Friday, September 27, 2002

Every-Citizen Interfaces to the Nation's Information Infrastructure (Online Book) A tremendously rich compendium available online (and in print from National Academy Press) More Than Screen Deep: Toward Every-Citizen Interfaces to the Nation's Information Infrastructure Copyright 1997 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART I 1  Introduction 2  Requirements for Effective Every-Citizen Interfaces 3  Input/Output Technologies: Current Status and Research Needs 4  Design and Evaluation 5  Communication and Collaboration 6  Agents and Systems Intelligence 7  Conclusions and Recommendations    Bibliography PART II BACKGROUND PAPER Trends in Human-Computer Interaction Research and Development   H. Rex Hartson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute POSITION PAPERS On Interface Specifics An Embedded, Invisible Every-Citizen Interface  Mark Weiser, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Intelligent Multimedia Interfaces for "Each" Citizen  Mark T. Maybury, Mitre Corporation Interfaces for Understanding  Nathan Shedroff, vivid studios Interspace and an Every-Citizen Interface to the National Information Infrastructure  Terry Winograd, Stanford University Mobile Access to the Nation's Information Infrastructure  Daniel P. Siewiorek, Carnegie Mellon University Ordinary Citizens and the National Information Infrastructure  Bruce Tognazzini, Healtheon Corporation Spoken-Language Technology  Ronald A. Cole, Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology Toward an Every-Citizen Interface  Steven K. Feiner, Columbia University Nomadicity, Disability Access, and the Every-Citizen Interface  Gregg C. Vanderheiden, University of Wisconsin-Madison On Functions Computer-Mediated Collaboration  Loren Terveen, AT&T Research Creating Interfaces Founded on Principles of Discourse Communication and Collaboration  Candace Sidner, Lotus Development Corporation Digital Maps  Lance McKee and Louis Hecht, Open GIS Consortium Inc. Gathering and Integrating Information in the National Information Infrastructure  Craig A. Knoblock, University of Southern California Integrating Audiences and Users   John Richards, Turner Le@rning Inc. Intelligent Agents for Information   Katia P. Sycara, Carnegie Mellon University Intelligent Information Agents   Johanna D. Moore, University of Pittsburgh Resource Discovery and Resource Delivery   Kent Wittenburg, Bellcore Search and Publishing  Robert A. Virzi, GTE Laboratories Incorporated Security  Stephen Kent, BBN Corporation Research to Support Widespread Access to Digital Libraries and Government Information and Services   Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland On Application Areas Community Computing Projects  Aki Helen Namioka, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility Lifelong Learning  Gerhard Fischer, University of Colorado, Boulder Supporting Learning in Communities of Practice  Charles Cleary, Northwestern University On Selected Population Groups Extending Knowledge Access to Underserved Citizens  Wallace Feurzeig, BBN Systems and Technologies Electronic Access to Services for Low-Income PopulationsAdam Porter, University of Maryland Access for People with Disabilities  Larry Goldberg, WGBH Educational Foundation On Key Processes Cross-Disciplinary, Social-Context Research  John Leslie King, University of California, Irvine Audio Access to the National Information Infrastructure  John C. Thomas, NYNEX Science and Technology   APPENDIXES A   Workshop Agenda and Participants B   Steering Committee Members' Biographies 11:38:49 AM

