Smart mobs emerge when communication and computing technologies amplify human talents for cooperation. The impacts of smart mob technology already appear to be both beneficial and destructive.
more...
|
August 05, 2004
Torrentocracy: P2P, Tivo, RSS, GPL! {Computation Nations and Swarm Supercomputers, Technologies of Cooperation}
Posted by Howard at 12:47 PM
Torrentocracy is a "technology of cooperation" applied to TV viewing, combining RSS, bittorrent, TV, MythTV (the Linux Tivo-like project), licensed under the GPL.
(Thanks, Samuel!)
Torrentocracy (pronounced like the word democracy) is the combination of RSS, bit torrent, your television and your remote control. In effect, it is what gives any properly motivated person or entity the ability to have their own TV station. By running torrentocracy on a computer connected to your television, you not only become a viewer of any available content from the internet, but you also become a part of a vast grass roots media distribution network. This is not about the illegal distribution of media, but rather it's about enabling an entirely new way to receive the video which you watch on your TV. If you ever wondered how and when your computer, the internet and your television would merge into one seemless device with access to anything and everything, then at this very moment the theme song from 2001: A Space Odyssey ("Also Sprach Zarathustra") should be resounding through your head.
First, I should start off by saying that Torrentocracy will only support and promote sites which only provide links to legal torrents. If you're like me, you easily spend over $100 a month on television service and high speed internet. That's over $1200 a year! For that kind of money, you would think you would have access to any content you wanted at the flick of a remote control button. Of course, we are not there yet and certainly the various media companies which exist are striving to get to this point. Torrentocracy is not about railing against or stealing from big media. Instead it is about creating this all access network from the bottom up in the best interest of consumers. Just imagine how dull the internet would be if all the content was controlled and doled out by just a few large corporations. Now realize that this is how TV has always been. If the revolution will not be televised, it will instead be brought to you via torrentocracy.
UAV mobile backbone technology {Wireless Quilts}
Posted by Emeka at 12:07 PM
The Military has embarked on a UAV(unmanned aerial vehicles ) and autonomous robot mobile communication backbone technology called MinuteMan.
"...Internet routers are usually static, while unmanned aerial vehicles aren't (or at least shouldn't be, if they're doing their job). "Unmanned aerial vehicle motion requires a totally different routing and addressing strategy from that used in the Internet,"..."For example, routes must be recomputed every second, as opposed to every 30 minutes in the Border Gateway Protocol routing protocol...the idea behind MinuteMan's "airborne Internet" is to establish a "mobile backbone...The current prototype uses 802.11 radios and has "about 10 radio nodes and 20 sensor nodes...We are designing and fabricating MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) radios...MIMO technology is used to speed up transmission times and increase range by dividing datastreams into one or more components and then transmit each datastream via a separate antenna to a receiver that also has multiple antennas..." Its civilian uses could include its ability to "...supplement the urban communication grid and will in fact provide a valuable backup to the urban cellular and mesh network systems in case of disaster or terrorist attack..."
Via TheFeature.
Social Nets, Internet Radio {The Evolution of Reputation}
Posted by Emeka at 11:00 AM
The Evolving world of Internet Radio, playlists and social networking:
"...for those who crave musical playlists tailored to their personal tastes, it might be difficult to find a service more useful than Last.fm...social networking crossed with Internet radio...The system computes which other users have a similar musical taste to you on a regular basis," ... "This means the good stuff, and the new stuff will spread from listener to listener quickly, provided it's good. If people start skipping (songs, they) will not spread so much..."
Via Wired News
Internet Radio, Mali {Wireless Quilts}
Posted by Emeka at 10:46 AM
The Internet Radio effort being put together by GeekCorps is an example of the hybridization of technologies to suit developing countries.
Providing Internet access to radio stations would allow broadcasters to report national and world news to their communities. It would also allow programming from one radio station to be shared over the 'net and broadcast by other Malian stations. Finally, it would give Malians living abroad the chance to hear about the events in their home communities. See Overview for more details.
