MIT maps wireless users across campus

cnn.com
Friday, November 4, 2005; Posted: 9:54 a.m. EST (14:54 GMT)


CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- In another time and place, college students wondering whether the campus cafe has any free seats, or their favorite corner of the library is occupied, would have to risk hoofing it over there.

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"With these maps, you can see down to the room on campus how many people are logged on," said Carlo Ratti, director of the school's SENSEable City Laboratory, which created the maps. "You can even watch someone go from room to room if they have a handheld device that's connected."

Researchers use log files from the university's Internet service provider to construct the maps. The files indicate the number of users connected to each of MIT's more than 2,800 access points. The map that can pinpoint locations in rooms is 3-D, so researchers can even distinguish connectivity in multistoried buildings.

"Laptops and Wi-Fi are creating a revolutionary change in the way people work," Ratti said. The maps aim to "visualize these changes by monitoring the traffic on the wireless network and showing how people move around campus."

Some of the results so far aren't terribly surprising for students at the vanguard of tech innovation.

The maps show, for example, that the bulk of wireless users late at night and very early in the morning are logged on from their dorms. During the day, the higher concentration of users shifts to classrooms.

But researchers also found that study labs that once bustled with students are now nearly empty as people, no longer tethered to a phone line or network cable, move to cafes and nearby lounges, where food and comfy chairs are more inviting.

Researchers say this data can be used to better understand how wireless technology is changing campus life, and what that means for planning spaces and administering services.

The question has become, Ratti said, "If I can work anywhere, where do I want to work?"
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Graduate student Sonya Huang, stands in front of a map of the MIT campus that shows the flow of wireless Internet users at the school.

"Many cities, including Philadelphia, are planning to go wireless. Something like our study will help them understand usage patterns and where best to invest," said researcher Andres Sevtsuk.

Sevtsuk likened the mapping project to a real-time census.

"Instead of waiting every year or every 10 years for data, you have new information every 15 minutes or so about the population of the campus," he said.

While every device connected to the campus network via Wi-Fi is visible on the constantly refreshed electronic maps, the identity of the users is confidential unless they volunteer to make it public.

Those students, faculty and staff who opt in are essentially agreeing to let others track them.

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cnn.com
Wireless technology changing work and play
By Jason White
CNN
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Posted: 3:29 p.m. EDT (19:29 GMT)

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"A huge difference for many is that we find it much more difficult to maintain barriers between work and play," said Bowker, executive director of Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology and Society, which studies technology's impact on culture.

The eroding distinction between work and play is one of the many paradoxes at the heart of our increasingly wireless world.

"This is always the case with new technology. Often the effects are paradoxical," Bowker said. "The overall upside is that we can maintain a rich social and cultural life while dashing from pillar to post. The overall downside is that our spiritual development -- which requires empty time, contemplation -- is suffering enormously."

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About 71 percent of America's 108 million households own at least one cell phone, according to Forrester Research Inc. More than 25 million households now own laptop computers, according to Forrester. And 5.3 million households have wireless Internet access.

"That doesn't sound like a big number, but it is up from zero a couple of years ago. That is rapid growth," said Charles Golvin, a principal analyst at Forrester.

More and more everyday devices -- including game consoles, music players, cameras and even cars -- are being designed with wireless connectivity in mind. (Gadgets on the horizon)

"The future of devices that don't have some kind of connectivity built into them is pretty bleak. It's going to be the case that almost anything you can think of is going to connect to other things, most often wirelessly," Golvin said.

As various kinds of wireless devices become more common, the flow of content will increase as well. Movies will be downloaded in a flash and transported to any one of a number of viewers. Music will flow to cell phones. Music videos and news clips will be downloadable anywhere, anytime. These developments create new challenges for the creators and owners of this content.

"What are they going to do from a rights perspective?" Golvin asks. "Are they going to be more and more restrictive? Or are they going to embrace new business models, new ways to use content that is going to allow this stuff to flow?"

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