Friday, October 06, 2006

This Week On Smart City: Tuning Into New Media

The use of new media, particularly by young people, challenges conventional wisdom in many fields - education, social engagement, civic participation. Our guests today have been studying new media and how they may change our most familiar habits and institutions.

Doug Thomas is associate professor at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California. Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist working in Japan and the U.S. Together, they'll give us an inside look at new media and their effects.

In addition to teaching at USC Doug is author of Hacker Culture, which provides a detailed firsthand account of the computer underground. Doug's current projects include a new book, Re-Inventing Technology: Cultural Narratives of Technological Change.

Mimi Ito is co-editor of Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life from MIT Press. Mimi has worked for the Institute for Research on Learning, Xerox PARC, Tokyo University, the National Institute for Educational Research in Japan, and Apple Computer.

We also introduce a new segment on the world of urban planning, design, and development from our friends at Planetizen.

Smart City is a syndicated, weekly hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life: the people, places, ideas and trends that affect us all. Host Carol Coletta talks with national and international public policy experts, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others on the pulse of city life for a penetrating discussion on urban issues.

In Memphis, Smart City is broadcast on WKNO FM, 91.1, at 9 a.m. Sundays. It is also webcast and podcast at the Smart City website. Listen live on the Web Saturdays at 8 a.m central and Sundays at 9 a.m. and noon central. For a listing of times in other cities, please click here.

You can also sign up for a weekly newsletter on the program website.

1 comment:

autoegocrat said...

I hope that Mr. Thomas makes a point of distinguishing between a hacker, who is more like a computer enthusiast, and a cracker, who is more like a criminal. The media have a long habit of conflating the two terms, giving true hackers an undeserved bad reputation.

Hackers are like lawyers in that they get a bad rap from just about everyone, but when you really need one they're your best friend.