The other day I was privileged to interview Adam Greenfield on behalf of the NZ Herald. That interview has now been published in Webstock: Cheap as chips – your networked chair:
Adam Greenfield.
What would you say if I told you the chair you’re sitting on is reporting back to the network? It might not be happening right now, but the way Adam Greenfield sees it that scenario might not be far away.
He points out that computer devices are becoming ever cheaper and easier to use and connect. If the pattern of history holds true we’ll soon be connecting all sorts of objects around us into a network.
Go to the Herald website to read the full article.
I really enjoyed what Adam had to say, but was also somewhat ashamed that he wrote his book about Ubiquitous Computing 4 years ago and I was not at all familiar with the topic.
The idea is that we’ve seen how computer chips and networks keep getting cheaper, smaller and easier to use. We’ve already reached a point where any one person probably engages with several ‘computerised’ devices every day — cellphones, washing machines, and so on.
It makes sense to think that soon chips will be cheap enough to start embedding them in everything, even if we don’t yet know what we’d do with them.
As I walked down the street to the interview I was trying to imagine what a world could be like where every street lamp, every building, every rubbish bin might have a chip in it, sending information to a network.
My imagination failed. I just couldn’t visualise it.
But then I picture people 100 years ago. Would they have been able to imagine today’s world, where everyone carries in their pocket the means to instantly talk to almost anyone on the planet, wherever they are?
I’m sure that would have seemed not only impossible, but also ludicrous and entirely pointless. Yet look how cellphones have changed the world we live in.
Greenfield’s ideas about a totally networked future are simultaneously exciting and scary. I’m still trying to even start thinking about what it might mean.
Adam Greenfield’s book Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing is available in print and also as a Kindle edition that’s actually available in New Zealand.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a tutor and committee member for SeniorNet Horowhenua, based in Levin. I found your article on Ubiquitous Computing fascinating…and wondered…may I use extracts of it in our newsletter? We concentrate on the PC, but many of us elders use Mobile Phones and Skype and post things on FaceBook due to our younger generation family members. But how many of us are aware of the computer chips in our cars, washing machines, etc?
And I don’t think most of us are aware of the computer driven ‘network’ in the larger sense.
Also, would you possibly be able to come and talk at one of our Members’ Meetings later in the year?
Grant Sidaway, the Executive Officer and heart and soul of the New Zealand SeniorNet Federation, trys to make our seniors aware of the larger world of technology…and we gasp. It would be great to hear from another source about this and the Ubiquitous Computer article made it sound like YOU might be just right, if you could spare us the time.
Hopefully, Clyde Dawson (female senior in spite of name)
Hi Clyde,
it’s great to see your interest in these things. I’ve emailed you separately about your questions.
It’s so hard for all of us to keep up with everything that’s going on!
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