Work inwading the spaces between

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > Destination Wi-Fi, by Rail, Bus or Boat is an article that hails advances in Wifi offerings on commuter transportation like buses, boats and trains. At the moment, commuters can work on their laptops through the commute (some trains offer power plugs at the seats) but not surf the web. With the rollout of wifi, commuters will be able to be connected throughout the commute.

In thinking about spaces and my current research, I've been exploring the idea of the space-between spaces, the transit, the vaccuum of getting from one place to another, where we actually spend most of our lives. Having spent a considerable time in LA, I am intimiately familiar with the frustration of "traffic time" and the feeling of wasted minutes that could be spend on doing something more pleasurable. While WiFi in the car would not help, WiFi in a public transport (if such a luxury is available in this country) would make up for that feeling of "lost time". or would it? There is something about being in the space of the car or a train, that space that is free to be occupied by reading a book unrelated to work, checking up the newspaper, doing the cross-word puzzle, listening to musc, thinking. The time that everyone agrees is spent well (getting from place to place) and, until now, could not have been coopted by demands of a gruelling work-pace. The "me" time... Maybe, being able to get those few emails off during a commute and finishing that presentation would be a nice change, making the work-day a little shorter. I doubt that would be the outcome though. Instead, there will be more of tunnelling into the echo-chamber of your own interests and opinions inside the vast space of the Internet. Living up to the expectations of connectedness, where the commute time is still not "work" time but "connected" time, which creates expectations of immediate response regardless of presence, location, breaking down of public transport... the idea of "stranded" just doesn't put us nearly as far beyond the reaches of our daily grind. Is that a good thing? can we be more efficient in styling our lives in such a way that we can get more done and enjoy more life? or is it a bad thing? feeding an addiction, strengthening the leash of connectedness, disconnecting us from paying attention to our immediate surroundings. The jury is still out... though I wonder...