The document discusses the topics of continuous connectivity, handheld computers, and mobile spatial knowledge. It focuses on how mobility and connectivity are linked, and how handheld devices are changing to offer more powerful and ubiquitous computing capabilities. The document also examines the histories and imagined futures of computing technologies, and their increasing integration into daily life through embodied and mobile devices.

1. Continuous connectivity,
handheld computers, and
mobile spatial knowledge
Matthew W. Wilson, PhD
Assistant Professor of Geography
New Mappings Collaboratory
University of Kentucky
matthew.w.wilson@uky.edu
@wilsonism
18 March 2012

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Mother Jones Magazine by meli66a, Flickr

4. closed-world
cyborg
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Mother Jones Magazine by meli66a, Flickr

5. closed-world
cyborg
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Mother Jones Magazine by meli66a, Flickr

6. hardware < > software
automated programming
personal  ubiquitous
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DSAC by psd, Flickr

7. hardware < > software
automated programming
personal  ubiquitous
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DSAC by psd, Flickr

8. hardware < > software
automated programming
personal  ubiquitous
Matthew W. Wilson, PhD 8
DSAC by psd, Flickr

9. The body is raised to the level of
hardware – as the ‘mechanics’ that
underlie the practice of computing –
as that which makes mobile.
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10. What does the future hold for the
calculator? In the midst of more powerful
computers that are being built smaller and
smaller, the calculator may change …
Sometime in the future, computers may
evolve into calculators or calculators may
turn into computers.
(Kim 1990: p. 62)
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Commodore pocket calculator by farnea, Flickr

11. a problem-to-be-solved,
a science-to-be-practiced,
a nation-to-be-saved
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12. ?
a problem-to-be-solved,
a science-to-be-practiced,
a nation-to-be-saved
portable,
pen-based computing,
for consumers.
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13. continuous connectivity
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14. continuous connectivity
synchronization protocols and ergonomic, hand-based user-interface
techniques design
personal digital assistants, pen-based computing, handheld devices,
technologies connection cradles, Bluetooth and wireless synchronization
practices of mobile computer usage, always-connected devices,
practices cloud-based computing
experiences of brining computing with you, your computer desktop in
experiences your pocket, accessing the server farm from your hand
visions of ubiquitous computing and wearable computing, of the
fantasies fantasies of the smallest, most powerful, personal computer
the language of connectivity and transferability, of devices that are
languages globally distinct
“The whole world in your hand”, “See the future in your hand”,
metaphors “Where do you want to go today?”
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15. connected mobility : the P D A
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17. In the Valley of Dreams
The Zen of Palm
Crossing the Desert
The Fight for Independence
Sea Change
Uncharted Waters
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20. Palm Connect
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21. Palm Connect
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32. mobility < > connectivity
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34. histories of computing
embodiment of technology
imaginations of use
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35. histories of computing
embodiment of technology
imaginations of use
situating the geoweb
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36. We need a renewed commitment to the
GIS & Society agenda, to interrogate the
conditions of technological development
as these impact a society hungry for
compelling geospatial data.
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37. Thank you.
@wilsonism
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