The use of new media, particularly by young people, challenges conventional wisdom in many fields - education, social engagement, civic participation. Our guests today have been studying new media and how they may change our most familiar habits and institutions.

Doug Thomas is associate professor at the at the University of Southern California. Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist working in Japan and the U.S. Together, they'll give us an inside look at new media and their effects.

In addition to teaching at USC Doug is author of Hacker Culture, which provides a detailed firsthand account of the computer underground. Doug's current projects include a new book, Re-Inventing Technology: Cultural Narratives of Technological Change.

Mimi Ito is co-editor of Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life from MIT Press. Mimi has worked for the Institute for Research on Learning, Xerox PARC, Tokyo University, the National Institute for Educational Research in Japan, and Apple Computer.

We also introduce a new segment on the world of urban planning, design, and development from our friends at Planetizen.

Tuning in to new media, this week on Smart City.