Ubiquitous Space
While currently living in London, I have become increasingly aware to the presence of surveillance. CCTV’s 4,500,000 cameras operate 24 hr a day 365 days a year. With nearly 2,000,000 cameras in the city center, train stations, and public areas, the average inhabitant will be recorded nearly 300 times a day. I stumbled across George Orwell’s home a couple of days ago and well, sorry George but they win.

We are undoubtedly moving towards the rein of the digital. Augmented reality, virtual reality, and alter reality are increasingly fusing with our not-so analog lives. The generations born around the millennium are simultaneously existing in multiple dimensions. Who sees who is the separation of public and private no? Then as we begin to exist in dimensions that are hardcoded to sense and detect, where is this boundary now?

Traditionally surveillance was a hierarchical social mechanism. The state kept records of weddings and divorces, births and deaths. This is a minimal degree of profiling. Doctor’s assess patients in order to achieve a diagnosis, shall we call this natural? What about computer scanning, hacking, data mining, cctv, thermal imaging, satellite imaging, retinal scanning? These are collections based on technical processes, shall we call this non-natural? Ubiquitous computing is nearing and we will witness data collection occur through sensors existing in new places. Your clothes may collect data about air quality and temperature. Simple day to day objects may carry RFID tags (Radio-frequency identification) holding information allowing you to pay for things or enter doors. There is however a new set of data produced through this interfacing that creates records and imprints subject to surveillance, possibly even generating a new form of mapping.

Pattern recognition technology is an ongoing investment. With the advancement in AI, tools are being created allowing photoanalyst and cryptologists to uncover patterns and information beneath the surface. In the most recent Batman movie; The Dark Knight, a cell phone is used as a sonar imaging device, sending pulses throughout the building producing a 3d mapping technique. We are witnessing the fusion of space. Boundaries are being broken and ubiquitous computing is creating ubiquitous space.

We are undoubtedly moving towards the rein of the digital. Augmented reality, virtual reality, and alter reality are increasingly fusing with our not-so analog lives. The generations born around the millennium are simultaneously existing in multiple dimensions. Who sees who is the separation of public and private no? Then as we begin to exist in dimensions that are hardcoded to sense and detect, where is this boundary now?

Traditionally surveillance was a hierarchical social mechanism. The state kept records of weddings and divorces, births and deaths. This is a minimal degree of profiling. Doctor’s assess patients in order to achieve a diagnosis, shall we call this natural? What about computer scanning, hacking, data mining, cctv, thermal imaging, satellite imaging, retinal scanning? These are collections based on technical processes, shall we call this non-natural? Ubiquitous computing is nearing and we will witness data collection occur through sensors existing in new places. Your clothes may collect data about air quality and temperature. Simple day to day objects may carry RFID tags (Radio-frequency identification) holding information allowing you to pay for things or enter doors. There is however a new set of data produced through this interfacing that creates records and imprints subject to surveillance, possibly even generating a new form of mapping.

Pattern recognition technology is an ongoing investment. With the advancement in AI, tools are being created allowing photoanalyst and cryptologists to uncover patterns and information beneath the surface. In the most recent Batman movie; The Dark Knight, a cell phone is used as a sonar imaging device, sending pulses throughout the building producing a 3d mapping technique. We are witnessing the fusion of space. Boundaries are being broken and ubiquitous computing is creating ubiquitous space.