Guest editors introduction for Environment and Planning A theme issue: How does software make space? Exploring some geographical\ud dimensions of pervasive computing and software studies

摘要

Computers are widely recognised as powerful tools in many aspects of contemporary\udsociety. Significantly their agency is now changing as the social and spatial\uddisposition of computers diffuses further into almost all aspects of everyday life.\udComputers, that increasingly don’t look like computers, are permeating domestic spaces, built into appliances like washing machines for example, and accompany us\udthroughout the day (energising our mobile phones, PDAs and MP3 players),\udmediating our interactions and facilitating a myriad of mundane activities. Many\udargue that this is just the beginning of the next wave of digital technological\uddevelopment, the so-called pervasive computing revolution, which according to Anne\udGalloway (2004, pages 384-5), “seeks to embed computers into our everyday lives in\udsuch ways as to render them invisible and allow them to be taken for granted.” Such\udcomputing, that is active-in-absence heralds much more subtle forms of software\udmediation and automated decision-making in the world. It is this code work that is the\udfocus of this theme issue1.