In a recent government sponsered report from the research think-tank Foresight, it looked at how the UK's transport infrastructure will be radically changed over the next 50 years by RFID tracking tags, embedded sensors and an artificial intelligence network that will reduce congestion and pollution. The Foresight report (which included contribution from John Urry, Director of CeMoRe at Lancaster University)looked at four possible transport scenarios for 2056 ranging from a return to an almost tribal agrarian existence, dominated by local communities and little travelling, to 'Minority Report-style' high-tech cities with driverless cars.
The report was discussed in a recent article in The Guardian.
See also the Intelligent Infrastructure Systems at Foresight
Monday, January 30, 2006
iWalks Rolling Out in Dublin
The Official Online Tourist Office for Dublin has begun publishing free podcast audio guides that tell the story of Dublin. The guides are written and narrated by Irish historian-author Pat Liddy. Each talk will have a downloadable brochure. Talks and brochures can be downloaded from the tourism website. If you subscribe to the podcasts the new ones will automatically download to your computer as they roll out. Georgian Dublin is now available. It will be followed by The Historic Northside, Viking and Medieaval Dublin, and eight more titles. The podcasts and brochures are offered so that “You can download the guides and use them as free walking tour guides to the city, or you can just listen to them to discover the fascinating story of Dublin.”
Via Smartmobs
Via Smartmobs
Friday, January 27, 2006
Wireless Networking in the Developing World
A new free book from 'Wireless Networking in the Developing World' instructs how to assemble and maintain wireless networks in rural towns in developing countries. The books was written by some pretty top notch authors in the field many of whom have built and deployed networks in the developing world already. The book is released under creative commons and comes with its own great wiki page.
Via Mopocket
Via Mopocket
This week's 'Carnival of the Moblists'
For the best of this week's mobile writing, with some great contributions - check out the most recent 'Carnival of the Mobilists'
Future Matters - Futures Known, Created and Minded
Perhaps not strictly a mobility item, yet I find the concept of 'futures' to be a part of where mobility is fitting in, hence this post about the upcoming gig in Cardiff:
Conference Announcement and Call for Papers
Future Matters - Futures Known, Created and Minded
An International Conference
Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building
September 4 – 6, 2006
The conference brings together academics, artists, entrepreneurs and policy makers to consider questions of the future that address three overarching themes:
* Knowing futures - relates to our ability to anticipate futures through art, science and imagination.
* Creating futures - relates to industrial societies capacity to produce long-term futures. We produce such futures everyday through work and play, politics and technology.
* Minding futures - Relates to sustainability and the need to know, care and take responsibility for long term futures of our making that are already underway.
This be a lively, multi-disciplinary event and presents a unique opportunity for speakers to address an audience beyond their usual field of expertise. Contributions should look to engage people from different backgrounds - critical thinkers, artists and social entrepreneurs.
Keynote Speakers
Wendell Bell, Futurist and Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Yale University
Jérôme Bindé, Director of Foresight, Philosophy & Human Sciences, UNESCO
Josephine Green, Director of Trends & Strategy at Philips
Wolfgang Sachs, Author, Director of Globalisation & Sustainability Project, Wuppertal Institute
David Ambrose, Storyteller, Wales
Gwyneth Lewis, National Poet of Wales 2005
More information (including a booking form and suggested accommodation options) is available on the web at http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/futures/conference/ .
Call for Abstracts: please send abstracts of papers or descriptions of pieces to be exhibited/performances (max length 200 words) by email as either Word or PDF files to: futures_conference_2006@Cardiff.ac.uk. Deadline for submission is 31 March 2006.
Conference Announcement and Call for Papers
Future Matters - Futures Known, Created and Minded
An International Conference
Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building
September 4 – 6, 2006
The conference brings together academics, artists, entrepreneurs and policy makers to consider questions of the future that address three overarching themes:
* Knowing futures - relates to our ability to anticipate futures through art, science and imagination.
* Creating futures - relates to industrial societies capacity to produce long-term futures. We produce such futures everyday through work and play, politics and technology.
* Minding futures - Relates to sustainability and the need to know, care and take responsibility for long term futures of our making that are already underway.
This be a lively, multi-disciplinary event and presents a unique opportunity for speakers to address an audience beyond their usual field of expertise. Contributions should look to engage people from different backgrounds - critical thinkers, artists and social entrepreneurs.
