tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/ubiquitous-computing-5179/articlesUbiquitous computing – The Conversation2021-07-28T12:24:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1625752021-07-28T12:24:42Z2021-07-28T12:24:42ZHealth apps track vital health stats for millions of people, but doctors aren’t using the data – here’s how it could reduce costs and patient outcomes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408984/original/file-20210629-20-z39aiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=101%2C50%2C8385%2C5509&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mobile health apps and gadgets could help doctors and patients treat chronic illnesses in real time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/1267542302">Moment via Getty</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Health-tracking devices and apps are becoming part of everyday life. More <a href="https://www.iqvia.com/insights/the-iqvia-institute/reports/the-growing-value-of-digital-health">than 300,000 mobile phone applications</a> claim to help with managing diverse personal health issues, from monitoring blood glucose levels to conceiving a child.</p>
<p>But so far the potential for health-tracking apps to improve health care has barely been tapped. While they allow a user to collect and record personal health data, and sometimes even share it with friends and family, these apps typically don’t connect that information to a patient’s digital medical chart or make it easier for health care providers to monitor or share feedback with their patients.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=2SFosXQAAAAJ">professor and a researcher</a> in the field of operations management, my current research focuses on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery. My colleagues and I recently published <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000002909">a multiyear study</a> showing that integrating a mobile health app with ongoing medical care can significantly improve the health of patients with hypertension – a widespread, serious and potentially deadly chronic medical condition.</p>
<p>But it’s not easy to use health apps this way as a regular part of medical care in the U.S.</p>
<h2>Case study: Hypertension</h2>
<p>Hypertension, better known as high blood pressure, is one of America’s leading chronic health problems. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm">According the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, hypertension was a primary or contributing cause to nearly half a million deaths in 2018 and affected nearly half of U.S. adults – nearly 110 million people. Left uncontrolled, <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/high-blood-pressure">high blood pressure </a> can also permanently damage the heart and other parts of the body.</p>
<p>Simple changes in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2014.10.047">diet, exercise, smoking and drinking</a> can help prevent or postpone the onset of hypertension. Once a person has high blood pressure, the focus of medical care is treatment and management. But patients typically see their doctors only three to four times a year, making it difficult for physicians <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2014.10.047">to track, assess and address the root causes</a> of their hypertension. <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/MD-10-2017-1010/full/html">These visits also tend to be brief,</a> because the fee-for-service insurance payment model motivates doctors to see more patients in a given day. </p>
<p>Prior studies on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/10723">effectiveness of mobile health apps for self-management of hypertension</a> were done in controlled settings in which all the participants agreed to use the app, rather than in clinical settings where patients had a choice of whether to engage with care providers using the app. We wanted to see how a hypertension patient’s use of an app played out in a real-world setting. So one of my study co-authors, a <a href="https://diabeticcareassociates.com/">practicing endocrinologist</a>, developed a proprietary web-based smartphone app to help monitor and treat hypertension between office visits. </p>
<p>Patients who received this app free of charge measured and entered their blood pressure and pulse readings. The physician reviewed these readings once a day and, if needed, recommended interventions such as new medications or changing doses of existing medications, or advised on diet and exercise. My co-author and his medical assistants weren’t paid to monitor these patients. </p>
<p>Patients and staff could also talk directly with one another through the app. This enabled regular <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-10-2017-1010">communication and joint decision-making</a> between providers and patients on how to best treat their hypertension, which in turn encouraged patients not to abandon the app after only a few uses. </p>
<p>In tracking the condition of 1,600 hypertension patients over the course of four years, we found that a typical app user reduced her <a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/understanding-blood-pressure-readings">systolic blood pressure</a> – the upper value in a blood pressure reading, indicating the pressure while the heart muscle contracts – by 2 “millimeters of mercury,” or mmHG, compared with someone not using the app. For patients with systolic blood pressure greater than 150 mmHG, the reduction was more than 6 mmHG. These were significant decreases. A reduction of 10 mmHG in systolic blood pressure lowers overall mortality risk by 13%.</p>
