Work and Life in the Mobile Society/Foreword

Foreword

Laptops, cell phones, iPods and other devices have put work, socialization and entertainment on the move. In essence, our work and personal lives are increasingly characterized by mobility and intertwined with the technologies that enable it. A lot has been written on this topic, much in academic circles as well as in industry and practitioner outlets. This book will serve to bring together the wide range of facts and thinking on this topic in a format that is open to ongoing improvement.

Having taught the introductory Information Systems course at McGill University's Centre for Continuing Education for several terms, I had seen many of our students submit excellent work for their short "theory paper" assignment. Meant to engage students in researching a current topic in the world of Information and Communication Technology, the student essays would often reveal much in the fast-changing IT world that I was not aware of, and invariably proved to be a learning experience for myself and my co-instructors (Leo Kerklaan and Charles Quesnel). I long felt it a shame that such good summaries by students of hot topics in the ICT domain should get only the limited circulation of graders and instructors. Wikibooks seemed like a great place for students to expose their work to a wider audience.

For this first attempt at bringing our students' work out of the confines of the classroom, the topic of the Mobile Society seemed quite pertinent. The changes to our work and personal lives seem to be all around us, and I hope, will be easily seen and written about by the students of our course (MGCR 331 Introduction to Information Systems). With this in mind, I developed the outline for this Wikibook. I look forward to your contributions, and hope to see a wide audience for this collaborative work.