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. [fg]->tj!

Bill Thompson’s use of the term seems a bit more embracing of the neo-nomad mentality. As he points out, “it’s the pattern of working life that defines a nomad, with no office, colleagues who are largely engaged with online and often a number of overlapping projects to be juggled and managed at the same time”. That’s the type of a definition I’m more inclined to lean towards; the newness of this new approach should not be political in nature – whether it’s the independents or the corporates who are ‘it’, or whether ‘it’ offers more or less of job security.

Yasmine Abbas’ neo-nomad blog talks about “digitally geared people on the move”. That’s even better in a way, since the focus has been shifted to the interface, the design, and the socio-cultural aspects of this novelty. Much needs to change before assuring sufficient portability for such new workers to feel totally free. Bill Thompson has already pointed out that managing larger enterprises in an entirely Virtual fashion may be problematic as there is no current infrastructure that can support large-scale enterprises comprised of neo-nomads.

But that, too, is changing. Just a few years ago this was a field reserved for a small amount of highly determined technocrats. Nowadays, with the advent of much cheaper and lighter laptops, with fairly easy access to broadband internet, and with the continuing onslaught of highly collaborative projects, being a neo-nomad is proving more and more feasible. Almost all bloggers who have made the switch to full time blogging are fully virtual. Most programmers and writers can also find similar opportunities all over the world, especially since guru.com, rentacoder.com and other similar ventures have started to spring up and offer a sort of a platform for location-independent work. Even the most “regular” people have found ways of monetizing new frontiers, such as SecondLife, WoW or RuneScape.
What I would like to see is a further expansion of this definition that would focus on the mobility of a true nomad. Bedouins never felt at ease staying in one place for too long… neither do some of the neo-nomads. To be able to travel extensively and work while on the road would be ideal, but that is still difficult to accomplish these days. Wi-fi access is becoming almost common-place in the U.S. and Canada, but even in West Europe it is at best spotty, especially outside of the major commercial centres. The fact that there’s a multitude of incompatible wi-fi providers and oftentimes one needs to subscribe to a number of various services does not help. I once paid over $100 in one day for just under four hours of Internet use at four different airports. Traveling with more than one laptop because of proprietary security concerns or machine-assigned VPN accounts has also reduced my mobility at times.

Nonetheless, this too is starting to change. WiMax sounds promising as an alternative to other forms of broadband; so does the recently investigated idea of direct satellite access without having to route the signal through terrestrial stations. For now, GPRS and 3G networks offer ‘anytime/anywhere’ access in quite impressive remote places. While pitching a tent in Antarctica is not quite yet doable, Kenya should not longer pose a problem. In fact, I have deployed servers on other continents from campsites before and I’m just waiting for a more global Internet coverage to take the deserts of Africa or the jungles of South America (perhaps the new protocols developed by the InterPlaNet initiative might help with access in any remote area).

Finally, the ways to bypass the shortcomings of traditional security practices (without limiting their effectiveness), are starting to increase as well. Virtualization, using VMWare or Microsoft Virtual PC, is probably the easiest way of accomplishing this step. Almost any setup, be it a laptop, a desktop, or even a server, can be packaged into a virtual image and then redeployed on a machine of one’s choice without disrupting the host system. In effect, my protected company laptop can be made to run “inside” of my own laptop. Advanced IT skills are not required for this, nor is a high-end laptop. My $700 light Acer, with a memory upgrade to 2GB and a slightly faster hard drive can handle 3-4 virtual machines running on top of my usual interface.

Couple all of the above with user-provided wi-fi access points, a will to see some of this world, and some motivation, and the neo-nomads’ playground increases exponentially. I can have a coffee outside of Sicily, admiring the Mediterranean, almost just as easily as at the Bay area Starbucks. Last year I was actively working while touring some wineries around Bordeaux and on a bus some 60 miles outside of Madrid. Even my biggest pet-peeve, battery-life, seems to be finally getting addressed…

Cruising along the virtual landscape while admiring the physical landscapes outside is becoming a unified and realistic experience. Now, that is the future.