<p>Our study bears out the findings of other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-018-9458-2">researchers who have found</a> that using mobile health apps is beneficial for managing chronic conditions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413427/original/file-20210727-18-1ng148f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A gray-haired woman snaps on a bike helmet. She is wearing an Apple watch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413427/original/file-20210727-18-1ng148f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413427/original/file-20210727-18-1ng148f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413427/original/file-20210727-18-1ng148f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413427/original/file-20210727-18-1ng148f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413427/original/file-20210727-18-1ng148f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413427/original/file-20210727-18-1ng148f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413427/original/file-20210727-18-1ng148f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You may be collecting health data on your phone, but does your doctor ever see it?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-putting-on-cycling-helmet-royalty-free-image/1255380001">Tara Moore via Getty</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Barriers to connection</h2>
<p>These finding were promising, but there’s a catch: Many patients can’t afford to buy a mobile device and pay for its service.</p>
<p>Further, medical practices need to make a profit to survive, and there is currently no clear way for a provider to charge for <a href="https://www.iqvia.com/insights/the-iqvia-institute/reports/the-growing-value-of-digital-health">time spent</a> providing medical care via an app. However, the massive switch during the COVID-19 pandemic from in-person care to telehealth has driven many insurers <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/medicare-and-telehealth-coverage-and-use-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-and-options-for-the-future/">to figure out how to bill for services delivered remotely</a>. These solutions might eventually apply to medical health apps as well.</p>
<p>Developers also have few financial incentives to create apps that integrate with professional health care. Apps commonly earn revenues by converting users into paying customers or ongoing subscribers, or by selling advertising space within the app. The most profitable apps tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.017">mobile phone games, which use psychological techniques to increase sales</a>. </p>
<p>But these would be inappropriate in the medical setting. Selling to a patient – or selling the patient’s attention to advertisers – raises questions like: Is my data safe? Is this a medically necessary sale? Does my doctor earn money from this? These concerns could reduce the trust between physician and patient <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1177%2F2333393616664823">that is essential to</a> treating chronic health conditions.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>And the tech has to work. Patients care about how easy it is to use an app, and whether it has the tools that they are looking for. <a href="https://mobius.md/2019/03/20/11-mobile-health-statistics/">Providers are unhappy</a> when their patients have bad experiences with technology. Further, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029126/#b11-ptj3905356">there are no established standards ensuring</a> that mobile health apps are collecting or delivering accurate information, as there are with most professional medical monitoring equipment.</p>
<p>But as the recognition grows that properly designed health care apps can play a big role in enabling more effective medical care, we could see a major stakeholder step in and provide a monetary incentive for app development and use: the insurance carriers who benefit from lower costs of care. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the key part of treating hypertension and other chronic health problems is the interplay between patient and doctor. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000002909">Our research shows</a> that a well-designed health app that talks not just to the user but also to the user’s care providers increases the likelihood of that engagement and leads to better treatment and better health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saligrama Agnihothri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Connecting health apps to health care can enable better care for patients with chronic diseases, and it has the potential to lower skyrocketing US health spending.Saligrama Agnihothri, Professor of Supply Chain and Business Analytics, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/801842017-07-01T02:54:19Z2017-07-01T02:54:19ZCanada in 150 years: People power will shake up society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176479/original/file-20170630-9576-oubox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C135%2C3775%2C2615&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The future of citizenship is more distributed, interactive and local than dealing with central government through new technology. That may be sad news for those who wish to interact with the likes of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in virtual reality if not in person.