I am a master's student in Human Computer Interaction at Georgia Tech; to make it slightly more elaborate, over the past one year, I have dabbled in wearable sensors, ethnographic methods, tangible computing, interactive walls and now online communities.
Is ambient information still a buzzword? My wife and I took part in a multiday ride in the alps, and we decided that rural meadows are not noticeably quieter than urban terraces. ("more cowbell" is certainly among the things which these mountains do not lack)
I'm guessing that cowbells, goat bells, sheep bells, etc. arose not long after the working of metal, 4000-5000 years ago. They're a great example of how a little capital investment can save on labor, as the constant tintinnabulation that so musically wells from the jingling and the tinkling of the bells allows one to spend time working on other things down the valley, instead of having to watch livestock all day. On the other hand, should there any problems arise, it's easy enough to intervene, as the ear it fully knows, by the twanging and the clanging, how the danger ebbs and flows.
By allowing out-of-sight off-lead monitoring, livestock bells were the wireless status monitors of their day. Even within bluetooth range they could be useful: when one rides a horse, it's simple enough to feel the gait and correct it; when one drives a carriage, it may well be easier to listen to the harness bells than to visually monitor the lead horses' gaits.
Looking forward to talking to ya'll.
As long as you're absorbing native locution, might as well pick up orthography, too: y'all. I lean to leaving the elision up to the dialect of the reader -- which do you all prefer?
-Dave :: :: ::
He knows more about Vodka than anybody else I know... He keeps introducing me to new brands of Vodka every time I meet him.
... and here I, uncultured as ever, thought that vodka was one of those products that one should order by CAS number (7732-18-5 and 64-17-5) instead of by brand.
