[iDC] Architecture and Situated Technologies

[Matthew Waxman]

Trebor and the IDC,

An IDC meetup at ISEA2006... great idea!

I will be volunteering at ISEA 2006 but I don't know what
my hours will be yet.

How about we meetup 8/10 or 8/11 after the symposium, so a
meeting time of around 6 to 6:30? The group could meet
and converse over food and drink, too.

What do folks think of that idea?

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you.
Best,
-Matt


On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 02:21:21 +0800
  trebor at thing.net wrote:
> Yesterday in Manhattan I passed by a dynamic looking 
>woman with intense, curious
> eyes and it turned out to be Shu Lea Cheang, -- the -- 
>Shu Lea Cheang.
> 
> Today, over a hot cup of coffee and the background noise 
>of slash hammers we had
> a conversation about the iDC list.
> 
> We agreed that it must be the baking hot summer that 
>makes teen repellents more
> attractive than longish texts. (I find it hard to debate 
>any of these issues
> without at least mentioning that while we speak Israel 
>started a war against
> Lebanon.)
> 
> Shu Lea and I considered what the July discussion 
>achieved and where it fell
> short. There were some real gems (welcome to the many 
>first-time posters!) and
> at the same time it was hard for us to stick to a few 
>threads (without changing
> the subject heading when posting about the same topic).
> 
> Shu Lea voiced her desire for iDC subscribers to follow 
>up on the raised points
> instead of turning the list into a social space (a 
>problem that she is all too
> familiar with, also from lists that are moderated by 
>women or are
> “women-only”). It’d be an amazing experiment to actually 
>follow through on one
> thread for months.
> 
> However, we agreed that genuine discussions can only be 
>inspired, not forced and
> that the discussion of a focused selection of media art 
>projects is paramount
> for this exchange leading up to the October symposium. 
>The theory and practice
> link is really a tough nut to crack.
> 
> I rarely saw threads lasting for several weeks or even 
>months (on any mailing
> list really) going deep, deep, and deeper into topics, 
>reflecting on what
> previous contributors wrote and actually responding to 
>it, thinking it through,
> not immediately using it as jumping off board for other 
>ideas.
> 
> To really get into a focused discussion of two or three 
>projects would be good.
> This needs to go beyond my own joy of referencing 
>relevant links because
> websites are often documentation that cannot replace 
>reports from eyewitnesses.
> 
> Shu Lea and I discussed the visibility of art using 
>mobile technology. Much of
> the work formerly known as locative media was hardly 
>noticeable in the urban
> scenario: an artists sitting in a park with a laptop or 
>standing on a street
> corner with a mobile phone does not exactly attract many 
>passers-by.
> 
> There are, of course, more sensational approaches but 
>much of media artwork in
> public places has a real hard time engaging an audience, 
>turning "lurkers" into
> participants despite the explicit intention to do so. 
>Artists armed with
> miniaturized (concealed) mobile art projects walking the 
>streets will be also
> be a challenge for the upcoming ISEA Festival.
> 
> The call for audience engagement reminds me of Miwon 
>Kwon's comments on
> site-specificity in the context of institutional 
>critique projects of the
> 1990s. The site-specific spectacle of the critical art 
>project was occasionally
> turned into an institutionally cathartic, tourist 
>attraction.
> 
> Shu Lea and I also thought that it'd be great to meet 
>those of you who will be
> at ISEA in August. I'll be there to present on the 10th.
> 
>>What do you think of a meeting of iDC readers and 
>>contributors in San Jose? We
> could arrange this off-list and post a meeting 
>point/time on 08/10 or 08/11.
> 
> Perhaps another interesting departure point for this 
>discussion is Rheingold's
> Smart Mobs blog post that quoted a BBC article about the 
>waning divide between
> people's lives online and in the city.
