This episode, we talk with Keith Hampton about his research on wireless internet and public spaces. Does public wifi encourage a stronger public sphere or diminish public life by encouraging everyone to live inside their own private digital bubble? Hampton argues it’s more complicated than that, and public WiFi can, in fact, encourage many different kinds of social interaction, both online and offline.
To learn more about Hampton’s research, check out his Fall 2010 Photo Essay in Contexts, as well as his new article published in the Journal of Communication.