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cpimages.com/fotoweb/cpimages_details.pop.fwx?position=93&archiveType=ImageFolder&sorting=ModifiedTimeAsc&search=trudeau%20and%20technology&fileId=7ED4E565C8CEED27AEA6EAB315B987A8EB1B023AB80A6779EEECB0F082709652BF4B180AE6F446F48ACB7DB1B8CDE7E37BF497D18515FAB7C57815DF9C7E71E1737892DD5BA3F690925AF21DC8828E055D9B15C804EE2539B910651727E2C0824659CEF5EB788C838F5F328CE42AFA780F6B4F506D717E148A6BC204AFB38682B06DD3E64BFE1C61602AC54D7513C1F5">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: 2017 marks the sesquicentennial of Confederation. While the anniversary is a chance to reflect on the past, The Conversation Canada asked some of our academic authors to look down the road a further 150 years — or “Canada +150”. Curtis McCord, who researches information systems, predicts technology will further expand our ability to understand politics and engage in political action.</em></p>
<p>Nothing is certain in the next 150 years — not even the future of our democracy. Coming to grips with the tragedies of a colonial past and uncertainties of our present is a challenge for many of us. </p>
<p>Rather than wondering what will be, we should wonder what could be: Our political horizons will be set by hard work and co-operation, not a track guaranteed by any technology or imagined destiny. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, cultural change sparked by social movements and aided by technology can empower citizens. They can shape their country’s destiny as part of daily life, rather than at a voting booth once every few years.</p>
<p>Much of our knowledge, practices and trades are changing with technology and we must also adapt. This applies in our personal, professional and public lives as we express our citizenship. I have dedicated the last three years to researching how technology shapes our citizenship. </p>
<p>I believe we ought to strive for a country in which citizens are empowered and autonomous, and where our government is more democratic and responsive to our needs. Advances in artificial intelligence, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/tech-news/we-live-inside-the-machine-now-the-arrival-of-ubiquitous-computing/article9834737/?page=all">ubiquitous computing</a> and data-gathering will accompany these developments, but effective democracy requires deeper cultural change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176477/original/file-20170630-8214-108i3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C1183%2C1095&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176477/original/file-20170630-8214-108i3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176477/original/file-20170630-8214-108i3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176477/original/file-20170630-8214-108i3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176477/original/file-20170630-8214-108i3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176477/original/file-20170630-8214-108i3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176477/original/file-20170630-8214-108i3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Technology and societal change will transform the nature of citizenship and government in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/vector-leaf-maple-electronic-illustration-eps-84166651">(Shutterstock)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most people engage in citizenship through acts such as voting, obtaining and using passports, and interacting with government services. This transactional approach puts citizenship in the background of our social and work lives. </p>
<p>The most tangible advances in Canadian democracy will not come from applying new technologies to existing models. They will come by re-evaluating how we use technology to relate to the shared project of governance. This means understanding that the ways in which technology mediates our citizenship often sets the limits of what kinds of citizenship we have. </p>
<p>Digitization of services — sometimes called eGovernment or digital government — follows the same kinds of trends as corporate information systems. They make our relationship with our government one of client and service-provider. The result is a trade-off: eGovernment attempts to do justice to the financial responsibilities of the state, but does not foster a sense of shared ownership included in a deeper understanding of democratic citizenship. </p>
<h2>Reinventing citizenship</h2>
