Ito et al (2005) Personal Portable Pedestrian

From Inventiopedia

Ito, Mizuko; Daisuke Okabe and Misa Matsuda (2005) Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life, Cambridge and London: The MIT Press.

This anthology focuses on social science-oriented studies of the use of mobile phones in Japan. Its central term is keitai, the japanese word for mobile phones, referring to "something you carry with you" and which carries subtly different associations than the corresponding terms in american ('cell phone' - referring to technical infrastructure) or british/scandinavian language ('mobile' - referring to being disconnected, free to move):

A keitai is not so much about a new technical capability or freedom of motion but about a smug and intimate technosocial tethering, a personal device supporting communications that are a constant, lightweight, and mundane presence in everyday life. (page 1)