QUT Urban Informatics iPhone app FixVegas is now available for download.

Have you noticed something in need of fixing around Brisbane? From blocked drains to damaged street signs, rubbish or graffiti, QUT’s FixVegas iPhone app allows you to send fix-o-gram requests directly to Brisbane City Council. Just use FixVegas to snap a shot of the problem and your fix-o-gram is submitted to Council along with the location information of the issue that you are reporting.  You can download it for your iPhone here.

QUT Urban Informatics iPhone app DispoMaps version 2 by Jan Seeburger now available

Download via iTunes:
http://bit.ly/cR2YN3

DispoMaps enables you to share your current location on an online map with anyone. The map is constantly updated as you go, using your iPhone’s GPS.

DispoMaps is easy to use. Launch the app, switch Location Sharing to “ON,” and decide how you want to share your location: via SMS, email, twitter, or facebook.

Your recipients will be sent a link to a unique web page displaying a map of your real-time location. Once you have arrived at your destination, you can easily dispose of your map by switching Location Sharing to “OFF.”

DispoMaps does not require user accounts. And the recipients of your DispoMaps do not even have to have the app installed.

Your privacy is protected: The web page does not contain any information that reveals your personal identity. DispoMaps allows you to stop sharing and dispose of your map whenever you want. For enhanced security, DispoMaps automatically expire after a set period of idle time.

What’s new in version 2.0
-       Major bug fixes
-       Major user interface improvements
-       Twitter integration
-       Facebook Connect integration

Download via iTunes:
http://bit.ly/cR2YN3

Abstract

The increasing ubiquity of digital technology, internet services and location-aware applications in our everyday lives allows for a seamless transitioning between the visible and the invisible infrastructure of cities: road systems, building complexes, information and communication technology and people networks create a buzzing environment that’s alive and exciting. Driven by curiosity, initiative and interdisciplinary exchange, the Urban Informatics Research Group at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is an emerging cluster of people interested in research and development at the intersection of people, place and technology with a focus on cities, locative media and mobile technology. Our team comprises and collaborates with architects with degrees in media studies, software engineers with expertise in urban sociology, human-computer interaction designers with a grounding in cultural studies, and urban planners with an interest in digital media and social networking. Being hosted by the Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation at QUT enables our projects to embrace the creative energy of a range of disciplines across design, performance, production and writing. Associate Professor Marcus Foth will present an overview of the projects that the Urban Informatics research group is currently working on. More information at: https://www.urbaninformatics.net/

Bio

Associate Professor Marcus Foth is Principal Research Fellow with the Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia, and team leader of the Urban Informatics Research Group. He received a QUT Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellowship (2009-2011), and aSmart Futures Fellowship from the Queensland State Government (2009-2011), co-sponsored by National ICT Australia (NICTA). He was awarded the inaugural Australian Business Foundation Research Fellowship on Innovation and Cultural Industries 2010 sponsored by the Aurora Foundation. He was an ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellow (2006-2008), and a 2007 Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK. Dr Foth’s research explores human-computer interaction design and development at the intersection of people, place and technology with a focus on urban informatics, locative media and mobile applications. The high quality of his research work has attracted over $1.7M in national competitive grants and industry funding since 2006. Dr Foth has published over 70 articles in journals, edited books, and conference proceedings. He is the editor of the Handbook of Research on Urban Informatics (2009), and is currently co-editing the book “From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen” for MIT Press (2010). He is the conference chair of the 5th International Conference on Communities and Technologies 2011 in Brisbane.

Followed by Afternoon Tea

RSVP to:
Sarah Turnbull
Administration Assistant
NICTA I PO Box 6020 I St Lucia QLD 4067
T +61 7 3300 8590 I F +61 7 3300 8420
www.nicta.com.au sarah.turnbull@nicta.com.au
From imagination to impact

12–6pm Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 May 2010
Who: NICTA
What: software, hardware, and leading experts showing you how to use it
Cost: TBA
Bookings: email The Edge

The city is full of information. NICTA is addressing the challenge of getting access to this information to connect with others, find out where cool things are happening, learn, and display information about the power we use, the food we eat, the environment we live in.

In this workshop you will learn how to tap into some of information the city has to offer. We will learn how to use Arduino micro-controller and hook up a variety of different sensors. We interpret the sensor results and share them to be used across different projects.

Once we’ve covered the basics you get to do your own project. Some basic understanding of programming will be helpful, however the course is targeted at beginners and you will be able to pick up the necessary skills as you go along.

What you will learn

• What is an Arduino, and how to use it
• How to program an Arduino
• How to build basic circuits
• How to share sensor information using Pachube
• How to visualising sensor information with hardware and software
• How to do your own cool Arduino projects

Course program

Day 1: Teaching and experimentation

Learn the basics about the Arduino platform, what it is how it works. Write your first program and upload it. Learn how to use a breadboard to build circuits. Experiment with different components and sensors. Learn a bit more about the programming language we use—Processing.