<p>Expressions of citizenship go beyond delegating responsibility to politicians. Canadians take causes into their own hands, ranging from the <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.ca/">redressing of systemic injustices</a>, <a href="https://www.cycleto.ca/">advocating for urban cyclists</a> to <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2017/06/broadband-bruce-fighting-canada-digital-divide-170614123247706.html">building community internet infrastructure for under-served communities</a>. We are living through a shift towards increasingly networked and citizen-led expressions of participation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176480/original/file-20170630-8514-1kiabqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176480/original/file-20170630-8514-1kiabqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176480/original/file-20170630-8514-1kiabqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176480/original/file-20170630-8514-1kiabqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176480/original/file-20170630-8514-1kiabqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176480/original/file-20170630-8514-1kiabqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176480/original/file-20170630-8514-1kiabqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Black Lives Matter movement is one example of how people are increasingly expressing and exercising their citizenship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cpimages.com/fotoweb/cpimages_details.pop.fwx?position=12&archiveType=ImageFolder&sorting=ModifiedTimeAsc&search=black%20and%20lives%20and%20matter%20and%20toronto%20and%20(FQYFD%20contains(20160630~~21000101))&fileId=7ED4E565C8CEED27AEA6EAB315B987A8EB1B023AB80A6779EEECB0F082709652BF4B180AE6F446F48ACB7DB1B8CDE7E37BF497D18515FAB7C57815DF9C7E71E1737892DD5BA3F690A3D27F4B84A88068193EE6609EB5B892B910651727E2C0824659CEF5EB788C838F5F328CE42AFA780F6B4F506D717E148A6BC204AFB38682B06DD3E64BFE1C61602AC54D7513C1F5">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We must redesign state institutions to accommodate these efforts and make the relationship between citizens and governments more nuanced, immediate, and fair. The seeds of change exist already. They are demonstrated in the growth of policy and practice to allow greater citizen participation and scrutiny — open government. </p>
<p>The goals of open government are often realized through online public consultations. They enable citizens to participate in decisions outside of election season, or in more local, in-person processes such as town halls. Online consultations are becoming a normal part of Canadian democracy. They are employed by all levels of government, on issues that range from budget priorities to assessing new infrastructure needs, and even such high level policy decisions as <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/nafta-renegotiations-trump-canada/article33715250/">renegotiating NAFTA</a>.</p>
<p>Developing a culture of participating in institutions will become more necessary. Increasing public engagement will offer people a more secure place in our democracy, a role in making agendas and policy decisions. </p>
<h2>Government as infrastructure</h2>
<p>We should see these online forums as public infrastructure — resources shared in common. Participation in democratic institutions increases citizens’ knowledge and capabilities, and provides a stage for the public to connect around issues that affect them. The forums also serve as a catalyst for greater coverage in media and the public consciousness. </p>
<p>Our democratic institutions are often too focused on transactions between the state and individuals. Instead, we should encourage the <a href="http://firstmonday.org/article/view/1289/1209">“democracy of groups”</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Public_and_its_Problems">enable smaller-scale groups or “publics” that share common goals</a>.</p>
<p>Visibility on the public stage can help to connect disparate groups, and legitimize and amplify marginalized voices that too often go unheard. Greater confidence in such platforms will give citizens access to knowledgeable public servants (or responsive artificial intelligence). These resources can encourage citizens to follow standards of evidence and argumentation, and add legitimacy to their positions.</p>
<p>Embracing these possibilities could bolster the growing practice of <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/diy-citizenship">“DIY citizenship</a>,” and expand our understanding of politics and political action. Citizens across the country (and the world) are already showing us the way.</p>
<p>Creating a more autonomous and decentralized type of governance does not mean that the state should weaken its own capacities for action. State institutions are perhaps the most readily available venue for supporting citizens, as they are meant to be held in common for all. </p>
<h2>Cooperative Canada</h2>
<p>Shifts in climate, food security and the continuing accumulation of wealth will force us to re-evaluate political and economic relations that govern our states and societies. Co-operation with those around us will be the only option. Matters of everyday life will be more tangible for citizens, reliant on community for their livelihood and leisure. They will surely tire of the alienating economic and cultural practices of today.</p>
<p>Channelling the current momentum of citizens, we should now begin laying the groundwork for a new kind of state and society. It should prioritize responsive government, fair institutions, and empowering citizens in their public lives.</p>
<p>To re-imagine the relationship between citizens and government, some have proposed a <a href="http://peerproduction.net/issues/issue-7-policies-for-the-commons/peer-reviewed-papers/towards-a-new-reconfiguration-among-the-state-civil-society-and-the-market/">“partner state approach”</a>. Rather than the representative and service-providing model of government we know today, a partner state actively encourages and supports autonomous action by citizens. </p>