Keynote Speakers
Wendell Bell, Futurist and Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Yale University
Jérôme Bindé, Director of Foresight, Philosophy & Human Sciences, UNESCO
Josephine Green, Director of Trends & Strategy at Philips
Wolfgang Sachs, Author, Director of Globalisation & Sustainability Project, Wuppertal Institute
David Ambrose, Storyteller, Wales
Gwyneth Lewis, National Poet of Wales 2005
More information (including a booking form and suggested accommodation options) is available on the web at http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/futures/conference/ .
Call for Abstracts: please send abstracts of papers or descriptions of pieces to be exhibited/performances (max length 200 words) by email as either Word or PDF files to: futures_conference_2006@Cardiff.ac.uk. Deadline for submission is 31 March 2006.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Add Mobile to the "M" in MTV
The "M" in MTV now also stands for mobile according to this report at CNET. Apparently the network is splitting itself into two divisions.
"One of the new divisions will be focused on short-form video, music and news programming that will be shown both on TV and across their growing number of other platforms, such as the broadband Web and mobile phones. The other division will focus on creating longer shows for television."
The other will just be coming out with the same old regular TV stuff.
"The change is sign that MTV has recognized their audience's relationship with the TV is changing rapidly."
In their press release, MTV entertainment President Brian Graden speaks of creating a "21st Century matrix" of "highly intertwined universes" that will let them "extend (their) world class content-development machine across all screens."
Via Mopocket
"One of the new divisions will be focused on short-form video, music and news programming that will be shown both on TV and across their growing number of other platforms, such as the broadband Web and mobile phones. The other division will focus on creating longer shows for television."
The other will just be coming out with the same old regular TV stuff.
"The change is sign that MTV has recognized their audience's relationship with the TV is changing rapidly."
In their press release, MTV entertainment President Brian Graden speaks of creating a "21st Century matrix" of "highly intertwined universes" that will let them "extend (their) world class content-development machine across all screens."
Via Mopocket
The Strength of Internet Ties -- new tools for creating social capital?
Some interesting and credible evidence just arrived to lend some actual data to the ancient armchair theorists debate about whether online media enable the creation of social capital or suck the life out of face to face communities. The Pew Internet and American Life Project just released a report on "The Strength of Internet Ties," (PDF) that "highlights how email supplements, rather than replaces, the communication people have with others in their network." The researchers are well known experts in social network analysis of cybersocializing -- John Horrigan, Jeffrey Boase, Lee Rainey, and Barry Wellman.
"Our evidence calls into question fears that social relationships — and community — are fading away in America. Instead of disappearing, people’s communities are transforming: The traditional human orientation to neighborhood- and village-based groups is moving towards communities that are oriented around geographically dispersed social networks. People communicate and maneuver in these networks rather than being bound up in one solidary community. Yet people’s networks continue to have substantial numbers of relatives and neighbors — the traditional bases of community — as well as friends and workmates."
Via Smartmobs
"Our evidence calls into question fears that social relationships — and community — are fading away in America. Instead of disappearing, people’s communities are transforming: The traditional human orientation to neighborhood- and village-based groups is moving towards communities that are oriented around geographically dispersed social networks. People communicate and maneuver in these networks rather than being bound up in one solidary community. Yet people’s networks continue to have substantial numbers of relatives and neighbors — the traditional bases of community — as well as friends and workmates."
Via Smartmobs
Internet game used to predict spread of epidemics
Using a popular Internet game that traces the travels of dollar bills, scientists have unveiled statistical laws of human travel in the United States, and developed a mathematical description that can be used to model the spread of infectious disease in this country.
In the game, participants can register a dollar bill, of any denomination, and monitor its geographic circulation. Using the game data, physicists developed a powerful mathematical theory that describes the observed movements of travelers amazingly well over distances from just a few kilometers to a few thousand. The study represents a major breakthrough for the mathematical modeling of the spread of epidemics.
References:
Nature news release
"The scaling laws of human travel," Nature, Jan. 26, 2006, p462, D. Brockmann, L. Hufnagel and T. Geisel, doi:10.1038/nature04292.
In the game, participants can register a dollar bill, of any denomination, and monitor its geographic circulation. Using the game data, physicists developed a powerful mathematical theory that describes the observed movements of travelers amazingly well over distances from just a few kilometers to a few thousand. The study represents a major breakthrough for the mathematical modeling of the spread of epidemics.
References:
Nature news release
"The scaling laws of human travel," Nature, Jan. 26, 2006, p462, D. Brockmann, L. Hufnagel and T. Geisel, doi:10.1038/nature04292.
International Association of Transport History
The 4th annual conference of the International Association of Transport History (T2m) :
The conference topic is Transport Sustainability and Safety. Deadline for papers is March 15.
