<nettime> MOBILE MANIFESTO

[richard barbrook <richard@hrc.wmin.ac.uk>]

MOBILE MANIFESTO


1.0 Is WAP crap?

Early adopters can only access the pleasures of new technologies by
accepting the pains of beta-testing the future.

2.0 When will the hardware come up to speed?

Net users assume that large screens, colourful icons, pop-down menus and
all the other features of the PC interface should be available on mobiles
which are small enough to fit into their pockets.

3.0 Has my SIM card become my identity?

Even if we forget what we did yesterday, our mobiles have recorded all
aspects of our daily lives: who we spoke with, what we bought and where we
were.

4.0 What shall I broadcast tonight?

With the advent of 3G mobiles, everyone will carry a television transmitter
in their pocket for video-conferencing with work colleagues, providing
live-feeds to the Net and swapping MPEG movies with their friends.

5.0 Is your partner monitoring your visits to your lover?

While we appreciate being able to find out where we are using the GPS
facilities on our mobile, we don't want other people knowing where we are
without us telling them first.

6.0 How did I ever leave home without one?

Wherever we go, we are carrying our own intimate world of friends,
colleagues and contacts inside the screens of our mobiles.

7.0 Who said that text was dead?

The popularity of SMS disproves McLuhan's prediction that reading and
writing would disappear once we could easily communicate with each other
using audio-visual media.

8.0 Will we ever develop manners for mobiles?

The happiness of hearing from an absent friend means ignoring your best
mate who is sitting right next to you.

9.0 Is my mobile acting as a double-agent?

By becoming my easy-to-use gateway for on-line banking, m-commerce and
socialising, my mobile is surreptitiously revealing information about my
finances, shopping habits and lifestyle choices to outside forces, such as
law enforcement agencies and market researchers.

10.0 Are we frying our brains instead of polluting our lungs?

For today's young people, the first sign of maturity is ignoring the danger
of radiation from mobiles rather than disregarding the risk of getting
cancer from cigarettes.


Andrew Purdy
Armin Medosch
Mark Fitzpatrick
Niki Gomez
Richard Barbrook
Robin Hamman
Sophia Drakopoulou

7th November 2000

<www.cybersalon.org>

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