Networked Technologies
Over the past decades, information technologies have become increasingly important for the way we live our lives. Their shrinking and the parallel rise of wireless technologies have allowed these technologies and the computing power they entail to be increasingly embedded in the world around us. The spread of new functionalities on continuously connected smart phones is one example in which e.g. the news, banking and our friends have become omnipresent, at least in some ways.
These trends are expected to continue and evolve towards a computing paradigms such as Ubiquitous Computing, Ambient Intelligence and the Internet of Things. In addressing these concepts, the concept of universal access is critical. That is, access at anytime, from anywhere and possibly through anything. We have already seen applications being developed within these paradigms that are currently entering the world around us; at work, at home and in public space. They use technologies such as GPS, RFID and AR and typically combine physical sensors and actuators, computed and networked digitally. Especially with the spread of smart phones equipped with a set of sensors and actuators and connected through mobile internet, many new functionalities have become omnipresent.
Liquid Identities
Bauman, Liquid Times (2007): "Social forms can no longer keep their shape for long, because they decompose and melt faster than the time it takes to cast them, and once they are cast for them to set."
With the rise of electronic, mobile communication devices, societal boundaries are blurring. The internet in specific has had a major influence on the weakening of divides in place, time and social roles. We can now work from home while joking on social networks that connect us to our friends, family and colleagues simultaneously and continuously. Now that many of our activities have become digital, we have identities in this digital place as well.
Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman uses the term 'liquid identity to describe this constantly changing state of being (Bauman, 2000). These modern identities are created by ourselves, not by the communities we live in. "We no longer unconditionally identify with the people we are with physically, or with the situation we are in" (Michiel de Lange, 2010). Having the freedom to make personal decisions regarding life we are thus automatically constructing an identity ourselves, whether intentionally or not.
Hybrid Place
Souza e Siva, Netlocality (2011): "Urban spaces are becoming hybridized, meaning they are composed through a combination of physical and digital practices."
Most humans seem to live their daily lives in certain patterns. Whether nomads following the same migratory routes every year, or city dwellers on their daily route to work. 'Amsterdam Realtime', a project by Esther Polak and Jeroen Kee followed participants' positions within the city, over time using realtime GPS tracking. It is an interesting example that visualizes these patterns beautifully. Although quite a recognizable map of the city emerges when tracks are combined, individual routes often seem to focus around a few places. This "tendency of people to spend the bulk of their time in only a few places they regularly frequent" is also recognized in research by González, Hidalgo and Barabási on human mobility patterns (2008).
Regular locations to be visited will probably include the home, school, work space, supermarket and possibly the homes of friends or relatives. We visit these places to fulfill certain needs that are currently available through the infrastructure of our built environment. Could we also fulfill some of these needs without such a resource intensive infrastructure? As more of our activities are becoming digital, we no longer have to be fixed to geographical locations.