> 
> "This BBC article quotes Dr Jo Twist,a senior research 
>fellow at the Institute
> for Public Policy Research in the UK, as saying "once 
>the net was ubiquitous
> like power and water, it had the potential to be 
>"transformative." The divide
> that separates people from their online lives will 
>utterly disappear. Instead
> of leaving behind all those net-based friends and 
>activities when you walk out
> of your front door, you will be able to take them with 
>you. The buddies you
> have on instant message networks, friends and family on 
>e-mail, your eBay
> auctions, your avatars in online games, the TV shows you 
>have stored on disk,
> your digital pictures, your blog - everything will be 
>just a click away."
> 
> <http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2006/03/08/the_divide_that.html>
> 
>Finally, I'm adding Mitchell Moss' and Anthony Townsend's 
>essay
> "How telecommunication systems are transforming urban 
>spaces."
> 
> Anthony consented to me posting this text (Anth.: "that 
>old thing!") originally
> published in:
> 
> Wheeler, J., Aoyama, Y., Warf, B. eds. (2000) Cities in 
>the Telecommunications
> Age: The Fracturing of Geographies. London: Routledge.
> 
> Best,
> Trebor
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> HOW TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS ARE TRANSFORMING URBAN 
>SPACES
> Introduction
> 
> All too often, telecommunications systems are treated as 
>an alternative
> to transportation systems, as a substitute for the 
>physical movement of
> people and services. The growing use of 
>telecommunications
> systems is doing far more than influence where people 
>work and live, but
> is actually changing the character of activities that 
>occur in the home,
> workplace, and automobile. This chapter examines the way 
>in which
> information and telecommunications are transforming 
>everyday urban life;
> making the home into an extension of the office, 
>shopping mall, and
> classroom; allowing the automobile and airplane to 
>become workplaces;
> and converting the office building into a hub for social 
>interaction and
> interpersonal contact. The diffusion of information 
>technologies
> drastically increases the complexity of cities by 
>increasing the number
> and type of interactions among individuals, firms, 
>technical systems,
> and the external environment. Information systems are 
>permitting new
> combinations of people. equipment, and places; as a 
>result, there is a
> dramatic change in the spatial organization of 
>activities within cities
> and large metropolitan regions.
> 
> Telecommunications has made the fundamental elements of 
>urban life –
> housing, transportation, work, and leisure – far more 
>complex
> logistically, spatially, and temporally. Despite the 
>rapid integration
> of information and telecommunications into everyday 
>life, our theories
> and policies rarely consider the role of information 
>technology in urban
> growth and development. In this chapter, we explore the 
>way in which
> new information and telecommunications systems are 
>altering the
> structure of urban development in the United States.
> 
>For the past century, cities have sought to control land 
>use and guide
> economic development by designating areas for distinctly 
>different types
> of activities. The zoning regulations that govern most 
>cities and
> suburbs reflect the industrial-era value placed on the 
>separation of
> activities into distinct zones for residential, 
>commercial, and
> industrial uses. Tire dirt, dust, and fumes from 
>factories led to
> concern for public health that imposed restrictions on 
>where
> manufacturing activities could occur. With the advent of
> the electric streetcar, commuter railroad, and the 
>automobile, it
> becarmr possible to develop residential comunities far 
>from the
> industrial portions of cities.
> 
> As we enter the twenty-first century, telecommunications 
>technologies
> are transforming the mix of activities within the home, 
>office and
> automobile in ways that are only beginning to be 
>recognized and
> understood. We have invested far more resources to study 
>the influence
> of transportation systems on urban development than to 
>understand the
> relationship of telecommunications technologies to urban 
>and
> regional growth. The popular and academic literature on 
>new information
> technologies reflects a long-standing belief that 
>electronic
> communications will lead to the economic decline of 
>cities as they make
> it possible to replace the face-to-face activities that 
>occur in central
> locations. More than a quarter century ago, Ronald Abler 
>(1970), a
> pioneer in the study of communications and urban space 
>suggested that:
> 
> Advances in information transmission may soon permit us 
>to disperse
> information- gathering and decision-making activities 
>away from
> metropolitan center, and electronic communications media 
>will make all
> kinds of information equally abundant everywhere
> in the nation, if not everywhere in the world.
