We may think of the joining of the physical and virtual worlds as, well, an elite activity, the kind of thing that evokes visions of bleeding-edge technology handled by computer science Ph.D.s. But the end of cyberspace- the end of the separation of the world of atoms and bits- is not just something that'll affect scientists working in labs, or doctors working in tele-surgical theatres. Forms of work that we may not think of as particularly high-tech will likely be changed pretty dramatically by the ability to create devices that overlay digital information on places or things, and project and retrieve information in situ.

A good example is the cell phone. Yes, it's had an effect on the professional and service workers who were targeted as its early adopters; but it may have had an even bigger impact on the working lives of laborers, contractors, delivery men, and drivers- to say nothing of drug dealers. The contractors I've had out to do work on the house always have at least one cell phone, and often more- one official one for talking to clients, and another that they use to keep in touch with their workers. In a field in which you've got a number of job sites going simultaneously, your labor supply is sometimes uncertain (one builder told me that he never hires guys who don't have cell phones; he wants to know he can always reach them), and the amount of labor you commit to a job depends on a variety of factors- whether the concrete has set, whether the electricians have finished their work, whether the inspector has signed off on the last work, whether it's going to rain- cell phones turn out to be a godsend. Likewise, for completely different reasons, cell phones are amazingly valuable for farmers in the Third World, as a tool for keeping them up-to-date on current market prices and conditions, weather forecasts, and other essential information.

Indeed, when you think about it, any kind of work that's guided by some kind of formal information holds the potential to be affected by technologies that make it possible to move knowledge out into the field, and layer it onto places or things. Some of the first users of wearable computers like the Xybernaut system have been airplane mechanics who are working with extremely complicated systems, and constantly need to refer to schematics and diagrams.

The BBC recently reported on another project that explores the possibilities opened up by mobile technology: a project to create digital maps of underground urban infrastructures that would be used by utilities and road repairmen.

Nottingham and Leeds researchers will trial new 3D mapping technologies at half a dozen UK locations.

It is thought there are enough pipes and cables below ground in Britain to stretch to the Moon and back 10 times.

Some were laid more than 200 years ago and accurate information on their precise positions is often non-existent or sketchy at best.

Even modern records will be spread across numerous databases, making it very difficult sometimes for a contractor to know what a pneumatic drill might hit when it goes into the ground.

There are 30 to 40 incidents each year where workmen are seriously injured because they have accidentally sliced through electricity cables.

"When utilities and highways authorities are digging in the street, they often find things they didn't expect, or don't find the things they were looking for," explained Mike Farrimond, director of UK Water Industry Research Ltd, which is managing the mapping project….

The project, known as Vista (Visualising integrated information on buried assets to reduce streetworks)… will pull together the current records of pipes, cables and wires - be they held in digital form or on paper - and link them to new surveys undertaken at six trial locations.

The in situ observations will use ground-penetrating radar and other sensing technologies to find the precise depth and course of the local tubeworks - to within an accuracy of 5cm.

It will pull together the current records of pipes, cables and wires - be they held in digital form or on paper - and link them to new surveys undertaken at six trial locations.

The in situ observations will use ground-penetrating radar and other sensing technologies to find the precise depth and course of the local tubeworks - to within an accuracy of 5cm.

The project team hopes to come up with a mapping system that can be rolled out to other parts of the country.

"You can't look at an Ordnance Survey map to find out what's under the ground," explained Tony Cohn, professor of automated reasoning at Leeds University.

"We will be producing an 'underlay' to the OS, to show you what's down there. We'll combine all the historical data from the utilities with the in-street data found with location-sensing technology. We want to merge this information dynamically and put it on some kind of handheld unit."

[Thanks to Peder Burgaard and Roland at Smart Mobs]

Technorati Tags: end of cyberspace, mobility, pervasive computing, physical, ubicomp, work

He's skeptical that the term means anything:

There's an easy way to describe today's online culture of participation without invoking Web 2.0 at all. Just call it the Internet. That way, everyone will know what you mean.

Update: This is balanced by Demitri Martin's excellent piece on social networking.

Technorati Tags: end of cyberspace, social software, Web 2.0