Dancing in the Streets {Smart Mobs and the Power of the Mobile Many}
Posted by Jon Lebkowsky at 10:15 AM
Joi Ito blogs John Barlow's idea of a Dance Mob protesting the Republican National Convention in New York City. The idea is to get a bunch of people in standard Republican business attire planted strategically, flash-coordinated (and hopefully smart-coordinated) to dance this mess around. (Thanks, Ethan!) I want to organize a cadre of 20 to 50 of us. I want to dress us in suits and other plain pedestrian attire and salt us among the sidewalk multitudes in Republican-rich zones. At a predetermined moment, one of us will produce a boom-box and crank it up with something danceable. Suddenly, about a third of the people on the sidewalk, miscellaneously distributed in the general throng, will start dancing like crazy and continue to do so for for about a minute. Then we will stop, melt back into the pedestrian flow, and go to another location to erupt there. [Link]
Smart Mobs, Social Networks, Political Demonstrations {Smart Mobs and the Power of the Mobile Many}
Posted by Howard at 09:52 AM
Scientific evidence for the mechanisms of political smart mobs? Scientists at Northwestern University have reported their findings, based on computer models, of means by which crowds of strangers might achieve consensus -- and the need for alternative communication media and practices appears to be crucial.
(Thanks, Bill!)
A month before the fall of the Berlin Wall, 70,000 people
gathered in the streets of Leipzig, East Germany, on Oct. 9, 1989, to
demonstrate against the communist regime and demand democratic reforms.
Clearly, no central authority planned this event; so how did all of these
people decide to come together on that particular day?
A new study by researchers at Northwestern University sheds light on how
individuals might obtain information about the decisions and preferences of
other individuals with whom they do not have a relationship or even contact.
The findings are published online this week (Aug. 2) by the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The Leipzig demonstration is an example of a complex system, the result of
an evolving process. The common characteristic of complex systems, whether
they be social or biological in nature, is that they display organization
without any external organizing principle being applied.
"How did a consensus come about? Our computer model shows how social
networks can substitute for central mechanisms in decision making," said
Luís A. N. Amaral, associate professor of chemical and biological
engineering and an author on the PNAS paper. "Surprisingly, information can
be aggregated more efficiently if local information transmission is not
perfectly reliable but is subject to error or random noise, due to lack of
trust, indecision or unreliable information technologies."
For the citizens of Leipzig, the "noise" was the presence of the Stasi, the
state secret police. "The need of individuals to avoid certain forms of
communication, due to fear of the Stasi, might actually have contributed to
the more efficient spread of information about a generalized dissatisfaction
with the regime and the willingness to take a stand against it," said
Amaral.
Tracking Koalas From Space {Technologies of Cooperation}
Posted by Roland at 09:25 AM
A week ago, I told you that GPS-equipped pigeons followed highways. Now, the University of Queensland and mining company Rio Tinto Coal Australia (RTCA) are using satellite technology to track koalas from space.
Their partnership, Koala Venture, started about 15 years ago to study the habitat and diet of the koalas living near the Blair Athol Mine. In a new stage of the partnership, koalas will be fitted with special satellite tracking collars. They hope to understand the way a koala sees its surroundings, and of course to better manage the koala population, their safety and security.
Apparently, these koalas are lucky, because other studies say that they could be extinct in 15 years. You'll find more details in this overview, including a photograph of a koala receiving a regular health check as part of the Koala Venture program.
Iran adopts tougher line on Internet {Always-On Panopticon...or Cooperation Amplifier}
Posted by Régine at 06:50 AM
Reporters Without Borders is expressing concern about the Iranian authorities efforts to gag the Internet, the trial of a theology student for a message posted on a news website and a proposed law that would throttle online dissent.
"The authorities recently took a tougher line with online publications and we saw censorship being stepped up since the legislative elections in February," the organisation said. "Now they seem to be going a step further by directly targeting cyber-dissidents and by preparing a bill that would give a legal basis for cracking down."
Read details in Reporters Without Borders, via Zescoop.
Stop RFID moblog {Smart Mobs and the Power of the Mobile Many, The Era of Sentient Things}
Posted by Jean-Luc at 05:17 AM
This is not new but I have just discovered it: Stop RFID moblog on TextAmerica sponsored by CASPIAN - Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering.
"CASPIAN is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes since 1999. With members in all 50 U.S. states and more than 15 nations across the globe, CASPIAN seeks to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their privacy and to encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail spectrum."
(Via mediaTIC blog)
August 04, 2004
"Spin" {The Era of Sentient Things}
Posted by Jim_Downing at 08:38 PM
From the projects website."Spin" is an array of LEDs on a keychain that, when spun, draw a clock face to the air. Clockwise motion draws the image to the user, counter-clockwise to the audience in front of the device.The device combines a traditional pocket watch and a public time display into a very small wearable device that doubles as a keychain".
