The Status of Ubiquitous Computing

Abstract

The ubiquitous computing movement is suffering an identity crisis as a result of its own success. At its zenith, the movement was led by campuses where all students had laptop computers, all similarly configured. Then, as now, the objective of the movement was that teaching should proceed on the assumption that every student and faculty member has appropriate access to the Internet. ◗Today there are over one hundred laptop campuses. Most are in Canada and the United States. Within larger universities are another fifty-plus subgroups, especially colleges of business and engineering, that require commonly configured laptops of students and faculty in the programs. Beyond these universal laptop programs, we estimate that at least half of all colleges and universities in the United States are “practicing ubiquity”—that is, teaching proceeds on the assumption that every student and faculty member has appropriate access to the Internet. Ironically, the tight definition of ubiquitous computing no longer prevails because the concept itself has become ubiquitous. Ubiquitous T h e St at u s