Howard Rheingold

“Any virtual community that works, works because people put in some time.”

“Like most modern Americans, I assume individuality is not only a fundamental value, but a goal in life, an art form.”

“Democracy is not just voting for your leaders; it's really premised upon ordinary citizens understanding the issues.”

“There's a direct relationship between how difficult it is to send a message and how strongly it is received.”

“Unlike with the majority of library books, when you enter a term into a search engine there is no guarantee that what you will find is authoritative, accurate or even vaguely true.”

“The Chinese government tried to keep a lid on the SARS crisis, but there were 160 million text messages in three days sent by Chinese citizens. These are early indications that it's going to be difficult for people who used to have control over the news to maintain that level of control.”

“Soon the digital divide will not be between the haves and the have-nots. It will be between the know-hows and the non-know-hows.”

“People's behavior will change with technology. I know very few young people who can't type out a text message on their phone with one thumb, for instance.”

“The more material there is, the more need there is for filters. You don't need a printing press anymore, but you do need people who know how to cultivate sources, double-check information and put the brand of legitimacy on it.”

“The AP has only so many reporters, and CNN only has so many cameras, but we've got a world full of people with digital cameras and Internet access.”

“Craigslist is about authenticity. Craig has paid his dues, and people respect him.”

“Its not a global village, but we're in a highly interconnected globe.”

“Some critics argue that a tsunami of hogwash has already rendered the Web useless. I disagree. We are indeed inundated by online noise pollution, but the problem is soluble.”

“What person doesn't search online about their disease after they are diagnosed?”

“We are moving rapidly into a world in which the spying machinery is built into every object we encounter.”

“I think there are two aspects to smart environments. One is information embedded in places and things. The other is location awareness, so that devices we carry around know where we are. When you combine those two, you get a lot of possibilities.”

“Whenever a technology enables people to organize at a pace that wasn't before possible, new kinds of politics emerge.”

“Mobile communications and pervasive computing technologies, together with social contracts that were never possible before, are already beginning to change the way people meet, mate, work, war, buy, sell, govern and create.”

“The Amish communities of Pennsylvania, despite the retro image of horse-drawn buggies and straw hats, have long been engaged in a productive debate about the consequences of technology.”

“Entire books are being written about the distractions of social media. I don't believe media compel distraction, but I think it's clear that they afford it.”