January 31, 2006
Week 1 - Reading Notes
Network Layers
Something about MAC address:
MAC address is changeable. At least, it can be put on a mask which makes another computer. And because of this, two computers can be recognized as the same one in the network.
MAC address is corressponding with network adapter not computer itself. So if a computer has two or more network adapters, it can has two or more MAC address.
equator
Equator is exploring the interation between the physical and digital on a large picture. the equator projects are quite interesting, covering many aspects. Though some of the projects are not very complex, they are exploring the concepts about the relationship betwenn physical and digital.
I also heard about a "ubiquitous computing in europe" program which share almost same function as equator, funded by european govenement.
There is another website, not so conceptual, or academic. but it is very interesting, adopting technology to make life more fun.
https://compact-impact.com/shopping/product_info.php?products_id=29
the disappearing computer
oh,my!! this site is part of IPTS which is the founder of "ubicomp in europe". this organization is trying to integrate information technology with everyday life. with the emerging of network technology, computing is everywhere. the korean wibro network is a very good infrastructure.
calm technology
It is amazing to find that this essay was written in 1996. the calm technology is felt as natural as breathe. so people will not complain about massive information. it is totally humane centered. I think the calm technology can be used in various aspects especially for wearable, wireless lan, home facilities. there are many university and organizations are doing research on the pervasive computing. here are some that i am interested in:
oxygen project - MIT http://www.oxygen.lcs.mit.edu/
project aura - CMU http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aura/
Easy Living - MS http://research.microsoft.com/easyliving/
surrogates
physical surrogates have always been a heated topic in network applicaions. People use personalized settings, such as names, images to represent themselves. At ITP, there was once a project, using a steel hand to represent the hand of another player. Last semester, there was a pcomp project called "my peep", using toys to represent ichat friends.
There is quite a lot things to explore, and the auther raised 5 issues at the end of this essay. But since digital but physical surrogate is an humen - machine interface, it is more like a exploration on human's activities.
Posted by cj520 at 12:12 PM