April 17, 2004

Life of Mobile Data

As part of the Life of Mobile Data Conference at the University of Surrey, I convened and chaired a panel session which looked very broadly at transdiciplinary research models in this area of mobile culture.

The panelists were each drawn from a different area of practice currently engaged in exploring and developing mobile projects: Linda Doyle (dept of Electrical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin); Constance Fleuriot (Mobile Bristol Project, Computer Science Dept, University of Bristol); Chris Heathcote (Interaction Designer, Orange UK) & Nick West (Information Architect & Researcher, Goldsmiths College & Proboscis).

Panel Theme:
The paradox of discussing 'mobile data' is how to avoid treating it as a static entity ­ when by its very meaning it is transient, fluid and elusive. What might this data be that is 'mobile'; what might be mobile about such 'data'? Could it  be that the mobile element is not the data itself but us ­ the users/creators/subjects/objects ­ endlessly reconfiguring the moments and spaces when we access it?

The recent interest in pervasive networks, ubiquitous computing and geo-specific (or location-based) information has been largely focused on the technology rather than why we might want or need such systems and what we might do with them. Recent projects, such as Urban Tapestries, have sought to bridge these social and cultural issues with technical development, creating transdisciplinary models which bring analytical and practical research together for a richer understanding of the forces shaping mobile technologies, and shaped by them.

This panel will discuss the implications of transdisciplinary models and experimental methodologies for understanding, and creatively responding to, our emerging interactions with 'mobile data'.

Posted by Giles Lane at April 17, 2004 02:30 PM
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