relevant blogging elsewhere

This blog is currently on ice, even if my thoughts are not. Since March 1st 2010 I have been working as a Research Associate for the Digital Cultures Research Centre, University of the West of England. The DCRC is located in the Pervasive Media Studio, and we have been awarded a Knowledge Transfer Fellowship grant by the AHRC to develop our research into the Language and Value of Pervasive Media.

My interest in the ethical issues around pervasive media will continue to inform this research, but I probably won't have time to keep this blog going as a separate strand, but there are these two outlets for my thoughts:

pervasivemedia.wordpress.com which will attempt to document the progress of the DCRC project

&

grannieswithmobiles.blogspot.com which will contain my personal ramblings

Living in the Internet of Things

There's a talk on the 4th March in Bristol that should be interesting. Well, I would think so because I suggested that it happen. Rob van Kranenburg is coming to talk about Living in the Internet of Things, looking at the potential impact of the "near invisible network of radio frequency identification tags (RFID) [that] is being deployed on many consumer items. These chips can connect to the Internet in an instant, creating a global network of physical objects or the 'internet of things'. Is this the ultimate convenience in supply-chain management, the ultimate tool in future surveillance, or the real enabler for a grassroot local new politics?"

Tickets are £6.50 full, £5.00 concessions.

The following day Rob is participating in a one-day symposium, Pervasive/Invasive, at the Digital Cultures Research Centre which will be a day of presentation and discussion on ethical issues around pervasive media. The aim of the day will be to develop some principles for consideration by designers and application developers. Outcomes of the day will be appearing on the DCRC website, and I will put links to any publications here too.

Blippy

Another website where you can choose what information you share about yourself.
"Blippy is a fun and easy way to see and discuss the things people are buying"
Register a credit card and all your purchases will be posted to the site for comment about your decision. Of course, you could just register one card and then buy only the sort of things that you want your friends to know about.

watching yourself

Stumbled across the yourflowingdata website via twitter. It allows you to record data that you think is interesting via twitter, visualise it in some way, and choose how much you want to share. It suggests that it helps you develop self-awareness of the patterns in your life. I suppose in that sense it functions like keeping a journal, in that if you read through past musings you can get a sense of where you are repeating yourself, what you might want to change in your life. I haven't had a go at it yet because I am already using my twitter account for other specific purposes so would have to set up a separate twitter account, which involves generating a different email address etc etc etc. Could be interesting as a tool for self-reflection, if I get the time. I like that it allows you to choose how much to share.

'don't be evil'

I thought this was a line from a Bill & Ted movie rather than a company motto until I read this article about the possible end of google's 'operations' in China. Apparently google are a trifle disgruntled that people's gmail accounts are being hacked, especially people who are human rights activists. Well, there's a shock, eh? Read more here on the BBC website.