[iDC] RE: Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile entertainment?

mollybh at netspace.net.au mollybh at netspace.net.au
Thu Sep 7 12:27:15 EDT 2006


Dear Mark, Michael, etc, 

Thanks for posting on the New Songdo city, Mark. Very helpful. 
And, I want to say that it is great to have you along Michael. I'm going to 
show my Building Construction and Systems students your acoustic wall in the 
interactive restaurant as they will be very keen on that idea as interior 
design students. I'm wondering if you, Mark, Chris?, might have suggestions of 
texts/books in the area of, particularly, innovative acoustics in responsive 
environments or about acoustics and architecture? 

Thanks, 
Molly






> 
> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. New Songdo City (Mark Shepard)
>    2. Re: Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile entertainment?
>       (Mark Shepard)
>    3. RE: Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile entertainment? (mafox)
>    4. RE: Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile entertainment?
>       (Christiane Robbins @ Jetztzeit)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 11:17:56 -0400
> From: Mark Shepard <mshepard at andinc.org>
> Subject: [iDC] New Songdo City
> To: IDC list <idc at bbs.thing.net>
> Message-ID: <2B1F4759-0543-4E12-885C-CDC62C50D2EE at andinc.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; delsp=yes; format=flowed
> 
> [An article from The New York Times on New Songdo City in South Korea
> - Regards, Mark]
> 
> October 5, 2005
> Korea's High-Tech Utopia, Where Everything Is Observed
> 
> By PAMELA LICALZI O'CONNELL
> IMAGINE public recycling bins that use radio-frequency identification
> technology to credit recyclers every time they toss in a bottle;
> pressure-sensitive floors in the homes of older people that can
> detect the impact of a fall and immediately contact help; cellphones
> that store health records and can be used to pay for prescriptions.
> 
> These are among the services dreamed up by industrial-design students
> at California State University, Long Beach, for possible use in New
> Songdo City, a large "ubiquitous city" being built in South Korea.
> 
> A ubiquitous city is where all major information systems
> (residential, medical, business, governmental and the like) share
> data, and computers are built into the houses, streets and office
> buildings. New Songdo, located on a man-made island of nearly 1,500
> acres off the Incheon coast about 40 miles from Seoul, is rising from
> the ground up as a U-city.
> 
> Although there are other U-city efforts in South Korea, officials see
> New Songdo as one apart. "New Songdo will be the first to fully adapt
> the U-city concept, not only in Korea but in the world," said Mike An
> via an e-mail message. Mr. An is the chief project manager of the
> Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority, the government agency
> overseeing the project.
> 
> In the West, ubiquitous computing is a controversial idea that raises
> privacy concerns and the specter of a surveillance society. (They'll
> know whether I recycled my Coke bottle?!) But in Asia the concept is
> viewed as an opportunity to show off technological prowess and
> attract foreign investment.
> 
> "Korea has gathered the world's attention with its CDMA and mobile
> technologies," Mr. An wrote, referring to digital cellular standards.
> "Now we need to prepare ourselves for the next market," which he said
> was radio-frequency identification, or RFID, and for U-cities. South
> Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication has earmarked $297
> million to build an RFID research center in New Songdo.
> 
> Fulfilling this ambition, to a large degree, resides with John Kim, a
> 35-year-old Korean-American who leads New Songdo's U-city planning.
> Mr. Kim is vice president for strategy at New Songdo City
> Development, a joint venture of the Gale Company, an American
> developer, and POSCO E&C, a subsidiary of South Korea's giant steel
> company.
> 
> Mr. Kim, formerly a design leader at Yahoo, said the city's high-tech
> infrastructure will be a giant test bed for new technologies, and the
> city itself will exemplify a digital way of life, what he calls "U-
> life."
> 
> "U-life will become its own brand, its own lifestyle," Mr. Kim said.
> It all starts with a resident's smart-card house key. "The same key
> can be used to get on the subway, pay a parking meter, see a movie,
> borrow a free public bicycle and so on. It'll be anonymous, won't be
> linked to your identity, and if lost you can quickly cancel the card
> and reset your door lock."