> 
> George Gilder (1995) extended this argument when he 
>wrote that: "we are
> headed for the death of cities" due to the continued 
>growth of personal
> computing and distributed organizations advances. Gilder 
>further
> claimed that: "cities are leftover baggage from the 
>industrial era."
> 
> By this reasoning, cities are no longer needed to access 
>a wide range of
> cultural activities and information sources, because 
>telecommunications
> can bring the library, concert hall, or business meeting 
>into any home
> or office.
> 
> Peter Gordon and Harry W. Richardson ( 1997), of the 
>University of
> Southern California, have argued that communications 
>technologies are
> reinforcing the movement out of cities that the 
>automobile had
> initiated: "Rapid advances in telecommunications are now 
>accelerating
> the decentralization trends set in motion by the advent 
>of the
> automobile." They contend that: "Proximity is becoming 
>redundant...
> Entertainment already is, and instruction is more likely 
>to be,
> transmitted over broad-band radio frequencies rather 
>than seen in
> traditional theaters or lecture halls, today's cities 
>continue to become
> less compact; the city of the future will be anything 
>but compact." Most
> observers believe that technology will eliminate the 
>need for cities as
> centers of interaction. The leading media guru, Nicholas 
>Negroponte
> (1995), has stated that "The post-information age will 
>remove the
> limitations of geography. Digital living will include 
>less and less
> dependence upon being in a specific place at a specific 
>time, and the
> transmission of place itself will start to become 
>possible." Even the
> concept of the "edge city," a label that Joel Garreau 
>(1991) applied to
> clusters of suburban office parks linked bevy freeways, 
>is a reflection
> of how both transportation and communication 
>technologies are treated as
> forces that have fostered the outmigration of work and 
>housing from the
> central city.
> 
> Admittedly, geographers such as John Goddard, Jean 
>Gottman, Allen Scott,
> and James Wheeler have carefully analyzed the way in 
>which
> telecommunications can both centralize and decentralize 
>activities,
> reflecting geography's concern for understanding 
>communications
> technology and the location of human activities. 
>Gottmann (1983)
> proposed that communications technologies work in two 
>directions by
> making it possible both to concentrate and to disperse 
>economic
> activities, and had a "dual impact" on office location: 
>"First, it has
> freed the office from the previous necessity of locating 
>next to the
> operations it directed; second, it has helped to gather 
>offices in large
> concentrations in special areas." The authors of this 
>paper have also,
> succumbed to this spatial imperative and emphasized the 
>role of
> technology in reinforcing the position of major cities 
>in the United
> States. (Moss and Townsend, 1996, 1997, 1998)
> 
> Nigel Thrift (1996) provided a new rationale for 
>face-to-face contact in
> an era of high-speed communications by claiming that 
>telecommunications
> networks were generating a demand for instant 
>information in the
> financial services sector that was best done in a 
>face-to-face context.
> Thrift argued that the principal function of major 
>financial centers is
> interpreting in real time the massive amounts of 
>information that are
> generated each day: "Since the international financial 
>system generates
> such a massive load of information, power goes to those 
>who are able to
> offer the most convincing interpretations of the 
>moment." Interpreting
> information depends as much on face-to-face interaction 
>as on advanced
> technologies, an activity that is necessarily and 
>increasingly
> centralized in the leading world financial centers.
> 
> A NEW APPROACH TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH
> 
> While telecommunications technologies are certainly a 
>space-adjusting
> phenomena, the emergence of the Internet, the growth of 
>mobile
> telephony, and the diffusion of new information 
>technologies are doing
> far more than merely rearrange the spatial pattern of 
>activities in
> cities and metropolitan regions. New telecommunications 
>systems are
> redefining the fundamental elements of modern urban 
>society – the
> office, the automobile, the home, and the street – and 
>generating a need
> for a new conceptual framework to understand the way in 
>which
> telecommunications systems are influencing the character 
>of activities
> in cities and metropolitan regions.
