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-Tactics and Concepts for Highly Mobile People

-Tactics and Concepts for Highly Mobile People

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placed in the intersection between mobility <strong>and</strong> home as it concerns the home that is<br />

established despite being on the move:<br />

”The symbolic power of the RV (recreational vehicles, ed.) as home <strong>for</strong> many<br />

American retirees is comprised not of its embodiment of continuity in place, but<br />

rather, the exact opposite; it’s ability to move, its rootlessness <strong>and</strong> facilitation of<br />

escape, freedom <strong>and</strong> self-actualization.” (Zafiroglu & Chang, 2007)<br />

The research builds upon a shared notion in this dissertation, concerning space becoming<br />

place through personal, social <strong>and</strong> culturally rendered meaning, where “the home” is a<br />

particular kind of place. This notion of home as something that is established in places<br />

outside the house is an example of homing.<br />

There are many examples of how people design <strong>for</strong> coping with a large amount of<br />

mobility. There are also many aspects of designing <strong>for</strong> the home in it, but it is uncommon<br />

to look upon feeling at home in relation to mobility. Not many have looked at home in<br />

relation to mobility, as it seems to be contradictory, but exemplified above are few<br />

examples that combine the two.<br />

2.2.2. In<strong>for</strong>mation Technology <strong>for</strong> travel<br />

The development of mobile devices has made it possible to have communication, working<br />

documents <strong>and</strong> in<strong>for</strong>mation media at h<strong>and</strong> wherever you are. In that way people have<br />

become free to move around without having to bring all their possessions along at any<br />

time. It is apparent that mobile technologies are emerging, making digital files accessible<br />

anywhere at anytime. <strong>Mobile</strong> devices include mobile phones, laptops, iPads, mp3 players<br />

<strong>and</strong> other small devices that can be used in any context. The amount of research put into<br />

this field is extensive, along with development of products. Cloud services are emerging<br />

<strong>and</strong> it becomes more <strong>and</strong> more common to have your own server in order to be able to<br />

access your documents <strong>and</strong> files in any location. Technical challenges concerning access<br />

to your media when away from your home (Zhu, Wakikawa, Cheshire, & Zhang, 2011) are<br />

being investigated <strong>and</strong> solved. Research on the use of mobile music players is widely<br />

covered, but I wish to point to the work on homeless people as they also establish a sense<br />

of home that goes beyond the specific house. Homeless people are also homing as they<br />

cope with mobility even though it is in a completely different setting than the<br />

businessman. The research on homeless young people (Woelfer & Hendry, 2011)<br />

implicate that digital artifacts help to establish a sense of home, especially when listening<br />

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