> 
> Residents will enjoy "full videoconferencing calls between neighbors,
> video on demand and wireless access to their digital content and
> property from anywhere in Songdo," he said.
> 
> Whether it lives up to its billing as an exportable city of the
> future - its critics fear another planned-city disappointment like
> Brazil's capital, Brasília - New Songdo will most likely be a chance
> to study the large-scale use of RFID, smart cards and sensor-based
> devices even as Western societies lag in this next wave of computing.
> 
> "There are really no comparable comprehensive frameworks for
> ubiquitous computing," said Anthony Townsend, a research director at
> the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, Calif., and a former
> Fulbright scholar in Seoul. "U-city is a uniquely Korean idea."
> 
> New Songdo, a free-enterprise zone where English will be the lingua
> franca, is often called the largest private real-estate development
> in the world. When completed in 2014, it is estimated that this $25
> billion project will be home to 65,000 people and that 300,000 will
> work there. Amenities will include an aquarium, golf course, American-
> managed hospital and preparatory schools, a central park (like New
> York's), a system of canals (like Venice's) and pocket parks (like
> Savannah's), a self-described patchwork of elements gleaned from
> other cities.
> 
> People from Seoul and other crowded South Korean cities are already
> applying for apartments, and planners are counting on luring
> attractive businesses.
> 
> The technology infrastructure will be built and managed by Songdo U-
> Life, a partnership of New Songdo City Development and the South
> Korean network integrator LG CNS, which is recruiting foreign
> information-technology companies as partners.
> 
> "This is a profit-generating model, unlike other U-city projects,"
> Mr. Kim said. "Songdo U-Life will charge building owners for
> facilities management and act as a gateway to services. Our partners
> will test market services that require, say, wireless data access
> everywhere or a common ID system, without having to build anything
> themselves."
> 
> More philosophically, "New Songdo sounds like it will be one big
> Petri dish for understanding how people want to use technology," said
> B. J. Fogg, the director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford
> University.
> 
> If so, it is an experiment much easier to do in Asia than in the West.
> 
> "Much of this technology was developed in U.S. research labs, but
> there are fewer social and regulatory obstacles to implementing them
> in Korea," said Mr. Townsend, who consulted on Seoul's own U-city
> plan, known as Digital Media City. "There is an historical
> expectation of less privacy. Korea is willing to put off the hard
> questions to take the early lead and set standards."
> 
> Two things Mr. Kim insists on are that U-life will not be used to
> test "junk" and that the digital services will be designed around
> people's needs rather than around the technology. "We'll be doing
> marketing and ethnographic research, digging deeper," he said. As
> part of that research, Mr. Kim asked the Cal State students to submit
> ideas for U-life.
> 
> While New Songdo's publicity material states that it seeks to avoid
> the "stressful flaws that compromise" existing cities, Mr. Townsend
> says he doubts that it will be able to emulate the creative energy
> of, say, Seoul. "Will it really be a place where people want to
> experiment?" he asked.
> 
> South Korea perceives an economic imperative in the answer. "Korea
> has a very strong I.T. industry, but our other economic sectors are
> not so good," said Geunho Lee, a senior research fellow at the Korea
> U-City Forum, a public-private group involved in supporting U-city
> projects across the country. "We need to test the business validity
> of these services in order to generate new value and economic growth."
> 
> The ability to do such vast market testing is enviable, said Dr.
> Fogg, of Stanford. "This is a competitive advantage for the Koreans,"
> he said. "They will know before anyone else what flies."
> 
> "But I foresee that many services will fail," he added. "That's the
> nature of experimentation. They should be prepared for the frailties
> of human nature to emerge."
> 
> 
> 
> +
> mark shepard
> +
> http://www.andinc.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 17:13:58 -0400
> From: Mark Shepard <mshepard at andinc.org>
> Subject: Re: [iDC] Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile
> 	entertainment?
> To: mafox at foxlin.com
> Cc: 'IDC list' <idc at bbs.thing.net>
> Message-ID: <D22D4256-FF17-4D55-BBC9-345DA88112C8 at andinc.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
> 
> Hi Michael,
> 
> Welcome to the discussion. Its great to have someone practical on
> board who has vast amounts of real knowledge on responsive
> environments. Could you share some of what you've learned regarding
> how users may eventually appreciate and pay for such environments?
> 
> Best regards,
> Mark
> 
> On Sep 5, 2006, at 6:56 PM, mafox wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > All/
> > Just an introduction: I keep thinking that I will have a little
> > time to
> > write something meaningful but it will never happen.  I am now
> > about 70% in
> > architectural practice and 40% in academia and miss my family and
> > sleep, yet
> > I do keep filtering though these mails and it is the only list I still
> > subscribe to.  I mostly cling to the mails by Omar and Usman that
> > seem to
> > deal with the physical and tangible aspects of situated technologies.
> >
> > I founded the MIT Kinetic design group many moons ago that dealt
> > specifically with Responsive Environments (it is now dead - and I
> > relocated
> > to Los Angeles) That time was really interesting because although the
> > intellectual foundations were quite old it seemed to pioneer both
> > technological and economical feasibility.  I have become very
> > practical
> > since then:  in that through building numerous full-scale
> > environments in
> > teaching and practice seems to give vast amounts of real knowledge
> > of how
> > users may eventually appreciate and pay for such environments.
> > Well, I
> > actually did get out a fairly long introductory email! A few links:
> >
> > The very large-scale responsive environment that will open in two
> > weeks:
> > http://ibubbles.blogspot.com/
> >
> > The MIT Kinetic Design Group _ retired because I am in LA:
> > http://kdg.mit.edu/
> >
> > Robotecture: My teaching, and prototyping of responsive
> > environments at many
> > universities
> > http://www.robotecture.com
> >
> > My office: Focused on Interactive architecture and sustainability
> > (research
> > section)
> > http://www.foxlin.com/
> >
> >
> > Hope to meet some of you in NY in October.
> > /Michael
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > iDC -- mailing list of the Institute for Distributed Creativity
> > (distributedcreativity.org)
> > iDC at bbs.thing.net
> > http://mailman.thing.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/idc
> >
> > List Archive:
> > http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/
> 
> +
> mark shepard
> +
> http://www.andinc.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 16:30:58 -0700
> From: "mafox" <mafox at foxlin.com>
> Subject: RE: [iDC] Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile
> 	entertainment?
> To: "'Mark Shepard'" <mshepard at andinc.org>
> Cc: 'IDC list' <idc at bbs.thing.net>
> Message-ID: <20060906233205.0792817581E at randymail-a6.dreamhost.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
> 
> 
> Mark/
> Thanks - I suppose this conversation is really messing up the subject thread
> - but -
> I had two calls today - one from CNN and another from Linda Weintraub
> writing some book -(not a typical PR day at all) what is notable is that
> both are writing on responsive systems and sustainability, or active
> sustainable solutions, whatever you may want to call it. The point is that
> mainstream public has (as we all know) become fascinated with the impact of
> architecture with respect to sustainability and responsive environments
> seems to be an interesting solution in this area.  Most of what I am
> familiar with in practical terms of responsive environments (I prefer
> interactive - but am not that's semantics) has come out of the military, the
> elderly (gerontechnology) and the physically disabled.  Of course this is
> who is paying for the research - and in that order.  Entertainment (artistic
> explorations and of course home automation are still pioneering a lot but
> are not nearly as well funded unless directly related to the above.  To get
> back to the point at the start though, sustainable applications are easy if
> you can learn so justify them through a long-term life cycle analysis (LCA)
> Basic passive sustainable systems in architecture can be optimized and more
> efficient in terms of operational costs savings over time - yet they are
> always going to be more expensive up front.  The numbers do make sense if
> you can demonstrate to a client that down the road they can recoup that
> initial investment. And I personally feel better creating environments that
> enable future generations to have a comfortable planet to live on, rather
> than creating comfortable environments for existing generations to live
> longer in.  (nnnnnnnn - that was pretty good)
> /michael
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Shepard [mailto:mshepard at andinc.org]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 2:14 PM
> To: mafox at foxlin.com
> Cc: 'IDC list'
> Subject: Re: [iDC] Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile entertainment?
