Doug experiencing sticker shock, staring at the large glass vial of VOSS water in my room at the W Union Square.

My most recent trip to New York was a trip sponsored by Qwest communications. They're a telecom company with some sad recent history; now with a new CEO, they're reaching for some new vision.

Part of that is polling pundits, people who write about mobile entertainment, social networks and how we use our mobile phones. I was invited to participate, probably because of my Japan/Korea coverage for TheFeature. It was a symposium - eight people up on stage for three (actually four) hours with an audience of videocameras and marketing minds. That was Tuesday in New York:

Clay sits before the audience.

I took copious notes that evening. Out of deference for our hosts who actually paid to hear this information, I'm going to provide only a few highlights below.

Clay pointed out that Spam, AIDS and SARS are problems of open networks. September 10th, 2001, may be the most open our society ever was. Now people are more focused on creating closedness; securing their personal networks.

Doug pointed out that media has gone from being an excuse to gather to being a means to gather. Kids want to control their experience, stepping up to meta-control levels.

Clay observed that churn rate in massively-multiplayer online games comes from guilds leaving, not users. Networks: stop looking at dots and start looking at lines. A company might help users create loyalty to each other. Permit group MMS messaging, permit groups to form around visual documents.

Xeni agreed with the need for more grouping potential; she asked for the creation of social network sites or software she would want to be in all day long.

Dennis pointed out that his Verizon phone can only exchange pictures with other Verizon phones. That "walled garden" approach frustrates community.

Jane B pointed out that pre-paid is much more popular in Europe, making it easier for kids to use phones. Clay complained that data services are not available over pre-paid.

Doug pointed out that kids have unlimited desktop net usage with multiple friends IMing and surfing - but they can't take it on the road with them.

Omar observed that the web was built for interaction with information - people hacked in community.

Clay continued on that point - the web was hackable. The mobile internet is not yet hackable. With BREW, hacking is illegal! Can't upload home-made applications on to your own mobile phone. But Nokia just announced a smartphone scripting language.

Doug and Xeni. You can't see Sueann to Doug's right.

Xeni pointed out that phones are slowly losing their geographic ties.

Sueann asked where communications fits in with new urban development.

Omar continued on that line of questioning, asking what happens when you cascade tons of bandwidth over public spaces.

I had an extended rant on the education of mobile users, along the lines of my recent TheFeature.com journal entry.

Dennis from Dodgeball, moderator Janet from University of Minnesota Design Institute, and Omar from Community Connect. Last time I saw Omar was in 1995 when I was giving one of my first professional talks, at the Rand Corporation.

We wrapped up the extended session by listing all of our telecommunications loyalties - astonishingly long lists from a group of folks very wired and very wireless. For example, I'll list my active accounts:

Home:

• SBC voice/Tivo land phone line
• SBC voice/fax land phone line
• SpeakEasy DSL high-speed internet line
• Comcast cable high-speed internet line
• DirectTV Satellite
• Earthlink Account
• EFax account

Mobile:

• Sprint PCS Treo 600 mobile phone (USA)
• T06 J-Phone mobile (Japan)
• DDI AirH" wireless internet anywhere (Japan)

That jumble of communications begs simplification. What one company might offer me all those services? A frighteningly large company, I suspect. Or maybe a nimble one.

We left them with a number of bold propositions and excited suggestions; I will be interested to see how the company develops itself over the coming years. Between wireless, landlines and high speed internet, with a firm local footing in the middle-West United States, I think Qwest has potential to create new forms of community using telecommunications. Like any of us using the internet!