Identity, Privacy, Anonymity – personal data and digital technology

Increasingly our news media feature stories about personal data and electronic systems: biometric passports, digital ID cards, DNA databases… make that security holes, cracked systems, data leaks, public outrage. When you add the proliferation of CCTV cameras, apparently the UK has more cameras per head of population than anywhere else in the world (MPs probe ‘surveillance society’ BBC, 22/3/7), it is easy to believe that digital technology, has a detrimental effect on privacy and personal autonomy.

Natasha McCarthy, Policy Advisor at the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) outlined in stark detail the issues that engineers, politicians and advocacy groups are confronting today in (1) the citizen and the state (2) the customer and business in a digital environment (3) personal data and social networks. I’d like to address the first two contexts but first let’s take a step back to redefine a few concepts as they relate to digital interaction:
Surveillance: A loaded (and culturally defined) term evoking “bureaucratically organised state terror” of Orwell’s 1984. A more useful metaphor ‘data capture’ (Agre, 1994) allows us to evaluate systems with greater discrimination and objectivity.

Identity: belongs in a philosophy class. A system does not ‘know’ the difference between you or a photograph of you. Identification and authentication are meaningful concepts.

Privacy: There is no inalienable right to privacy in the UK. 1998 Data Protection Act (sections 10-14) attempts to protect personal data which bears some relation to privacy. Article 8 of the 1998 Human Rights Act specifies a general and qualified right to ‘private and family life, … home and … correspondence’. What is often argued in celebrity cases, when not settled out of court is ‘breach of confidence’. (Privacy law remains confused, BBC, 9/6/3).

The citizen and the state

In her essay Profiling into the future: An assessment of profiling technologies in the context of Ambient Intelligence, Mireille Hildebrandt describes the insatiable need of the modern state to create citizen registers. First it was for purposes of attributing tax or national conscription, post welfare state to determine entitlements to benefits. Today it is considered essential to prevent an escalating number of security threats – fraud, terrorism, crime, etc. A competing number of digital systems exist to deal with the various ways in which the citizen interacts with the state but the promise of a giant, centralised database, shimmers in the distance. The latest Government proposal Sir David Varney’s, Transformational Government review refers to this ideal construct as a “single source of truth”.

Can we trust the Government to protect the citizen’s personal data when there have been serious breaches of existing databases? To give one example, admittedly the most serious yet: last year 25 million child benefit records, almost half of UK households, went missing (UK’s families put on fraud alert, BBC 20/11/7). Apart from the shock of discovering the sensitivity of the data put at risk – children’s and parent’s names, dates of birth, addresses, National Insurance numbers and bank details, the encryption used to protect this data was a flimsy winzip 8 password protection: HMRC Lost Disks & Encryption, (The Risks Digest, 18/12/7) and 2007 UK Child Benefit Data Scandal (Wikipedia). However such errors are not unique to UK governments, they are a feature of the modern, digital state. The USA government has also had severe data leaks for example Data Theft at the VA, (CSO Online, 14/8/2006) – 26.5 million personal records compromised, and last year’s email intrusion at the Pentagon, Defense officials still concerned about data lost in 2007 network attack (GovernmentExecutive.com 5 March 2008).

Natasha McCarthy underlined the fact that it is frequently the human factor that is the weakest link in the system. One RAE recommendations is that security of personal information might best be safeguarded through a trusted third party controlling access to the data. If we don’t trust the Government to protect our data can we trust private enterprise?

The customer and business in a digital environment

Businesses seek to acquire data about as many (potential) customers as possible. They aren’t interested in uniquely identifying a particular individual more a customer ‘class’ to which they can aim targeted services. Business marketing has always involved the selling, distribution and rental of ‘lists’ of personal data. Personal information is a commodity, the online environment and digital technology has simply provided more efficient ways to ‘exploit’ this data and on a scale vastly outstripping what went before. In this context concerns have been raised about online cookies, spam emails, profiling and data protection. A recent controversy is the Phorm debate: (BT admits misleading customers over Phorm experiments The Register, 17/3/8) where British Telecom, provided details of broadband subscribers to an online ad marketing company.

The interesting point about the legal challenges that BT is facing from irate customers is the variety of laws involved. They do not depend only on the ambiguities of data protection but whether BT has breached its own Terms and Conditions policy; violation of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act as it relates to unlawful interception of a public telecommunication system (RIPA sections 1(1) and 2(2) - see Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) Open Letter to the Information Commissioner, 17/3/8; Computer Misuse Act and so on. However consumer outrage spread virally through blogs , online petitions, even Sir Tim Berner’s Lee (Berners-Lee wary of all web tracking, BCS 17/3/8) weighing in against the practice, might put paid to the Phorm experiment faster than the legal process. The Phorm share price has been in sharp decline since the controversy emerged.