> 
> Hi Michael,
> 
> Welcome to the discussion. Its great to have someone practical on
> board who has vast amounts of real knowledge on responsive
> environments. Could you share some of what you've learned regarding
> how users may eventually appreciate and pay for such environments?
> 
> Best regards,
> Mark
> 
> On Sep 5, 2006, at 6:56 PM, mafox wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > All/
> > Just an introduction: I keep thinking that I will have a little
> > time to
> > write something meaningful but it will never happen.  I am now
> > about 70% in
> > architectural practice and 40% in academia and miss my family and
> > sleep, yet
> > I do keep filtering though these mails and it is the only list I still
> > subscribe to.  I mostly cling to the mails by Omar and Usman that
> > seem to
> > deal with the physical and tangible aspects of situated technologies.
> >
> > I founded the MIT Kinetic design group many moons ago that dealt
> > specifically with Responsive Environments (it is now dead - and I
> > relocated
> > to Los Angeles) That time was really interesting because although the
> > intellectual foundations were quite old it seemed to pioneer both
> > technological and economical feasibility.  I have become very
> > practical
> > since then:  in that through building numerous full-scale
> > environments in
> > teaching and practice seems to give vast amounts of real knowledge
> > of how
> > users may eventually appreciate and pay for such environments.
> > Well, I
> > actually did get out a fairly long introductory email! A few links:
> >
> > The very large-scale responsive environment that will open in two
> > weeks:
> > http://ibubbles.blogspot.com/
> >
> > The MIT Kinetic Design Group _ retired because I am in LA:
> > http://kdg.mit.edu/
> >
> > Robotecture: My teaching, and prototyping of responsive
> > environments at many
> > universities
> > http://www.robotecture.com
> >
> > My office: Focused on Interactive architecture and sustainability
> > (research
> > section)
> > http://www.foxlin.com/
> >
> >
> > Hope to meet some of you in NY in October.
> > /Michael
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > iDC -- mailing list of the Institute for Distributed Creativity
> > (distributedcreativity.org)
> > iDC at bbs.thing.net
> > http://mailman.thing.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/idc
> >
> > List Archive:
> > http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/
> 
> +
> mark shepard
> +
> http://www.andinc.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 18:27:45 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
> From: "Christiane Robbins @ Jetztzeit" <cpr at mindspring.com>
> Subject: RE: [iDC] Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile
> 	entertainment?
> To: mafox at foxlin.com
> Cc: idc at bbs.thing.net
> Message-ID:
> 	<2918539.1157596065923.JavaMail.root at mswamui-
billy.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
> 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> If possible, I would appreciate an elaboration and/or further delineation of
> the issues of "responsive systems and sustainability " raised in this post. 
> Sustainability is certainly a buzzword - and has been in architectural and
> design circles for some time.  It is also a critical path of research and
> actual built practice with which I have been acquainted for the past 15 years
> or so - as I'm certain you have been as well.  However, I don't sense  that
> you are referencing the built environment per se ...
> 
> Thanks for spelling this out a bit more -
> 
> Chris
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: mafox <mafox at foxlin.com>
> >Sent: Sep 6, 2006 3:30 PM
> >To: 'Mark Shepard' <mshepard at andinc.org>
> >Cc: 'IDC list' <idc at bbs.thing.net>
> >Subject: RE: [iDC] Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile entertainment?
