Urban Social Tapestries

Urban Tapestries is an exploration into the potential costs and benefits of public authoring, that is, mapping and sharing of local knowledge using pervasive user-generated media. The aim of this investigation is to reveal the potential of pervasive computing to create and support relationships that extend beyond established social and cultural boundaries and enable the development of new practices based around place, identity and community. In this paper, we report on the work carried out within UT since its inception in 2002 discussing all relevant aspects from its background, approach and its technical development. We also identify the main findings of this work related to the use of pervasive computing to support pervasive user-generated content and identify some of the main questions that require further investigation.