Everyware - The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing
Section One
Reading the first question was a quick read. I enjoyed the reflections that Greenfield shared, but did not take a real personal interest in it until I reached Thesis 04, page 25. And there is was, my intro to physical computing final, described as being an effortless utility. "....the cue embedded in your wallet or handbag that lets you know when one of your friends is within a hundred meters of your present position. Greenfield went on to say that there are also darker implications of this effortless utility, which honestly I had not thought about at the time that I worked on my project, "Friendship Bags." From this Thesis on, I could not stop reading. At first it was a book about what "others" are doing during a time of advanced, networked technology. And now it was about Me!
The next thesis went on to describe other possible effortless technologies, such as RFID chips that are inserted under ones skin, thus becoming a "smart card" for passing along your contact information. Now obviously this is an extreme, but I would wager that my "Friendship Bags" project seemed like an aggressive idea at one time too. The point of all of this? I think is best described at the end of Thesis 8. There are three main reasons that this book and its contents are value to us: Who will shape where the age of everyware is heading? How soon do we need to be thinking about it? Any finally, what can we do to improve the chance that as it appears, it does so in ways congenial to us?