> >
> >
> >Mark/
> >Thanks - I suppose this conversation is really messing up the subject thread
> >- but -
> >I had two calls today - one from CNN and another from Linda Weintraub
> >writing some book -(not a typical PR day at all) what is notable is that
> >both are writing on responsive systems and sustainability, or active
> >sustainable solutions, whatever you may want to call it. The point is that
> >mainstream public has (as we all know) become fascinated with the impact of
> >architecture with respect to sustainability and responsive environments
> >seems to be an interesting solution in this area.  Most of what I am
> >familiar with in practical terms of responsive environments (I prefer
> >interactive - but am not that's semantics) has come out of the military, the
> >elderly (gerontechnology) and the physically disabled.  Of course this is
> >who is paying for the research - and in that order.  Entertainment (artistic
> >explorations and of course home automation are still pioneering a lot but
> >are not nearly as well funded unless directly related to the above.  To get
> >back to the point at the start though, sustainable applications are easy if
> >you can learn so justify them through a long-term life cycle analysis (LCA)
> >Basic passive sustainable systems in architecture can be optimized and more
> >efficient in terms of operational costs savings over time - yet they are
> >always going to be more expensive up front.  The numbers do make sense if
> >you can demonstrate to a client that down the road they can recoup that
> >initial investment. And I personally feel better creating environments that
> >enable future generations to have a comfortable planet to live on, rather
> >than creating comfortable environments for existing generations to live
> >longer in.  (nnnnnnnn - that was pretty good)
> >/michael
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Mark Shepard [mailto:mshepard at andinc.org]
> >Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 2:14 PM
> >To: mafox at foxlin.com
> >Cc: 'IDC list'
> >Subject: Re: [iDC] Re: Interactive City: irrelevant mobile entertainment?
> >
> >Hi Michael,
> >
> >Welcome to the discussion. Its great to have someone practical on
> >board who has vast amounts of real knowledge on responsive
> >environments. Could you share some of what you've learned regarding
> >how users may eventually appreciate and pay for such environments?
> >
> >Best regards,
> >Mark
> >
> >On Sep 5, 2006, at 6:56 PM, mafox wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> All/
> >> Just an introduction: I keep thinking that I will have a little
> >> time to
> >> write something meaningful but it will never happen.  I am now
> >> about 70% in
> >> architectural practice and 40% in academia and miss my family and
> >> sleep, yet
> >> I do keep filtering though these mails and it is the only list I still
> >> subscribe to.  I mostly cling to the mails by Omar and Usman that
> >> seem to
> >> deal with the physical and tangible aspects of situated technologies.
> >>
> >> I founded the MIT Kinetic design group many moons ago that dealt
> >> specifically with Responsive Environments (it is now dead - and I
> >> relocated
> >> to Los Angeles) That time was really interesting because although the
> >> intellectual foundations were quite old it seemed to pioneer both
> >> technological and economical feasibility.  I have become very
> >> practical
> >> since then:  in that through building numerous full-scale
> >> environments in
> >> teaching and practice seems to give vast amounts of real knowledge
> >> of how
> >> users may eventually appreciate and pay for such environments.
> >> Well, I
> >> actually did get out a fairly long introductory email! A few links:
> >>
> >> The very large-scale responsive environment that will open in two
> >> weeks:
> >> http://ibubbles.blogspot.com/
> >>
> >> The MIT Kinetic Design Group _ retired because I am in LA:
> >> http://kdg.mit.edu/
> >>
> >> Robotecture: My teaching, and prototyping of responsive
> >> environments at many
> >> universities
> >> http://www.robotecture.com
> >>
> >> My office: Focused on Interactive architecture and sustainability
> >> (research
> >> section)
> >> http://www.foxlin.com/
> >>
> >>
> >> Hope to meet some of you in NY in October.
> >> /Michael
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> iDC -- mailing list of the Institute for Distributed Creativity
> >> (distributedcreativity.org)
> >> iDC at bbs.thing.net
> >> http://mailman.thing.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/idc
> >>
> >> List Archive:
> >> http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/
> >
> >+
> >mark shepard
> >+
> >http://www.andinc.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >iDC -- mailing list of the Institute for Distributed Creativity
> (distributedcreativity.org)
> >iDC at bbs.thing.net
> >http://mailman.thing.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/idc
> >
> >List Archive:
> >http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/
> 
>                       JETZTZEIT
> " ... the space between zero and one ... "
>                   Walter Benjamin
> 
>          Los Angeles  .  San Francisco
>                            CA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> iDC mailing list
> iDC at bbs.thing.net
> http://mailman.thing.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/idc
> _______________________________________________
> Institute for Distributed Creativity (iDC)
> _______________________________________________
> www.distributedcreativity.org
> _______________________________________________
> The research of the Institute for Distributed Creativity
> (iDC) focuses on collaboration in media art, technology,
> and theory with an emphasis on social contexts.
> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> End of iDC Digest, Vol 23, Issue 8
> **********************************
> 





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