<p>Governments would be stewards of infrastructure and other public goods. They would provide resources for citizens to interact and cooperate with each other.</p>
<p>In this future, Canadians will be not only more aware of the politics of their everyday lives. They will be able and empowered to take their causes public and work with their fellows to decide, make, and enact their societies together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80184/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Curtis McCord does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The disruptive impact of intelligent machines and new social movements will force us to remake citizenship into a more personal pursuit over the next 150 years.Curtis McCord, Doctoral Student in Information Systems, Values in Design, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/592302016-06-03T00:28:15Z2016-06-03T00:28:15ZWhile governments talk about smart cities, it’s citizens who create them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124442/original/image-20160530-7673-9msdtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rather than create regulatory frameworks that allow innovations to thrive, governments have created hurdles to transformative applications like Uber or Airbnb.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/alextorrenegra/10277864666/in/photolist-gEdK6d-AwAwvo-787UV9-reyueZ-p95B9t-pRn3sS-mxMZgv-kYvjhP-6bpnp2-5YobjY-6Ua1Ds-pMkqnU-pRqjVx-qZuev3-9pEg6E-oZpRF1-bVkoQU-dUSAjb-65fJU8-bChj9i-dUM7uX-rSPjxg-bPMAe2-fBVt1N-dUSA35-nCerd9-5YiWLM-rrn1Qk-5aJXVm-bVkosW-dUM5QX-6D4cF9-dUSF8S-fmfg92-dUM2nz-6D4cwy-bVkoL5-6CZ3LF-dUSynQ-6D4csJ-qChjq7-dUSC2s-dUSxoY-bVkoyJ-dULZbT-6CZ3sH-v6iR7-5eHyHq-dUSxGm-dUM2VV">Torrenegra/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian government recently <a href="https://theconversation.com/smart-cities-plan-offers-signs-of-hope-but-are-turnbull-and-taylor-just-dreamin-58628">released an ambitious Smart Cities Plan</a>, which suggests that cities should be first and foremost for people:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If our cities are to continue to meet their residents’ needs, it is essential for people to engage and participate in planning and policy decisions that have an impact on their lives.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such statements are a good starting point – and should probably become central to Australia’s implementation efforts. A lot of knowledge has been collected over the past decade from successful and failed smart cities experiments all over the world; reflecting on them could provide useful information for the Australian government as it launches its national plan.</p>
<h2>What is a smart city?</h2>
<p>But, before embarking on such review, it would help to start from a definition of “smart city”. </p>
<p>The term has been used and abused in recent years, so much so that today it has lost meaning. It is often used to encompass disparate applications: we hear people talk and write about “smart city” when they refer to anything from citizen engagement to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipcar">Zipcar</a>, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-will-be-built-on-open-data-heres-why-52785">open data</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/airbnb-social-media-and-the-quest-for-the-authentic-urban-experience-48889">Airbnb</a>, from <a href="http://www.smart-ebikes.co.uk/">smart biking</a> to broadband.</p>
<p>Where to start with a definition? It is a truism to say the internet has transformed our lives over the past 20 years. Everything in the way we work, meet, mate and so on is very different today than it was just a few decades ago, thanks to a network of connectivity that now encompasses most people on the planet. </p>
<p>In a similar way, we are today at the beginning of a new technological revolution: the internet is entering physical space – the very space of our cities – and is becoming the <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-we-ready-for-a-world-even-more-connected-in-the-internet-of-things-50889">Internet of Things</a>; it is opening the door to a new world of applications that, as with the first wave of the internet, can incorporate many domains.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124443/original/image-20160530-7713-1avuvma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124443/original/image-20160530-7713-1avuvma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124443/original/image-20160530-7713-1avuvma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124443/original/image-20160530-7713-1avuvma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124443/original/image-20160530-7713-1avuvma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124443/original/image-20160530-7713-1avuvma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124443/original/image-20160530-7713-1avuvma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124443/original/image-20160530-7713-1avuvma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our relationship with digital technology is changing as it pervades and connecting the many spaces and activities of cities to become the Internet of Things.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wilgengebroed/8249565455/">wilgengebroed/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From a more philosophical point of view, one could refer to the great Xerox-Park computer scientist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Weiser">Mark Weiser</a>, and his idea of non-intrusive – or “calm” – technology. <a href="http://www.ubiq.com/hypertext/weiser/UbiHome.html">Weiser wrote</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What should governments do?</h2>
