Locative Systems Using Mobile Phones

Jenny Weight RMIT University Locative technologies distribute locationspecific media to a local population. This media is ambient because it’s inscribed on the landscape, encountered as a function of passing through a location. Many technologies can be used to distribute locative media, and many are neither new nor novel: a signpost is a type of locative technology, and the words ‘‘Melbourne 42’’ is the sign’s ambient media. Paintings, flyers, and live performances are locative because they are available at a specific location. If the performance is recorded and distributed via the Internet or television, that version is no longer location-specific. Innovations in ambient media distribution use the mobile phone, a device that is always with us, always on, and therefore almost tailormade for such purposes. This article considers some ways in which mobile devices are used for locative distribution and discusses some of the technical and practical challenges. I will give examples of locative media/art projects including the mobile media group’s work at RMIT. The way media is distributed impacts the type of media produced; a signpost must be terse rather than poetic, for example. Media objects distributed to mobile phones from specific locations typically have these characteristics: