A pig, a cow, a camera, some coffee--and thievery: There's got to be a category that's uniquely unique, as much as an oxymoron as that might sound. Nigel Ballard sends the following combination police blotter, glimpse in the future, and Wi-Fi report from Portland, where he helps build out community wireless networking hotspots as part of Personal Telco:

I'm on a new steering committee! This'll make it three in total.

The Pig & Cow Steering Committee differs from the others, not only because it has a way more interesting title, but also because there are livestock involved, albeit the plastic variety.

Confused? OK, some background is needed.

Urban Grind is a coffee house with a difference, home to Personal Telco and a whole host of other community-related happenings. You need to hang there to see how very different it is from the sterility encountered in those national coffee houses.

A few months back two plastic animals appeared on the countertop. Namely, a pig and a cow. People waiting for their drinks started posing the animals, and then customers slipped in extra characters and even props to create scenes ranging from the beautiful to the bizarre.

Along comes Intel's People & Practices Research Group who have been watching the way the free Wi-Fi access from Oregon non-profit Personal Telco was changing the clientele, attracting customers from miles away, and creating a real sense of community, communication and interaction in this large and comfortable space.

Many of the customers at UG actually talk to each other; they learn each others names, enquire about lives, loves and job searches, amazing!

Intel asked Urban Grind if they could install some fun technology, Brenda and Macker, the proprietors said "Sure, knock yourself out".

Intel duly installs a camera, an LCD monitor, a big blue button, a tiny web server and a wireless client to connect their server through the Personal Telco Wi-Fi to the outside world.

The idea is this. You are invited to pose the characters, bring in some of your own, and even add a prop. Hit the big blue button, the image appears on the LCD monitor and shortly thereafter they also appear online at the web site for all to see.

Cool beans, but "why" I hear you ask.

Intel says "We'd like to help people get marginally more enjoyment out of Urban Grind, or get to know other patrons a little better, or feel a little more attachment to the place. What's all this "ubiquitous computing" good for if it can't help us get value out of it in our daily lives?"

So it isn't about the technology per se, more as a tool to get people off their chairs, out from behind their books and to step up to the counter and get creative, to communicate, to be a part of something silly and social. Now I defy you to tell me how that could be anything but a good thing?

NEWS FLASH, NEWS FLASH, NEWS FLASH..

Someone stole the Pig and the Cow! I hear you gasp in disbelief. Have no fear, all is not lost. Portland's finest have descriptions of our missing movie stars, and are on the case.

Meanwhile back at UG Central, we are reliably informed that local toy stores are well stocked with doppelgangers keen to take up from where the original actors left off. Alas poor pig and cow, I knew them well!

See the story unfold: http://www.sstanamera.com/~UG/index.php

About Intel: People and Practices Research Group, a small group of social scientists and designers at Intel Corporation, are engaged in a series of studies trying to understand the effects and possibilities for technology to create communities "in place." With the internet in the 1990s came the rise of "virtual communities" and the declaration of "the death of distance." But we are human beings who inhabit and value our physical spaces as well. What can new technologies enable in terms of physical communities, how can technology create a "sense of place?" Our goal is to understand how people go about creating a sense of place, and how new technologies such as Wi-Fi, embedded sensors and actuators, large and shared displays, and other technologies might contribute.

About Personal Telco: We are a volunteer group of Portlanders who believe that 802.11 (wireless networking, or "Wi-Fi") technology is both cool and empowering. We started out by turning our own houses and apartments into wireless hot spots (also referred to as "nodes"), and then set about building these nodes in public locations such as parks and coffee shops. Currently we have over 110 active nodes, and we eventually would like to cover the entire city of Portland, Oregon with even more. We are here to promote and build public wireless networks through community support and education. Personal Telco Project is a Federal tax-exempt 501(c)(3) and an Oregon non-profit organization. We want to facilitate partnerships with local businesses, and in doing so permit the raising of funds though tax-deductible contributions.