<p>In the above technological context, what should governments do? Over the past few years, the first wave of smart city applications followed technological excitement. </p>
<p>For instance, some of Korea’s early experiments such as <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-23757738">Songdo City</a> were engineered by the likes of Cisco, with technology deployment assisted by top-down policy directives. </p>
<p>In a similar way, in 2010, Rio de Janeiro <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/business/ibm-takes-smarter-cities-concept-to-rio-de-janeiro.html?_r=0">launched the Integrated Centre of Command and Control</a>, engineered by IBM. It’s a large control room for the city, which collects real-time information from cameras and myriad sensors suffused in the urban fabric. </p>
<p>Such approaches revealed many shortcomings, most notably the lack of civic engagement. It is as if they thought of the city simply as a “computer in open air”. These approaches led to several backlashes in the research and academic community.</p>
<p>A more interesting lesson can come from the US, where the focus is more on developing a rich Internet of Things innovation ecosystem. There are many initiatives fostering spaces – digital and physical – for people to come together and collaborate on urban and civic innovations. </p>
<p>In the US, the general idea of smart urban space has been central to the current generation of successful start-ups. One of the latest examples is Uber: a smartphone app that lets anyone call a cab or be a driver. The company’s operations are polarising – Uber has been the <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-love-uber-and-airbnb-or-protest-against-them-45391">subject of protests and strikes around the world</a> (mainly in Europe) – yet it was recently <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/uber-is-officially-a-50-billion-company-2015-7">valued at a stratospheric US$50 billion</a>. </p>
<p>Beyond Uber, the <a href="https://nest.com/thermostat/meet-nest-thermostat/">Nest learning thermostat</a>, the apartment-sharing website Airbnb and the recently announced <a href="http://www.apple.com/au/ios/homekit/">“home operating system” by Apple</a>, to name a few, attest to the new frontiers of digital information when it inhabits physical space. </p>
<p>Similar approaches now promise to revolutionise most aspects of urban life – from commuting to energy consumption to personal health. As such, they are receiving eager support from venture capital funds.</p>
<p>In such a context, governments could use their funds to develop an organic innovation ecosystem <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-social-nexus/">geared toward smart cities</a>, similar to the one that is growing in the US. It is more about bottom-up innovation than top-down schemas. </p>
<p>This must go beyond supporting traditional incubators and aim to produce and nurture the regulatory frameworks that allow innovations to thrive. Considering the legal hurdles that <a href="https://theconversation.com/airbnb-uber-opponents-build-barriers-rather-than-compete-asking-consumers-to-pay-price-39282">continuously plague applications like Uber or Airbnb</a>, this level of support is sorely needed.</p>
<h2>So, any active smart city role for Canberra?</h2>
<p>That isn’t to say that governments should take a completely hands-off approach to urban development. Governments certainly have an important role to play. This includes supporting academic research and promoting applications in fields that might be less appealing to venture capital – unglamorous but nonetheless crucial domains such as municipal waste or water services. </p>
<p>The public sector can also promote the use of open platforms and standards in such projects, which would speed up adoption in cities worldwide.</p>
<p>Still, the overarching goal should always be to focus on citizens. They are in the best position to determine how to transform their cities and to make decisions that will have – as the <a href="https://cities.dpmc.gov.au/smart-cities-plan">Australian Smart Cities Plan</a> puts it – “an impact on their lives”.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Professor Carlo Ratti will deliver a keynote address at the <a href="http://www.dis2016.org/">ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS’16) conference</a>, to be held at Queensland University of Technology, June 4-8, 2016.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Ratti has received many private and government funds to carry out research on smart cities at the MIT Senseable City Lab. He is chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Future Cities, member of the Committee on Autonomous Road Transport for Singapore (CARTS), Special Adviser to the President and Commissioners of the European Commission and a full member of the Aspen Institute Italia. He is the curator of the Future Food District pavilion at the 2015 World Expo in Milan and directs the the design office Carlo Ratti Associati. Together with Matthew Claudel, he is the author of "The City of Tomorrow. Sensors, Networks, Hackers, and the Future of Urban Life" (Yale University Press, June 2016). He has been involved in various other academic engagements.