Joi Ito points on his blog today to Linda Stone’s new wiki here on continuous partial attention (’CPA’). Just about the first thing both Ito and Stone say about CPA is that it is different from multitasking. Both seem to be important modes of acting in the intense venue of the emerging digital world.

Here is something very interesting that Stone says, putting CPA in terms of networks:

To pay continuous partial attention is to pay partial attention — CONTINUOUSLY. It is motivated by a desire to be a LIVE node on the network. Another way of saying this is that we want to connect and be connected. We want to effectively scan for opportunity and optimize for the best opportunities, activities, and contacts, in any given moment. To be busy, to be connected, is to be alive, to be recognized, and to matter.