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November 30, 2004

Wireless Brings Public Back to Public Spaces

A week ago we had a guest speaker here at SFU to talk about the potential for a new "public sphere" made possible by innovations in public broadcasting, including Internet based media. His name is Graham Murdock.

This story in today's Salon, about the way in which public wireless networks can "recover" lost public space in urban centres, suggests that there are some countervailing trends to the perceived drop in public debate in an urban world.

Let's hope they come to pass.

802.11b Networking News writes: Wireless Brings Public Back to Public Spaces

Salon argues that the growth of wireless clouds encourages more use of the agora: Public places may have been in decline, but shared experiences are growing now that wireless clouds blanket downtowns and communities. ...Cutting-edge mobile and wireless services emphasize proximity over connectivity, the local over the global and the here and now rather than anytime, anywhere. The article runs through location-based services, wireless scavenger hunts, and overlaying digital details on top of physical places. Some interesting opportunities arise out of ubiquitous clouds combined with data: Page recently completed a comprehensive technology strategy for a distressed neighborhood in northern Philadelphia, including a community technology center where Temple University faculty will teach kids GIS (geographic information system) skills to build a database for the neighborhood, and public art that will double as a digital bulletin board accessible from a public place....

Posted by Richard Smith at November 30, 2004 07:37 PM