BBC World Service: “Mobile Phones”

The BBC World Service produces fascinating radio documentaries on various topics:

• "Building Beijing": Construction within this Chinese city — the site of the 2008 Olympic Games — is happening at such a mind-boggling rate that a new map is issued every three months.
• "Memory": How does memory work, and how does it fail?
• "All in a Day’s Work": Exploring the ways in which people around the world earn their living. Profiles include domestic workers, soldiers, judges and clerics.

I couldn’t stop listening to the documentary about cell phones, which Europeans call "mobile phones." The program explores the history behind, uses of and cultural phenomena surrounding the over two billion mobile phones in use around the planet. How is the mobile phone changing the lives of the poor? Are mobile phone conversations secure? What is considered acceptable behavior of mobile phone use in various countries?

If this got you thinking about your own cell phone use, you may want to bookmark these guides to cell phone etiquette:

• InfoWorld‘s Ten Commandments
• LetsTalk.com’s Guide
• Microsoft’s 10 Dos and Don’ts
• Ask Yahoo’s answer
• Monster.com’s Six Gadget Etiquette Dos and Don’ts for the Workplace
• About.com’s How To Respect The Rules
• textually.org (a blog about texting, SMS and MMS): cell phone etiquette
• CNN.com’s Cell Phone Etiquette 101
• Road & Travel magazine’s Basic Rules of Cell Phone Etiquette
• PhoneyBusiness.com
• and more . . .