유비쿼터스 컴퓨팅에 대한 사회문화적 조망

Abstract

Rapid technological innovation is moving us towards a world of ubiquitous computing. As we move into a ubiquitous network society, we are certain to see new issues and problems in our everyday life. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues and problems in creating the next generation of widely deployed ubiquitous computing systems called NGcN and look upon current technical and sociocultural challenges to inspire researchers in social sciences and humanities. There are four main objects in this paper. First, it deals with the origins and some key concepts of ubiquitous computing that have a profound impact upon the way we live, such as ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous network, NGcN, and digital home. Second, in particular, it attempts to find out how ubiquitous technologies can change popular culture and its consumption activity in everyday lives. Third, it explores social issues surrounding ubiquitous computing in privacy and security, centralization, digital divide, limits of artificial intelligence of ubiquitous computing, and uncertainty of ubiquitous space. This paper is limited only to raising questions on how to use ubiquitous computing rather than giving answers to the issues and problems. It is recommended thar in the future experts in different fields should make concerted efforts to bring about diverse exploration of this modern technology to further improve our lives.