workshop: UbiCity06
Ubicomp and the City 2006
Summary
This workshop explores ubicomp technologies and design approaches for civic, community and cultural applications on an urban scale.
"...I refer, of course, to those programs, unique in our time, which are complex because of their scope, such as research laboratories, hospitals, and particularly the enormous projects at the scale of city and regional planning… This contrast between the means and the goals of a program is significant. Although the means involved in the program of a rocket to get to the moon, for instance, are almost infinitely complex, the goal is simple and contains few contradictions; although the means involved in the program and structure of buildings are far simpler and less sophisticated technologically than almost any engineering project, the purpose is more complex and often inherently ambiguous." - Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
We invite position papers that use specific cities - with all of their complexities and contradictions - as case studies. Authors should focus on mobile communications, wireless sensor technology and other components of ubicomp as key enabling platforms for new experiences in that city. They should take a position with respect to the unique civic responsibilities that might come with ubicomp technologies created for and deployed in public space.
To explore this broad topic in the limited length allowed (3-5 pages), each paper should select one of three focus areas as a starting point:
1. Driver application – A specific, deployable application, for the driver city, described from the point of view of end-user experience.
2. Platforms / services – A set of enabling platforms or services that would catalyze experimentation in the driver city with ubicomp technologies.
3. Infrastructure – Concepts for urban infrastructure in the driver city, which can span all definitions of infrastructure - e.g., networking and telecommunications but also teaching/training, deployed testbeds, etc.
Authors are encouraged to construct a progression from their own first-person understanding of a city they know well to a careful look at its history and current cultural landscape, moving into a provocative and well-reasoned ubicomp application or platform that incorporates the specific nature of their ‘driver’ city. Papers are encouraged to focus on provocative, tractable ideas for specific areas and communities rather than vague visions that would fit any metropolis.
Multidisciplinary papers crossing computer science, electrical engineering, the humanities, arts and social sciences are strongly encouraged.
[edit]
Third Things, Third Places
For this workshop, authors should focus on areas outside of traditional ubicomp applications in productivity and entertainment. Though urban spaces are a central arena for work and leisure, this workshop will consider arts, culture, informal activity and civic participation - a rich third class of applications where traditional task-oriented design is insufficient. Civic engagement, creative expression, family and community life, the cultural contribution of art, science and engineering: these are for what and for whom we maximize our time. In them, efficiency is neither the right metric nor a primary design goal. They relate deeply to our physical context (especially location); they are community-specific; they require new design approaches to be explored here.
This third area of applications is loosely joined with Ray Oldenburg's ideas on the importance of third places - that informal public gathering places are vital parts of community life. See The Great Good Place (Oldenburg, 1991), or the Project for Public Spaces
Summary
This workshop explores ubicomp technologies and design approaches for civic, community and cultural applications on an urban scale.
"...I refer, of course, to those programs, unique in our time, which are complex because of their scope, such as research laboratories, hospitals, and particularly the enormous projects at the scale of city and regional planning… This contrast between the means and the goals of a program is significant. Although the means involved in the program of a rocket to get to the moon, for instance, are almost infinitely complex, the goal is simple and contains few contradictions; although the means involved in the program and structure of buildings are far simpler and less sophisticated technologically than almost any engineering project, the purpose is more complex and often inherently ambiguous." - Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
We invite position papers that use specific cities - with all of their complexities and contradictions - as case studies. Authors should focus on mobile communications, wireless sensor technology and other components of ubicomp as key enabling platforms for new experiences in that city. They should take a position with respect to the unique civic responsibilities that might come with ubicomp technologies created for and deployed in public space.
To explore this broad topic in the limited length allowed (3-5 pages), each paper should select one of three focus areas as a starting point:
1. Driver application – A specific, deployable application, for the driver city, described from the point of view of end-user experience.
2. Platforms / services – A set of enabling platforms or services that would catalyze experimentation in the driver city with ubicomp technologies.
3. Infrastructure – Concepts for urban infrastructure in the driver city, which can span all definitions of infrastructure - e.g., networking and telecommunications but also teaching/training, deployed testbeds, etc.
Authors are encouraged to construct a progression from their own first-person understanding of a city they know well to a careful look at its history and current cultural landscape, moving into a provocative and well-reasoned ubicomp application or platform that incorporates the specific nature of their ‘driver’ city. Papers are encouraged to focus on provocative, tractable ideas for specific areas and communities rather than vague visions that would fit any metropolis.
Multidisciplinary papers crossing computer science, electrical engineering, the humanities, arts and social sciences are strongly encouraged.
[edit]
Third Things, Third Places
For this workshop, authors should focus on areas outside of traditional ubicomp applications in productivity and entertainment. Though urban spaces are a central arena for work and leisure, this workshop will consider arts, culture, informal activity and civic participation - a rich third class of applications where traditional task-oriented design is insufficient. Civic engagement, creative expression, family and community life, the cultural contribution of art, science and engineering: these are for what and for whom we maximize our time. In them, efficiency is neither the right metric nor a primary design goal. They relate deeply to our physical context (especially location); they are community-specific; they require new design approaches to be explored here.
This third area of applications is loosely joined with Ray Oldenburg's ideas on the importance of third places - that informal public gathering places are vital parts of community life. See The Great Good Place (Oldenburg, 1991), or the Project for Public Spaces