RFID in everyday life: video

A interesting and somewhat scary take on the future of shopping once RFID chips start to become ubiquitous:

New course on ICT and Development offered at the OII

I recently put together the outline of an MSc/DPhil course on ICT and Development that I will be teaching at the Oxford Internet Institute in Hilary Term 2011.

A brief outline is below, but follow this link for the full course description. I'd be happy to hear any thoughts on how to improve it.

This course will introduce students to the debates and practices surrounding the uses of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in both the Global South and Global North. It will draw on resources from Anthropology, Development Studies, Economics, Geography, and History in order to examine the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that underpin development (as a practice, as a subject of research, and as a discourse). The course will also draw heavily on case-studies in order to ground theory in practice and will introduce students to a range of projects that have employed ICTs as a solution to problems in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

ICTs have the power to fundamentally transform the economic, social and political relationships in poorer parts of our planet. However, potentials often do not translate into realities, and it is important to be aware of not only the promises, but also the perils of the transformative nature of communication technologies. As such, this course will provide an opportunity to reflect on local appropriateness, social inclusion and the range of arguments for and against any ICT for development project in a variety of contexts.

Mapping the density of cyberscapes

I just uploaded another new post to Floatingsheep. This time, the goal was to measure the total number of placemarks (kml files) in every country by using a wildcard search at 260,000 points. The general pattern confirms to other measures of information density, with highly uneven distributions and much of the world left off the map. But there are still some unexpected findings: most notably the highly visible position of China. Head over to Floatingsheep for the full post.

The Beer Belly of America

Our work on mapping virtual references to bars and grocery stores (aka the beer belly of America map) has just been featured in the New York Times. Click over to Floatingsheep.org for the full post.