Conclusion

Security and privacy in digital systems is a controversial area. Like the debates around DRM and copyright, technology and practice is outstripping the laws designed to protect against misuse. The essay has concentrated on digital interaction between the state and the citizen, the consumer and business, it has not seriously questioned the reliability or durability of the technology particularly against deliberate attacks. Nor was there space to discuss the third equally vital topic – personal data in social networks. It might be too much to hope that users and citizens read the Terms and Conditions but it is important that they are protected.

References

Agre, Philip E. “Surveillance and Capture” in Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Nick Montfort (eds) The New Media Reader p741-760 (Cambridge Mass: MIT Press, 2003)

<< First essay Digital Rights Management

Digitising the South: Digital Technology and the Developing World

It’s a valid question and one that ran like a branching river through John Pilbeam’s presentation. For majority areas of the South (see definitions) where even the basics of survival are a daily struggle and the infrastructure can barely support electricity for most people never mind broadband, is the information technology ‘revolution’ a vain proposition? That’s not to deny that the South could and ultimately probably will benefit from more active participation in the digital knowledge economy however the poor results of initiatives such as One Laptop per Child, that Nicholas Negroponte of MIT said ‘could bridge the technology divide’ between ‘the over-developed and under-developed nations of the world’ exposes the credibility gap between idealism and practicality. When 40% of the world lives on less than a two dollars a day (Human Development Report 2007/8, p25) which family can afford to spend $100 on a laptop and if the South governments were to provide them wouldn’t the money be better spent in other ways?

‘Digital bridge‘ by Kris Emmerson, symbolising the multiplier effect of PCs donated from the UK to Africa.

There is another side to the equation and that is knowledge transfer in the other direction. John Pilbeam, Forced Migration Online (FMO), University of Oxford, presented on the work of information sites FMO, Fahamu and Mursi online. These are examples of using the internet to disseminate expert knowledge from research institutes to a wider constituency. FMO is essentially a digital library and directory that includes hard to find ‘grey literature’ (see definitions) on a specialist area. Fahamu is an education and campaign project, focused on Africa whose mission statement is to ‘supports the struggle for human rights and social justice in Africa’. Mursi online, aims to provide a more balanced perspective of remote tribe in Ethiopia.

What is apparent about all three sites is that information about the South is not neutral. The audiences may be different, academic, policy maker, or tourist etc, but the information sits within and is implicated in a context of active knowledge. A dictionary is an example of passive knowledge; the engine behind Wikipedia is active, participatory, networked knowledge. Recurrent themes of Pilbeam’s presentation were ‘access’ – breaking down traditional monopolies of information; and ‘accessible technology’ – means to present information.

Digital tools for researchers – websites, blogs, podcasts, video production

The low cost of digital media production enables researchers to produce content that twenty years ago would have been prohibitively expensive, easily, cheaply and quickly. Online channels can disseminate of this content directly to an audience via the internet. Also relevant to the process are improvements in broadband, open source technology and the interconnections with search engines, notably Google. We have seen this phenomenon with user generated content on Youtube, Flickr and blogging platforms, now researchers are using the technology to deliver compelling, high quality, original material. Some specific examples of tools are: content management systems (CMS), eg Plone – allows a user to create and update content via a browser anywhere in the world; audio editing tools like levelator that optimises the sound quality of podcasts; and a researcher can even create a television channel using services such as miro. These services and tools are open source or free, an integral strand of the internet revolution that is driving the democracy, idealism and community connections of the web. Blogs in particular are having a dramatic effect on the web, reshaping communication and news agendas.

Although Pilbeam said that in terms of the academic research these technologies have not necessarily changed the nature of academic research or what researchers are studying and that PDF downloads are still the predominant vehicle for online publishing – it is apparent that digital technology is having an effect on presentation, new content forms and audiences. The fact that if you google ‘mursi’ the second listing after Wikipedia (!) is mursi online, ahead of National Geographic or tourist brochures, eloquently validates the work of creating alternative news sources.

Writing for Change, Fahamu training material assists project workers, fundraisers, campaigners etc write more effectively.

Ushahidi.com was created in a record breaking two days (“Kenya: Citizen Reporting Tool Comes in Handy” Business Daily – Nairobi, 15 January 2008) – and is a graphic example of using web applications (google maps, blogs, sms functionality..) ‘cobbled together’ with xml (see definitions) for community action. The word ‘ushahidi’ means witness, the site is an alert system for people to report incidents of violence during the Kenyan elections. Users can also post pictures and send text messages to the site.

