IN THE BUBBLE JOHN THACKARA - witz cultural

86 Chapter 4
Relationships mediated by the things we design are really quite different; we knew
that from our history of using telephones—but the internet adds another, rather
strange, dimension that we are only beginning to understand. 34
Resource Ecologies
For me, the most important potential impact of wireless communication
networks—or mediascapes, as IT firms dub them—will be on the resource
ecologies of cities. As I explained in my discussion of logistics in chapter 3,
wireless communications connecting people, resources, and places to one
another in new combinations on a real-time basis are enabling the growth
of demand-responsive services. Combinations of demand-responsive services,
location awareness, and dynamic resource allocation have the potential
to reduce drastically the amount of hardware—from gadgets to
buildings—that we need to function effectively in a city.
Taxi systems are demand-responsive services, to a degree. The old model
was that you would ring a dispatcher, the dispatcher would offer your trip
to all the drivers via a radio circuit, one driver would accept the job, and
the dispatcher would send that driver’s taxi to you. A better way has now
been introduced in many cities: You ring the system, the system recognizes
who you are and where, it identifies where the nearest available taxi is, and
it sends that taxi to you. This is dynamic real-time resource allocation in
action. Now: Replace the word ‘‘taxi’’ in the preceding description with
the word ‘‘sandwich.’’ Or with the words ‘‘someone to show me round the
backstreets of the old town.’’ Or the words ‘‘nerd to come and fix my laptop.’’
Or the words ‘‘someone to play ping pong with.’’ Likewise for those
who have something to offer or information to provide, as opposed to
needing or wanting something. Suppose I feel like helping out in a school
and hanging out with kids for a day. I might have some time free, or
make good sandwiches, or know the old town like the back of my hand,
or know there’s a ping-pong table in Mrs. Baker’s garage that the Bakers
never use. What do I do? I can call the system, or the system can call me.
A city full of people can now be seen as a live database, full of knowledge,
time, and attention—incarnated in human beings—that any of us
might use. Louis Kahn talked about the city as a ‘‘place of availabilities’’; 35
with wireless networks and search technologies, the potential becomes
actual.