Week 4 Blog

WEEK 4

UBIQUITY TECHNOLOGY

Ubiquitous technology is explained as the use of modern software and applications in our everyday lives. This is paramount in our day to day activities as computers and its applications have become a common tool whether in business, politics or other sectors.

Specific Experts: Adam Greenfield

Key Concepts:  Some critical concepts discussed in the class include the concept of Surveillance, Privacy and Security. In addition to these there are Everyware propounded by Adam Greenfield, the notion of Panopticon and Synopticon, Cryptography, Equiveillance and Suosveillance, Guantanamo and the Taxonomy of Surveillance respectively

Terry  Flew, New Media: An Introduction, p.35 opened  our minds to the fact that  Ubiquity Technology  is the revolution of scientific advancement of quick-witted software  that are of  high demand to boost productivity in homes, banks, government parastatals, civilized zones, car parks, shopping malls, etc. One scholar noted that merchants are rather paying much attention to observe consumers’ behavior using Ubiquity Applications instead of taking practical measures to meet customer demands.

This unit’s slides also throw more light on the very fact that Data Mining is used by business tycoons to research ways of satisfying their customers. With this, individuals are trapped to obey the law reciprocal responsibility in which case they get satisfaction from products while losing most of their personal information online unconsciously via shopping cards and the likes.

Issues of Privacy: Bolter and Grusin (1999): 217 argued that Ubiquity Computing makes individuals relate, buy, travel and get information effortlessly and this will gradually become normal part of peoples’ daily lives hence, users share information that are classified as confidential with third parties due to frequent use of modern facilities (Smith et al,  1996). Stewart Segars (2002) at this point also highlighted the online harassments, Identity theft, email spamming, religious mockery etc.

Surveillance: In as much as surveillance is seen as a practice to avert unwanted lifestyle of people, David Lyon (2004), P. 149, he also did not forget to lay emphasis on how emerging of interrelated digital applications from ‘cookies’ by web portals is being used to spot entry sites like the Close Circuit Television (CCTV), adding that people are employed nowadays just to keep an eye on peoples’ behaviors and locations with the aid of monitoring cameras, against rights to private life.  The Law and Technology are major tools for privacy denial. Technology makes everyone guilty even though no one is seen as perfect. (Kofta’s – The Trial).

Issues arising: Individuals are denied right to private life and Users information are processed without their consent. Another worst point to note is the use of scanner to detect customer’s location, online hackers hence people do not have control over their information compare to what was obtainable before.

Critical Thinkers

However, Ubiquity Technology on the other hand enables to convey information on billboards, shop signs and graffiti and street signs at a glance without active attention. It does also help to monitor how house helps treat children when parents are away and children television contents to encourage morals in the society

Adams Greenfield was one of the critical thinkers of ubiquitous technology. In 2006, he wrote the book: Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing. He received acclaim for his submissions in that book. In the book, he explains how information processing dissolving in behavior is shaping our lives. The book goes further in discussing the next generation of computing, its challenges for us.

Other thinkers include Cardinal Richedien, Michel Foucault and Frank Kafka. Michel Foucault was a French Philosopher and his theories addressed the relationship between power and knowledge and how it is used as a form of societal control through institutions set up by the society.

Books

 Books on Ubiquitous technology includes: Surveillance society by David Lyon (2001), The Transparent society by David Brin (1998), Everyware by Adam Greenfield (2006), Profiling Machine by Grec Elmer (2003).

Journal Articles

 Journal articles on Ubiquitous technology include:

Lyytinen, K. & Yoo, Y. (2002). Issues and Challenges in Ubiquitous Computing, Communications of the ACM, 45 (12), pp 62-65.

Waller,V., & Johnston,R.B. (2009). Making Ubiquitous Computing Available, Communications of the ACM, 52(10), pp 127-130.

Possible Multimedia

Gattaca (DVD). Other multimedia includes: Blogs, Tweet, Facebook. They are great tools for self realization, enhancement and development. This is made possible by interacting with contacts and vice versa there, comes   the transfer of Knowledge.  One also has the opportunity to meet experts in ones field. It is a very good platform for advert placement, access firsthand information via smart phones and networking as well. Google Googles, WiFi, DVDs machine, Home Theatre, catch machine, Tech Kinect, Infrared camera, Traffic monitors, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), QR Codes (2D) two dimensional are also some of the media mentioned.

REFERENCES

Bolter, J.D., & Grusin, R. (1999). Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Stewart, Kathy A., and Albert H. Segars (2002), "An Empirical Examination of the Concern for Information Privacy Instrument", Information Systems Research, (13) pp 36-49.