Mobile Interfaces in Public Spaces

This book focuses on the social and political implications of using location-aware technologies in public spaces. It aims at analyzing not only how our traditional ideas of public space and social interactions are challenged by the use of these technologies, but also how existing concepts of privacy and sociability determine the design and use of these types of technology. The authors frame the development of location-aware mobile devices within the history of previous media, looking at the way the book, the Walkman, and the iPod have also helped individuals manage their interactions with public spaces. The authors also look at the privacy concerns raised with the use of these earlier forms of media, specifically how they challenged the borders between what is considered private and what is public. In the second half of the book, the authors describe the way in which adding location to mobile communication technologies, such as cell phones, urges us to discuss and reframe social issues such as privacy, surveillance, and exclusion, along with the very concept of public space.