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

The "wireless internet" means too many damn things. Here's what it should mean. The term "wireless" means too many damn things.  In this item news item from Wireless-World@yahoogroups.com : A glut of 5.8 GHz gear hits the market, hotspot pioneerWayport continues to aggressively sell its services, and ClearSKY Networks launches high-speed wireless Internet service in a six-block hotzone. http://www.80211-planet.com/news/article/0,,1481_1469131,00.html the 5.8 GHz  gear referred is a Canopy-like product that brings internet to the home wirelessly, at which point the connection from the home to the computer is up for grabs.  (Could be ethernet cable, could be wifi...) .    In contrast, Wayport uses wires (DSL in fact) to bring internet to the end-site; what's wireless is the wifi connection to the end-users computer.  And what  about this:  "ClearSKY Networks launches high-speed wireless Internet service in a six-block hotzone" ?   This from  http://www.80211-planet.com/news/article/0,,1481_1469131,00.html#clearsky  ClearSKY's Clemson project provides inside and outside coverage across six city blocks and numerous apartment complexes. Expansion is already underway. The company anticipates that demand for wireless Internet usage will skyrocket among many of the city's 12,000 residents and 17,000 full-time students.   Headquartered in Clemson, ClearSKY Networks is expanding its current operation there. Long-range plans include providing wireless service to other cities throughout the southern United States. What technology are they using?  This from http://www.clearskynetworks.com/ : ...ClearSKY Networks is poised to bring to your residence or small business the same power, speed, and flexibility of a high speed corporate network. In addition, ClearSKY uses the latest in 802.11 technology at a cost well below DSL or Cable.   And how are they positioning it? Mobile - With ClearSKY, you can take your high speed connection with you throughout your community. ClearSKY community networks are designed for customers on the go. Students and professionals will enjoy the ability to stay connected not only in their residence, but on campus, the business district, and other areas all around town. I think "untethered mobility" is what consumers and communities mean when they ask about wireless internet.  Point-to-multipoint vendors better make it  that the wireless "multi-point to endpoint" connections are not bundled into what they are selling.  Otherwise, they'll be accused of bait and switch.      Of course, the right approach, in my view, is for point-to-multi-point vendors to bundle wifi right in, and adopt a pricing model that promotes, encourages and profits when end-users share their wfi access points. 10:39:35 AM

Sunday, September 22, 2002

Frank Catalano deconstructs Wi-Fi's current state and potential Frank Catalano deconstructs Wi-Fi [may required Yahoo login; permanent URL coming next week]: Segment by segment, veteran tech reporter Frank Catalano deconstructs Wi-Fi's current state and potential. This article is a model of conciseness, without losing any of the most important details. One dispute: none of the conferences that I know about on Wi-Fi are pushing public hot spots as a profitable idea, but are rather examining whether they could be profitable by themselves or as part of larger plans. The other point: none of the conferences are making anybody rich (yet), as they're all still ramping up. [80211b News] 4:38:50 PM     I'm a radio personality Streaming media could be the "killer app" of ubiquitous wireless internet (if we succeed in creating that potentially world-changing "universal information amenity") And its starting already.   In my role as "wireless evangelist" I was interviewed about prospects for wireless internet in public places on What The Tech!  on Rochester's Public Radio station last Saturday.   The show also included an interesting interview with the CEO of a new 80211g spinoff company called Appairant.  WXXI archives the shows a week later, so even though you missed the show, and even if you are not located in Rochester, you can listen here (and now) thanks to the miracle of MP3 and the wisdom of WXXI:  Streamed | Downloadable .  As you can see below, my segment starts at Minute 20. Program Rundown 13:00 Billboard 13:01 NPR News 13:06 News Roundup: Wireless Internet Access in Starbucks and the Zodiac Café in Rochester. 13:11 Technobabble: A listener in Fairport asks "What do I need to know to buy a Cell Phone?" We hear from Bruce Hartpence, Assistant Professor of Information Technology at RIT. 13:15 Gray Matters: Norm Abramson invents Wireless Networking 13:20 Bleeding Edge: Jon Schull, an "evangelist" for the creation of wireless community networks in Rochester. 13:35 Nerd Word: War Driving 13:38 Gadget Boy Reviews: Actiontec Wireless Internet Gateway and RIM Blackberry Wireless e-mail reader. 13:47 Elevator Pitch: Appairent Technology and their Wireless Networking solution for home Consumer Audio and Video Devices. 13:51 Tech o' the Future: Universal Wireless Access 13:57 Program Close   4:31:23 PM