> 
> Simply put, telecommunications systems have progressed 
>faster and deeper
> into our society than the theories we use to guide 
>research on such
> technologies. Michael Batty (1997) states: "the city 
>itself is turning
> into a constellation of computers." Batty highlights the 
>way in which
> new information systems are "generating new 
>opportunities for
> understanding and planning cities," and makes a powerful 
>case for a
> new approach to the study of cities that builds upon the 
>"synthesis of
> computers and telecommunications." As he states:
> 
> Computers which were once thought of as solely being 
>instruments for a
> better understanding, for science, are rapidly becoming 
>part of that
> infrastructure, and thus affecting space and location. 
>In one view, the
> line between computers being used to aid our 
>understanding of cities and
> their being used to operate and control cites has not 
>only become
> blurred but has virtually dissolved. In another sense, 
>computers are
> becoming increasingly important everywhere and the 
>asymmetry posed by
> their exclusive use for analysis and design in the past 
>and their all
> pervasive influence in the city is now disappearing. In 
>both cases, the
> implication is that computers will have to be used to 
>understand cities
> which are built of computers.
> 
> In recent years, new theoretical empirical studies have 
>offered insights
> into the way in which information systems are 
>influencing urban activity
> patterns. Jed Kolko has suggested that 
>telecommunications has led
> to the "death of distance" but not the "death of 
>cities." He also found
> that "city size is positively related to domain density, 
>and
> significantly so" (Kolko, 1998). Daniel Sui has proposed 
>the need for
> new urban models that reflect an "organic view of cities 
>based upon
> analogies in biology" and that emphasize that "cities 
>are formed more
> from local actions without centralized planning or macro 
>control " (Sui,
> 1998).
> The growth of electronic communications is also forcing 
>changes in how
> we think about regions, according to Harvey and Macnab. 
>They assert that
> "the fundamental geographical notion of the region" is 
>in need of a
> temporal overhaul and ask "to what degree will 
>traditional east-west
> channels...give way to north-south alignments more in 
>keeping with the
> time of day?" (Harvey and Macnab, 1998).
> 
> This chapter makes a simple argument: the deployment of 
>new
> telecommunications systems is altering the activities 
>that occur in the
> key elements of urban society – the home, the office, 
>the automobile,
> and even the hotel room and public parks and streets. 
>Telecommunications
> systems are blurring the separation between the home and 
>the workplace,
> radically changing office design and function, 
>transforming the
> automobile into an extension of the workplace, and 
>moving street crime
> into the shadows of cyberspace.
> 
> TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE WORKPLACE
> 
> The modern office building is the single greatest human 
>artifact
> explicitly designed to generate, process, and manage 
>information. The
> merger of computers and telecommunications systems has 
>profoundly
> altered the physical design of office buildings and the 
>type of
> activities that occur within them. At the macroscopic 
>level, new office
> buildings increasingly feature advanced 
>telecommunications
> infrastructure built into their walls and floors to 
>accommodate the
> growing use of data and video transmission equipment. 
>For large
> financial institutions, the floorplate of a building has 
>become the
> critical factor, as large floor areas are required for 
>modern trading
> rooms where hundreds of traders are situated in close 
>proximity to each
> other. In cities such as New York and London, many older 
>office
> buildings arc unable to meet today's technological 
>requirements,
> generating a demand for new buildings that can meet 
>today's spatial and
> technological requirements. As a result, Canary Wharf in 
>the London
> Dockyards and the World Financial Center in New York 
>City's Battery Park
> City have attracted leading financial institutions to 
>areas that are not
> contiguous to the city's traditions financial district.
