Chapter 6 Introduction

EUROPEAN VISIONS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE AGE A Quest for New Horizons in the Information Society     Paul T Kidd (Ed.) ISBN 978-1-901864-08-3 (Paperback) Price: £19.99/€29.99/US$35.99

Chapter 6

Digital Territory: Bubbles

Laurent Beslay and Hannu Hakala

 

Introduction

 

Digital territory is a vision. It introduces the notions of space and borders and other concepts to better understand and manage future, everyday digital environments. Digitisation is growing and becoming increasingly ubiquitous; in addition, the younger generations are more familiar with the digital world than previous ones.

Almost all personal data are now networked and thus available at distant locations. Simultaneously, the boundaries between traditionally distinct environments, for example, work, home, and school, are also disappearing as private activities are brought into the public arena and vice versa. Although the distinction between private and public areas is not always clear-cut, people are aware of the boundaries between them, and of the grey zones, and take informed or intuitive decisions on how to act accordingly.

The vision promoting the implementation of a digital territory aims for a better clarification of all kinds of interactions in the future information society. Without digital boundaries, the fundamental notion of privacy or the feeling of being at home will not take place. Supported by technologies, the demarcation in digital territory among personal, private and public spaces will be decisive for its acceptance and sustained usage. Without digital boundaries, the information society will remain a parallel world, the cyberspace that was described by William Gibson [1], rather than becoming fully integrated with everyday life.

To illustrate the vision of digital territory, the following sections describe layers of everyday activities, and where it is possible place digital boundaries. These range from the most intimate and private territories, such as near the skin, through to family spaces, and though to interaction between public and private space. The following examples are intended to illustrate the digitisation of the various physical territories. The primary concept is that of a bubble.