"Spin"
Linux for Vienna {Computation Nations and Swarm Supercomputers}
Posted by Jim_Downing at 07:33 PM
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that "the municipality of Vienna will offer about half of its officials the choice of switching from Windows to Linux in 2005, the mayor of the Austrian capital said late on Tuesday.The head of the city's information services, Erwin Gillich, said about 7500 of the city's 16,000 municipal officials would be allowed to choose Linux, which is considered less virus-prone, and an evaluation will be made in 2006.Vienna is the latest in a trend of other European cities and institutions which have switched to Linux.The municipality of Munich, in southern Germany, has been operating exlusively on Linux since 2003".
Vienna city officials to get choice of Linux or Windows
DMC {How to Recognize The Future When It Lands On You}
Posted by Jim_Downing at 06:33 PM
Anthony Townsend is Adjunct Professor of Communications and Urban Planning at New York University and is a consultant for the Seoul Digital Media City project.He is quoted as saying in this article,"we want to know:What can we do here that has never been done before".The article says that "ideas for the street are flourishing.They include wireless network kiosks that would enable internet access; the "sister wall,'a composite video wall to display real time Web camera feeds from Seoul’s sister cities around the world; an 'Urban odometed' a display of giant bar graphs-much like the output meter on a stereo amplifier that registers the amount of data flowing into and out of the DMC at any given moment and a location-aware information delivery system, which will enable pedestrians with handheld organizers and mobile phones to receive information such as movie listings and retail coupons that are relevant to their physical location".(PDF)
Architectural Record
Digital Media City,Seoul, South Korea {How to Recognize The Future When It Lands On You}
Posted by Jim_Downing at 05:49 PM
‘Digital Media City’ is a municipal development project in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea and carried out by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.The DMC Project combines information technology, environment and culture and is close to the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Digital Media City
Project Oxygen:Ubiquitous Computing {The Era of Sentient Things}
Posted by Emeka at 04:33 PM
Project Oxygen at MIT is moving to the prototype stage, a "...five-year, $50 million effort to design computer systems that are as ubiquitous as the air we breathe and as easy to communicate with as other people..." it "...is expected to be a collection of technologies embedded in workplaces and homes working together seamlessly-and often behind the scenes-to help us go about our daily lives....the project is turning out working prototypes, including workspaces that adjust themselves according to their inhabitants' habits, location-aware sensors that help people find their way around buildings, and computer chips that configure themselves to best suit different applications. In the process, the project has brought together researchers from many disciplines who may not have otherwise collaborated, often with unexpected results..." TechReview.
al Qaeda virtual communities {Always-On Panopticon...or Cooperation Amplifier, Technologies of Cooperation}
Posted by Bryan at 08:22 AM
A recent New Yorker article describes the growth of an al Qaeda virtual community, which supports terrorists cooperating logistically, spiritually, and informationally:
The Internet provides confused young Muslims in Europe with a virtual community. Those who cannot adapt to their new homes discover on the Internet a responsive and compassionate forum. “The Internet stands in for the idea of the ummah, the mythologized Muslim community,” Marc Sageman, the psychiatrist and former C.I.A. officer, said. “The Internet makes this ideal community concrete, because one can interact with it.” He compares this virtual ummah to romantic conceptions of nationhood, which inspire people not only to love their country but to die for it.
“The Internet is the key issue,” Gilles Kepel, a prominent Arabist and a professor at the Institut d’Études Politiques, in Paris, told me recently. “It erases the frontiers between the dar al-Islam and the dar al-Kufr. It allows the propagation of a universal norm, with an Internet Sharia and fatwa system.” Kepel was speaking of the Islamic legal code, which is administered by the clergy. Now one doesn’t have to be in Saudi Arabia or Egypt to live under the rule of Islamic law. “Anyone can seek a ruling from his favorite sheikh in Mecca,” Kepel said. “In the old days, one sought a fatwa from the sheikh who had the best knowledge. Now it is sought from the one with the best Web site.”
Punk at a Moment's Notice {Smart Mobs and the Power of the Mobile Many}
Posted by Emily at 02:06 AM
A new breed of alternative British rocker is once again giving the finger to the corporate music machine, thanks to an arsenal of do-it-yourself new media, reports Wired.
 Organizing using the Web, cell phones and instant messaging, upstart guitar bands are staging secret, spontaneous concerts at unconventional venues in the latest online music craze, dubbed "guerrilla gigging."
