Author Archives: Sung-Yueh Perng

Seminar reminder: Citizens, Data, Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things

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Welcome back!

After the Launch event earlier this week, we are really happy to have Dr Andy Hudson-Smith to discussion Citizens, Data, Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things! Please see the details of our next seminar below.

Time: 16:00 – 18:00, Wednesday, 2 April, 2014
Venue: Room 2.31, 2nd Floor Iontas Building, North Campus NUI Maynooth (Map)

Abstract
Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. This data comes from everywhere: sensors used to gather climate information, posts to social media sites, digital pictures and videos, purchase transaction records, and cell phone GPS signals to name a few (IBM, 2103). This data can, compared to traditional data sources, be defined as ‘big’. Cities and urban environments are the main sources for big data, every minute 100,000 tweets are sent globally, Google receives 2,000,000 search requests and users share 684,478 pieces of content on Facebook (Mashable, 2012). An increasingly amount of this data stream is geolocated, from Check-ins via Foursquare through to Tweets and searches via Google Now, the data cities and individuals emit can be collected and viewed to make the data city visible, aiding our understanding of now only how urban systems operate but opening up the possibility of a real-time view of the city at large (Hudson-Smith, 2013). The talk explores systems such as The City Dashboard (http://www.citydashboard.org) and the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) in terms of data collection, visualization and analysis. Joining these up creates a move towards the Smart City and via innovations in IoT a look towards augmented reality pointing towards the the creation of a ‘Smart Citizen’, ‘the Quantified Self’ and ultimately a Smart City.

IBM (2103), Big Data at the Speed of Business, http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/
Mashable (2012), How Much Data is Created Every Minute, http://mashable.com/2012/06/22/data-created-every-minute/
Hudson-Smith (2013) – Tagging and Tracking, Architectural Design, 01, 2014, High Definition, Zero Tolerance in Design and Production.

Speaker bio
Dr Andrew Hudson-Smith is Director of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at The Bartlett, University College London. Andy is a Reader in Digital Urban Systems and Editor-in-Chief of Future Internet Journal, he is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Greater London Authority Smart London Board and Course Founder of the MRes in Advanced Spatial Analysis and Visualisation and MSc in Smart Cities at University College London.

ProgCitySeminar4-poster

Mapping, Data & Urban space – Reading Seminar w/Matthew Wilson

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You are invited to participate in our Reading Seminar with Dr. Matthew W. Wilson on Mapping, Data and Urban space, as part of our Launch event. Dr. Wilson (Harvard University and University of Kentucky) focuses his research on the intersection of critical human geography and geographic information science, as part of an evolving research agenda in ‘critical GIS’.

The following are the articles.  If you cannot get copies contact Tracey.Lauriault at NUIM.ie

  1. Wilson, Matthew W. 2012. Location-based services, conspicuous mobility, and the location-aware future. Geoforum. 43:6. p. 1266-1275.
  2. Wilson, Matthew W. 2011. Data matter(s): legitimacy, coding, qualifications-of-life. Environment & Planning D: Society & Space. 29:5. p. 857-872.

Time: 14:00 – 16:00, Monday, 24th March
Venue: Room 2.31, 2nd Floor, Iontas Building, North Campus, NUI Maynooth (Map)

ProgCity Launch reading seminar

Programmable City researcher receives RIA Gold Medal

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On Thursday, 20th February, Taoiseach Enda Kenny presented the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal to ERC Advanced Investigator on the Programmable City project, Professor Rob Kitchin, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Social Sciences. Professor Colin O’Dowd, NUI Galway, was also presented with a Gold Medal for the Environmental and Geosciences.

The RIA Gold Medals are awarded to two outstanding academics each year and are recognised as a truly national expression of celebration for scholarly achievement. The medals are sponsored by The Higher Education Authority.

In presenting the medals the Taoiseach congratulated the medallists on their many achievements and paid tribute to the RIA for providing a platform to celebrate academia and the role it plays in our society and economy, saying: “Education and innovation are central to the Government’s ambition of achieving economic recovery and the creation of jobs. The education and training system is a critical part of our recovery and growth. That is why, among the wide range of measures to boost job creation and improve the environment for business, R&D forms a central pillar of our Action Plan for Jobs.”

Speaking about the award Professor Philip Nolan, President of NUI Maynooth, said “The academic community at Maynooth is immensely proud to see Professor Rob Kitchin’s important and valuable work recognised by this exceptionally prestigious award. His work is exemplary, and shows how fundamental research in the social and spatial sciences has direct relevance to our daily lives and public policy. Through scholarly work and public commentary, he has helped us understand our world and how we live in it, and how we might best respond to our current crises to create a better society.”

