Future wireless applications for a networked city: services for visitors and residents

Future wireless networks will offer near-ubiquitous high-bandwidth communications to mobile users. In addition, the accurate position of users will be known, either through network services or via additional sensing devices such as GPS. These characteristics of future mobile environments will enable the development of location-aware and, more generally, context-sensitive applications. In an attempt to explore the system, application, and user issues associated with the development and deployment of such applications, we began to develop the Lancaster GUIDE system in early 1997, finishing the first phase of the project in 1999. In its entirety, GUIDE comprises a citywide wireless network based on 802.11, a context-sensitive tour guide application with, crucially, significant content, and a set of supporting distributed systems services. Uniquely in the field, GUIDE has been evaluated using members of the general public, and we have gained significant experience in the design of usable context-sensitive applications. We focus on the applications and supporting infrastructure that will form part of GUIDE II, the successor to the GUIDE system. These developments are designed to expand GUIDE outside the tour guide domain, and to provide applications and services for residents of the city of Lancaster, offering a vision of the future mobile environments that will emerge once ubiquitous high-bandwidth coverage is available in most cities

Mobile-awareness:designing for mobile interactive systems

In recent years, we have witnessed a significant increase in the availability and adoption of mobile devices with wireless communications capabilities. Such devices can be used as the end-system in network-based (single or multi

Supporting the Mobile In-situ Authoring of Locative Media in Rural Places: Design and Expert Evaluation of the SMAT app

Providing users with carefully authored Locative media experiences (which can be consumed via their GPS equipped smartphones or tablets) has significant potential for fostering a strong engagement with their current surroundings. However, the availability of mobile tools to support the authoring of locative media experiences in-situ, and by non-technical users, remains scarce. In this article we present the design and field-trial expert evaluation of a mobile app developed under the SHARC project (Investigating Technology Support for the Shared Curation of Local History in a Rural Community). The app is named SMAT (SHARC Mobile Authoring Tool) and supports the authoring of Locative Media experiences with a focus on the creation of POIs (Points of Interest) and associated geo-fences which trigger the pushed delivery of media items such as photos, audio clips, etc. One important requirement of SMAT is the ability to support authoring in places where connectivity is intermittent or unavailable, e.g. many rural areas

Public and Situated Displays to Support Communities

This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners working with public displays in communities to share experiences and to identify research themes and issues arising from social and community use of public and situated displays, while increasing awareness of various relevant projects and encouraging collaboration

Network layer access control for context-aware IPv6 applications

As part of the Lancaster GUIDE II project, we have developed a novel wireless access point protocol designed to support the development of next generation mobile context-aware applications in our local environs. Once deployed, this architecture will allow ordinary citizens secure, accountable and convenient access to a set of tailored applications including location, multimedia and context based services, and the public Internet. Our architecture utilises packet marking and network level packet filtering techniques within a modified Mobile IPv6 protocol stack to perform access control over a range of wireless network technologies. In this paper, we describe the rationale for, and components of, our architecture and contrast our approach with other state-of-the- art systems. The paper also contains details of our current implementation work, including preliminary performance measurements

Content analysis of a rural community’s interaction with its cultural heritage through a longitudinal display deployment

In this paper we present content analysis related to our longitudinal deployment of the Wray Photo Display within a rural village community. The situated display based system enables village residents to upload images (typically photos) relating to their community for viewing by fellow residents and visitors to the village. Residents can also provide a response to pictures via the system's commenting feature. A content analysis has revealed that the majority of images uploaded to the system relate to the cultural heritage of the village (across both 'past' and 'contemporary' categories). Furthermore, analysis of the comments relating to these images reveals a wide range of use, including: clarification (e.g. the subject of the photo or the period when it was taken), identification (e.g. identification of relatives in the photo) and narratives (e.g. "...my mum & dad rented from Mr Phillipson who lived next door...")

Who needs a doctor anymore?:risks and promise of mobile health Apps

Personal health monitoring is a hot topic. With bracelets and other wearables, we keep track of our heart rate, exercising, sleep, and more. We are becoming our own doctors and coaches. Improving citizens' health brings the society significant savings, besides healthier citizens. Health data also has important value beyond healthcare, e.g. in insurance and advertising. However, risks on privacy, data management, information interpretation and incorrect health diagnosis and treatments exist. This panel discusses the promise and risks related to mobile health apps, highlighting both research and industrial aspects related to the current trends

Experiences with the Co-design and Evaluation of Locative Media Experiences with the National Trust

In this paper we present our recent research work with the English Lake District National Trust. This work has involved the co-design of a Locative Media Experience for a rural valley in the Lake District. The co-design activity has sought to create an engaging visitor experience and one that fits with the key aims/values of the National Trust. The Locative Media Experience has received both domain expert evaluation and evaluation through public field trial over the Easter vacation perio

Supporting the design and consumption of Locative Media Experiences related to the Cultural Heritage of a Rural Village Community

In this paper, we provide an overview of the SHARC research project. Our approach, based on technology probes, is to design, develop and evaluate (over a longitudinal period) a system that supports the design and consumption of locative media experiences that relate to the cultural heritage of a rural village community named Wray. Our design needs to cater for the different backgrounds and cultural diversity reflected in the range of envisioned users of the system which includes both residents and visitors to the village

The open source guild:creating more sustainable enterprise

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on an action research project with two emergent micro-businesses that explored how their business model connected with the principles of open source. Design/Methodology/Approach: We first gained initial qualitative data to establish the core values of each micro-business, which we then explored in the context of open source and business models in two design workshops with each organisation. Findings: We developed the open source guild business model, which has the elements of: building a focal micro-business with resources secured through the guild, promoting learning and development through apprenticeship, promoting shared values through a commons of experience and capturing value by protecting key intellectual property. Research limitations/implications: This research was undertaken with two emergent micro-businesses in the North West of England. Further research will be needed to establish the wider applicability of the open source guild model. Practical implications: The open source guild model can be a mechanism for an emergent micro-business to create a community around their values and grow their business without conventional external investment of resources. Originality/value: This research contributes to the literature on business models based on open source and how these models can be sustainable in terms of the quadruple bottom line, which extends the triple bottom line to include personal values and meaning