iSPOTS

How Wireless Technology is Changing Life on the MIT Campus - iSPOTS at MIT shows how the campus is developing one of the largest wireless networks in order to adapt to new mobile working routines: from the site

"New wireless communications technologies are changing the way we live and work. This fact is particularly evident at MIT, thanks to the presence of two conditions: 1) the very high percentage of laptop computer ownership on campus; and 2) the existence of one of the most pervasive wireless Internet networks on earth, which includes over 2,800 access points and was completed at the end of October 2005.

The iSPOTS project, developed by the SENSEable City Laboratory in collaboration with Information Services and Technology, aims at describing changes in living and working at MIT by mapping the dynamics of the wireless network in real-time. Thus, the complex and dispersed individual movement patterns that make up the daily life of the campus can be revealed, helping TO answer many questions: Which physical spaces are preferred for work in the MIT community? How could future physical planning of the campus suit the community's changing needs? Which location-based services would be most helpful for students and academics?

Also, as many cities around the world are launching extensive wireless initiatives, the analysis of the MIT environment could provide valuable insights for the future. Will today's MIT be tomorrow's norm?"

From the project page:

"new communication technologies, in particular hand-held devices and laptops with wireless connections, are changing the way we live and work. work that till recently required a fixed location and well-defined architectural settings (such as a working desk with a desktop computer in the infamous 'cubicle'), can now be performed in a distributed way from multiple locations, at the same time, conventional hierarchical arrangements of employee management are being replaced by virtual internet-based relationships, creating new patterns and needs for work-spaces. while this trend is widely recognized in the scientific literature (see for instance francis duffy, the new office, london, 1997), it has not been quantitatively measured in accurate ways yet. the aim of this research is to monitor and collect extensive data of wifi usage on the mit campus, which will enable us to better understand the emerging daily working patterns and re-evaluate the qualities of physical space supporting them. the mit campus is a privileged environment for this research due to its pervasiveness of wifi connectivity in its community's daily life."

And why aren't more university campuses becoming wireless - an obvious necessity?