This book focuses on the social and political implications of using location-aware technologies in public spaces. It aims at analyzing not only how our traditional ideas of public space and social interactions are challenged by the use of these technologies, but also how existing concepts of privacy and sociability determine the design and use of these types of technology. The authors frame the development of location-aware mobile devices within the history of previous media, looking at the way the book, the Walkman, and the iPod have also helped individuals manage their interactions with public spaces. The authors also look at the privacy concerns raised with the use of these earlier forms of media, specifically how they challenged the borders between what is considered private and what is public. In the second half of the book, the authors describe the way in which adding location to mobile communication technologies, such as cell phones, urges us to discuss and reframe social issues such as privacy, surveillance, and exclusion, along with the very concept of public space.

Adriana de Souza e Silva is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on how mobile and locative interfaces shape interactions with public spaces and create new forms of sociability. She is the co-editor of Digital Cityscapes: Merging Digital and Urban Playspaces, and co-author of Net-Locality: Why Location Matters in a Networked World,

Jordan Frith is a doctoral candidate in North Carolina State University's Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media program. His main research interests are locative media and space, particularly how locative media may influence interactions in urban spaces. He has recently been published in the journals Mobilities and Communication, Culture, and Critique.

Introduction Part 1: Mobile Media History 1. Personalization 2. Privacy Part 2: Location-Awareness in Public Spaces 3. Mobile Phones 4. Location-Aware Media 5. Control and Personalization 6. Privacy and Surveillance 7. Conclusion