By far the most significant communications innovations of recent years, the mobile Internet and mobile applications have eclipsed the Internet, television, newspapers and radio as the world’s most popular way to access news, data and information. More than half the global population now pays to access information through services and applications on cellphones. Social impact and pattern change have occurred so profoundly, so fast that Wired pronounced that “the Web is dead,” replaced by the personal communications device in your hand. Faster networks, new applications, and innovative user concepts are making mobiles the central nervous system of a networked world. In many parts of the world, the cell phone is the Internet.
We’re currently exploring the implications for a society where virtually everyone on the planet will be connected by decade’s end. Our report, commissioned by the Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy, will focus on the personal democracies that are emerging globally and the resulting regional conflicts over the suppression of “open” news and information.
We’re looking for stories across the world. Contact me to contribute one.
