Mobile Connections
Mobile Connections (2003-6) was a three year Innovation Lab on mobile and locative media. Through involvement in a series of workshops in 2003, it contributed to the emergence of the field of locative media. It culminated in some of the first publications in the field, the Loca: Set To Discoverable artwork, the PLAN network (Pervasive and Locative Arts Network, EPSRC Culture & Creativity), and Mobile Connections at Futuresonic 2004, the first major exhibition and conference on locative media.
Locative media looks beyond computing in its current form, examining the importance of location and context in networked and mobile computing. Locative media offered a prescient metaphor for the latest technological zeitgeist, one that looks beyond computing in its current form, developed around the needs of the office, and challenges the trend towards digital content being viewed as placeless, or only encountered in the amorphous space of the internet.
A new generation of pervasive and locative technologies is enabling people to break away from traditional desktop PCs and consoles to experience interactive media that are directly embedded into the world around them. In particular, the combination of mobile devices with locative technologies supports experiences that respond to location and context, raising possibilities for new cultural experiences in areas as diverse as performance, installations, games, tourism, heritage and education. The creative industries are beginning to take up these opportunities, led by artists who are actively charting out the potential and boundaries of the new pervasive media.
