UbiComp in the Urban Frontier

UbiComp in the Urban Frontier captures a unique, synergistic moment – expanding urban populations, rapid adoption of Bluetooth mobile devices, tiny ad hoc sensor networks, and the widespread influence of wireless technologies across our growing urban landscapes. The United Nations recently reported that 48 percent of the world's population current lives in urban areas and that this number is expected to exceed the 50 percent mark world wide by 2007 [1]. In developed nations the number of urban dwellers is even more dramatic – expected to exceed 75%. Current studies project Bluetooth-enabled devices to reach 5.4 billion units by 2005 – five times the number of mobile phones or Internet connections [2]. Mobile phone penetration exceeds 80% of the population in places like the European Union (EU) and parts of Asia [3]. WiFi hardware is being deployed at the astonishing rate of one every 4 seconds globally [4]. We argue that now is the time to initiate inspirational research into the very essence of these newly emerging technological urban spaces. This paper and resulting workshop seek to understand how our future fabric of digital and wireless technologies will influence, disrupt, expand, and be integrated into the social patterns within our public urban landscapes. Author Key existent words Urban computing, wireless, public place, WiFi, community, Situationist, dérive, détournement, mobility, socio-techno infrastructure, urbanism INTRODUCTION There is little doubt that laptops, PDAs, and mobile phones have enabled computing to become a truly mobile experience. With these new computing devices, we emerge from our office, work, and school into the urban fabric of our cities and towns. We often view these urban areas as “in-between spaces” – obstacles to traverse from one place to another. However, not only do we spend a significant amount of time in such urban landscapes, but these spaces contribute to our own formulation of identity, community, and self. Much of the richness of life transpires within our own urban settings. The introduction of mobile computing tools upon our urban landscape affords new methods of viewing our city, community, and neighborhood. They can empower us to better understand our social relationship to community, place, and self. Similarly, there is a growing body of work within the field of social computing, particularly those involving social networking such as Tribe, Friendster, and Live Journal. At the intersection of mobile and social computing, we call for a discussion concerning research directed at understand this emerging space of computing within and across our public urban landscapes – technology at the urban frontier.