Hello,
I was at an event last night which was hosted by the Dana Centre
in London entitled “User Heaven or Techno Hell: Where are
Intelligent Adaptive Technologies Leading Us?”
(http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2011/05/17/621).
I was pleased to discover the event was not some slavish promotion
of all technologies irrespective of their end-use. Alois Ferscha
of the Institute for Pervasive Computing at Johannes Kepler
University in Linz seemed particularly troubled about how
governments and corporations are using our (the public /
consumers') demands for information and experiences to control us
through surveillance.
I have typed-up a few notes that list-members may find
interesting.
Computers are 'good' if you cannot tell they are technology – they
have 'disappeared'. An example was sensors in a chair which could
identify the sitter based on his / her weight but the sensors were
not known to the user. The sitter has no intention of interacting
with the chair but s/he automatically does so. This is known as
'implicit interaction'.
People have paucity of time so have no desire to interact –
therefore the technology must be hidden and surround them.
www.futureinteractions.net – augmenting analogue (such as walls
and tables) with digital (like screens or digital whiteboards).
Recording a meeting then measuring excitement levels based on the
changes in people's voices to determine what topics were of
interest to the participants.
'Default settings' such as automatic spell corrections or power
steering means people are losing control by allowing the
technology to make our lives 'easier'.
Smart electricity (in dwellings) – can identify the equipment we
are using. If we use the cooker more than usual then perhaps we
have company.
IMEI numbers
(https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity)
– if a crime was committed in a defined area then the police could
know everyone who was in the area through checking all IMEI
connections with the local cell tower and then demanding
subscriber information (assuming that everyone was using a 'phone
in their name).
--
Matthew Rippon
School of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS
[log in to unmask]
http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/staff/ripponm.html