The term neo-nomad (aka neonomad, digital bedouin) is rather new. In fact, it still lacks a formal definition although the neologism itself is simple enough to understand. A new type of a nomad; a wanderer, someone without a fixed sense of belonging… The way it has been used thus far refers, very generally, to people who take their work with them. In America, this usually applies to the vast amount of web 2.0 startup execs and other self-employed tech workers roaming around in the Bay area. They are sometimes referred to as the Starbucks society, since that is the preferred meeting place of the neo-nomads. Quite aptly so – all major Starbucks locations have excellent wi-fi through a partnership with T-Mobile, and have a corporate feel to them – it is here that one can run into execs from Google, Flickr, or a dozen other hot, new startups.

Whether you belong to the camp of social activists and would like to see governments subsidizing our homeless citizens or to the crowd that would see the same government enacting laws to clean up our modern streets of annoying beggars, one thing is certain – you do not associate the homeless with the Internet.

Yet here they are, slowly making their move towards the still vastly uncontrolled and liberal domain. Some do it to make a living, others to promote their grassroots ideologies a la mode de early Radio Free Europe (some have even started podcasting). Indeed, the decreased (or in some cases non-existent) costs of Internet access are allowing even the most impoverished of social strata transcend into the digital age.