We are rapidly moving into a new age of widely-deployed, inexpensive, Internet-enabled mobile computing and communication devices. This has the potential to give rise to a whole new generation of services, applications, and modes of behavior to benefit society based on openness in ubiquitous wireless and mobile computing. But this requires re-thinking the computing and communication infrastructure--from the servers in the computing cloud, to the desktop, to the individual handheld devices, to the network that interconnects them all. This Expedition aims to promote innovation and competition by breaking down barriers and constructing bridges for enabling the creation of a truly programmable and open mobile internet (POMI). Expanding on the ubiquitous computing model in which users have unencumbered access to distributed computational and storage resources, this timely experimental systems Expedition will create a virtual data system to enable users to take ownership of their data; a three-tiered computational infrastructure to ease the entry of new web services; an open network to promote network innovation and make wireless capacity available across heterogeneous and abundant radio networks within a vicinity; and open-source software to promote existing efforts in opening the cell phone and other such handhelds. An at-scale prototype system of infrastructure, devices and applications will be deployed across the Stanford campus--perhaps the most comprehensive experimental deployment of mobile technology for research ever performed by a university. Outreach includes the development and distribution of POMI kits to students at small and underrepresented universities, K-12 schools, and undergraduates at Stanford to engage in creative and inspired discovery through mobile-based education and exploration.
