Readings 4

The Locative Commons: Situating Locations-Based Media in Urban Public Space
by Marc Tuters

I am kind of at a loss of this article. It makes rapid jumps in logic that I get but could be better explained by the author then just referencing other people. The part about virtual cities I have one problem with...though it is a created virtual city made by people over a network it still has some bounds (Jaron Lanier has many article explaining how this is not quite VR). It is still bound by the program the people are using which is not what the original philosophers of this idea had in mind. The ideas of connectivity I have always found interesting (especially that I like to not be connected all the time). I had never heard the cellphone groups being equated to flocking behaviors before. The behaviors developed by this constant connectivity I find fascinating. I think its odd the society adapts the technology faster and better than the authorities (though we adapt pretty poorly in most cases but still fast).

Resonance and Everyday Life: Ubiquitous Computing and the City
by Anne Galloway
Paradigm shifts in computing have interested in since my days in high school. I had not heard of the term Ubicomp. The fact that Xerox is against VR goes against what many people saw as the future of computing. I was discussing the article with a programmer friend while reading it and oddly our conversation followed the authors ideas, though we were using different examples. The hybrid theory reminds me of Jamie Allen and Rob O'Niels box project, where a box would turn in reality and turn in MAYA as well. The Amble Time project reminded by if the Reality Dysfunction series by Peter Hamilton where people had nanocomputers in their brain displaying their options and letting them chose the best one. Also the mind collective of the Edenist in the book where people can record their memories and then later others could access them. I agree that the idea of ubiquitous computing currently lends itself to cell phone technology. I would be curious and hopeful to see in leave the cell phone world into something better (not that the current practices and art are bad, they are good). I do agree also about the integration of technology causing societal and social issues. This stems much farther than just surveillance, though most people do not know how easy it is to spy of someone through the stuff they own.