In an interview on the website of Forbes India, the renowned behavioural economist Dan Ariely talks about some of the hidden forces that shape our decisions. “For years, my colleagues and I have been conducting experiments about human irrationality. When we present our results, the ‘rational’ economists say, ‘These are very nice experiments that make for great dinner conversation; but when it comes to professionals making decisions that involve money, irrationality simply doesn’t occur’. I never bought this argument: why would the human brain develop two different approaches to decisions that depend upon the importance of the decision? While I allowed that the market could possibly mitigate some irrational behaviour, I also felt that it could increase it.” Read full story

Thomas Petersen, co-founder and partner of Danish digital creative agency Hello, reflects on the experience and design implications of the exponential growth of information. “Constantly checking our feeds for new information, we seem to be hoping to discover something of interest, something that we can share with our networks, something that we can use, something that we can talk about, something that we can act on, something we didn’t know we didn’t know. It almost seems like an obsession and many critics of digital technology would argue that by consuming information this way we are running the danger of destroying social interaction between humans. One might even say that we have become slaves of the feed. Read full story

The Financial Times has published a special report on connectivity, analysing the implications of a connected planet. My preferred pieces: Skills: Business must learn from the new tribe So-called ‘digital natives’ are bringing down the barriers to collaborative working, finds Jessica Twentyman (If you read one article only, this is the one.) Mobility: Flexibility is driven from the bottom up But organisations must ensure employees are not slaves to mobile devices, notes Stephen Pritchard Overcoming the fear of connectivity Some organisations, fearful of untoward consequences such as reputational damage, ban social networking websites. Others embrace them enthusiastically and try to persuade others to do likewise. Developing world: ‘Have-nots’ no closer to catching the ‘haves Cellphones are nearly ubiquitous but internet access is still very patchy, says Paul Taylor Case study: Text messages give shopkeepers the power to bulk buy Stroll through South Africa’s villages – as steeped in ancestral tradition as they are deprived of basic services – and you will come across the convenience store, writes Tom Burgis. Opinion: IT makes poverty a ‘curable affliction’ Olav Kjorven of the UNDP argues that innovative programmes in developing nations have helped people increase their choices and opportunities Donor programmes: Sponsors can now view benefits online Non-governmental organisations and government bodies can see exactly how their money is being spent, writes Danny Bradbury Developed world: Those with no access miss out on opportunities Jessica Twentyman examines the evidence that digital exclusion and social disadvantage go hand in hand Connecting the world: Ubiquity will be a hard state to reach Network access for all requires money but there are also significant technical hurdles, writes Stephen Pritchard

(Note that without subscription you can read only 10 FT articles a month. But you can double or triple that by installing more than one browser.)

New York Magazine has published a long article by Sam Anderson on “Twitter, Adderall, lifehacking, mindful jogging, power browsing, Obama’s BlackBerry, and the benefits of overstimulation.” “Free-associative wandering is essential to the creative process; one moment of judicious unmindfulness can inspire thousands of hours of mindfulness.” “Focus is a paradox—it has distraction built into it. The two are symbiotic; they’re the systole and diastole of consciousness. Attention comes from the Latin “to stretch out” or “reach toward,” distraction from “to pull apart.” We need both. In their extreme forms, focus and attention may even circle back around and bleed into one other.” Read full story

The blog series on New Media Practices in International Contexts, which I announced in January, is now complete. It covers the unique characteristics of digital media user behaviours in very different socio-cultural contexts of China, Korea, India, Brazil, Japan and Ghana, with a particular interest in the intersection of youth, new media and learning.
The authors, a group of people around Mimi Ito, believe that examining new media practices from an international (and, in some cases, transnational) perspective will enhance their current efforts to theorise youth, new media and learning, a wider MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative. China (by Cara Wallis): introduction - mobile phones - gaming - internet - new media production - conclusion Korea (by HyeRyoung Ok): introduction - internet - gaming - mobile phones - new media production - conclusion India (by Anke Schwittay): introduction - mobile phones - gaming - internet - new media production - conclusion Brazil (by Heather Horst): introduction - internet - new media production - games - mobile phones - conclusion Japan (by Mimi Ito and Daisuke Okabe): introduction - internet - mobile phones - new media production - gaming - conclusion Ghana (by Araba Sey): introduction - mobile phones - internet - new media production - gaming - conclusion Each case study focuses upon the telecommunications landscape, internet and mobile phone practices, gaming, and new media production, and provides a unique perspective on the ways in which infrastructure, institutions and culture (among other factors) shape contemporary new media practices.

Nokia’s IdeasProject site contains this week a video interview with Don Tapscott, and four feature articles that integrate some of the ideas presented thus far on the site:

Head in the Cloud: computing becomes virtual As the costs of sending, storing, and processing information descend, these services are moving into the fabric of the Internet.  Can technology actually make us more human? Humans are tool users, and hi-tech tools can isolate us. But in the brave new world of connected communications, they can also reinforce who we are.  Crowdsourcing and open innovation Businesses and institutions must now recognize that innovation is no longer confined within company walls.  Blurring the virtual and the real Technology is increasingly connecting the real and the virtual, in real time- and making it difficult to tell the difference between the two.

Also of interest is this reflection on virtual communications by Valerie Buckingham, Nokia’s director of technology marketing.

Rich Ling is a sociologist at the Telenor research institute and a visiting professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, who is particularly interested in understanding the social implications of mobile telephony. He just posted a short paper on the rise of mobile divides, that discusses the differences between the power users in advanced countries that use a lot of IP stuff, the user in the third world and the sort of soccer mom/dad user that is somewhere in the middle. A lot of attention goes to the first group but the real base of use is often among the other two. “[The advanced and technically sophisticated super user] is a legitimate object of study. However, it is very important to note that this type of user is a relatively small portion of the total user base. It seems to be very exciting to focus design and development work around this type of person. This is, however, a fallacy. This type of user is very atypical and, as we will see below, does not represent the broader form of mobile use.” Download paper (via Jody Ranck)