Dr. Anne Galloway

I’ve followed Anne Galloway for five or six years. This month she adds “Dr.” to her name.

After more than two hours of intense questioning, the examining committee declared that my dissertation would be accepted with no revisions required, and recommended for a University Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

In 2024, I asked Anne and several other bloggers why they blogged. She said,

I blog to keep track of my research - both its content and process. I began blogging as a way to make these experiences more transparent; my research is funded by the Canadian government and I believe I should be held accountable. Over time I’ve come to value the humanising aspects of my blogging - mixed in with typical research interests and findings are reflections on my everyday life. This sort of reflexivity has traditionally been limited to field-notes that rarely, if ever, see publication yet nonetheless impact the way my research is interpreted and presented. In addition to being able to better locate myself in the research process, I greatly value the participation of others. Either by public comments or private emails, I engage - and learn from - a much wider variety of people than I think academics have in the past. I’m not sure this is more democratic, but the presence of multiple voices has enriched my work in many ways.

Since I first became aware of Anne, I’ve linked to her dozens of times, always to underscore something she was doing that I found interesting. I’ll always be grateful to Anne for introducing me to Bruno Latour’s work. Her PhD thesis is titled “A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE OF URBAN COMPUTING AND LOCATIVE MEDIA” and the introduction is available here: http://www.purselipsquarejaw.org/papers/Galloway_Dissertation_Intro_Draft.pdf

It begins,

Since the late 1980s, researchers have been working on a “post-desktop” paradigm for human-computer interaction known as ubiquitous or pervasive computing. Combining any number of mobile, networked and context-aware technologies, this vision hinges on the possibility of embedding computational capacities in the objects and environments that surround us. In order not to be overwhelmed by such a proliferation of new technologies, researchers have most often worked to integrate them in ways that make it difficult to identify when and where we interact with these systems. For example, many of us are aware of, or have used, Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies in our vehicles, or Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies in public transportation passes like London’s Oyster card and Hong Kong’s Octopus card. When sensor technologies are added to the mix, these systems can measure and monitor everything from environmental conditions such as air pollution or noise levels, to bodily functions such as heart-rate or temperature, and connect that data to any number of applications or services. While certainly not infallible technologies, interaction with such systems is generally so seamless that it is easy to overlook the significant infrastructure that underpins their management and use.

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