Digital tools for the South

Ushahidi aside, forecasts for uptake of internet technology in the South are not promising. Mobile phone use is rapidly increasing but penetration rates for Internet and broadband in developing countries remain at very low levels about 25% and 3% respectively (Developing Nations ‘Increase Share of Tech Exports’ 7. Feb 2008, SciDev.net). Poor quality of connectivity and low bandwidths are common issues – infrastructure is expensive, costly and undeveloped. The implications of this is that while Africa and other South countries might be getting more coverage, they are unlikely to be active participations in the generation of this content, nor do they make up a significant proportion of the audience. The notion that mursi online would ever be able to tell a story from the Mursi point of view is fanciful, however to return to the question posed at the beginning of the essay, two quotations from the Mursi:

What’s it for? You can’t eat it, and you can’t tie your bull up with it”

I’m glad you’ve done this…because now that our lives are changing so quickly, our children will be able to see how we used to live.”

It isn’t the quantity or quality of digital technology that matters in the South but the fact that it exists is a window of possibility. Obviously most people would prefer to see the cameras in Mursi hands rather than those of the ignorant and disrespectful tourists (Tourists at the Bridge) however technological including information technology solutions remain essential in a post industrial, globalised economy. They just have to find the right ones for the South.

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Definitions

grey literature – papers, reports, technical notes, or other documents produced and published by governmental agencies, academic institutions and other groups that are not distributed or indexed by commercial publishers. Many of these documents are difficult to locate and obtain. Virginia Institute of Marine Science

grey literature – a body of materials that cannot be found easily through conventional channels such as publishers, “but which is frequently original and usually recent” Wikipedia

South or Global South – These terms are now preferred to the ‘developing world’.
xml – extensible markup language (*.xml) – a standard, simple, self-describing way of encoding both text and data so that content can be … exchanged across diverse hardware, operating systems, and applications. XML Basics. RSS is an example of a successful XML format.

 

>> Next essay Identity, Privacy, Anonymity – Personal data and the digital technology

Artstart, an interactive multimedia system at the National Gallery

The ArtStart kiosk system at the National Gallery (NG), London is an example of the use of technology in heritage institutions to broaden access and deliver new experience of culture to visitors. In a workshop delivered by Andrew Doran, NG Information Systems), three themes stood out (1) commercial sponsorship making available the best technology otherwise unaffordable to public institutions (2) popularity of the system to different audiences and (3) atmosphere/contexts of viewing. ArtStart combines library services of indexing, retrieval and access with a curatorial function of contextualised pathways through the material. The system is complete in that it contains digital images of the entire NG collection of 2,300. It is also self-contained in that it is not connected to the main NG image database or networked for example via the internet. One question is whether the system is scalable or extensible to other contexts.

Colin White, Head of Photography at the National began by giving us an overview of the photographic process.

Technology – Digitising the image
Photographing the collection at the NG is an entirely digital process. 100 MB pixel cameras produce an image of 100,000 pixels archive file in RAW format that is compressed to other formats, TIFF and JPEG, for distribution. The original RAW format is calibrated to achieve an exact digital replica although some image processing may occur on other formats for colour correction or enhancing the image. The outlets for digital images include the NG commercial picture library, exhibition material, press and communication, the NG website, and the NG intranet where staff can access them through an internal network for research or to display on their desktops as screensavers – but the principle beneficiary is the ArtStart programme.

Digital photographic technology is also important in scientific research. Digital infrared scanners have been used to explore the structure of an image non-invasively, leading to new insights and techniques (National Gallery Discovers New Leonardo) for art history and restoration work. This leading edge type of technology is possible because companies like Hewlett Packard a long term partner of the gallery are willing to invest expertise and financing to push the boundaries of the possible. Colin White described the stages of digital in the gallery as first for reasons of archiving and cataloguing, secondly access, and the third would surely include transforming how we look at and understand art.

Technology – Art Start

I was particularly curious about the technology because I was involved in pilot multimedia kiosks (2000-4) for the British Film Institute and was keen to see how the technology had developed.

images above: bfionline upright kiosk (2000-2002) – 40 GB hard drive holds 40 hours of audio visual material. Users interact via ‘traditional’ computer devices – a keyboard and tracker ball combined with 14” screen display. micro gallery, National Gallery 1991-2005

Artstart manufactured by Gallery Products Engineering Limited contains the entire digitised collection of the National Gallery on less than 10 GB hard drive storage. A flexible, lightweight system it has a touch screen interface utilising ‘surface acoustic wave’ technology. £500,000 funding was provided by American Express and Hewlett Packard (HP) supplied the equipment.

ArtStart replaced the micro gallery system (1991-2005) (National Gallery Unveils ArtStart, Feb 2005). Given the speed of technological innovation, Andrew Doran wondered how much longer it would survive. At the moment it’s hard to see what the next evolution would look like. The ‘wow’ factor for visitors is the zoom feature which allows you pick out fine image detail, the petal structure say of Van Gogh’s sunflowers. He was quite clear that it is not a substitute for the ‘real’, for example the visitor loses the perspective of the size of the canvas and the intangible experience of seeing an original work of art on a gallery wall. However the personal, user driven discoveries offered by ArtStart is also unique and the user can print selections for free that includes directions to the actual pictures in the gallery.

If they were designing a future system, Doran says that they would pay more attention to the audio features, such as the design of the speakers and cradles and whether they would have audio at all. Spillages, this ArtStart gallery is located in the Espresso Bar, has affected the audio handsets but they are inexpensive to replace. A bigger issue is managing user expectations. Not all images pages include audio files.

If they don’t here anything when they pick up the handset, they assume it is broken. We had to add a voice introduction to the main pages for this very reason” Doran

Audio might be a way of extending the content and the audience though obviously one must think about whether this might distract other users or be inaccessible to users who cannot hold the handset or who are hearing impaired. Another usability problem is that while the system is very responsive there is no perceptual feedback from buttons. The interface buttons of the National Gallery system affords this type of simple user feedback.

Screens from Artstart. Updated features include A-Z index and a visual browser with random shuffle.

 

Screen from National Portrait Gallery’s Woodward Portrait Explorer kiosk. Christine Keiler page allows user to view photographs from the original shoot by the photographer Lewis Morley.

Extending the Audience

The ArtStart has been installed in the international terminal at St Pancras station – the design reflects the context of use. It is a cut-down version, with only 100 paintings from the collection grouped according to a small number of themes. At St. Pancras the system is set into tables. Behind each table are large, wall-mounted LCD displays making the user’s choices visible to passers-by. The Eurostar system also includes email functionality and the ability to send e-cards – features I am sure that would be very popular at Trafalgar Square.

These innovative systems demonstrate the ability of technology to attract audiences to cultural heritage. In the future NG might consider extending the system into other contexts, like the BFI is doing opening mediatheques around the country or integrating the system into NG networks and databases which would make it easier to update and more flexible.

State of the art? BFI mediatheque opened April 2007. It also uses HP technology. The next mediatheque will open in Derby at the QUAD centre in late 2008

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Definitions

Kiosk - an electronic device that provides information (via a display), is interactive in nature (a multimedia combination), and allows for input (via an input device such as a touchscreen or a keyboard). The kiosk is unique from a standard pc as it is created for a specific user and specific purpose and is owned, controlled, and operated by the deployer.
digital signage today

 

>> Next essay Digitising the South – Digital Technology and the Developing World

on Digital Rights Management

The issues in broad economic and legal terms couldn’t be clearer. In one corner, big business content owners: Warner, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI, in the other a sandstorm of counterfeiters, hackers, bootleggers, pirates, file-sharing internet companies, of which, Pirate Bay is just the most prominent and this case just one of several hundred in court. Big business is losing money in their markets, look at the balance sheets: “Sales of Music, Long in Decline, Plunge Sharply” (Wall Street Journal 21/3/7),” DVD-ISASTER SALES” (New York Post, 4/12/7), “CD, DVD fortunes held to ransom” (Smart Company 23/8/7).

But wait a minute, is it all the fault of piracy or is the traditional business model of selling physical artefacts measured in volume of units is simply buckling under consumer trends such as a preference for electronic versions? There is evidence that (1) the effects of piracy is overstated (MPAA 23/1/8), (2) downloads illegal or otherwise actually boost sales (BBC News 24/8/6) and (3) other factors such as DVD format wars, overall slowing economic growth, lack of sales-worthy titles, artists choosing alternative marketing models, are also having an impact.

Whatever the truth behind the figures, Digital Rights Management (DRM), the methods of controlling access to copyright material (see definitions), is seen by the big content owners as essential to protect their interests and increase declining profits. Andrea Appella, Vice President & Associate General Council at Times Warner Europe delivered a presentation about what DRM means to the business. Because of the lively debate that ensued about the rights and wrongs of content protection and restrictive practices he did not get to the end of his presentation however I’d like to reflect on 3 themes: licensing models in an online environment; is DRM futile?; DRM and digital convergence.

Licensing models for online delivery of entertainment

The large content owners were slow to engage with online markets but obviously it was not something they could afford to do for long given shifting cultural trends towards computer viewing. DRM offers business a variety of options to sell to consumers or price points. With respect to films and television you can buy a licence to watch once, have for a week, add to a library or load onto a portable player. Appella describes these models as innovative solutions to stimulate and grow a potentially lucrative market. To make this model work it would have to be accompanied by “education” campaign to make illegal downloading socially unacceptable.

“Effort should be put to raise public understanding that copying and sharing commercial movies, TV shows and music is the same as shoplifting”. Richard Griffiths, Director of Technology Strategy and Development, BT Vision

Griffiths goes on to describe DRM as ‘a speedbump to make it a decision to break the law’

The problem is that people think the internet is free and unwilling to pay for online content at any price. This view is supported by an Olswang consumer survey

“…the downside is that consumers appear unwilling to pay to receive content on their home PC, with 1 in 2 not prepared to pay anything extra for streamed/downloaded content and a further 40% not willing to pay more than £5 per month”, Olswang 2006

Appella affirms that currently online sales figures are statistically negligible compared to traditional sales. This contrasts with mobile phone services where people expect to pay for value added services.

The VoD story in France, “French broadcaster hails ‘Heroes’ VOD success in eroding piracy” demonstrate that there is a market for a system that is flexible, responsive and affords a level of user control and choice. Clearly consumers like a licensing model that foregrounds instant access rather than legal constraints. However, 50,000 legal downloads is small potatoes compared to the ‘estimated’ 1.5 million downloading Heroes every month illegally, though as I’ve said earlier, figures are not be trusted.

Is DRM Futile?

Illustrations: DefectiveByDesign poster, Wikipedia public domain first three ‘cracked’ from Richard Griffiths (op cit), Photoshop parody by huhbenchichang, Wired Magazine, Pirate Bay logo, Wikipedia public domain.

 

“A lot of people see us as copyright haters, but actually we don’t care about the copyright”

Peter Sunde, Pirate Bay .net magazine, January 2008, p34

 

For some hackers the appeal is the ‘cool technology’ and the technical challenge. But there is also a campaign for DRM-free content, which large companies such as EMI and Apple have endorsed. EMI Music has been selling DRM-free music since April 2007. But to answer the question “Is DRM futile?“. The answer is, probably, though as Appella says, that doesn’t mean you stop trying…

DRM and Digital Convergence

The reason why DRM may be futile is because the compulsion of technology is to outstrip itself. Before digital, cassette recorders came with a record option, standard DVD players became DVD-read write very quickly and multi-region. Possibly hardware vendors were reacting to consumer pressure but it is more likely that they were offering these enhancements for competitive advantage and because the technology cannot stop innovating. In an era where digital convergence (see definitions) is rapidly approaching, the current, restrictive DRM model looks out of date. This trend propelled by ever faster broadband and wireless technology suggests an urgent need to revisit the strategy and the copyright law or they will become meaningless.

Currently the UK is considering whether to tackle illegal downloading by making broadband providers, i.e. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) liable for the actions of their customers. This approach is also doomed according to internet law specialist Alex Brown, Simmons & Simmons, File Sharing Law ‘unworkable’ (The Guardian, 22/2/8). The sheer volume of internet traffic makes it logistically impossible to read the contents of files sent across their systems. The solution is technical but technology hasn’t found the answer yet.

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Definitions

Digital convergence: the technological trend whereby a variety of different digital devices such as televisions, mobile telephones, and now refrigerators are merging into a multi-use communications appliance employing common software to communicate through the Internet, Pearson Education

DRM (Digital Rights Management): covers the description, identification, trading, protection, monitoring and tracking of all forms of rights usages over both tangible and intangible assets including management of rights holders. Planet e-book

DRM (Digital Rights Management): a generic term referring to embedded, electronic restriction over the use of electronic content. Usually applied to copyrighted material. Apple Developer Connection glossary

>>> Next essay E-Learning

 

 

AVMAT mini project: Hannibal crosses the Alps

Visualising data in the event-space: Hannibal’s journey across the Alps

Research question/abstract

This project is an investigation into the possibility of integrating temporal and spatial data using GIS techniques. The subject of enquiry is Hannibal’s journey from Carthage across the Alps into Italy in 218 BC. The fact of his achievement is not seriously disputed but how he managed this feat with his huge entourage of over 40,000 soldiers, hundreds of pack animals and 37 elephants has intrigued archaeologists and historians ever since. The project will focus on the last part of the journey ‘across the alps’.

A research challenge is that there is no archaeological evidence as such. What evidence there is includes locational data from near contemporary and classical Roman sources, written accounts – maps, itineraries, plans – from geo-archaeologists and others who have sought to trace Hannibal’s precise journey and miscellaneous data such as scientific analysis of hydrocarbon fragments distribution.

The project seeks to integrate the available, sometimes conflicting data; to use modern technology to enable the visualisation of geo-spatial patterns within a chronological and cultural context. It further asks if GIS can present ‘absence’ as well as presence when used as a tool of interpretive archaeology.

Why it is important

GIS is an appropriate tool for prediction as well as analysis. Hannibal’s journey is an ideal case to suggest where archaeological excavation might yield results. In a wider context, Hannibal’s journey represents a crucial juncture of history.

Research Methodology

• Literature review of Hannibal’s journey; GIS-Archaeology theories;
• Evaluation of (up to two) archaeological GIS presentation formats in terms of design; data presentation; information retrieval; and documentation.
• Applied use of appropriate GIS software, probably Google Earth to mapping the data.
• Map analysis – apparently the Alps have not changed significantly in thousands of years but ancient maps will be studied for contextual information.

Bibliography

Chronology and history

Polybius History book 3, pp 50-60, (c 215 BC)
Livy History XXI-XXXIX (c 1 BC).

Maps and journeys

Maps: Geographic datasets, ancient and contemporary maps, e.g. Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World.
Patrick Hunt Alpine Archaeology (2007)
John Prevas Hannibal Crosses the Alps (1999),
M. Melvin, Expedition Alpine Elephant, a report on the 1979 Cambridge Hannibal Expedition (1980)
Dennis Proctor, Hannibal’s March in History (1971)
Gavin de Beer, Alps and Elephants (1955)
Robert Ellis, Little Mont Ceris (1853), and other accounts of attempts

Theoretical frameworks

Interpreting Space: GIS and Archaeology, edited By Kathleen M.S. Allen, Stanton W. Green, Ezra B. W. Zubrow (1990)
James Conolly, Mark Lake, Geographical information systems in archaeology (2006)

Notes

The rival routes
1. Col du Petit Saint Bernard
2. Mont Cenis
3. Col du Clapier
4. Col du Montgenèvre
5. Col de la Croix
6. Col de la Traversette

February 2008

The final project is now online here http://annogidi.vndv.com/

socio-technical implications of mobile technology

Arguably the most influential technology of the information age has been the mobile phone. The development of the mobile phone in Europe has been characterised by mass adoption and rapid technical development. Office, home, society, institution, the technology has significantly redefined not just the way we communicate but also the human relationships in these contexts. One of the effects of this technology is that boundaries – public-private, work-social, and spatial-temporal – have become fluid, blurred and permeable.

Dr Carsten Sørensen of LSE Informations and Innovations Group, Surfing the Interaction Wave, outlined the growth and development of the technology in business and social contexts and suggests that we are at a crisis point where unless we begin to renegotiate the use of the technology, particularly in relation to work-life autonomy we are storing problems for the future.

Another alarming development is the extent to which the new communication tropes, e.g. short staccato dialogue, reactive vs reflective language…is undermining the knowledge base on which economy, education, innovation etc. has been built. As an example he refers to the information loss in one generation of the research and applied skills necessary for postgraduate physics.

Sørensen’s wide ranging presentation looked at three contexts

1. the office – from the cubicle to the network.
2. social interaction –navigating the all purpose space
3. the conversation –asymmetries and open ended communication

This paper concentrates on the first of these: the office

Mobile technology

image from embrace mobile

Mobile phone years

O Generation (1945 – 1979)
radio: mounted in cars, trucks and some ‘briefcase’ phones – callers restricted to specific cell (base station coverage) area.

1st Generation (1980s)
analogue: handheld, mobile-phone users can travel through several cells during the same conversation.

2nd Generation (1991 – 2003)
digital/pc: SMS (text) and email capabilities, speed up to 144Kbps (about 8 minutes to download a 3-minute mp3 song)

3rd Generation aka smart phones (2003-2007)
multimedia and web based applications: increased bandwidth and transfer speeds of 3-5 Mb/s (about 15 seconds to download a 3 minute mp3 song)

4th Generation (post 2007 projection)
ubiquitous wireless access: IP based integrated system of voice, data, streamed multimedia – transfer speeds capable of 100Mb/s and 1Gb/s

Sources: How stuff works, wikipedia and WINNER, a 4G consortium

The Office

Dr Sørenson attributes the change of the office structure from small, singular operations to large decentralised networks – to the declining price of communications. Clearly mobile phones are integral to this development. The worker is simultaneously liberated from the desk and locked into a business network where s/he is expected to be available even after office hours. From the office to the open field, work, by virtue of the mobility of communication has become fluid, discursive, ongoing, its boundaries unlimited by space or time. These communications become meshed in other conversations whether situated at the same location (spatial) or via the same device (temporal) in multiple streams of overlapping information.

Managing these streams of data is becoming a critical overhead in terms of personal and business costs. As the social intrudes into business this may be disruptive and irritating to colleagues and/or affect the outputs of the business. This is an issue that implicates legal, health and safety and HR departments. While some businesses have considered banning mobile phones in the workplace, the issue emphasises the necessity of updating policies and guidance.

