Micro-Blog

TLDR

Distributed content sharing, social networks, sensor networks, and pervasive computing have recently impacted society, and the authors suggest that converging these ideas on mobile phones—viewed as people‑centric sensors aggregating participatory and sensory inputs visualized across space and time—could, when connected to the Internet, provide a high‑resolution view of the world. This paper presents the architecture and implementation of a system called Micro‑Blog. Micro‑Blog was built on Nokia N95 phones, addressing new application‑driven challenges, and distributed to volunteers for real‑world use. Promising feedback indicates that Micro‑Blog can serve as a deployable tool for sharing, browsing, and querying global information.

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the impacts of distributed content sharing (Wikipedia, Blogger), social networks (Facebook, MySpace), sensor networks, and pervasive computing. We believe that significant more impact is latent in the convergence of these ideas on the mobile phone platform. Phones can be envisioned as people-centric sensors capable of aggregating participatory as well as sensory inputs from local surroundings. The inputs can be visualized in different dimensions, such as space and time. When plugged into the Internet, the collaborative inputs from phones may enable a high resolution view of the world. This paper presents the architecture and implementation of one such system, called Micro-Blog. New kinds of application-driven challenges are identified and addressed in the context of this system. Implemented on Nokia N95 mobile phones, Micro-Blog was distributed to volunteers for real life use. Promising feedback suggests that Micro-Blog can be a deployable tool for sharing, browsing, and querying global information.