At some point pervasive computing and ubiquitous connectivity become a radically different phenomenon. That point may have already been reached–William Gibson’s oft-repeated dictum that the future is already here, it just isn’t evenly distributed–may be all too relevant when discussing this subject.

I’m a nut about this kind of stuff–I love imagining the effects of new technologies on daily lives. But it all has impacts on information assurance. As I may have mentioned two or three dozen times, I believe that small devices, everywhere connectivity and services delivered to your small but connected devices is TNBT (the next big thing).

The IEEE has an awful lot of stuff about this–here are some excerpts from abstracts about Urban Computing (pdf). It talks about computing and networking everywhere. Some clips:

“Despite the complexities, urban computing is, in a limited sense, already a mass phenomenon. Roughly half the world’s population lives in urban environments. In addition to PDAs and laptops, most people have mobile phones, and most mobile phones have capabilities beyond simple voice calls. Connectivity is extensive. Mobile phones are increasingly equipped with Bluetooth for short-range communication, in addition to long-range cellular data connections. Wi-Fi networks are also commonplace.”

“In the UK, for example, people routinely swap content between their mobile phones over Bluetooth in urban settings such as
pubs and schools. That amounts to a highly dynamic, socially driven, peer-to peer network that’s pervasively embedded
in cities.”

“NAVITIME runs on mobile phones, many of which include integrated GPS. A minority use case is in-car navigation. Many people
outside Japan are familiar with in-car navigation systems, but in Japan, people are using NAVITIME mostly for personal navigation
as they walk or take public transportation—particularly in Tokyo. This is yet another example of how Japan often leads the rest of the world when it comes to pervasive computing. NAVITIME provides comprehensive navigation information, including maps, timetables, prices, and even carbon footprints for various journey options. It’s an impressive large-scale system.”

“Jonathan Reades, Francesco Calabrese, Andres Sevtsuk, and Carlo Ratti grapple with the problem of characterizing patterns of mobile phone traffic in Rome. Using data they obtained from a wireless carrier, the authors ultimately aim to match usage characteristics to urban space utilization. So far, they’ve only been able to note differing patterns across space and time and to suggest statistical links to, for example, residential versus commercial versus leisure usage. But this work paves the way for more in-depth analysis. It also opens a debate on the extent to which mobile phone data can and, given privacy considerations, should be used for this purpose.”

“In “Undergound Aesthetics: Rethinking Urban Computing,” Arianna Bassoli, Johanna Brewer, Karen Martin, Paul Dourish, and Scott
Mainwaring consider the London Underground as a target application domain. They provide extracts from an ethnographic study of passengers and propose a design for a music-sharing application. They base their proposal on observations of the roles that media such as music and newspapers play on underground journeys, together with the possibilities that Bluetooth presents for transferring content between passengers.”

“Mobile Social Software: Facilitating Serendipity or Encouraging Homogeneity?” Jennifer Thom-Santelli takes a critical view of the urban applications that have been designed so far. She looks at new urban technologies’ social and political implications, arguing
that the current approach to design and deployment tends to favor only the same privileged social group as that of the designers.”