</span></em></p>Governments too often hinder change, when instead they should aim to foster an organic innovation ecosystem. This is more about bottom-up innovation than top-down schemas.Carlo Ratti, Director of MIT Senseable City Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/601742016-06-01T00:44:30Z2016-06-01T00:44:30ZEarly experiments show a smart city plan should start with people first<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124470/original/image-20160530-7678-19q0a6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brisbane aspires to be a truly smart and connected city.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marcus Foth</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government’s recently released <a href="https://cities.dpmc.gov.au/smart-cities-plan/">Smart Cities Plan</a> is built on three pillars: smart investment, smart policy and smart technology. Yet, it also suggests that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Cities are first and foremost for people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If our cities are to continue to meet their residents’ needs, it is essential for people to engage and participate in planning and policy decisions that have an impact on their lives.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite this quintessential policymaking statement, the plan largely uses language that conveys a limited role for people in cities: they live, work and consume. The absence of a more thorough response is surprising considering the rich body of work calling for better <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/39160/">human engagement</a> in the smart city agenda.</p>
<p>South Korea’s early “U-city” (ubiquitous city) experiments, such as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/dec/22/songdo-south-korea-world-first-smart-city-in-pictures">New Songdo</a>, were engineered by the national <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol">chaebol</a> such as Samsung and SK Telecom, and their deployment was assisted by top-down <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-152-0.ch025">policy directives</a>. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?oi=bibs&cluster=10240009651625265856&btnI=1&hl=en">Germaine Halegoua</a> laments a missed opportunity to use the ubiquitous computing at the core of the U-city for community engagement and participation.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.citylab.com/authors/eric-jaffe/">Eric Jaffe</a> critiques Rio de Janeiro’s flawed smart city brain, the Integrated Centre of Command and Control, made by IBM. He <a href="https://medium.com/sidewalk-talk/4-lessons-from-rios-flawed-smart-cities-initiative-31cbf4e54b72#.srlipol9c">proposes four key lessons</a>, all of which point to the forgotten focus on people. In the same city, however, there is also hope.</p>
<h2>People-first approach</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ted.com/speakers/alessandra_orofino">Alessandra Orofino</a> founded <a href="http://www.meurio.org.br">Meu Rio</a>, Rio de Janeiro’s largest mobilisation network, which is now <a href="http://www.ourcities.org">expanding</a> to the rest of the world. In her <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/alessandra_orofino_it_s_our_city_let_s_fix_it">TED talk</a>, she suggests:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s our city. Let’s fix it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What this simple statement entails is profound: the <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/78107/">citizen’s right to the digital city</a>. It is a cultural shift in thinking that people have to be at the core of any smart city agenda. And urban dwellers ought to be enabled not only to actively participate in city-making, but also to lead such initiatives.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zMGE3mbS9NY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Alessandra Orofino’s TED talk: It’s our city. Let’s fix it.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are more and more accounts reminding us that the city is more than just a space governed by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/24/who-owns-our-cities-and-why-this-urban-takeover-should-concern-us-all">investments</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/somerville-mayor-happiness-policies">policies</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/25/we-cant-allow-the-tech-giants-to-rule-smart-cities">technology</a>. <a href="http://www.uva.nl/en/about-the-uva/organisation/staff-members/content/w/a/b.g.m.dewaal/b.g.m.dewaal.html">Martijn de Waal</a> describes his notion of <a href="http://www.thecityasinterface.com">city as interface</a>. <a href="https://assetstewardship.com/asset-stewardship-team/barbara-thornton-bio/">Barbara Thornton</a> considers the <a href="http://platformed.info/city-as-a-platform-applying-platform-thinking-to-cities/">city as platform</a>. And <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Zuckerman">Ethan Zuckerman</a> takes us back to when cities were appreciated for their function as <a href="http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2011/05/12/chi-keynote-desperately-seeking-serendipity/">serendipity engines</a> that allow for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-design-smart-cities-for-getting-lost-56492">sagacious discovery of diversity</a>.</p>