> 
> At the same time, there is also a new emphasis on 
>interior office design
> that eliminates the physical boundaries within offices 
>in order to
> promote human interaction. Francis Duffy (1969) was the 
>first to
> observe that  modern office buildings are increasingly 
>designed to
> accommodate the face-to-face exchange of information 
>through meetings,
> conferences, and informal conversations at the water 
>cooler.
> 
> As Duffy states, "Office work is generally becoming more 
>mobile, more
> complex, and more plural. And yet there is often the 
>need for some
> concentrated, individual work in the same place. This 
>has led to one
> of the eternal conflicts in office design: the need to 
>accommodate
> communication and interaction as well as individual 
>work" (Duffy, 1998).
> 
>Firms such as IBM  (Young, 1993) have reduced the size of 
>individual
> office and rely on flexible office assignments such as 
>"hot-desking,"
> but there is simultaneous a greater emphasis on the use 
>of conference
> rooms and centers for mobilizing workers, encouraging 
>interaction,
> and bringing experts together to work in team efforts.
> 
> Telecommunications technologies have also influenced the 
>scale and mix
> of activities that occur within office buildings. The 
>modern office
> building has remained the epicenter of electronic and 
>face-to-face
> communication by adapting to new technological 
>requirements and
> organizational priorities only through investments in 
>new equipment,
> which have dramatically expanded the buildings' 
>information-processing
> capabilities. An example of such modernization is the 
>New York
> Information Technology Center, a 400,000-square-foot 
>building in
> Manhattan's financial district that was previously the 
>headquarters of
> an investment bank. Although the building stood empty 
>for years, in 1995
> it was totally renovated with new telecommunications 
>systems and has
> become a center for New York's multimedia industry 
>(Conway,
> 1997).
> 
> While technological innovation has strengthened the role 
>of the office
> building in certain areas of the financial sector, it 
>has also led to
> the dispersion of routine and retail financial services. 
>Nowhere is this
> more apparent than in the consolidation of local banks 
>into interstate
> banking companies and the replacement of the local 
>branch offices with
> automated teller machines (ATMs). Retail banks, once 
>built to resemble
> elaborate temples in order to reassure depositors that 
>their savings
> were safe and secure, are no longer defined by real 
>estate but by
> electronic networks. This has led many communities to 
>protest the
> loss of the locally owned and managed bank, while also 
>hastening the
> spread of24-liour banking into local communities through 
>the
> supermarket, drugstore, and gas station.
> 
> Of even more significance, banks now operate solely in 
>electronic space
> rather than physical space. Three Internet banks, 
>Security First Network
> Bank and Atlanta Internet Bank offer 24-hour service at 
>their Websites,
> and a third, CompuBank, opened in mid-1998. These banks 
>may be the
> harbinger of banking in the future; an activity once 
>confined to a
> distant physical building in the geographic center of a 
>community that
> can now be conducted from a terminal anywhere in the 
>world. However,
> these new ways of banking presuppose access to and 
>literacy in
> information technology and telecommunications, which are 
>lacking in many
> poor inner-city and rural communities.
> 
> Another place-based activity, the auction market – 
>whether in rare art,
> commodities, or financial instruments – has 
>traditionally relied on
> face-to-face contact that took place in specific cities 
>and at specific
> times. Telecommunications has totally disrupted the 
>traditional physical
> marketplace in which goods are bought and sold. For 
>example, the auction
> of tea leaves, an activity based in London for more than 
>three hundred
> years, can now be conducted wherever tea is grown – in 
>Sri Lanka, India,
> China and Africa – as a result of advanced 
>telecommunications systems.
> Electronic trading in futures and options is being done 
>through a global
> network that links the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the 
>Paris Bourse,
> and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange and 
>will eventually
> replace the traditional "open outcry" system, in which 
>buyers and
> sellers shout out bids on the crowded floor of an 
>exchange.
