Treading out Technology: theory meets praxis during a thousand mile walk round Wales Swansea Nov 2012 In 2012 I will be walking around Wales following the Wales Coast Path that opened this year and Offa's Dyke long distance path up the borders. This is partly a personal journey reconnecting with the country of my childhood, but also a technological journey investigating the IT needs of the walker and the local communities through which I pass. Some of this will be mundane technologically speaking, but hopefully transformative in practice. However, I also expect to be pushed to the limits cartographically and theoretically. In particular, aspects of Semantic Web and the odd Galois Connection will be essential parts of the need to synchronise data between heterogeneous sources and following disconnection.

1. Treading out Technology
theory meets praxis during a
thousand mile walk round Wales
Alan Dix
Talis& University of Birmingham
http://alandix.com/alanwalkswales/

2. University of
Birmingham
Tiree
Tiree Tech Wave Talis
14-18 March ’13 (TBC)

3. today I am not talking about …
• intelligent internet interfaces
• visualisation and sampling
• situated displays, eCampus,
small device – large display interactions
• fun and games, virtual crackers,
artistic performance, slow time
• physicality and product design
• creativity and Bad Ideas
• modelling dreams and regret

4. … or even lots of lights
http:/www.hcibook.com/alan/projects/firefly/

5. what I will talk about ...
... Alan Walks Wales ...
context
vision
inspirations
challenges
invitation

6. context
Wales coast path
Tiree

7. Welsh Coast Path
opened May 2012
linking existing paths
a single way marked route
with Offa’s Dyke encircles Wales
two full traversals in 2012 (one running)

8. About Tiree
750 residents
20,000 summer visitors
poor mobile
phone
coverage

9. Tiree
at the edges ...
750 people, 20 square miles, 4 hour ferry
Tiree Tech Wave
for the attendee and for the community
Tiree Mobile Heritage
later ...

11. vision
Alan Walks Wales
why and what for

12. Alan Walks Wales
April/May – July 2012
complete periplus
with IT focus

13. vision
personal
encircling, encompassing, pilgrimage, homecoming,
practical
IT for the walker & IT for local communities
philosophical
reflections on walking and space, locality and identity
research
personal agenda and living lab

15. inspirations
paths and patches
marginality and the electronic village shop
Tiree mobile archive
mobile connectivity and data synchronisation

16. at the margins
social marginality:
poor, old, rural
information marginality:
poor connectivity, old devices
IT deepens the divide
... but can IT help in the margins?

17. IT in the margins
lessons from the developing world
hole in the wall, Matt 
simple SMS
www.hole-in-the-wall.com
an old dream ... the electronic village shop
what now?

18. An Iodhlann
Tiree Historical Centre
founded 1992
housed in old ‘reading room’
12,000 catalogued items
maps, land records,
photos, audio tapes, ...
staffed by volunteers
and P/T archivist

19. cultural heritage problem
information at An Iodhlann
not
on the ground in the island
20,000 summer visitors to Tiree
only ~ 1000 pa enter An Iodhlann
... and demographic ... mature ...

20. idea! ... mobile access
offer information to people, where they are, on the ground
better availability for those
who already visit An Iodhlann
new availability for
those who don’t attract fresh visitors
esp. younger! into An Iodhlann

21. challenges ... density of visitors
Edinburgh Castle
Tiree crowds
=> no special installations
no guides on the ground

22. challenges ... mobile signal!
cannot stream data
=> downloaded app
=> limited content
good news –
no hills, no buildings
=> GPS good 

23. design solution
preparation
and reminiscence
when WiFi connected
@ hotel/B&B and @ home

24. technical solution – data
centric
web data
services mobile
apps.
other forms
...1010011010...
of novel
...00101101... interaction
REST, JSON,
SPARQL, RDF
digital
(LOD) linked humanities
open data

26. challenges
technical
interactional
social

27. maps
reclaiming the local map within technological space
mapping never easier ... so long as it is ‘standard’
“Post-Renaissance maps cover the surface of the
world with an homogeneous Cartesian grip”
Barbara Bender
local maps – local concerns

28. linear maps too

29. linear maps too

30. maps – issues
coordinate transforms – rubber sheeting
transitions – morph or discontinuous
linking trails and localities
authoring and data

31. always connected?
mobile signal
absent or weak
broadband ...
not so broad
=> offline access
and synchronisation
https://explore.ee.co.uk/coverage-checker

32. data synchronisation
well studied in early 1990s
for disconnected operation and synchronous editing
... but still poorly implemented
e.g. Apple iOS
almost always items are:
homogeneous
independent

33. data integraton
mashups, APIs, RDF,
linked data, schema.org
https://developers.google.com/maps/visualize
ingest ...
or relate?
... heterogeneity

34. syncing heterogeneous data
problem of lossiness
one solution – create the über format :-/
f
exploit neo-Galois connections
fogof = f
gofog = g
g

35. P.S. is Welsh coast fractal ...
coast length
(log miles)
ruler length (log miles)

36. P.S. is Welsh coast fractal ...
oops!

38. invitation
community connections
walk with me
living lab