Day 2: Project/group work

During day 2 you will pick your own project to do as part of a group. We will help you to conceptualise your ideas and turn them into a hardware and software design. A day full of tinkering and fun.

1st International UBI Summer School 2010
May 31 – June 4, 2010, Oulu, Finland

http://www.ubioulu.fi/en/UBI-summer-school-2010

The purpose of the summer school is to provide young researchers with an opportunity to gain deeper insight to the multidisciplinary fields of ubiquitous and urban computing, to stimulate international R&D networking and to promote the UBI-challenge.

The summer school comprises of six parallel workshops:

A: Real World Context-Aware Systems
by Professor Anind Dey, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

B: Urban Informatics and Sustainable Cities
by Associate Professor Marcus Foth, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

C: Urban Social Networks Analysis
by Professor Vassilis Kostakos, University of Madeira, Portugal

D: Creating and Sharing Artistic Experiences with Ubiquitous Technology
by Jürgen Scheible, Aalto University, Finland

E: IP-based Wireless Sensor Networks
by CTO Zach Shelby, Sensinode, Finland

F: Interactive Textures – rethinking materiality
by Professor Mikael Wiberg, Umeå University, Sweden

How to apply:

The number of students accepted for each workshop is limited. Therefore, prospective young researchers should email by Apr 19, 2010 to Professor Timo Ojala (timo.ojala [at] ee.oulu.fi) a one page statement (PDF), which contains your contact information, a brief description of your research interests in ubiquitous and/or urban computing, a brief desciprtion of your motivation to attend the summer school, and a ranked list of the workshop(s) you would be interested in attending. If you are accepted to the summer school, then you will work in one particular workshop for the whole week. For example, if you wish to first attend workshop E but in case it would not be available you would also consider attending workshop B, then please state “my preferred workshops: E B” in your statement.

Best regards,

Professor Timo Ojala
University of Oulu
Finland

timo.ojala [at] ee.oulu.fi

Please also note:
2nd Open Ubiquitous City Seminar
May 31, 2010, Oulu, Finland
http://www.ubioulu.fi/en/2nd-Open-Ubiquitous-City-Seminar
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=358147083927

Start Time: Monday, 31 May 2010 at 09:00
End Time: Friday, 04 June 2010 at 17:00
Street: Erkki Koiso-Kanttilan katu 3
City: Oulu, Finland

2nd Open Ubiquitous City Seminar

http://www.ubioulu.fi/en/2nd-Open-Ubiquitous-City-Seminar

31 May 2010
Oulu, Finland

This high profile seminar features many distinguished international experts addressing various aspects of ubiquitous and urban computing.

The seminar is open and free to the general public.

Location: City Library, Kaarlenväylä 3, Pakkala Hall
Time: 9-16

Speakers:

Professor Anind Dey, Carnegie Mellon University, USA: Real World Context-Aware Systems

Associate Professor Marcus Foth, Queensland University of Technology, Australia: Urban Informatics and Sustainable Cities

Professor Vassilis Kostakos, University of Madeira, Portugal: Urban Social Networks Analysis

Jürgen Scheible, Aalto University, Finland: Creating and Sharing Artistic Experiences with Ubiquitous Technology

Zach Shelby, Head of Research, Sensinode, Finland: IP-based Wireless Sensor Networks

Professor Mikael Wiberg, Umeå University, Sweden: Interactive Textures – rethinking materiality

Professor Timo Ojala, University of Oulu, Finland: UBI Pilot 2010

Please also note:
1st International UBI Summer School 2010
May 31 – June 4, 2010, Oulu, Finland
http://www.ubioulu.fi/en/UBI-summer-school-2010
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=355122226963

Date: Monday, 31 May 2010
Time: 09:00 – 16:00
Location: City Library, Pakkala Hall
Street: Kaarlenväylä 3
City: Oulu, Finland

Enhancing the Experience of People in Urban Public Places through Context-Aware Mobile Content and Services

PhD Confirmation Seminar by Mr Jan Seeburger
QUT Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation and Smart Services CRC

Life in the city is busy. We travel from one place to another and meet people at different locations for social, business, or entertainment purposes. Thereby, city dwellers cross streets, places, buildings, and other public and anonymous urban places using cars, public transport, or even just walk to their destination usually accompanied by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices. Urban dwellers use ICT devices such as mobile phones or MP3 players as “cocooning” items in public urban places to create their own personal space and therefore avoiding direct contact with surrounding strangers. Even when there is no signal, like in underground railways, people tend to use their devices for different purposes like playing games, listening to their favourite songs, or deleting old text messages.

Instead of using ICT devices to seclude oneself from the surrounding environment, such devices could also be used to connect in a meaningful way with other people in the actual urban place as well as past, present, or future people nearby.

The main goal of this PhD research is to provide applications and deliver guidelines to enhance the user experience of different public urban places during everyday idle time. This goal will be achieved through personalised services and content delivered via ICT devices, which consider and utilise the user’s past, current, and future context. The context data will be used to enhance and stimulate interaction with people who are collocated in the same public place.

