Locative media

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. As described by Headmap author Ben Russell:

"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." [cite web |url=http://locative.net/tcmreader/index.php?intro;russell |title=TCM Online Reader Introduction |accessdate=2005-11-13 |last=Russell |first=Ben |year=2004 |work=Transcultural Mapping Online Reader |publisher=Locative Media Lab |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060720212044/http://locative.net/tcmreader/index.php?intro;russell |archivedate=2006-07-20 |quote= ]

Locative, ubiquitous and pervasive computing

The term 'locative media' was coined by Karlis Kalnins. [Citation |last=Galloway |first=Anne |last2=Ward |first2=Matthew |month=July |year=2006 |title=Locative Media As Socialising And Spatializing Practice: Learning From Archaeology |periodical=Leonardo Electronic Almanac |publisher=MIT Press |volume=14 |issue=3 |url=http://leoalmanac.org/journal/vol_14/lea_v14_n03-04/gallowayward.asp |issn=1071-4391 |doi= |oclc= |accessdate=2008-09-19 ] Locative media is closely related to augmented reality (reality overlaid with virtual reality) and pervasive computing (computers everywhere, as in ubiquitous computing). Whereas 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. 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 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.

Japanese mobile phone culture embraces location-dependent information and context-awareness. It is projected that in the near future locative media will develop to a significant factor in everyday life.

Enabling technologies

Locative media projects use technology such as 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 Radio-frequency identification (RFID), a successor to barcodes like Semacode.

Research that contributes to the field of locative media happens in fields such as pervasive computing, context awareness and mobile technology. The technological background of locative media is sometimes referred to as "location-aware computing". [Citation |last=Harle |first=Robert K. |last2=Hopper |first2=Andrew |author2-link=Andy Hopper |year=2005 |accessdate=2005-11-13 |publication-date=2005-07-21 |title=Deploying and Evaluating a Location-Aware System |publisher=University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory |url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/dtg/~rkh23/pubs/mobisys2005.pdf |quote=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.]

Examples

Design scholars Anne Galloway and Matt 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." [Citation |last=Galloway |first=Anne |last2=Ward |first2=Matthew |publication-date=2005-10-26 |year=2005 |title=Locative Media As Socialising And Spatializing Practice: Learning From Archaeology (DRAFT) |url=http://www.purselipsquarejaw.org/papers/galloway_ward_draft.pdf|accessdate=2005-11-13 ]

Notable projects include AR Quake by the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia, [http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/Projects/#ARQuake]
Can You See Me Now? in 2001 by Blast Theory in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham, SpacePlace ZKM/ZKMax bluecasting and partipatory urban media access in Munich in 2005, [http://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=node/292] and Bio Mapping by Christian Nold in 2004. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/apr/16/news.theobserversuknewspages]

ee also

* Location-based media
* Location-based service
* Location-based game
* Mobile media

References

External links

* [http://www.whereproject.org/ The WhereProject]
* [http://www.boingboing.net/images/blobjects.htm Blobjects] : Bruce Sterling talking on blobjects
* [http://www.smartmobs.com Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution] by Howard Rheingold
* [http://www.xcp.bfn.org/hight.html Narrative Archaeology] by Jeremy Hight (2003)
* [http://www.neme.org/main/645/immersive-sight Immersive Sight Within the Third Space: Augmentation and Spatial Interface in exhibition space] by Jeremy Hight (2007)
* [http://www.locative-media.org/ The Center for Locative Media]
* [http://networkedpublics.org/locative_media/beyond_locative_media Beyond Locative Media] by Marc Tuters and Kazys Varnelis
* [http://iasl.uni-muenchen.de/links/TippSammel1-3.html Interactive Urban Experience with Digital Media (Internet, Mobile Telephony and Locative Media)] - Description of more than 150 examples with lots of screenshots and links
* [http://www.pbs.org/idealab/mobile/ Mobile technology articles] on the MediaShift Idea Lab
* [http://www.straighttothepoint.net Straight To The Point] - Location based technology, local content services, and new developments in local media and journalism
* [http://biomapping.net Biomapping.net]