The mobile phone shapes new expectations, routines and behaviours. Sørenson points to the phenomenon of the mini interaction. Brief (90 seconds) interpersonal communication which are ‘updates’ in an ongoing conversation and mostly (60%) unscheduled. They allow the participants to micro-coordinate activities. In conjunction with the change from cubicle style to open plan offices, this fluid way of working is either flexible or disruptive. There is also evidence of a generational aspect. Younger workers have adapted quickly to this way of working and as they replace the older workers this may become the norm.

The technology in marketing jargon is sold as ‘optimising workforce performance’, providing employees the means to remain ‘fully integrated (with business processes) at all times’ (Embrace Technology). Authors such as Madeleine Bunting, Willing Slaves: How the overwork culture is ruling our lives, (2005) have analysed the cost in human terms as we remain preoccupied with work concerns even in their personal lives. The solution proposed by analysts like Sørenson is that rules of engagement and boundaries need to be renegotiated. This is particularly true of the so called ‘knowledge economy’ which like the ‘information society’ is an emergent business model driven and defined by technology.

Pretend & Play Office
“Time to go to work! Children will feel so grown up having a day at the office with this 75 piece set. Includes a write-and-wipe laptop and meeting board, play glasses, play watch, working calculator, play stapler, play mobile phone, even a mug and a doughnut, plus much more! Mobile phone requires 2 AAA batteries, not supplied. Age 3 and above.” Bright Minds Educational Toys

The problem space

The principle research question of Bunting’s book is whether the office worker adopts the new ways working through choice or pressure and it would seem from the interviews that it is strongly the latter. Sociologists and educationalists have also indicated problems in the rise of ‘attention deficit syndrome’ in school children and the decline in popularity of subjects, post secondary education in subjects that require applied thought and concentration such as research sciences. And finally cultural anthropologist Thomas DeZengotita in his book “Mediated”, talks about the overall ‘thinning of experience’, i.e. how we are adapting to consuming and using information because of the pressures of time and volume of information that we need to process over the course of a day.

Is technology making us smarter?

But there is another view. There is evidence that successive generations are able to process more and more streams of information. They have grown up on video games, mobile phones, new media culture, multitasking with a sceptical disregard for boundaries. Steven Johnson’s theory, Everything Bad Is Good For You (2005) argues that new technology genres have opened up new cerebral areas previously untapped. It is a persuasive argument and one that is backed by evidence. IQ (The Flynn Effect) scores have been on the rise since the end of World War II though nobody knows why. It is a trend that has been overlooked because average scores always standardised to 100. The largest gains appear to be in fluid intelligence – in tests that measure problem solving rather than crystallised learning which measures vocabulary and learned information. It might just be that fluid intelligence and tapping into other areas of the brain are the skills we need for future work place demands.

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Definitions (from www.answers.com)

IP: Internet Protocol, a network layer protocol
Gb/s: one billion bits per second}
Mb/s one million bits per second} transmission speeds in a network or in internal circuits.

SMS: Short Messaging Service, a text service of typically 140-160 characters in length sent and transmitted from a mobile phone

GPS: Global Positioning Satellite. A satellite-based radio navigation system run by the U.S. Department of Defense, officially known as NAVSTAR GPS. It works by using the signals from at least four satellites to compute the current latitude, longitude and elevation of a GPS receiver anywhere on earth to within a few meters.

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See also

Flynn Effect IQ tests – a useful description is here http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/flynneffect.shtml

How Stuff Works http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm

Madeleine Bunting, Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture is Ruling our Lives (London: Harper Collins, 2005)

Steven Johnson, Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter (London: Penguin) 2005

Svein Bergvik, Disturbing cell phone behaviour – a psychological perspective. Telnor research paper (2004) http://www.telenor.com/rd/pub/rep04/R_29_2004.pdf

Wikipedia article on mobile phones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone

** 9 May 2008 Google announces 50 stage 1 winners of competition to create mobile phone applications: http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/5/android_winners_are_in_goog_ The majority are variations on location aware services, others feature social networking and leisure activities.

>> Next essay ArtStart at the National Gallery

on reflection – e-learning

The class room is changing. The image of parallel lines of desks facing a black board; teacher dispensing wisdom while pupils take notes; the so called ‘chalk and talk’ of the twentieth century is being replaced, in some places faster than others, but in every place inevitably, by twenty first digital education. For classrooms, think ‘learning environments’, Text books? Log on. ‘Syllabus? Interface design, and no you don’t have to read the manual. Significantly, the school day, the calendar by which all family functions are set, like the high street, is dissolving into the 24 hour permanently connected, always-everywhere communication society. The themes underlying this change are communication, feedback mechanisms, interaction and individualised learning.

