I'm in Dumas, Texas, at the Window on the Plains Museum, and I'm thinking about Francis Bacon's The New Atlantis, written in England in 1623. It is a resolutely utopian work of thought and political philosophy, and I'm struck by the role of the "Merchants of Light" -- individuals whose job it is to traverse the world for intellectual treasures and to bring them back to share, and to create repositories of knowledge and learning.
YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiv8q5pXtzM
Recommended sites:
http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/2009/04/blending-mobile-technologies-handhelds.html