Sunday, September 15, 2002

NEWBURYOPEN.NET SPECS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE One of the inspirations for my work on the wifibox see (http://wifiwiki.net) was Tech Superpower's NewburyOpenNet.  Now they've published their formula.  Its a fun read, and an important document.  I predict great things for it. Some highlights The key piece of our network that differentiates NewburyOpen.net from other wireless networks is that all nodes are completely wireless themselves (except for power). All merchants are connected to our central backbone using 802.11b wireless technology. This element allows us to quickly deploy our network at minimal cost, and with little recurring overhead. Rather than a aggregate of multiple wireless access points running off of independent wired links to the Internet (8SL, Cable, etc), like the community effort of NYC Wireless or like the commercial entities like Tmobile's Starbucks access, NewburyOpen.net's architecture is built around multiple nodes being fed by a single high-speed line and server. This reduces the maintenance requirements by providing fewer failure points on the network. This design also reduces cost and lowers time-toma rket because installing and paying for a single high-speed T1 is faster and less costly than a slew of business 8SL lines. The NewburyOpen.net has four primary components: 1) Internet Connection 2) Caching Server 3) Central Access Point and Antenna 4) Open Points (aka Wireless Nodes? Wireless Repeater? etc) NEWBURYOPEN.NET SPECS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE Now, the moment that you've all been waiting for, or at least some of you.  NewburyOpen.net's technical specifications have been released online. Read about how we created the network, why it makes sense that it's for free, and learn what it takes to build your own! Available as a 416K PDF, our spec takes you through the architecture of the network, and even shows you how to build your own "Open Point," the key piece of technology for NewburyOpen.net. http://www.newburyopen.net/technology.html Disclaimer: These specs are made available purely for informational use only. 10:10:59 PM

Monday, September 09, 2002

Several articles about Roam AD Several articles about Roam AD from their homepage       5 September 3G: WiFi's New Clothes (from http://www.80211-planet.com/news/article/0,4000,1481_1459711,00.html) "RoamAD is a New Zealand company pioneering an enhancement to the IEEE 802.11b wireless standard that enables metro-wide mobile broadband connectivity." australia.internet.com RoamAD had to overcome four major obstacles that have been the reason why, to-date, 802.11b has not been deployed to service areas beyond those commonly referred to as 'hotspots'," according to CEO, Paul Stoddart. The first is security. "Traditionally 802.11b has relied on WEP," he says. "Much has been made in the IT&T arena about the WEP encryption protocol having been compromised. The emotive nature of security has been one of the key barriers to wholesale adoption of 802.11b."  RoamAD has developed their own security solution, a hybrid of proprietary network-edge security and industry standard data encryption. To access the network, an end-user must have a valid MAC address for their Wi-Fi device. Once access has been granted to the network, all data transmitted or received is encrypted based on IPSec. The second major obstacle is backhaul. Stoddart says, "one of the flaws in the hotspot model is that the operator must lease a terrestrial circuit from an incumbent network operator to provide connectivity between the hotspot and their network operations centre. The cost of these circuits represents a significant fixed cost that must be borne until an operator achieves critical mass."  "Furthermore, " he says, "the hotspot operator is reliant on the incumbent network operator to not only install but also dimension these circuits in a timely and cost- effective manner in the future. RoamAD's engineers have developed a wireless backhaul solution thereby avoiding the need to lease terrestrial circuits from the incumbent telecom operators." Coverage is the third major obstacle. "Traditionally, to receive coverage from an 802.11b access point an end-user must be within fifty metres and often within line-of- sight," according to Stoddart. "To an end-user this means that to gain access to a hotspot coverage area they are required to schedule a visit to a hotspot. This offers limited utility to an end-user by virtue of convenience. The RoamAD network solution has been designed to provide an end-user with ubiquitous coverage within the network area." The final obstacle is congestion. Wireless access points have become a dime a dozen, competing with each other for space within the 2.4Ghz range. "The RoamAD network architecture is a star-grid topology," he says. "To the end-user this means that at any point within the network they are supported by a minimum of four different access points."   The star-grid topology provides segmented coverage from multiple areas, redundancy of overlapping signals, diversity within the system, and a multitude of connection options for the end user in the case of outage or when a point is loaded. 2 September RoamAD Announce 802.11b Breakthrough "RoamAD, a New Zealand based wireless technology company, has just announced a genuine breakthrough in mobile broadband technology" New Zealand Wireless Data Forum 30 August 3G Functionality Right Here, Right Now "Within the RoamAD network, end-users already enjoy ubiquitous coverage and the ability to roam seamlessly with 100% committed information rates of anything up to 330Kbps" 3G.co.uk 29 August RoamAD unveils wide-area 802.11b wireless net "A New Zealand company has unveiled software that can turn 802.11b wireless LANS, with a reach of about 100 feet, into an always-on wireless mesh that can blanket hundreds of square kilomters" Network World Fusion 28 August Kiwi's Test World's Largest WLAN "A prototype wireless network, based on the 802.11b standard, in downtown Auckland is giving Kiwis a taste of high-speed mobile broadband without waiting for 3G" The Register   3:24:08 PM

