‘Pervasive computing’ can be seen as the opposite of the PC concept – a 30-odd year old concept that the computer is personal, or that we’d all have one, and that such a machine would carry all our personal data. This still holds true to some extent, even if we have multiple personal computers each and use cloud storage: I for one have the burden/luxury of a laptop, iPad, smartphone and a netbook for instance..
Mark Weiser – said to be the father of ubiquitous computing – made the following observation: “Ubiquitous computing names the third wave in computing, just now beginning. First were mainframes, each shared by lots of people. Now we are in the personal computing era, person and machine staring uneasily at each other across the desktop. Next comes ubiquitous computing, or the age of calm technology, when technology recedes into the background of our lives.”
I was recently listening to Alois Ferscha, Institute for Pervasive Computing, Johannes Kepler University in Linz talk about how simple everyday objects will become intelligent and have augmented utility as pervasive, “invisible” computing becomes the norm. An office chair could detect who is sat in it via a biometric footprint – using numerous data sets, including things like weight, weight distribution, pelvic bone measurements etc – then tailor that desk/desktop computer to that user by loading settings, favourites, emails etc. I presume it would also log you out of your session each time you stand up to go for a coffee or a trip to the loo as well. The team in Linz had also been working on belts that talk to public space infrastructure and in the event of an emergency evacuation talk with the building’s network to guide you to the nearest exit via vibrating pulses on your belt; left, right, forward etc. Until that point, your humble belt remains just that, yet steps in only when its computing power is called for. Other every day objects like car keys will contain small data sets about us and tell intelligent advertising screens what to show us: showing me an Aston Martin ad instead of a Diesel Fiesta for instance – dangerous.
The discussion soon turned to privacy; who owns all the data Google, Facebook or our mobile phone network collect about us, and what happens to choice and the joy of a new discovery if every shop and museum space and advert around us decides what to show and what to omit each time we get close?
Amongst other things, this made me think about how these hidden devices are going to need lightweight embedded SSL libraries like www.yassl.com but also how the privacy issue has ballooned. It occurred to me when I first got a credit card that the card company was effectively collecting data on my whereabouts, albeit in a “lower resolution” than a mobile phone carrier does now – yet I’ve never heard anyone complain about that..
The “lower resolution” of data concept came out of a conversation I was having afterwards with Quality Nonsense (https://twitter.com/#!/qualitynonsense) which then spawned my heart-warming realisation that my life is (currently) devoid of fear that technology will encroach on my privacy. The London Underground CCTV (the tube is the largest single ‘consumer’ of CCTV technology in the world) might capture my every move, but so does anyone who happens to see me. The 3G card in my iPad, or my laptop, or my phone (and sometimes all 3 at once) might tell Orange/T-Mobile where I am, but so what? I know there is a spectrum of privacy, and over a certain line I’ll be uncomfortable too – but surely it is those with the most to hide who shout the loudest about privacy?
Weiser once outlined a set of principles describing ubiquitous computing which provides great food for thought:
- The purpose of a computer is to help you do something else.
- The best computer is a quiet, invisible servant.
- The more you can do by intuition the smarter you are; the computer should extend your unconscious.
- Technology should create calm.
I suspect being shown Aston adverts everywhere I go is not a recipe for calm in my life though.. maybe more is at risk than I thought.
