Wireless Play and Unexpected Innovation

Part of the Volume on Digital Young, Innovation, and the Unexpected. This chapter considers play as leading to unexpected innovation in advanced wireless technologies. It concludes that much of the potential for new media to enhance innovation actually echoes much older patterns, as evidenced by comparisons to wireless history. These are patterns of privilege, particularly class and gender privilege, reinforced by strict intellectual property protections. Detailed case studies are presented of the "wardrivers," young male computer enthusiasts who helped map wi-fi signals over the past decade, and of earlier analog wireless enthusiasts. The chapter offers a solid critique of many present-day celebrations of technology-driven innovation and of the rhetoric of participatory culture

802.11b Wireless Network Visualization and Radiowave Propagation Modeling

This paper outlines the methods of creating detailed coverage maps of 802.11b networks, with an emphasis on minimizing the expenses and time involved. The goal of this work is to develop and present a streamlined, reproducible approach to wireless visualization as well as techniques for predicting coverage area before conducting network installations. After evaluating these coverage maps, a repeated series of field measurements will be checked against interpolated values in order to improve techniques for extrapolation of data for unsampled regions. If successful, these extrapolation techniques will provide additional guidelines for, and assist modeling of, new wireless network installations. However, this paper demonstrates that due to the microcellular structure of indoor/outdoor 802.11b networks, accurate interpolation and propagation prediction techniques do not exist independent of highly specific location models. In lieu of the creation of extensive simulation environments, best practice guidelines for municipal wireless network planning and deployment are presented

Mapping the digital divide in neighborhoods: Wi-Fi access in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The communication made possible by the Internet has leveled the global playing field in some ways, but helped maintain traditional inequalities as well. The “digital divide” refers to disparities in telecommunication access and use from global to local scales. This study uses access point mapping to quantify local Internet access in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A Wi-Fi access point (router) density was obtained and compared to various demographic and socioeconomic attributes in neighborhoods. Fieldwork confirmed the expectation that traditionally disadvantaged groups would have the lowest rates of Wi-Fi ownership, but median household income was unexpectedly less related than race, education, and single-mother households. Results from research following the access point mapping technique can help inform planners in implementing municipal Wi-Fi networks meant to redress the digital divide. It can also be used as a proxy measure for socioeconomic data that are not updated often or are expensive to collect

Combining Mobile Technologies For Accurate, Open Source, Privacy Sensitive, Zero Cost, Location Determination

Determining the location of an object or individual using a mobile device (e.g. cell phone) is an important aspect of modern information gathering. Various solutions have been proposed which all have their strengths and weaknesses. To date, no solution has been devised for a mobile device that will work effectively in multiple environments and without assistance from network-provider connections1. To address this, it is argued that the current state of the art can be advanced using a hybrid approach that combines a number of sensor technologies to provide a more reliable, and accurate mobile location determination that functions in multiple environments (indoors and outdoors). This thesis examines in detail current relevant available technology, calculation techniques for location determination, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and other noteworthy location determination research. It then introduces our solution of a hybrid positioning system that is an open-source, provider-network independent, privacy sensitive, zero-cost and accurate software component. First the overall system design is described and then individual modules are described in detail. It describes in full an algorithm that intelligently combines signals from various technologies, applies weights to these signals and also leverages past signal readings to enhance current calculations. Next, the evaluation section is introduced which discusses how and why the test bed was chosen and deployed. It then discusses individual test results and finally the overall tests are analysed, discussed and summarised. Finally, the conclusions are prepared in detail, the three initial questions raised in the introduction are answered and discussed and the contributions to the body of knowledge are reaffirmed. Future work finishes the thesis and looks at several research paths that can be pursued from this research

Systems-Level Support for Mobile Device Connectivity.

The rise of handheld computing devices has inspired a great deal of research aimed at addressing the unique problems posed by their mobile, "always-on" nature. In order to help mobile devices navigate a complex world of overlapping, uneven public wireless coverage, one must be mindful of the distinction between nomadic usage and true mobility. Accordingly, systems research must move beyond simply optimizing for a set of local conditions (e.g., finding the best access point for a laptop user in a stationary location) to considering the "derivative of connectivity" when network conditions are constantly in flux. This dissertation presents a new paradigm for networking support on mobile devices. This project has several complementary aspects. As devices encounter network connectivity our system both evaluates the application-level quality of WiFi access points and updates a device-centric mobility model. Together, this mobility model and AP quality database yield "connectivity forecasts," which let applications optimize not just for current network conditions but for the expected big picture to come. Results of a prototype deployment in several cities shows that considering the application-level quality of APs (rather than just signal strength) significantly boosts the success rate of finding a usable access point. Furthermore, this dissertation shows how connectivity forecasts---even with minimal model training time---allow several applications commonly found on mobile devices to reap significant benefits, such as extended battery life. Mobile devices are often within range of multiple connectivity options, however, and choosing just one therefore ignores potential connectivity. This dissertation describes a virtual link layer for Linux, called Juggler, that uses one network card to simultaneously associate with many WiFi APs, ad hoc groups or mesh networks. The results show how Juggler can boost effective bandwidth by striping data across multiple APs, enable seamless 802.11 handoff by preemptively associating with the "next" AP before the current one become unusable, and maintain a modest side-channel to the user's personal area network or mesh network without impacting foreground bandwidth to infrastructure.Ph.D.Computer Science & EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61718/1/tonynich_1.pd

Looking BK and Moving FD: Toward a Sociocultural Lens on Learning with Programmable Media

Part of the Volume on Digital Young, Innovation, and the Unexpected This chapter is a look back at ideas about programming as a form of digital media for learning in the mid-1990s to help realize more of the potential of these tools in the future. It presents a close examination of the work of children who became fluent in programming animations, games, and interactive stories using MicroWorlds Logo. A vignette from the creation of a movie remix by African American girls in a culturally relevant school is analyzed. Their work supports a constructionist perspective that children can learn both programming and other subject-matter ideas through creating personally meaningful projects with programmable media. Unexpected from this view is that the children brought practices from living culturally to define and produce their project and that these cultural practices were integral to their learning. Implications are outlined for educators, policy makers, and researchers to use views of culture in learning with programmable media to connect more children to the benefits of these media