Tuesday, September 03, 2002

Jhai PC: wireless communication and wireless power in rural Laos. An innovative, pedal powered, powered, wireless network provides Internet access to off-grid villages in Laos. Jhai PC is a project of non-government organisation (NGO), Jhai Foundation. "The Jhai PC is built of 'embedded' circuit boards," says Felsenstein, "of the sort that are used in industrial equipment. These are rugged and devoid of moving parts such as fans or disc drives, made to operate for long periods of time without service or attention. The Jhai computer consists of a single-board PC (the MZ-104 based upon the Mach-Z single-chip computer - equivalent to a 133 MHz 486 system)." He has analysed the "Internet appliance generation of chips and found this to be the best, especially for its low power consumption and remote BIOS reboot capability." "At the moment," he concludes, " we have one computer set up going and are using it for development, we have attached a large hard drive to augment the 96-MByte flash disk. Mark Summer is integrating software, and we have just decided to purchase a telephone interface card good for four analog lines. The team in Rochester is hard at work localising Linux and the KDE environment for the Lao language. Our time line shows us ready to ship in October, but that may be revised." Jhai Foundation's Internet Learning Centers and the Remote IT Village Initiative Jhai's Remote IT Village Initiative aims to empower five remote villages, which have no electricity or phones, with a means of communication and the use of simple business tools. Each village will have a Jhai computer connected to the other villages, to their high school-based Internet Learning Centers, and to the Internet. Villagers can use these Jhai computers to communicate in the Lao language by e-mail and by voice with each other and with those outside their villages; for example, with people who buy their products in Vientiane and Jhai staff in the United States. The Jhai computers will also provide them with the opportunity to perform simple business functions like typing documents and creating spreadsheets for budgeting and accounting purposes. Jhai System Development Status Lee Felsenstein Measured power drains are: Computer: 5.5 Watts Display 13 Watts Printer (idle) 12 Watts (with inverter) Printer (printing) 48Watts (with inverter) When we have received the proper cable we can bypass the controller in the display, thus lowering power drain and eliminating a setup operation. Jhai Prototype Computer Needs Information to Take the Next Step If you can help, please contact TEN Director Ulla Skiden If you have longer term interests or would like to suggest possible applications and synergies, TEN has set up a Jhai PC List at Topica which we will track until Jhai is able to complete the R&D. To join the list, click here 9:19:35 AM     Technology Empowerment Network   Annual Report Organization TEN Objectives Testimonials Advisory Board Executive Committee Member List Sponsors Partners The Technology Empowerment Network (TEN) TEN is a global initiative by the Technology Pioneers, a World Economic Forum Community, established in January 2000.  The purpose of TEN is to identify, support and empower projects that contribute to improving the state of the world, where information technology plays a central role in achieving the projects` objectives. TEN has been created to make it easy and simple for people to contribute their time and resources to worthy projects. There are many great information technology based projects already underway that can have a significant impact on improving the state of the world and there are many people who have the ability and desire to make a difference by assisting such projects. The goal is to build a very large global network of individuals and organisations that will support networks of high-potential projects with their skills and experience. Also, the projects themselves will generate fruitful collaborations among themselves, as they become members of the TEN project pool. What: INDIC Computing Workshop When: 9/14/2002 What: III Global Congress on Community Networking in the Digital Era When: 10/7/2002 What: A World in Transition: The Promise of Broadband Services When: 10/17/2002 What: Citizens and Cities in a Global Society When: 10/24/2002 What: International Conference on Information Systems - Meeting the Challenges in a Global Networked Economy When: 12/15/2002 Copyright © 2000 TEN  Privacy Policy 8:44:05 AM

Sunday, September 01, 2002

NotSpots.net and newspaper coverage (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle 8/27/02) Inaugurated http://NotSports.net this past week.  The only notable new public content is this newspaper article featuring yours truly. AIMEE K. WILES Netsville Inc. President Jonathan Baird, left, and independent consultant Jonathan Schull install equipment for wireless Internet service in Zodiac Coffee Roasters cafe in the High Falls district. [Day in Photos]   (Incidentally this image was cadged from some article I saw somewhere, many months ago.  Unfortunately, I don't remember where;  guidance welcome.)                  10:36:02 AM

© Copyright 2002 Jon Schull. Last update: 12/18/2002; 2:21:36 PM.