> 
> Even the secretive world of buying and selling art has 
>adapted to
> telecommunications. More than seven hundred art dealers 
>are linked to
> ArtNet, an online service that allows potential buyers 
>to see
> collections online and to compare prices, a previously 
>impossible task.
> Jacob Weisberg notes that "the Web will expand the art 
>market not only
> by spreading information but also by making art info a 
>more liquid
> asset" (Weisberg, 1999). The potential growth of the art 
>market through
> electronic auctions does not mean that cities will 
>decline as centers
> for culture, but that the world of art, like the world 
>of finance, will
> soon be driven by information, and that those people and 
>places with the
> skill and capacity to participate in the electronic flow 
>of art will
> benefit greatly. If history is any guide, explaining, 
>interpreting, and
> conveying information about the art market will soon be 
>as valued as the
> production of art itself.
> 
> THE HOME ENVIRONMENT
> 
> Just as the office environment has been influenced by 
>telecommunications
> technology, the home is undergoing a fundamental change 
>in its function
> and design as a result of new telecommunications 
>technologies.
> Information has traditionally been delivered to the home 
>through a
> single telephone line, broadcast radio and television, 
>and by hand
> (whether delivered by mail carriers or newspaper 
>delivery personnel, or
> carried in by the residents). For much of the last one 
>hundred years,
> the home has functioned primarily as a site for 
>social-emotional
> functions of the family, explicitly designed as a refuge 
>from the
> workplace. A relic of Victorian-era philosophers, this 
>separation of
> home and work appears to be disappearing as new 
>information technologies
> are becoming widely available.
> 
> Information brought into the home through satellite 
>dishes, coaxial
> cable, and high-speed phone lines dramatically expands 
>the number and
> type of activities that can occur within the confines of 
>a residence.
> According to a recent study by the US Department of 
>Labor (1998), more
> than 21 million Americans did some part of their primary 
>job at home in
> 1997, and more than half of those used a computer for 
>their home-based
> work. For many small businesses and self-employed 
>individuals, personal
> computers equipped with modems, reliable overnight 
>deliver services,
> sophisticated voice mail systems, and the proliferation 
>of neighborhood
> office centers such as Kinko's have allowed the home to 
>become the
> firm's headquarters, workplace, and distribution center. 
>In Manhattan,
> San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston, underutilized 
>industrial structures
> have been converted into combined "work-and-live space" 
>with advanced
> telecommunications systems to serve home-based workers.
> 
> The capacity to extend the workplace into the home has 
>generated new
> demands for high-speed telephone lines in the home. Home 
>contractors now
> treat telecommunications infrastructure as  the 
> equivalent of
> "electronic plumbing," and new homes are being equipped 
>with high
> capacity phone conduits to accommodate information 
>services. Electrolux
> has even developed an Internet-connected refrigerator 
>with an LCD touch
> screen and bar-code scanner that could be used to order 
>groceries over
> the Web. New housing developments across the United 
>States are being
> marketed to sophisticated buyers, based on the speed of 
>their Internet
> access and services available through their own 
>intranet. A developer of
> townhouse and single-family housing in the Washington, 
>D.C.,
> metropolitan area offers Local Area Network (LAN) wiring 
>as an option in
> all new homes it constructs, at a price of $1,500 to 
>$2,000 (Tueting,
> 1997).
> 
> The diffusion of new information-based services in the 
>home – for
> security, climate control, and entertainment – has led a 
>consortium of
> semiconductor, computer, and telecommunications 
>companies to develop a
> "Shared Wireless Access Protocol" that would 
>interconnect electronic
> devices within the home using the same technology 
>employed by cordless
> telephones. Even low-income communities are 
>participating in the
> information explosion in the house. In Oakland, 
>California, the Acord
> complex, a 206- unit housing project, is equipped with 
>fiber-optic
> cables, computers in each home, and a learning center 
>for job training.
