Rethinking the Role of Space in a Networked World

In the latest IEEE Pervasive Computing issue, Ezra Goldman builds on his work on the effects of ubiquitous wireless internet on locational usage to deliver his thoughts on the Role of Space in a Networked World. He mentions the confusion between mobility versus connectivity by arguing that we are likely as mobile today as we ever were. What’s different is that we’re more accessible and connected when we move around (quote from Mobile Communication and Society). This increased demands and expectations from others make us feel we need to be more connected. In consequence, it is our social relations and work duties that are becoming mobile as opposed to our physical body. Moreover, instead of making use freer, this makes us depend more on the physical spaces with a particular coupling of hardware, software, and infrastructure that enable us to stay connected. In a place were we can’t connect, we might feel a sense of uncertainty and isolation.

Relation to my thesis: Mobile and wireless technologies freed us from physical location but made us more dependent on the infrastructure that enable us to stay connected. Ezra poses the question as “are we gaining control and flexibility or becoming dependent on our own creations?”. In other words “Does ubiquitous Wi-Fi present an expansion of human habits or habitat for our technological devices”.