Here you find the CfP: www.t2m.org
The conference topic is Transport Sustainability and Safety. Deadline for papers is March 15.
Here you find the CfP: www.t2m.org
Cosmobilities - latest
* First cosmobilities book at Ashgate: Tracing Mobilities
In early January Weert Canzler, Vincent Kaufmann and Sven Kesselring signed a contract with Ashgate Publishers for a book with the title "Tracing mobilities. The cosmopolitan perspective in mobility research". This book will be published at Ashgate, Transport and Society series. It is based on the first cosmobilities workshop in Munich in 2004 and contains contributions from Ulrich Beck, Wolfgang Bonß, Weert Canzler, Beate Collet, Michael Flamm,Vincent Kaufmann, Sven Kesselring, Ruth Limmer, Norbert Schneider, John Urry, and Gerlinde Vogl.
Deadline for the complete book is November 2006, it will be published in early 2007.
* Ph.D. course on critical mobility research in Roskilde, Denmark
In May 2-5 in 2006 there is an open Ph.D. course on "critical mobilities" given by the FLUX group at Roskilde University, Denmark. The course team consists of Lise Drews-Nielsen (Roskilde, FLUX), Tim Richardson (Sheffield), Ole B. Jensen (Aalborg), Sven Kesselring (Munich) and Anne Jensen (FLUX, Roskilde).
Ph.D. students from everywhere are welcomed to apply for participation. Please, download a flyer with more details - here
For details, check the cosmobilities website or contact directly Anne Jensen from Roskilde University: anjensen@ruc.dk.
In early January Weert Canzler, Vincent Kaufmann and Sven Kesselring signed a contract with Ashgate Publishers for a book with the title "Tracing mobilities. The cosmopolitan perspective in mobility research". This book will be published at Ashgate, Transport and Society series. It is based on the first cosmobilities workshop in Munich in 2004 and contains contributions from Ulrich Beck, Wolfgang Bonß, Weert Canzler, Beate Collet, Michael Flamm,Vincent Kaufmann, Sven Kesselring, Ruth Limmer, Norbert Schneider, John Urry, and Gerlinde Vogl.
Deadline for the complete book is November 2006, it will be published in early 2007.
* Ph.D. course on critical mobility research in Roskilde, Denmark
In May 2-5 in 2006 there is an open Ph.D. course on "critical mobilities" given by the FLUX group at Roskilde University, Denmark. The course team consists of Lise Drews-Nielsen (Roskilde, FLUX), Tim Richardson (Sheffield), Ole B. Jensen (Aalborg), Sven Kesselring (Munich) and Anne Jensen (FLUX, Roskilde).
Ph.D. students from everywhere are welcomed to apply for participation. Please, download a flyer with more details - here
For details, check the cosmobilities website or contact directly Anne Jensen from Roskilde University: anjensen@ruc.dk.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Go Digital January 23 2006
How computer users around the world can help Nasa find the origins of everything. Television over the internet, and using computing power to do something really useful - cool beer.
Download here
Download here
Monday, January 23, 2006
The Cosmobilities Network
Mention should be made of the Cosmobilities Network: The cosmobilities network connects European scientists working in the field of mobility research. It is a lively context of intellectual and academic exchange. As an interdisciplinary network it represents state of the art research on different aspects of social, physical, cultural and virtual mobilities.
It fosters mobility research as a key discipline for the modernization of European societies under the conditions of globalization and global complexity.
Also - In 2006 the next cosmobilities network meeting will take place at Lancaster University. The conference is entitled as "Air Time-Spaces. Thinking through Mobility Research" and fixed for September 29 and 30. For details, please contact Pennie Drinkall at Lancaster University: p.drinkall@lancaster.ac.uk.
It fosters mobility research as a key discipline for the modernization of European societies under the conditions of globalization and global complexity.
Also - In 2006 the next cosmobilities network meeting will take place at Lancaster University. The conference is entitled as "Air Time-Spaces. Thinking through Mobility Research" and fixed for September 29 and 30. For details, please contact Pennie Drinkall at Lancaster University: p.drinkall@lancaster.ac.uk.
Unraveling the Taste Fabric of Social Networks
Here is an interesting contribution to the realm of social networks - a report (PDF) from the authors Hugo Liu, Pattie Maes, and Glorianna Davenport titled "Unraveling the Taste Fabric of Social Networks" (PDF).
