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Mobile Bristol Toolkit Download the non-commercial version here. Contact us for commercial use. The Mobile Bristol Centre was a programme investigating how mobile devices and pervasive information technology can be used to enhance the ways in which residents and visitors experience and interact with their physical environment and with each other in urban and public spaces. Imagine a digital landscape overlaying the physical world. As we walk around this landscape, we can tap into the digital sounds, sights and interactions that are positioned in the landscape and activated by our presence and actions. The digital landscape is formed from a dynamic and overlapping set of mediascapes which are context-sensitive combinations of digital media and interactions created and deployed by various authors. The project has created a toolkit, which provides a digital canvas over the physical landscape onto which digital experiences can be painted and new commercial opportunities can be explored. As people walk through the physical environment, a diverse range of digital media experiences augment the ambiance and bring these spaces alive. The project had three main threads. Each thread informs, drives and enables the others.

The MEMORY WALK walk makes visible the way people travel through the city by recording pedestrians’ steps across a space. Every time a footstep falls on a digital paver, the paver emits an additional increment of light. As people cross the pavement, paths of light are illuminated where people tread the most; untread areas emit no light. Thus, people become aware of the traces their movements leave upon the surfaces of the Digital Mile.

annotated environments, intelligent infrastructure and digital landscapes--the merging of technology with the environment around us, and the overlay of digital environments on the physical ones we inhabit.

Urban knowledge: knowledge that is embedded into urban space

Mediascapes are mobile, location–based experiences that incorporate digital media with the sights, sounds, and textures of the world around you. A mediascape blends digital images, video, audio and interactions with the physical landscape. Games, guided walks and tours, and destinations are among the mediascapes created to date.

As you may have guessed from the blatant self-affirmation of my domain name I'm Sam Kinsley! I recently completed the MSc in Society and Space at the School of Geographical Sciences in the University of Bristol. I studied as an undergraduate at the University of Plymouth, in BSc (Hons) Digital Art & Technology in 2004.

But some say the flood of information becoming available through mobile phones and other means is not always such a good thing. "I worry that people attribute too deep a meaning to raw information," said Danah Boyd, who researches social media at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "An increased flow of information should not be confused with a deeper bond." Boyd stressed that this also applied to other social media that gather large amounts of personal information, like blogs or digital photo accounts. "The situation these technologies create is similar to what happens with Angelina Jolie or another celebrity," Boyd said. "Just because I know a lot about a person does not mean they will help me on a tough day." An added risk for the location-announcing services is that people might find themselves unable to break away from following friends or old lovers, Boyd added. "The problem is that people really, really love stalking," Boyd said. "When you have just ended a relationship, it is not necessarily healthy to follow the exact location of your ex- lover minute-by-minute on your phone."

MoSoSo, or mobile social software, is software -- generally on a mobile phone or on a laptop computer -- that facilitates social encounters, or mobile social networking by associating geographical location and time with one's own social network. The basic idea of a MoSoSo is to overlay a location and time element to the idea of digital networking. So it enables you to find people in your vicinity and at that time for social, sexual/dating or business networking. It's worth noting that the time variable is often overlooked in analysis of MoSoSo dynamics. [1]

LooseGrid is a laboratory for interdisciplinary research in the city exploring the relationships between the urban space, art and new technologies. It takes the form of a computer-based network built as a creative environment where residents of local districts and researchers can work together exploring the urban space through the generation of creative feedback.

focusing on site specfiic experimental works utilizing digital media, computation, and internet resources

Ambient Addition is a Walkman with binaural microphones. A tiny Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip analyzes the microphone's sound and superimposes a layer of harmony and rhythm on top of the listener's world. In the new context, some surprising behaviors take place. Listeners tend to play with objects around them, sing to themselves, and wander toward tempting sound sources. With Ambient Addition, I'm hoping to make people think twice about the sounds they initiate as well as loosen up some inhibitions.

The multi-functional device may, for example, include two or more of the following device functionalities: PDA, cell phone, music player, video player, game player, digital camera, handtop, Internet terminal [and/or] GPS or remote contro