WiFi, UbiComp, & Smart Mobs
4.12.2005Knowledge Management SystemsLorrie Ensley
Overview
Smart Mobs Vision of the Future Cooperation Theory Computation Communication Reputation Location Awareness UbiComp WiFi Issues to Consider Maneki Neko
Smart Mobs
The new social form made possible by the combination of computation, communication, reputation, and location awareness (p.169-170)
aka Mobile ad hoc social network (p.170) Mobile: able to move freely or easily Ad hoc: organizing among people and their
devices is done informally and on the fly Social network: every individual is a “node” in
the jargon of social analysis, with social “links” (channels of communication and social bonds) to other individuals
Smart Mobs Website
Vision of the Future Rheingold’s Shibuya Epiphany
Generation Text Social Networking Rheingold’s Goal – learn about the “social
forms that could grow out of today’s roving bands of mobile texters”
Mobile Communication Devices G1 – portable analog telephones G2 – digital telephones that make use of
Internet-like services like short text messages G3 – wireless Internet in real time to mobile
devices NTT DoCoMo and I-mode – first commercial
success of G3 service Inexpensive Privacy and space reasons for success Vision 2010 and Looking for the Future Society
Likely evolution of mobile devices More transaction functions - “M-commerce” Pervasive Computing
Cooperation Theory Cooperation
Pros – foundation of finest creations of human civilizations Cons – free riding, terrorism, and organized crime
Does a new medium change the way people cooperate? History of civilization “More people pooling resources in new ways” Tragedy of the Commons
Collective action dilemmas – balancing of self-interest and public resources Free riders – people who enjoy the public resource without contributing to it Solution of the managed commons
Coping with free-riding and cheating Creating a commitment to cooperate Monitoring compliance with sets of rules
Authority Issues Centralized authority vs. decentralized authority (rules vs. social pressure)
Cooperation Theory Game Theory
Tit for Tat – most successful scheme Collective Actions that are part of Smart Mobs
Reciprocity Cooperation Reputation Social Grooming Social Dilemmas
Examples of Modern Public Goods Internet Open Source Software
Laws of Social Networks Sarnoff’s Law – the value of broadcast networks is proportionate to the number of
viewers Moore’s Law – the amount of elements that can be packed into the same amount of
space on a microchip will double every eighteen months Metcalfe’s Law – the value of a network grows proportionately to the square of its
nodes (# of nodes squared) Reed’s Law – the value of a network grows exponentially to the increase in its nodes
(2^number of nodes)
Computation Community Supercomputing
P2P Computing (aka Distributed Processing or Community Computation) Collective supercomputer spread all over the Net Members share their central processing unit computation cycles when they aren’t using their
computers Ex: SETI@home
P2P and file sharing Centralized – ex Napster Decentralized – every client is a server Problems - voluntary cooperation of users leads to free riding Solutions
Mojo Nation Users required to contribute as much as they take away Anonymity “Swarm distribution” – files broken up and distributed over the network
P2P Collaborative Filtering Systems OpenCOLA Designate things you like in your network folder Network fills the rest of your folder with things you’ll probably like
Grid Computing Communities of networked computers can provide computing resources on demand
Communication Information Exchange
News Gossip
Social Changes Bypassing the broadcasting media with
blogs, mobile phones, and email P2P Journalism
Communities Social Political Commercial
Swarming Power of many Cooperation for organized movements:
flocking behavior
Reputation Blogging Collaborative Filtering
Recommender systems Users post comments to advise other
users Social Filtering Services: collaborative
filtering by groups to match interests Recommender Communities
Ex: Epinions.com Reputation Systems
eBay’s reputation system Slashdot’s Karma system
Are universal reputation systems possible? Remember Tit for Tat Fraud
Local Awareness Computation Pervaded environments Information and Communications Technologies in the
Real World (p.84-85) Information in places
Media linked to place Smart rooms
Sentient Things Adding information and communication to physical objects
Digital Cities Adding information capabilities to urban places HP’s Cooltown
Tangible bits Manipulating the virtual world by manipulating physical objects
Wearable computers Sensing, computing, and communicating gear worn as clothing Cyborg communities
Control their presence in the technological world
Local Awareness Computer chips infiltrating buildings,
furniture, and even clothing Radio frequency identity tags as
successors to the barcode Leads to pervasive surveillance
questions Geographic Location Devices
WorldBoard – proposed global infrastructure to associate information with places
GPS E-squirting
Using radio frequencies to transmit information between devices
Bluetooth
UbiComp
Ubiquitous Computing theory developed by Mark Weiser
The “invisible, everywhere computing that does not live on a personal device of any sort but is built in the woodwork everywhere” (p.87)
Opposite of Virtual Reality – not reality built into computers but computers built into reality
Many computers serve each person
WiFi Wireless Quilts
War driving Grassroots Wireless Networks
Cost Effective Easy to Install Wireless City Projects: Austin
Ad Hoc P2P Networks Mesh technologies Using mobile devices to swap data, games, and music
without telecommunication networks Regulation Issues
History of radio wave regulation Open Spectrum Argument: regulate the devices, not the
waves Telecommunications Industry issues
Grassroots networks are like stealing cable Profitability – Wireless Internet Business Model Potential problems
Security Radiation Interference
Issues to Consider Loss of Privacy
In order to cooperate with more people, you need to know more about them, and they in turn will know more about you Big Everybody
Smart Mobs reduces to issues of trust and privacy Personal agents to go-between, filter, and shield
Who are the users Good users Bad users Incompetent users
Legal & Regulatory Battles Threats created by Smart Mobs
Liberty Quality of life Dignity
Maneki Neko Welcoming good luck cat in
Japanese culture Story of future technology
Future communication capabilities How life could change Issues of non-adoption
Smart Mobs concepts Video Mobile Devices Reciprocal Social Networks Swarming Squirting
WiFi, UbiComp, & Smart Mobs
4.12.2005Knowledge Management SystemsLorrie Ensley