Divining a Digital Future - 9780262525893

Ubiquitous computing (or ubicomp) is the label for a "third wave" ofcomputing technologies. Following the eras of the mainframe computer and the desktop PC, ubicomp ischaracterized by small and powerful computing devices that are worn, carried, or embedded in theworld around us. The ubicomp research agenda originated at Xerox PARC in the late 1980s; these days,some form of that vision is a reality for the millions of users of Internet-enabled phones, GPSdevices, wireless networks, and "smart" domestic appliances. In Divining a Digital Future, computerscientist Paul Dourish and cultural anthropologist Genevieve Bell explore the vision that has driventhe ubiquitous computing research program and the contemporary practices that have emerged--both themotivating mythology and the everyday messiness of lived experience.Reflecting the interdisciplinarynature of the authors' collaboration, the book takes seriously the need to understand ubicomp notonly technically but also culturally, socially, politically, and economically. Dourish and Bell mapthe terrain of contemporary ubiquitous computing, in the research community and in daily life;explore dominant narratives in ubicomp around such topics as infrastructure, mobility, privacy, anddomesticity; and suggest directions for future investigation, particularly with respect tomethodology and conceptual foundations.