From Mobility Devices to Connectivity Devices: Rethinking the Role of Space in a Networked World

One of the most exciting aspects of pervasive computing is that it´s a technology in the making. Every day we see some aspect of the vision being applied in the buildings and cities we live and work in. As a result, we all have anecdotes about our first impressions of novel devices and pervasive applications. The author of this article notes that spatial context is still very important to mobile users. Drawing on research of laptop use in several contexts, he argues that rather than ubiquitous Wi-Fi networks enabling us to be freely mobile, we´ll still favor the particular physical places that meet our work needs. So, rather than becoming more mobile, we´ll increasingly depend on constant connectivity.