Ling is renowned for his work on the social consequences of mobile communication. His concept of micro-coordination, as outlined in "Hyper-coordination via Mobile Phones in Norway" (co-authored with Birgitte Yttri), describes a significant social impact of mobile communication's widespread adoption in society. Additionally, he has demonstrated how mobile communication enhances social cohesion within small groups and has become an integral part of societal structure. His book
Taken for Grantedness (MIT Press 2012) explores how mobile communication has become an integral part of society, similar to mechanical timekeeping, and was reviewed in the journal
Science. His earlier book,
New Tech, New Ties (MIT press 2008), won the 2009 Goffman Award from the Media Ecology Association. Ling also authored
The Mobile Connection (Morgan Kaufmann), a comprehensive examination of the social consequences of mobile telephony and co-authored
Mobile Phones and Mobile Communication with Jonathan Donner. Ling is a founding co-editor of the
SAGE journal
Mobile Media and Communication (along with Veronika Karnowski, Thilo von Pape and Steve Jones). In 2017 he was named Editor-in-Chief of the
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. He is also a founding editor (along with Gerard Goggin and Leopoldina Fortunati) of the
Oxford University Press series on mobile communication. He has been the co-editor, along with Scott Campbell, of the
Mobile Communication Research Series. He is an associate editor for journals
The Information Society, the
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, the
Journal of Communication as well as
Information Technology and International Development. Ling has received recognition as an outstanding scholar from the
International Communication Association (The 2010 CROF Award),
Rutgers University, and the
Telenor Research Award in 2009. He has been interviewed on The
Discovery Channel,
National Public Radio and Norwegian TV as well as for periodicals such as
The New York Times,
The Economist, the
Los Angeles Times,
Der Spiegel,
Newsweek,
Época (Brazil),
Wired, Toronto's
The Globe and Mail, Norwegian publications such as
Aftenposten,
VG, and
Dagbladet and Danish publications such as
Politiken. ==References==