Over on the PwC Emerging Tech blog, Daniel Eckert talks about how we’re in an era of ‘context aware computing’ – where “situational and environmental information is used to anticipate immediate needs and proactively offer enriched, situation-aware responses”. This has largely come about at this point in time because of four disruptive technologies that are no longer obscure – if anything, they’re all becoming mainstream and part of our daily lives. The four include:
- Smart Mobile Devices that provide proximity detection to other devices, network access, an application platform, individual identification, and personalization
- Embedded Sensor – microprocessors and data collection devices that provide passive and active data based on their function or location
- Big Data Analytics that enable the analysis of personal data and proximity data, and overlay it with services to create context for the user
- Cloud Computing hosts and scales the services, analytics, and intelligence. It is the computing in context aware computing.
All of this is spot on, but I do come back to my love of the term Ubiquitous Computing (ubicomp)- something I came across via the book Everyware. Why has ubicomp fallen out of popular favor where the term Internet of Things (IoT) has become the standard way of understanding the way we will communicate and experience in the future? If anything, the IoT is one smaller segment of the larger trend towards ubicomp, which hints at the complicated life when data, environments, triggers, analytics and people come together. Is it the tool – the Things becoming powered – that matters, or the larger trend and movement that’s come as a result of all of these factors like the tools becoming popular? More importantly, what is the role of the human expert in the context aware computing environment – and where can we bring in what people provide best, the knowledge of experience, to design the better systems?
I also wonder if there’s a hierarchy here – where we are now with context aware computing (the embedded devices that are triggered by an event), and then a future era with ubiquitous, smart computing (the technology embedded and responsive without needing to be limited by context – more predictive and sophisticated). The context aware is your car accident with 911 being contacted and sharing your data two ways (between car and EMT); the ubiquitous, smart computing is a head’s up notification on your dashboard with an advanced head’s up display notifying you even more ahead of time – roads where accidents occur, or cars within a short radius of your car that are speeding too much. Even the idea of ubicomp – a world where technology is everywhere and helpful – requires a qualifier, since being ubiquitous is somewhat passive, and still misses the aspect of triggers that are implied by smart computing systems. The smart component is what I’m describing here – and it’s a combination of technology and human powered knowledge, something we see hints of in scenario planning, service design and intelligent transportation systems – where technology does what it does well, but the final true solution comes from experienced human experts.. The promise of big data and predictive analytics and scenario planning are hopefully going to get us to better places for accidents, for example, but it’s difficult to understand a brave new world where the glue that ties it all together – that making sense of, or meaning generation, isn’t discussed. Where is scenario planning, or the analysis that says ‘this is a treacherous road full of snow – go west instead’ – is that only the work of analytics, or the human powered intelligent transportation planner who talks about it? The analytics piece helps to contribute to those services to create context, but it’s the role of service design to help create the experiences that solve the problem – the context alone can’t solve messy wicked problems like accidents or natural disasters, and context is still passive without the meaning to understand it.
What do we mean by ‘smart’ here? Not the acronym describing Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timebound actions – although that might be worth exploring what actions are like in a context ware computing era. I instead refer to something predictive and also intelligent – and humane. In this article on tech trends, Hartmut Esslinger describes what this ‘smart, human design’ is like – after decades of marriage, it doesn’t take him and his wife more than a glance to establish who’s going to lead the conversation at a party. “A computer would say, ‘Hey husband, listen! Are you being quiet now?’” he says. Esslinger thinks we’ll see a fundamentally more human bond with our electronics going forward, one “based on long term familiarity.” That familiarity is predictive but also appropriate to the context. Again, the role of design – and consulting in general – is one that is at its heart about placing the human back into the solutions we create. Scenario planning and service design are the closest things I’ve seen to describing this ‘smart’ component’ because of their interdisciplinary and holistic approaches and their openness to human centered solutions. Both of them highlight something that isn’t always addressed in futurist visions of the future – the human element, where we as designers help apply our knowledge to create better products and experiences. Without that extra glue of service designers making meaning and creating solutions, we may enter an era where we have pieces of the puzzle – including but not limited to the four disruptive technologies above – but a lot of stumbling and mistakes that happen because we haven’t taken time to understand where the human expert is in this ecosystem – or even that they have a seat at the table. The Google Glass experience gives us the power of technology-powered information, but at the cost of people feeling awkward because the desire for technology trumped the desire for human connect. The context aware computing provides us with personal power even in stressful moments like a traffic accident, but we have to understand how the human adds the ultimate value in making this brave new world work for everyone. We’re still a long while before a ubicomp smart era becomes a reality – but if we incorporate more human wisdom in it, we just might be able to make it more powerful than the sensors, data and analytics combined.
A minor note on this post: as I was composing it, I was listening to my boyfriend who makes electronic music as he and his partner practice in our living room. I grew up being firmly in the alt rock music camp – that somehow the voice and guitar trumped everything artificial, that authenticity came from the human in all circumstances, and the highlight of human emotion came in live performance. Now I’ve made room in my head and heart for more technological music (‘techno electronica’ – think lots of beeps and bass lines), and my evolution of what music I listen to has perhaps evolved as this more futuristic, accelerated culture has progressed. It’s not an either/or dualistic answer, but an interesting side note to how tastes are shaped by culture and time – as well as exposure.
Leave a Reply