Brett Lucas, Website Developer and Learning Technology Officer, Higher Education Academy, gave an overview of the e-learning landscape beginning with the challenges this new way of working presented to the teaching community. Where previously practice had been oriented towards research, the focus has shifted towards teaching and learning. He discussed the political and social drivers for change, and findings from evaluation studies. The overwhelming impression was that there is a lot to be gained by the education establishment embracing new technology. A telling metaphor was his comparison with medical industry. Just as the tools in medical practice have changed, so too the methods of education delivery needs to adapt to fit a digital society. However he pointed out that this change was not uncontested, for some the image of the teacher delivering before an engaged audience was still the ideal to which they aspired.

The technology

e-learning, and its associates Computer Assisted Learning (CAL), Computer Based Training (CBT) refers to learning facilitated and/or supported through technology. It covers a broad range of technologies: delivery mechanisms including the internet, support services, formal and informal contexts, tools and techniques. The earliest forms were CD based resources, some of the newer, innovative techniques involve location-aware wireless technology, podcasting and chat rooms. Interactive whiteboards are familiar now in secondary schools, email communication between pupil and teacher is routine and Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), also referred to as Learning Content Management Systems or learning platforms, can provide a complete, integrated, computer environment for learning.

VLEs typically incorporate secure, differentiated access to pupils and teachers, they provide syllabus and lesson plans, student resources, discussion fora, and sometimes authoring tools. A surprising fact is that Kings College has an e-learning platform for students: Kings College e-learning. The first I heard of it was at an elective, non accredited course Digital Tools for Research in the Humanities. This perhaps identifies one of the problems with new tools: the difficulty of integrating them into traditional practice.

Kings e-learning platform can be accessed at home or at college.

Mind shift

Diane Oblinger’s influential paper, Boomers, Generation X-ers and New Millenials describes a new generation of students who are used internet and technology communication methods and expect to be able to use these tools through their education. She calls it the “information age mindset”. Rich learning experiences delivered in a variety of content formats, providing interaction and feedback mechanisms, and allowing a measure of self-pacing for the student. This is helpful in maintaining a critical level of motivation and enjoyment – the difference perhaps between success and failure for a student – and is at the core of the political and social drivers.

However, it is important to point out that there are alternative viewpoints. A recent study by researchers at University College London (Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, British Library and JISC, 2008) overturns some assumptions about the new generation learner. One also might be sceptical about Diane Oblinger’s objectivity given her current job as Executive Director of Higher Education for Microsoft Corporation.

Fit for purpose

The online course is one of the successful business models of the internet age. It fits a need for distributed and distance learning. It is also part of the transformation in society, where transparency and access to knowledge has become standard. Moreover, the experience of the social web has demonstrated the potential for citizens to engage, create and share knowledge. An interesting example is language networks where people learn from each other in informal, user negotiated ways.

Xlingo.com, example of a social network for e-learning.

In the workplace e-learning delivers training to distributed workers. My organisation of 500+ staff recently refurbished its offices. Training about the new office equipment was delivered through an e-learning package supplied by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The 45 minute scenario based tutorial, complete with multiple choice exercises was compulsory though could be taken at your own pace, over days if necessary.

Criticism

The museum and heritage sector is another area where forms of education and communication are changing. At one extreme the computer is seen as a Trojan horse, undermining scholarship and curatorship. Critics such as Charles Saumarez-Smith director of the National Gallery 2002-2007 fear that the ‘tide of technology’ will make museums redundant in the 21^st Century like zoos have become in the twentieth. He reflects that a trend towards miscellaneous, non-linear exhibition and the ubiquitous presence of the computer display will have malign consequences. At the heart of his objection is the loss of control. If the user/visitor is equally able to navigate content and their ‘experience’ given preference over cohesion and integrity of the collection what will this mean to the body of knowledge collected through painstaking research?

In education there are further complications highlighted by the UCL study. Students may be losing valuable skills of focused enquiry, concentration and critical analysis in the ‘distracted’ model of multimedia, digitised learning. There are also ethical implications in blurring the boundaries between the classroom and the social realm.

An enhanced learning experience

Ultimately it is about balance. E-learning has encouraged skills of exploration, negotiation, collaboration, and autonomous enquiry. Digital tools, such as multimedia, have been shown to be powerful in engaging students who are disadvantaged in traditional education. It is also more sensitive to the requirements of disability and accessibility e.g. dyslexia. The variety of learning spaces is more inclusive and opportunities for persistent, lifelong learning are welcome.

See also

College and University Showcase for examples of e-learning projects http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/showcase/academic.htm

Charles Saumarez-Smith “The Future of the Museum” Companion to Museum Studies, edited by Sharon McDonald (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006: 544-5)

 

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Hello world!

Hello, this blog is for my MA Digital Culture and Technology at Kings College London comprising a portfolio of 6 essays. I welcome all comments if you have an inclination. The first essay in the series is “DRM in the Digital Age“

Thanks for reading.