This PhD project utilises digital augmentations of urban public spaces and urban dwellers to make the invisible data of our urban environment visible. The study takes place at the intersection of people, place, and technology and considers, applies, and extends existing concepts in the areas of human-computer interaction, sociology, psychology, and urban studies to enhance the experience of people in urban public places.

Date: Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Time: 14:00 – 16:00
Location: Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries Precinct, Z2-310
Street: 10 Musk Ave
City: Kelvin Grove, Australia

Strategies to Connect People through Real-time Visulisations of Electricity Consumption in Social Networks

PhD Confirmation Seminar by Mr Richard Medland
QUT Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation and National ICT Australia (NICTA)

My research aims to inform the development of future generations of interface design solutions that help to conserve resources. The study is exploring more understandable and useful ways to use technology for people to make more environmentally conscious consumer decisions, and is guided by a human-computer interaction research and design approach. It seeks to develop a set of interface guidelines that will improve the persuasiveness of design interventions and lead to more sustained behavioural changes towards sustainability in Australian cities.

The study’s timeliness and significance is supported by current trends, such as participatory culture, ubiquitous technology (small, embedded, and accessible), real-time information (sensor networks, locative media, and mobile devices), and the resultant challenges and opportunities that are emerging for the application of human-computer interaction on these platforms.

Currently my research encompasses two case studies. The first case study seeks to engender an attitudinal shift towards more informed domestic energy conservation, achieved through the installation of, and development work centred on, real-time in-situ electricity meters in homes across Queensland. As Fitzpatrick & Smith (2009) report, domestic energy consumption remains largely invisible and intangible to consumers. To challenge this perception my research explores techniques to educate and interact with users, providing channels for personal expressions of creativity and methods to participate in and contribute to digital culture. Further, the study aims to encourage users to conduct their own research, and share, collaborate and compete naturally with others by applying their accrued energy data.

The second case study seeks to engender a greater understanding among university staff of the tangible and negative effects that excessive printing has on their workplace and local environment. Using software to analyse the generated log files of selected printers and printer groups, baseline measurements are determined and print usage of staff from suitable offices is graded. Different grades result in the circulation of software generated emails – purportedly from the local printer or printer group – playfully complaining or commending staff based on their pages printed. Staff are reminded of what their current usage equates to in different metrics, and encouraged to conserve paper for a tangible reward using disjunctive and injunctive information. Current planning envisages locally native saplings as rewards, temporarily situating them in the office reaching a set reduction target over time, before planting the saplings in a campus green space for staff to visit.

Date: Monday, 22 March 2010
Time: 16:00 – 18:00
Location: Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries Precinct, Z2-304
Street: 10 Musk Ave
City: Kelvin Grove, Australia

The Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation (iCi) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) invites applications from outstanding IT graduates around the globe for a three-year PhD scholarship.

The successful applicant will commence their candidature at QUT in the 2010 academic year to be part of an international research project on designing ubiquitous technologies for sustainable food culture.

Titled ‘Eat, Cook, Grow: Ubiquitous Technology for Sustainable Food Culture in the City,’ this is an ARC Linkage project jointly funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), Intel People and Practices Lab, Queensland Health, Food Connect, City Food Growers, and James Street Cooking School.

More information about the project is available here.

The ARC Linkage scheme aims to build the scale and focus of research training in Australia and encourages cross-disciplinary and collaborative approaches to research training in high-quality research environments.

The cross-disciplinary expertise of the team, the significance of the study and the stimulating research environment provided by the Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation at QUT offers an excellent opportunity for higher degree research training.

A substantial part of the study outcomes that the candidate must deliver will be of a technical nature. Theoretical knowledge will be translated into new media and ICT design innovations through proof of concepts and advanced prototypes. The topics will be refined and supervisory team organised in consultation with the project team.

After completion of their research training and dissertation project, the PhD candidate will be well prepared to enter a competitive labour market with their practical and academic competence and high employability.

Details of the scholarship

The stipend is $27,222 per annum, tax exempt for three years (2010-2012).

Eligibility

First class honours or masters qualification in BCompSc, BInfTech or a similar qualification in addition to relevant industry experience as well as expertise working in an applied academic environment.

How to apply

Please submit your resume and a brief covering letter (no more than three pages) outlining your motivation to undertake PhD level research studies to Professor Marcus Foth at m.foth@qut.edu.au

Application closing date

Applications close on Monday, 15 March 2010.

Please try DispoMaps, our new iPhone app, developed by Jan Seeburger, one of our most brilliant PhD candidates.

Simple scenario: If you meet someone, and you’re on your way, but running late, the other person can see that you’re say, stuck in traffic, until you get there. Then you can dispose of your map. DispoMaps allows you to share your location with others, temporarily and anonymously. So it’s very different from Google Latitude. No need to register, and the other person doesn’t need to have the app.

More information:
https://www.urbaninformatics.net/blog/?page_id=448

Download via iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/dispomaps/id333206421

Feedback appreciated:
dispomaps@urbaninformatics.net