Towards Investigating Intergroup Mediated Communication Within The Urban Environment Via The Use Of Locative Media

Abstract This paper documents a part of a research project titled LOCUNET (LOcation-based Communication Urban NETwork). This project aims at investigating the emergence of new forms of communication environments, supported by the integration of new mobile and locative media technologies and the impact that the implementation of these systems may have on mediated communication within urban space. The paper focuses on investigating these new forms by specifically studying intergroup communication developed in a group context by virtue of locative media use. In the prime section of the paper we examine the main parameters that condition mediated intergroup communication located in public space by implementing an analysis approach which is based on the presentation of a series of hypotheses and inquiring methods. In the second section, we describe the system’s ar-chitecture and the application scenario of LOCUNET, with a particular emphasis on its applied techniques towards fostering intergroup communication.