by Dooeun Choi

Wireless technology lets us be connected anywhere and anytime. So we can expect that a wireless future will bring much more ‘ubiquitous’ connectedness. However, a single node can only manage a limited number of branches, so there should be intermediate nodes that vary in terms of quantity and quality. Therefore the important issue is to whom and what we would like to be connected. The utopia of a wireless future might come if we can figure out how we can relate with other valuable nodes and classify them as ‘personal’ cases.

In Korea, there is a community-based portal site called Cyworld whose membership includes over a quarter of all Koreans. ‘Cy’ in Korean means ‘between’. What makes Cyworld unique is that they have an ‘Ilchon’ system similar to the Korean family system. Through this system you can decide who can see what of your content. There is content only for your Ilchon that the public cannot access. If you become an Ilchon with someone you can also see their content, which is intended only for their Ilchon. Even Ilchon has several classes that break down your openness to others in more detail.

Wireless technology also creates the opportunity to be a meaningful node. In the age of new media, there are numerous channels through which you can express yourself. Through these channels, you can become a narrowcasting ‘media provider’. For example, Art Center Nabi runs a mobile art gallery, ?gallery, which serves screen savers for mobile phone and micro-movies made by artists. However, since camera phones came out, not many people downloaded the pushed content. Users preferred to make their own screensavers and content and wanted to narrowcast what they made. Moblog is a good example of this.

A wireless future that encourages lively, creative players who play in their local context to create various narrowcastings will bring a rich spectrum to our lives. If we as the creative players become more responsible to each other, I believe that a wireless future will contribute toward a more human-centric communication.

http://www.nabi.or.kr/ [1]