Future Technologies
Dreaming of a sensor-filled world
By Charlie on 12 November 2008
ESPOO, Finland - There are many interesting things going on in the company, but there are some things that catch my attention as “important to think about”, things that will have a big impact on how we live and communicate.
One big shift at Nokia is going beyond maps and thinking more about places (locations full of information). We are also going beyond the simple contact card to a more dynamic representation of who people are (people connected to information).
The word we use to describe this is “Context”, and we feel strongly that mobile devices will play a central role in establishing a context to the places and people in our lives.
But what does this mean?
Digital and physical
There is no doubt that the fusion of the mobile and Internet are changing the way we live, work, and play. We’ve gone from consuming information to becoming part of the information. The future will be about collaborative and consumer-driven innovations. And mobile devices will be instrumental in all this innovation.
Furthermore, while folks have been attempting to project the Web onto mobile devices, the mobile device has projected itself onto the Web, providing context – through user contacts, location, photos, and messages - to services on the Web.
Every phone is a sensor
When you start thinking of the mobile device as providing context, you start to think of users projecting who they are, what they are doing, and where they are. But, when you begin to think of what could mobile devices do anonymously, you can see cases where sensor-filled devices can, in aggregate, provide information on traffic, weather, or health patterns.
Fear or hope?
Are we ready for such a future? Can we trust our safety and privacy will stay intact? Will a new generation grow up knowing how to live in this sensor-filled world, be able to differentiate between personal and public? Will NOT being part of this contextual world be considered aberrant behavior?
Where do you stand on this? What do you think of this direction? What would you like to see blossom in this sensor-filled future?
Image from Andrew Baron
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November 12th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Location, presence and the media captured and shared can create richer foundations for sharing experiences either passively or even in real time!
Context is key - hoping we see a much stronger reality with the physical web or the web of things as some call it soon!
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November 13th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Fear? Don’t worry about fear.
Seek relevance. Think usecases. Fill up the live world with information. Link information to any object..
Oh yeahh.. keep a close eye on ZCAPES!
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November 13th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Remember that sensors and context are not just about the Internet and services. Motion and other environmental sensors can, for example, be used to design new mobile user interfaces that can make devices more accessible to older customers, or customers with disabilities.
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November 13th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Oren’s comment is similar to the one that I was going to post. Having a sensor framework in place allows the UI to take different approaches depending on context, and it becomes something that eventually allows for more intelligent system interplay with users.
Will people be afraid as they see mobiles doing and recording more, reacting more to them then they are doing passively; possibly. And at the same time done in ways that will enhance usage it will be welcomed and encouraged.
How can Nokia as the big-co lead part-time and hobbyist developers towards thinking in the mindset of context, moreso than function? THat will be the hardest challenge.
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November 14th, 2008 at 11:55 am
You know, Charlie, I’m really worried about how casually people seem to be assuming that any useful or interesting “context” can be derived from the sensor data we’ll have access to in the near term.
Happytalk aside, this is the definition of a hard problem - see my comments here http://speedbird.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/more-songs-about-context-and-mood/ - and unless we take the richness of this challenge quite a bit more seriously we only risk stranding people in unacceptably bad outcomes.
Beyond the difficulty involved, Dourish makes the very good point that context is an achievement - a state of being that arises out of the shared performance and understanding of two or more parties. That is, there’s a very deep question about whether “context” in the sense that the technology community understands it can be captured in an object at all.
I’d argue that we’re better off being parsimonious about the kinds of inferences and assumptions we’re comfortable making from sensor data, and that only by embracing such parsimony will we be able to design lastingly meaningful services.
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November 16th, 2008 at 7:50 am
We need more sensors. Sensors that measure
compass direction, temperature, barometrics,
rf noise, light. These would allow a mobile
to become part of the physical web, much
like a human senses these variables and is
a physical being because of it.
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November 20th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I concur with Jefferey B. The more aggregated info the more use which could be made.
I don’t believe we should worry too much about privacy issues arisingout of this, as the data could be posted annonymously.
Or if one was to use it for say route planning taking current or forecast weather / traffic into play this too could be done withou the service needing to know exactly who you are.
However there are other ways of such services knowing more about you (eg this person paid for that info).
Then of course in terms of privacy it’s probably already too late. It’s only when governments or companies misuse or loose your personal info we have issue!
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