Devoir de Philosophie

Since the late 1980s

Publié le 05/12/2012

Extrait du document

Since the late 1980s, researchers have been working on a "post-desktop" paradigm for human-computer interaction known as ubiquitous or pervasive computing. Combining any number of mobile, networked and context-aware technologies, this vision hinges on the possibility of embedding computational capacities in the objects and environments that surround us. In order not to be overwhelmed by such a proliferation of new technologies, researchers have most often worked to integrate them in ways that make it difficult to identify when and where we interact with these systems. For example, many of us are aware of, or have used, Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies in our vehicles, or Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies in public transportation passes like London's Oyster card and Hong Kong's Octopus card. When sensor technologies are added to the mix, these systems can measure and monitor everything from environmental conditions such as air pollution or noise levels, to bodily functions such as heart-rate or temperature, and connect that data to any number of applications or services. While certainly not infallible technologies, interaction with such systems is generally so seamless that it is easy to overlook the significant infrastructure that underpins their management and use. By the early 1990s, sufficient engineering and computer science advances had been made to bloster the claim that, while the era of pervasive computing might not have yet arrived, it almost certainly would in the future. When research in these areas began to spread from university and corporate research labs to the popular imagination, there was an almost immediate reaction against such a From 'A Brief History of Urban Computing & Locative Media' by Anne Galloway. PhD Dissertation. Sociology & Anthropology. Carleton University. 2008. 2 totalising vision of technological penetration in everyday life. In North America and Europe in particular, privacy concerns emerged front and centre as commentators envisioned a world of absolute surveillance. Even within the human-computer interaction research community, responses were mixed. In the mid-1990s, strong criticism emerged and researchers debated the pros and cons of developing such "dangerous" technologies. However, technological limitations at the time still allowed researchers to claim these social concerns were theoretical rather than actual, and the matter faded from public consciousness again until the early 2000s. By the turn of the 21 st century, mobile phone penetration was globally on the rise, and a vision of ubiquitous information and communication technologies no longer seemed a fantasy. Technologies that had not existed even five years earlier were becoming commonplace and, firmly embedded within broader consumer desires for convenience and comfort, the pervasive computing vision began to roll out with unprecedented vigour. Industries and governments began heralding the coming "Internet of Things," where the global supply chain would be managed in ways that could create "smart objects" or a web-p...

« mid-1990s, strong criticism emerged and researchers debated the pros and cons of developing such “dangerous” technologies.

However, technological limitations at the time still allowed researchers to claim these social concerns were theoretical rather than actual, and the matter faded from public consciousness again until the early 2000s. By the turn of the 21 st century, mobile phone penetration was globally on the rise, and a vision of ubiquitous information and communication technologies no longer seemed a fantasy.

Technologies that had not existed even five years earlier were becoming commonplace and, firmly embedded within broader consumer desires for convenience and comfort, the pervasive computing vision began to roll out with unprecedented vigour.

Industries and governments began heralding the coming “Internet of Things,” where the global supply chain would be managed in ways that could create “smart objects” or a web-presence for consumer goods. Again popular media tended to focus on the surveillance possibilities, and ubiquitous or pervasive computing discourse began to take on a distinctly dystopian tone.

However, at the same time, new research agendas in urban computing and locative media emerged to present a strongly utopian countervision.From ‘A Brief History of Urban Computing & Locative Media’ by Anne Galloway. PhD Dissertation.

Sociology & Anthropology.

Carleton University.

2008. 3 My thesis focusses on these emergent research agendas in an attempt to better understand how, contrary to the discursive construction of pervasive computing as ‘everywhere,’ research projects in locative media and urban computing actually locate these technologies ‘somewhere.’ I draw on actor-network theory and sociological approaches to expectations and affect as a means to understand and account for the complexity of these processes.

By focussing on the roles of imagination and desire in shaping technological change, I examine how urban. »

↓↓↓ APERÇU DU DOCUMENT ↓↓↓

Liens utiles