Tag Archives: Rob Kitchin

New book: Slow Computing: Why We Need Balanced Digital Lives

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A BOOK ABOUT TAKING CONTROL OF OUR DIGITAL LIVES

By Rob Kitchin and Alistair Fraser

Digital technologies should be making life easier. And to a large degree they do, transforming everyday tasks of work, consumption, communication, travel and play. But they are also accelerating and fragmenting our lives affecting our well-being and exposing us to extensive data extraction and profiling that helps determine our life chances.

Is it then possible to experience the joy and benefits of computing, but to do so in a way that asserts individual and collective autonomy over our time and data?

Drawing on the ideas of the ‘slow movement’, Slow Computing sets out numerous practical and political means to take back control and counter the more pernicious effects of living digital lives.

1 Living Digital Lives (PDF)
2 Accelerating Life
3 Monitoring Life
4 Personal Strategies of Slow Computing
5 Slow Computing Collectively
6 An Ethics of Digital Care
7 Towards a More Balanced Digital Society
Coda: Slow Computing During a Pandemic (PDF)

ISBN 978-1529211269

Book website

Bristol University Press, £14.99 or $26.00; 20% discount (£11.99 or $20.80) at: Bristol University Press, or £9.75 if sign up for BUP newsletter. Select ‘Click to order from North America, Canada and South America’ to get dollar price.

Video: ProgCity at Smart City Expo and Congress

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In November 2014 members of the Programmable City team visited the Smart City Expo and Congress in Barcelona.  The organisers have now posted up videos of all of the sessions on their YouTube channel.  Together they make interesting viewing for anyone interested in understanding what is happening with regards to creating smart cities.  Rob Kitchin and Gavin McArdle presented a paper at the Congress (below) entitled, ‘Dublin Dashboard: Open and real-time data and visualizations for citizens, government and companies’.

Book launch: The Data Revolution and others

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Mark Boyle, Chris Brunsdon & Rob Kitchin invite you to a BOOK LAUNCH Thursday 26th, February 2015, 4.30pm, Maynooth University Bookshop, North Campus

Using the story of the “West and the world” as its backdrop, this book provides for beginning students a clear and concise introduction to Human Geography, including its key concepts, seminal thinkers and their theories, contemporary debates, and celebrated case studies.

“An excellent textbook for introductory courses in Human Geography.” Prof. Patricia Wood, York University, Toronto

“In this textbook, Mark Boyle combines his broad and deep understanding of the discipline of Human Geography with his great passion and enthusiasm for education and teaching.”  Prof. Guy Baeten, Lund University

This is an excellent and student-friendly text from two of the world leaders in spatial analysis. It shows clearly why the open source software R is not just an alternative to commercial GIS, it may actually be the better choice for mapping, analysis and for replicable research. Prof.  Richard Harris, Bristol University

This is a vital primer to what is ‘Big’ about geocomputation: new data, innovative methods of analysis, new geographic information technologies and, above all, an over-arching rethink of how we represent geography. Prof. Paul Longley, UCL

The Data Revolution provides a synoptic and critical analysis of big data, open data, and data infrastructures.

“Anyone who wants to obtain a critical, conceptually honed and analytically refined perspective on new forms of data should read this book.”  David Beer, University of York

Funny, engaging, fast-paced and hugely enjoyable … a unique combination of comedy, both gentle and black, and Grand Guignol murder and mayhem.”  Michael Russell, author of The City of Strangers

ALL WELCOME

The Data Revolution book published

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Rob Kitchin’s latest book The Data Revolution: Big Data, Open Data, Data Infrastructure and Their Consequences was published on August 23rd by Sage.  There’s a dedicated website with a bunch of resources (including open access links to related papers and a hyperlinked bibliography), plus a promo video (below).  The publisher has made the preface and chapters one (Conceptualising Data) and four (Big Data) open access.  The website has a full table of contents and chapter outlines though the title gives a pretty good description as to what it’s about.  The book has had a decent amount of advance praise.  The site includes details about buying the book, including electronically through just about every format going.

ERC Video for the Programmable City Project

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This video introduces the Programmable City. In the video Rob Kitchin outlines the aims and objectives of the project and highlights the importance of the support received from the European Research Council (ERC). Each researcher on the Programmable City team also briefly discusses their work. The video was made by the Programmable City team in order to promote the project and the ERC.

Post in 'Big Data, Big Questions' series on LSE Impact blog

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Rob Kitchin provides the first interview in a new series on the LSE Impact blog entitled ‘Big Data, Big Questions’ curated by Mark Carrigan.  The post concerns the philosophy of data science, the nature of ‘big data’,  the opportunities and challenges presented for scholarship with its growing influence, the hype and hubris surrounding its advent, and the distinction between data-driven science and empiricism.  You can read more over at the LSE Impact blog.