While better-established bands might have needed several months and a costly marketing campaign to pull it off, The Others summoned the crowd in just a few hours, with a cryptic message to the band's Web forum members to meet at a local pub.
Once assembled, fans used SMS messages to tip off friends across town before moving to a nearby tube station to pack an eastbound train for a furious 30-minute set -- belted out using a megaphone while onlookers crowd-surfed in transit.
Building on the spontaneous public gatherings that are flash mobs, guerrilla gigs took off in November, when Jane's Addiction flashed notices of London performances to fans using SMS cell-phone messages. This year, celebrated English rockers The Libertines joined in when they started using a fans' forum to announce concerts for their most loyal followers at the last minute.
Tesco plans anti-tantrum trolley
{The Era of Sentient Things}
Posted by Emily at 01:56 AM
Supermarket chain Tesco is developing plans for what it calls the «Tantrum Tamer» with trolley manufacturer BBC.
The design features an electronic screen attached to the handle of the trolley and a seat at the back.
A Tesco survey of 3,000 parents showed three quarters found shopping with children stressful and almost half had "boredom tantrums" in supermarkets.
Web addiction excuses conscripts {The Era of Sentient Things}
Posted by Emily at 01:52 AM
A number of Finnish conscripts have been excused their full term of military service because they are addicted to the Internet, the Finnish Defence Forces said on Tuesday, reports CNN.
Doctors have found the young men miss their computers too much to cope with their compulsory six months in the forces.
"For people who play (Internet) games all night and don't have any friends, don't have any hobbies, to come into the army is a very big shock," said Commander-Captain Jyrki Kivela at the military conscription unit.
A number of Finnish conscripts have been excused their full term of military service because they are addicted to the Internet.
August 03, 2004
TXTmobbing the DNC {Smart Mobs and the Power of the Mobile Many}
Posted by Howard at 04:22 PM
According to This message posted to the Nettime-L mailing list some protestors at the Democratic National Convention used a tool called TXTmob to organize, claiming "TXTMob was produced by the Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA), an art
and engineering collective that develops technologies for political
dissent. The IAA worked closely with the Black Tea Society, an ad-hoc coalition that organized much of the protest activity during the DNC, to design the system. According to a Black Tea member who chose to remain anonymous, "TXTMob was great! When the cops tried to arrest one of our people, we were able to get hundreds of folks to the scene within
minutes."
I was told that this group is what it claims to be. And I presume that anyone who needed to use it performed their own due diligence. However -- food for thought -- if I wanted to gather information about protestors, this is exactly what I would advertise: Send us your phone number and we'll help you organize.
(Thanks, Phred!)
Attention Activists! During the week of the D.N.C. the Bl(A)ck Tea Society will be sending out text messages relaying information on road closings and other safety related news.
To receive text messages from the B.T.S. on your mobile phone, go to http://www.txtmob.com, create a new account, and then enter your phone number.
You can create your own private groups for your affinity group or cluster or sign up for the group called "BTS" to receive updates and news from the Bl(A)ck Tea Society.
And rest assured, that we will do our utmost to make sure your phone number will remain confidential. The system is automated, so no person will be looking at your data, and we have attempted to make the server as secure as possible.
"Powerful pocket boss" {Always-On Panopticon...or Cooperation Amplifier}
Posted by Jim_Downing at 03:22 PM
"The number of mobile employees who work outside the office is rising steadily and is expected to reach almost 100 million in Europe by 2007, according to IDC, a global advisory firm for information technology,"this article in the IHT points out.So "for a rising number of workers who toil away from the office, the cellphone is rapidly evolving into a powerful pocket boss - part punch clock and location spotter, or sometimes a speed trap and a smothering mother. The new services in Europe that promote these tools have catchy names like "Mobile Angel" or "Trace a Mobile."The sales pitch is that these systems offer "peace of mind 365 days a year" or detailed information for "security and fun."The fear, says Simon Davies, of Privacy International, a human rights watchdog group on surveillance issues, is that telephone tracking could pose a major privacy issue for the future as technology advances and becomes more "fine-grained" and detailed,"the article goes on to state.
The Workplace: Cellphones becoming a pocket boss
|
.: RECENT ENTRIES :.
.: NEW COMMENTS :.
.: CATEGORIES :.
.: ARCHIVES :.
.: BLOGS :.
.: SYNDICATE :.
|