Abstract:
Popular online social networks such as Friendster and MySpace do more than simply reveal the superficial structure of social connectedness—the rich meanings bottled within social network profiles themselves imply deeper patterns of culture and taste. If these latent semantic fabrics of taste could be harvested formally, the resultant resource would afford completely novel ways for representing and reasoning about web users and people in general. This paper narrates the theory and technique of such a feat—the natural language text of 100,000 social network profiles were captured, mapped into a diverse ontology of music, books, films, foods, etc., and machine learning was applied to infer a semantic fabric of taste. Taste fabrics bring us closer to improvisational manipulations of meaning, and afford us at least three semantic functions— the creation of semantically flexible user representations, cross-domain taste-based recommendation, and the computation of taste-similarity between people—whose use cases are demonstrated within the context of three applications—the InterestMap, Ambient Semantics, and IdentityMirror. Finally, we evaluate the quality of the taste fabrics, and distill from this research reusable methodologies and techniques of consequence to the semantic mining and Semantic Web communities."
Thanks to Smartmobs
Abstract:
Popular online social networks such as Friendster and MySpace do more than simply reveal the superficial structure of social connectedness—the rich meanings bottled within social network profiles themselves imply deeper patterns of culture and taste. If these latent semantic fabrics of taste could be harvested formally, the resultant resource would afford completely novel ways for representing and reasoning about web users and people in general. This paper narrates the theory and technique of such a feat—the natural language text of 100,000 social network profiles were captured, mapped into a diverse ontology of music, books, films, foods, etc., and machine learning was applied to infer a semantic fabric of taste. Taste fabrics bring us closer to improvisational manipulations of meaning, and afford us at least three semantic functions— the creation of semantically flexible user representations, cross-domain taste-based recommendation, and the computation of taste-similarity between people—whose use cases are demonstrated within the context of three applications—the InterestMap, Ambient Semantics, and IdentityMirror. Finally, we evaluate the quality of the taste fabrics, and distill from this research reusable methodologies and techniques of consequence to the semantic mining and Semantic Web communities."
Thanks to Smartmobs
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Cars saving pedestrians' lives?
It's well known that many pedestrians and cyclists are victims of road accidents. This is why the EU-funded SAVE-U project was launched. This system combines sensors such as radar, vision and infrared camera, as well as sensor fusion and actuators to increase safety for pedestrians.
More at ZDNet
More at ZDNet
The New Carnival of the Mobilists
The New Carnival of the Mobilists features the very best writing about all things mobile from the previous week.
This week, the Carnival of the Mobilists is hosted at Golden Swamp. So give it a look!
This week, the Carnival of the Mobilists is hosted at Golden Swamp. So give it a look!
Friday, January 20, 2006
2006 Aspects of Tourism Conference
Imagine There's No Countries:
INEQUALITY AND GROWTH IN THE AGE OF TOURISM
University of Brighton @ Eastbourne
22nd-23rd June 2006
Professor Peter Burns is pleased to announce that Marcel Leijzer, Tourism
Policy Advisor to the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) has agreed
to give a keynote address about SNV's activities in sustainable tourism at
grassroots level.
His recent address to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
special assembly in Senegal last December emphasised the shift SNV has made
from project organisation to a clear focus on capacity building. Marcel says
(among other things) that interventions should be defined and 'owned' by the
South...
We urge you to join us in Eastbourne in June to discuss these compelling and
important issues.
The conference aims to bring together colleagues to discuss theoretical and
practical issues around tourism's role in development and poverty
alleviation.
Among the specific themes included are:
* Global and Local Conflicts in Tourism
* Tourism Corporations and Corporate Social Responsibility.
* South-South Solutions to Global Problems
* Tourism and the Millennium Development Goals
* Anthropology in Action
* Economic Exploitation of the Exotic
* New Waves in Tourism Development and Planning
* Tourism and Development Methodologies
* Gender Equality and Participation
* Paradoxes and critiques of ecotourism
* Fieldwork Methodologies
INEQUALITY AND GROWTH IN THE AGE OF TOURISM
University of Brighton @ Eastbourne
22nd-23rd June 2006
Professor Peter Burns is pleased to announce that Marcel Leijzer, Tourism
Policy Advisor to the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) has agreed
to give a keynote address about SNV's activities in sustainable tourism at
grassroots level.
His recent address to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
special assembly in Senegal last December emphasised the shift SNV has made
from project organisation to a clear focus on capacity building. Marcel says
(among other things) that interventions should be defined and 'owned' by the
South...
We urge you to join us in Eastbourne in June to discuss these compelling and
important issues.
The conference aims to bring together colleagues to discuss theoretical and
practical issues around tourism's role in development and poverty
alleviation.
Among the specific themes included are:
* Global and Local Conflicts in Tourism
* Tourism Corporations and Corporate Social Responsibility.
