The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it. Mark Weiser
in Geneva this week, at LIFT08. Wednesday was a wonderful day of wksps, the afternoon with Nicolas Nova, Julian Bleecker and Fabien Girardin talking about ubicomp.
conversation started with an overview of ubiquitous computing – technologies, trends, applications, capabilities, the vision of which included required elements such as:
- dissemination and deployment of sensors
- developments in information processing
- wireless capabilities in everyday objects, environments, etc
- enabling technologies – RFID, ipu6, tags, etc
- sensors monitoring position, temperature, pressure, etc
- increased communication and networking abilities between these elements
some frameworks for analysis
- failures can (often) result from the disconnect between over-engineered, intended social practices and the fundamental (pre-existing) social practices and needs.
- many products are designed to fail through overplanning – how does one reverse the trend? failures include technological breakdown, practicesbecome more complex with the tool intended to simplify them, technoptimism, etc…
- chicken and egg situation:: failures <<<<<>>>>> reasons for failures.
in terms of the activities, there were two that looped into each other. first, describe a technology that has failed, and indicate why – write it on a post-it and stick it on the wall at the front. (ie: gns/gps failures = inaccurate maps, misunderstanding of traffic contexts, etc)
from this, we divvyed up into groups, which was sort of like herding pleasantly rabid cats as there were 70+ people in the workshop, most groups were at least 10 ppl, and we chose a postit and discussed what the failures were, the chalenges and opportunities, and possibilities for improvement in the future. it worked well – and i felt pretty lucky to meet some really smart and amazing people. vicenzo pallotta has some wonderful notes on our group’s thoughts. he writes:
We also recognized that eBook readers technology might be more mature today and have a greater impact. Notable examples are the Amazon’s e-book reader and the Sony’s Portable Reader System, which are both under $400. This is due essentially to the following factors:
- Huge availability of (relatively cheap) digital content
- Better battery life
- Larger (flash) Memories
- Better screens (e.g. ePaper)
- Multimedia capabilities
- Social networks integration
- Better acceptance and widespread digital culture
- Standard (and relatively interoperable) formats
- Previews available in online bookshops
the workshop was interesting and stimulating, especially by framing the issues through failures – in looking at and imagining the worst possible thing, it creates an awesome space to ask questions and solve problems. +++
