At network level, mobility enabled the Batek to monitor environmental and
social conditions and was nearly inextricable from the need for communication
and collaboration. The Batek could certainly be called “information junkies” who
are avidly interested to hear about conditions elsewhere in the forest and the world
beyond. Important news, including news of threats, is often shared with people
elsewhere by sending messengers. Collaboration would become important when
people are choosing where to move to next and need to keep others informed about
their plans (see below), when people in different groups decide to synchronize
movements and converge at a central place (usually to do with holding shamanistic
singing sessions), or when relatives signaled ahead that they intended to join a
group and requested that group to wait for them (see Lye 1997: 258–297 for a
demonstration of this).