. I have heard that Internet phone is one of the most commonly used Net things in the developing world. Is this true, and if it is, where is it documented and analyzed. As for diasporas, when I become post-deadline, I will digest this for AOIR list, so no need to post your private messages to the list. Barry ___________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman@chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 ___________________________________________________________________