WiFi, UbiComp, & Smart Mobs

4.12.2005

Knowledge Management Systems

Lorrie 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

4.12.2005

Knowledge Management Systems

Lorrie Ensley