Locative media

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Locative Media are media of communication bound to a location. They are digital media applied to real places and thus triggering real social interactions. While mobile technologies such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), laptop computers and mobile phones enable locative media, they are not the goal for the development of projects in this field. Rather:

"Locative media is many things: A new site for old discussions about the relationship of consciousness to place and other people. A framework within which to actively engage with, critique, and shape a rapid set of technological developments. A context within which to explore new and old models of communication, community and exchange. A name for the ambiguous shape of a rapidly deploying surveillance and control infrastructure." (Russell, 2004)

1 Locative, ubiquitous and pervasive computing
2 Enabling technologies
3 Examples of locative media projects
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Locative, ubiquitous and pervasive computing

The term 'locative media' was coined by Karlis Kalnins^{[citations needed]}. Locative media is closely related to augmented reality (reality overlaid with virtual reality) and pervasive computing (computers everywhere, as in ubiquitous computing). Yet, where augmented reality strives for technical solutions and pervasive computing is interested in embedded computers, locative media concentrates on social interaction with a place and with technology. Hence, many locative media projects have a social, critical or personal (memory) background.

While strictly spoken, any kind of link to additional information set up in space (together with the information that a specific place supplies) would make up for location-dependent media, the term locative media is strictly bound to technical projects. Locative media works on locations and yet many of its applications are still location-independent in a technical sense. As in the case of digital media, where the medium itself is not digital but the content is digital, in locative media the medium itself might not be location-oriented, whereas the content is location-oriented.

Our mobile culture (e.g., see Japanese mobile phone culture) embraces location-dependent information and context-awareness. Thus, it is projected that in the near future locative media will develop to a significant factor in our everyday life.

[edit] Enabling technologies

The technology used in locative media projects is e.g. Global Positioning System (GPS), laptop computers, the mobile phone, Geographic Information System (GIS), Google Maps. Whereas GPS allows for the accurate detection of a specific location, mobile computers allow interactive media to be linked to this place. The GIS supplies arbitrary information about the geological, strategic or economic situation of a location. Google Maps give a visual representation of a specific place. Another important new technology that links digital data to a specific place is RFID(Radio Frequency IDentification), a successor to Barcode (like Semacode).

Research that contributes to the field of locative media happens in, e.g., pervasive computing, context-awareness and mobile technology. The technological background of locative media is sometimes referred to as "location-aware computing": "Location-aware computing is an emerging field where the location of people and objects can be used by machines to derive contextual information with which to enhance and assist users in all aspects of their lives." (Harle and Hopper, 2005)

[edit] Examples of locative media projects

Galloway and Ward state that "various online lists of pervasive computing and locative media projects draw out the breadth of current classification schema: everything from mobile games, place-based storytelling, spatial annotation and networked performances to device-specific applications." (Galloway and Ward, 2005)

Some interesting projects include: AR Quake [1] (2000) by the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia, Can You See Me Now?[2](2001) by Blast Theory in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham which won the Golden Nica at the Prix Ars Electronica, SpacePlace [3] ZKM/ZKMax bluecasting and partipatory urban media access in Munich (2005) and Bio Mapping [4](2004) by Christian Nold

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Galloway, Anne and Matthew Ward (2005): Locative Media as Socialising and Spatialising Practices: Learning from Archaeology (DRAFT). Forthcoming Leonardo Electronic Almanac, MIT Press. Available online: http://www.purselipsquarejaw.org/papers/galloway_ward_draft.pdf

Harle, R. K. and Hopper, A. (2005): Deploying and Evaluating a Location-Aware Systems. In: Proceedings of the Mobisys 2005. Available online: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/DTG/~rkh23/pubs/mobisys2005.pdf

Hight, Jeremy (2003) Narrative Archaeology (http://www.xcp.bfn.org/hight.html )

Jeremy Hight (2007) Immersive Sight Within the Third Space: Augmentation and Spatial Interface in exhibition space (http://www.neme.org/main/645/immersive-sight)
Russell, Ben (2004): Transcultural Media Online Reader Introduction, TCM Online Reader.
Dreher, Thomas: Participation with Camera: From Video Cameras to Camera Phones (the article includes several chapters on Locative Media and Urban Mapping and a link to a PPT-presentation with screenshots of examples)