The awarding of the medal was covered in The Irish Times.

medal
Photo credit: The Irish Times

Seminar 4: Citizens, Data, Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things – Revisiting the City

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Hi everyone,

For our next seminar, we have invited Dr Andy Hudson-Smith to discussion Citizens, Data, Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things!

Time: 16:00 – 18:00, Wednesday, 2 April, 2014
Venue: Room 2.31, 2nd Floor Iontas Building, North Campus NUI Maynooth (Map)

Abstract
Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. This data comes from everywhere: sensors used to gather climate information, posts to social media sites, digital pictures and videos, purchase transaction records, and cell phone GPS signals to name a few (IBM, 2103). This data can, compared to traditional data sources, be defined as ‘big’. Cities and urban environments are the main sources for big data, every minute 100,000 tweets are sent globally, Google receives 2,000,000 search requests and users share 684,478 pieces of content on Facebook (Mashable, 2012). An increasingly amount of this data stream is geolocated, from Check-ins via Foursquare through to Tweets and searches via Google Now, the data cities and individuals emit can be collected and viewed to make the data city visible, aiding our understanding of now only how urban systems operate but opening up the possibility of a real-time view of the city at large (Hudson-Smith, 2013). The talk explores systems such as The City Dashboard (http://www.citydashboard.org) and the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) in terms of data collection, visualization and analysis. Joining these up creates a move towards the Smart City and via innovations in IoT a look towards augmented reality pointing towards the the creation of a ‘Smart Citizen’, ‘the Quantified Self’ and ultimately a Smart City.

IBM (2103), Big Data at the Speed of Business, http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/
Mashable (2012), How Much Data is Created Every Minute, http://mashable.com/2012/06/22/data-created-every-minute/
Hudson-Smith (2013) – Tagging and Tracking, Architectural Design, 01, 2014, High Definition, Zero Tolerance in Design and Production.

Speaker bio
Dr Andrew Hudson-Smith is Director of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at The Bartlett, University College London. Andy is a Reader in Digital Urban Systems and Editor-in-Chief of Future Internet Journal, he is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Greater London Authority Smart London Board and Course Founder of the MRes in Advanced Spatial Analysis and Visualisation and MSc in Smart Cities at University College London.

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Videos and slides from seminar 2: Coding Play/Crafting Code in the City

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The videos and sldes of the presentations in our last seminar are now ready! Enjoy!



Talk 1: Andrea Magnorsky, GameCraft and BatCat Games






Talk 2: Dr. Aphra Kerr, Sociology, NUI Maynooth



Our third seminar invites Dr David Prendergast to speak about Sustainable Connected Cities and the London Living Labs Project. Remember to add the seminar details below into your diary!

Time: 16:00 – 18:00, Wednesday, 19 February, 2014

Venue: Room 2.31, 2nd Floor Iontas Building, North Campus NUI Maynooth (Map)

Seminar: Coding Play/Crafting Code in the City

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Happy new year and welcome back!

We will be having our first seminar in the new year (2nd in the seminar series). This time, we have invited Andrea Magnorsky (Organisor and Co-founder of GameCraft and BatCat Games) and Aphra Kerr (Sociology, NUI Maynooth) to give talks on “Coding Play/Crafting Code in the City“. Looking forward to seeing you here!

Time: 16:00 – 18:00, Wednesday, 15 January

Venue: Boardroom, 2nd Floor, John Hume Building, North Campus, NUI Maynooth

Speaker bios:

Andrea Magnorsky is Senior software developer with many years of experience building a variety of products, including CRM, eCommerce, Financial, and Video Games. She is an advocate of test-driven development, and object-oriented design principles, as well as a part time lecturer on Games Programming. She is organisor and Co-founder of GameCraft Foundation which organises weekend game jams both in Ireland and internationally and co-founder of BatCat Games. BatCat Games are currently working on Honorbound, a 2D, side-scrolling beat ‘em up game focused on combat in a feudal Japanese setting. Their first game P-3 Biotic is a space shooter available on PC from GetIrishGames.ie.

Aphra Kerr is senior Lecturer and researcher in social studies of technology and media. She also teaches courses on games and play, and culture and everyday life. She has extensive research experience on the production, use and regulation of digital media, especially digital games, SNS (social networking sites) and animation, as well as the changing nature of broadcasting in the digital age. Her current research projects include ‘Cultural Production in the Digital Age’ (NSF funded network) and she is currently writing ‘Global games and transnational work’ (book under contract). For the past ten years she has been involved in running gamedevelopers.ie, a community voluntary website for the games industry in Ireland.

ProgCitySeminar2-poster-aphra kerr