> 
> Public services, once provided solely within designated 
>public buildings
> such as schools, libraries, or prisons are now also 
>being provided in
> the home, albeit for different reasons. For example, 
>tire growth of
> "home-schooling" has been facilitated by the Internet; 
>an estimated 1.2
> million children now learn at home, and in California 
>there is a
> California Homeschool Network that links home-schooling 
>parents.
> Amazon.com even has a link for home-schoolers on its Web 
>site. At the
> same time, many government agencies have adopted 
>advanced technologies
> remotely to monitor parolees as a way to control costs. 
>The home has evolved
> into a site for the incarceration for nonviolent
> offenders. Electronic bracelets simply activate a modem 
>to contact
> corrections officers when a convict attempts to leave 
>his or her home.
> 
> In the twenty-first century, a home's attractiveness 
>will be judged by
> the speed of its dial-up connections and extent of its 
>intelligent
> infrastructure, rather than conventional measures such 
>as the number of
> bedrooms or bathrooms. John Chambers, President of Cisco 
>Systems,
> believes that "everything" in the home will be connected 
>to the Internet
> – not just electronic devices, but the  piano, the 
>fireplace, the window
> blinds (Beiser, 1999). According to some experts, it 
>will even be
> possible to create "rooms or environments where humans 
>can interact with
> otherwise inanimate objects and machines;...consumers 
>will be able to
> turn their homes into full-fledged intelligent 
>environments" (Patch and
> Smalley, 1998).
> Clearly, the movement of information into the home will 
>expand its role
> in the economy, allowing all members of a household to 
>participate in a
> wide array of different economic and social functions 
>and making the
> home far more than a site for housing family members.
> 
> TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND TRAVEL
> 
> Wireless telephony has transformed transportation and 
>travel across the
> world, converting the automobile, the hotel room, and 
>even the airport
> into an information-intensive infrastructure. It is 
>conceivable that
> telecommunications will eventually make the automobile 
>commute into a
> productive part of the workday, once it is possible to 
>send and receive
> e-mails, faxes, and telephone calls from any street or 
>highway.
> "Hands-free" voice recognition technology should 
>overcome many of the
> safety concerns about mobile phones. Traffic jams and 
>congestion may
> even be tolerated as a chance to catch up with telephone 
>messages and
> e-mail. Traffic congestion may even intensify in cities 
>and suburbs, as
> the automobile evolves into a communications as well as 
>transportation
> device.
> 
> There are a variety of new technological innovations 
>that have been
> designed to take advantage of the automobile's new role. 
>Traffic
> information, once delivered by radio stations, is now a 
>commercially
> available service provided by mobile phone in many 
>metropolitan areas.
> Subscribers can even purchase customized traffic reports 
>on their routes
> in Southern California. And in the State of Washington, 
>a demonstration
> project is testing a voice-activated computer, the 
>AutoPC, that provides
> instant traffic information to cars equipped with this 
>technology (A.
> Reid, 1998 and Whitely, 1999).
> 
> However, information technology is also being deployed 
>to assist
> motorists eager to make face-to-face contact with 
>drivers they identify
> on the freeway. Traffic Gems, a company in Long Island, 
>New York,
> provides subscribers with a bumper sticker that contains 
>an e-mail alias
> so that motorists who want to meet a fellow driver can 
>visit the Traffic
> Gems Web site, find out more about other subscribers, 
>and e-mail a
> message (Slayton, 1998). When the automobile was first 
>invented, it was
> commonly called a "horseless carriage," but with 
>information technology,
> it has become possible to do far more in a car than one 
>could do in a
> horse-drawn carriage.
> 
> PUBLIC LIFE, PUBLIC SPACES, AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
> 
> Cities have often been defined by their great public 
>spaces, where
> people meet and share common experiences, whether in a 
>stadium, a
> cathedral, or even a music club. Telecommunications 
>systems are
> gradually affecting even the activities and events that 
>occur in those
> distinctly urban settings. For example, the capacity to 
>download music
> from Internet sites may soon diminish the recorded music 
>industry but
> could invigorate nightclubs and concert halls, where 
>live music is
> produced.
