“Your place or mine?” – Connecting communities and public places through networked public displays

Public spaces connect people in their everyday life and foster the growth of communities by providing a common space for people to bond and interact. However, while different communities or social groups may share the same public space, they may not interact between each other due to perceived differences or prejudices. At the other end of the spectrum, members of the same community or social group could be scattered across physically separated public spaces. We argue that networked public displays can represent an important tool for bridging social and physical distance, in order to connect people across social, temporal, and spatial barriers. The following article summarizes relevant current research in urban design, community informatics, and public displays, and presents four scenarios that illustrate the potential of networked public displays in such settings. We then outline a research agenda for realizing this vision.