* South-South Solutions to Global Problems
* Tourism and the Millennium Development Goals
* Anthropology in Action
* Economic Exploitation of the Exotic
* New Waves in Tourism Development and Planning
* Tourism and Development Methodologies
* Gender Equality and Participation
* Paradoxes and critiques of ecotourism
* Fieldwork Methodologies
A new publication on mobility and aesthetics
"Aesthetics and Mobility" is the topic of this first special volume of the on-line journal Contemporary Aesthetics:
As its title reveals, the volume deals with questions of aesthetics in the context of mobility, i.e. in connection with traffic, mobile information technology, tourism, sports,arts involving or thematizing movement and other mobile phenomena.
The volume can be found here
As its title reveals, the volume deals with questions of aesthetics in the context of mobility, i.e. in connection with traffic, mobile information technology, tourism, sports,arts involving or thematizing movement and other mobile phenomena.
The volume can be found here
Time Innovation and Mobilities
This new book might be of interest:
Time Innovation and Mobilities - Peter Frank Peters, Routledge, 2005
Time Innovation and Mobilities - Peter Frank Peters, Routledge, 2005
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Mobile devices for epidemic alerts
More info coming in on mobile devices being used for alerts - here's the latest:
Technology Review reports on efforts by public health authorities, epidemiologists, and mobile device software developers to make available software and services that could use mobile messaging and location-aware devices to quickly disseminate information about epidemic outbreaks:
"During an outbreak or emergency, getting good info to the public rapidly about what they need to do protect themselves is vital and can save lives," says CDC spokeswoman Jennifer Morcone.
"Avoiding certain foods, avoiding certain areas, wearing a mask...all those messages are delivered through a number of channels by the CDC during outbreaks and emergencies and we know that getting information to people when they need it is vital."
At the Center for the Advancement of Distance Education (CADE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, researchers are helping the CDC to develop an emergency alert system that would rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) features built into many of today's mobile handsets. In areas hit with an outbreak, people who carry GPS-enabled mobile phones and are subscribed to the alert service would receive an emergency alert text message with instructions about where to go or what to do during specific emergencies, such as an outbreak of anthrax or bird flu.
One version of these instructions has already been developed in the form of small applications written in the Java programming language that show emergency procedures step by step and can be downloaded to and stored on mobile devices that support Java.
Via Smartmobs
Technology Review reports on efforts by public health authorities, epidemiologists, and mobile device software developers to make available software and services that could use mobile messaging and location-aware devices to quickly disseminate information about epidemic outbreaks:
"During an outbreak or emergency, getting good info to the public rapidly about what they need to do protect themselves is vital and can save lives," says CDC spokeswoman Jennifer Morcone.
"Avoiding certain foods, avoiding certain areas, wearing a mask...all those messages are delivered through a number of channels by the CDC during outbreaks and emergencies and we know that getting information to people when they need it is vital."
At the Center for the Advancement of Distance Education (CADE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, researchers are helping the CDC to develop an emergency alert system that would rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) features built into many of today's mobile handsets. In areas hit with an outbreak, people who carry GPS-enabled mobile phones and are subscribed to the alert service would receive an emergency alert text message with instructions about where to go or what to do during specific emergencies, such as an outbreak of anthrax or bird flu.
One version of these instructions has already been developed in the form of small applications written in the Java programming language that show emergency procedures step by step and can be downloaded to and stored on mobile devices that support Java.
Via Smartmobs
Beyond Locative Media
Networked Publics explores Beyond Locative Media by Marc Tuters and Kazys Varnelis, a richly referenced and linked essay about the geoweb, location-aware media, art, and critical thinking about the uses and effects of technology:
Locative media has been attacked for being too eager to appeal to commercial interests as well as for its reliance on Cartesian mapping systems, yet if these critiques are well-founded, they are also nostalgic, invoking a notion of art as autonomous from the circuits of mass communication technologies, which we argue no longer holds. This essay begins with a survey of the development of locative media, how it has distanced itself from net art, and how it has been critically received before going on to address these critiques and ponder how the field might develop.
Via Smartmobs
Locative media has been attacked for being too eager to appeal to commercial interests as well as for its reliance on Cartesian mapping systems, yet if these critiques are well-founded, they are also nostalgic, invoking a notion of art as autonomous from the circuits of mass communication technologies, which we argue no longer holds. This essay begins with a survey of the development of locative media, how it has distanced itself from net art, and how it has been critically received before going on to address these critiques and ponder how the field might develop.
Via Smartmobs
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