The ethics of forgetting in an age of pervasive computing

In this paper, we examine the potential of pervasive computing to create widespread sousveillance, that will complement surveillance, through the development of lifelogs; socio-spatial archives that document every action, every event, every conversation, and every material expression of an individual’s life. Examining lifelog projects and artistic critiques of sousveillance we detail the projected mechanics of life-logging and explore their potential implications. We suggest, given that lifelogs have the potential to convert exterior generated oligopticons to an interior panopticon, that an ethics of forgetting needs to be developed and built into the development of life-logging technologies. Rather than seeing forgetting as a weakness or a fallibility we argue that it is an emancipatory process that will free pervasive computing from burdensome and pernicious disciplinary effects

Net:Geography Fieldwork Frequently Asked Questions

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Code, space and everyday life

In this paper we examine the role of code (software) in the spatial formation of collective life. Taking the view that human life and coded technology are folded into one another, we theorise space as ontogenesis. Space, we posit, is constantly being bought into being through a process of transduction – the constant making anew of a domain in reiterative and transformative practices - as an incomplete solution to a relational problem. The relational problem we examine is the ongoing encounter between individuals and environment where the solution, to a greater or lesser extent, is code. Code, we posit, is diversely embedded in collectives as coded objects, coded infrastructure, coded processes and coded assemblages. These objects, infrastructure, processes and assemblages possess technicity, that is, unfolding or evolutive power to make things happen; the ability to mediate, supplement, augment, monitor, regulate, operate, facilitate, produce collective life. We contend that when the technicity of code is operationalised it transduces one of three forms of hybrid spatial formations: code/space, coded space and backgrounded coded space. These formations are contingent, relational, extensible and scaleless, often stretched out across networks of greater or shorter length. We demonstrate the coded transduction of space through three vignettes – each a day in the life of three people living in London, UK, tracing the technical mediation of their interactions, transactions and mobilities. We then discuss how code becomes the relational solution to five different classes of problems – domestic living, travelling, working, communicating, and consuming

Challenges of Portfolio-based Planning

In the recent years the field of automated planing has significantly advanced and several powerful domain-independent planners have been developed. However, none of these systems clearly outperforms all the others in every known benchmark domain. This observation motivated the idea of configuring and exploiting a portfolio of planners to achieve better performances than any individual planner: some recent planning systems based on this idea obtained significantly good results in experimental analysis and International Planning Competitions. Such results lead us to think that future challenges for the automated planning community will converge on designing different approaches for combining existing planning algorithms. This paper focuses on the challenges and open issues of existing approaches and highlights the possible future evolution of these techniques. In addition the paper introduces algorithm portfolios, reviews existing techniques, and describes the decisions that have to be taken during the configuration

The Durham difference: considering our context

This article reflects on the experience of Durham University Library staff in promoting services as part of undergraduate induction. It challenges the perception that all methods of marketing are equally valuable to all institutions and explores some alternatives

Dynamic real-time hierarchical heuristic search for pathfinding.

Movement of Units in Real-Time Strategy (RTS) Games is a non-trivial and challenging task mainly due to three factors which are constraints on CPU and memory usage, dynamicity of the game world, and concurrency. In this paper, we are focusing on finding a novel solution for solving the pathfinding problem in RTS Games for the units which are controlled by the computer. The novel solution combines two AI Planning approaches: Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) and Real-Time Heuristic Search (RHS). In the proposed solution, HTNs are used as a dynamic abstraction of the game map while RHS works as planning engine with interleaving of plan making and action executions. The article provides algorithmic details of the model while the empirical details of the model are obtained by using a real-time strategy game engine called ORTS (Open Real-time Strategy). The implementation of the model and its evaluation methods are in progress however the results of the automatic HTN creation are obtained for a small scale game map

An Automatic Algorithm Selection Approach for Planning

Despite the advances made in the last decade in automated planning, no planner outperforms all the others in every known benchmark domain. This observation motivates the idea of selecting different planning algorithms for different domains. Moreover, the planners' performances are affected by the structure of the search space, which depends on the encoding of the considered domain. In many domains, the performance of a planner can be improved by exploiting additional knowledge, extracted in the form of macro-operators or entanglements. In this paper we propose ASAP, an automatic Algorithm Selection Approach for Planning that: (i) for a given domain initially learns additional knowledge, in the form of macro-operators and entanglements, which is used for creating different encodings of the given planning domain and problems, and (ii) explores the 2 dimensional space of available algorithms, defined as encodings--planners couples, and then (iii) selects the most promising algorithm for optimising either the runtimes or the quality of the solution plans