> 
> Telecommunications technology makes is possible for 
>every club and
> concert hall to be a site for transmitting music over 
>the Internet to
> audiences around the world.
> 
> Airports and hotels are also being transformed into 
>centers for
> information-based activities so that travelers can 
>conduct business
> while waiting for flights or during layovers. A company 
>called Laptop
> Lane rents offices, phone lines, and equipment to air 
>travelers in
> several major airports across the United States. 
>Similarly, hotels now
> recognize the need to provide their guests with access 
>to sophisticated
> information infrastructure. At the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in 
>Kuala Lumpur,
> there is an on-call "technology butler" to provide 
>high-tech support to
> business travelers. Hotel chains are increasingly 
>providing a variety of
> telecommunications services, ranging from "virtual 
>offices" in each
> hotel room to computing kiosks in public areas/  The 
>hotel room, once a
> place to rest, has also become a place to do business.
> 
> The character of urban street life is also changing due 
>to the
> deployment of communications technologies by law 
>enforcement agencies
> and criminal organizations.  Telecommunications has 
>always been an
> important tool in law enforcement but a broad array of 
>new technologies
> is increasing the effectiveness of crime prevention and 
>prosecution. New
> geographic information systems being used to map and 
>identify
> crime-prone locations, and remote surveillance cameras 
>being deployed to
> monitor drug dealing in many cities are widely used in 
>many urban
> precincts. In Redwood City, California, the police are 
>able precisely to
> identify the location of gunshots with a new system of 
>directional
> microphones connected by phone lines to a central 
>computer. In St.
> Louis, police cars are equipped with laptop computers so 
>that police can
> rapidly obtain information about suspects and perform 
>live scanning of
> fingerprints without using a radio dispatcher as 
>intermediary.
> 
> Perhaps the most innovative use of new 
>telecommunications has been by
> drug dealers and prostitutes who increasingly use 
>beepers, Web sites,
> and mobile phones lo conduct their lousiness 
>transactions. In big
> cities, drug dealers rely on beepers to receive requests 
>from purchasers
> and can avoid selling drugs in public places by using 
>mobile phones to
> arrange deliveries.
> 
> Telecommunications is also converting the 
>"streetwalker," the oldest
> urban profession into an online industry. Web sites such 
>as
> www.redlightnet.com allow prostitutes to advertise their 
>services and to
> reach customers without leaving their home. While the 
>actual service may
> entail interpersonal contact, the negotiation over price 
>and schedule
> can be done electronically, off the streets. In New York 
>City, street
> level prostitution is reserved for the low-cost provider 
>and customer.
> Surely, prostitutes will never be eliminated from city 
>streets, but the
> emergence of erotic Web sites and online sex is 
>diverting some of tire
> traffic that might once have frequented adult 
>entertainment districts in
> large cities. While this may be an improvement in the 
>"quality of life,"
> it is not clear how tourists will respond to such 
>changes in urban
> street activity.
> 
> CONCLUSION
> 
> This chapter has sought to provide an alternative 
>perspective on how
> scholars can study the effects of telecommunications in 
>cities and
> metropolitan regions. The information-based city is 
>increasingly
> differentiated from previous urban forms by its 
>extensive and
> interconnected networks for moving information. Unlike 
>previous
> upheavals that followed the advent of large-scale 
>technological
> innovations such as factory-based mass production or the 
>interstate
> highway system, the transformation of the metropolis is 
>being driven by
> the diffusion of intelligence and awareness (via 
>technology) across many
> components of urban life. Telecommunications 
>technologies are changing
> the character of activities in the office, home, 
>automobile, and even
> the street. This essay has identified – at a very 
>preliminary level –
> the need to expand our research on telecommunication so 
>that we can
> understand how commuting, the home, work, and even 
>public spaces are
> being affected by new telecommunications systems.
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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