California Conference Examines Digital Life in Cities

The Thirteen International Symposium on Electronic Arts kicks off on Monday, with people gathering in San Jose to discuss new ideas for incorporating digital technologies into city living. As part of the event, there will be a two-day Interactive City Summit demonstration and display of some of the most innovative ideas.

I’ve been thinking a lot about connectivity and display technology over the last few months, in particular how it changes the ways in which we interact with information. I love my Sprint Treo 650, but I’m finding that it’s quickly becoming an obsolete tool, because it doesn’t provide up-to-date information quickly enough for me.

As I’m bounding around Northern Kentucky now, either on foot or in my car, I’m oftentimes at a loss for information, whether it’s the location of a nearby WiFi coffee shop or the traffic congestion on I-75 (a notoriously fickle highway when it comes to slowdowns). As wonderful as the Treo is, there is no simple way for me to access the type of data necessary to better navigate the real world. (For instance, how wonderful would it be to have a GPS system built into my smart phone or car, which allowed me, with just a few keystrokes, to let people know that traffic has come to a halt at the location I’m at – information that others with a similar application could access in real time?)

I’m sure the summit and symposium will discuss more far-reaching ideas; it is, after all, designed around art and technology. Still, I’m anxious to follow the action on the symposium’s blog, which can be found here.

Thanks to Boing Boing friend David Pescovitz for posting the conference information.