Cuestionando y desestabilizando la hegemonía angloamericana y del inglés en geografía

Este artículo analiza el estatus hegemónico de la geografía angloamericana y el papel del idioma inglés como lingua franca del mundo académico. La primera mitad del artículo esboza brevemente el estatus hegemónico de la geografía angloamericana, las estructuras y prácticas de la economía global del conocimiento y de la misma geografía angloamericana que ayudan a mantener y reproducir su hegemonía, así como los efectos cohibidores de esta hegemonía en la geografía practicada en cualquier otra parte del mundo. La segunda mitad examina cómo las normas angloamericanas y la hegemonía del inglés como lingua franca mundial ya están siendo, y todavía pueden serlo más, desafiadas, resistidas, subvertidas y remodeladas a través de intervenciones discursivas y prácticas que persiguen este objetivo transformador y desestabilizador. Centrándose en cómo se ha ido construyendo la historia de esta disciplina y cuáles son los protocolos de publicación y organización de congresos, se estudia cómo se podría abrir la geografía a una mayor pluralidad de voces (no angloamericanas), a formas diferentes de «hacer» geografía y a métodos alternativos de evaluar el quehacer en geografía.Aquest article analitza l'estatus hegemònic de la geografia angloamericana i el paper de l'idioma anglès com a lingua franca del món acadèmic. La primera meitat de l'article apunta de forma breu l'estatus hegemònic de la geografia angloamericana, les estructures i les pràctiques de l'economia global del coneixement i de la mateixa geografia angloamericana que ajuden a mantenir i a reproduir la seva hegemonia, així com els efectes condicionants d'aquesta hegemonia en la geografia practicada arreu del món. La segona meitat examina com les normes angloamericanes i l'hegemonia de l'anglès com a lingua franca mundial ja han començat a ser (però encara ho poden ser més) reptades, resistides, subvertides i remodelades a través d'intervencions discursives i pràctiques que persegueixen aquest objectiu transformador i desestabilitzador. Centrant-se en com s'ha anat constrint la història d'aquesta disciplina i en quins són els protocols de publicació i d'organització de congressos, s'estudia com es podria obrir la geografia a una pluralitat més àmplia de veus (no angloamericanes), a formes diferents de «fer» geografia i a mètodes alternatius d'avaluar la tasca de la geografia.Cet article analyse le statut hégémonique de la géographie anglo-américaine et le rôle de la langue anglaise comme lingua franca dans le monde académique. La première moitié de l'article esquisse brièvement le statut hégémonique de la géographie anglo-américaine, les structures et les pratiques de l'économie globale de la connaissance et de la géographie anglo-américaine elle-même qui aident à maintenir et à reproduire son hégémonie ainsi que les effets influençant la géographie pratiquée dans le reste du monde. La seconde partie examine de quelle manière les normes anglo-américaines et l'hégémonie de l'anglais comme lingua franca mondiale commencent à être (et elles peuvent encore l'être davantage) défiées, repoussées, subverties et demodelées au moyen d'interventions discursives et pratiques que poursuit cet objectif transformateur et déstabilisateur. Se centrant sur la manière dont l'histoire de cette discipline s'est peu à peu construite et quels en sont les protocoles de publication et d'organisation des congrès, on y étudie comment on pourrait ouvrir la géographie à une plus grande pluralité de voix (non anglo-américaines), à des formes différentes de «faire» de la géographie et à des méthodes alternatives d'évaluer la tâche de la géographie.This paper considers the perceived hegemonic status of Anglo-American geography and the role of the English-language as the lingua franca of academia. The first half of the paper outlines in brief the hegemonic status of Anglo-American geography, the structures and practices of the global knowledge economy and Anglo-American geography itself that help sustain and reproduce its hegemony, and the disciplining effects of this hegemonic status on Geography practised elsewhere. The second half, examines how Anglo-American norms and the hegemonic status of English as a global lingua franca are being, and might be further, challenged, resisted, subverted and re-shaped through discursive and practical interventions aimed at disrupting and destabilising them. By focusing on how the history of the discipline is constructed, and the protocols of publishing and organising conferences, how Geography can be transformed to open it up to a plurality of (non-Anglo-American) voices, different ways of «doing» geography, and alternative ways of valuing forms of geographical enterprise, are considered