<h2>Open and agile cities</h2>
<p>What comes hand in hand with this renewed focus on people is a changing role of local governments away from <a href="http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2012/08/moving-beyond-roads-rates-and-rubbish/">roads, rates and rubbish</a>, and towards enabler and facilitator, and towards cities being open and agile.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-will-be-built-on-open-data-heres-why-52785">Open data</a> is a pertinent example to illustrate this process. In the early days of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-government#Government_2.0">Government 2.0</a>, the focus was on identifying government-held datasets that could be made available in public repositories such as <a href="http://data.gov.au">data.gov.au</a>. </p>
<p>These days, the <a href="http://www.odiqueensland.org.au">Open Data Institute Queensland</a>, the <a href="http://oascities.org">Open & Agile Smart Cities</a> network and other entities are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2016.1139876">prompting governments to go further</a>: to support new private-public partnerships that bridge the common triad of disconnect between <a href="https://medium.com/sidewalk-talk/what-smart-cities-can-learn-from-singapore-s-smart-nation-e19a7efefa3a#.2dmd96xy7">technology and government</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot">government and people</a>, and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jan/22/inside-story-india-smart-city-gold-rush-it">people and technology</a>. Nationally, a leader of such partnership models is <a href="http://www.codeforaustralia.org">Code for Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Cat Matson is on a quest as the City of Brisbane’s chief digital officer to transform it into a <a href="http://catmatson.com.au/problem-smart-cities/">truly smart, connected city</a>. From her recent visit to Singapore, she brought back <a href="http://www.digitalbrisbane.com.au/Blog/CDO-Wrap-May-2016">key lessons</a> for Brisbane and other local governments:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Design a city (or a solution/system) that, when you’re no longer in government, you’ll be proud of.</li>
<li>Identify real problems, for industry, citizens or government, which could be solved with a digital solution.</li>
<li>Use design thinking to develop solutions to those problems.</li>
<li>Get as many stakeholders involved in that design-thinking process as possible.</li>
<li>Be smart about the role of government and industry in executing those solutions.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<h2>Spaces for urban and civic innovation</h2>
<p>Cities have not only to focus on people first and be open and agile, they also have to provide space – digital and physical – for people to come together and collaborate on urban and civic innovations. The most successful examples demonstrate an appreciation for a diverse range of places that form a <a href="http://urbanixd.eu">network</a> or a <a href="http://i-nq.com.au">local innovation ecosystem</a>.</p>
<p>Such spaces are not limited to the typical business startup incubators. In fact, they are often <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-an-innovation-skunkworks-51326">skunkworks</a> that are free, open and messy, because the process of creative imagination that leads to innovation is messy.</p>
<p>In London, the British government’s innovation program devoted to cities, the <a href="http://futurecities.catapult.org.uk">Future Cities Catapult</a>, has paired up with <a href="http://www.100resilientcities.org">100 Resilient Cities</a> and Ordnance Survey’s <a href="https://geovation.uk/hub/">Geovation Hub</a> to create the <a href="http://www.urbaninnovationcentre.org.uk">Urban Innovation Centre</a>.</p>
<p>In Vancouver, local universities and the City of Vancouver have partnered to create <a href="http://citystudiovancouver.com">CityStudio Vancouver</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… an innovation hub inside City Hall where staff, university students and community members co-create, design and launch projects on the ground. The central mission of CityStudio is to innovate and experiment with the ways cities are co-created, while teaching students the skills needed to collaborate on real projects in Vancouver with City staff and community stakeholders. These projects improve our city and enrich our neighbourhoods, making the city more liveable, joyful and sustainable.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/114150422" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Vancouver involves researchers, students and community members in its smart city agenda.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Melbourne, Code for Australia has opened the first <a href="http://www.codeforaustralia.org/civiclab/">Civic Lab</a>.</p>
<p>Considering Australia’s staggering <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country">level of urbanisation</a> – close to 90% of the population – it will be paramount to think carefully about how best to invest in the future of our cities. Governments and policymakers have to recognise and enable people as active agents of change towards more habitable and sustainable cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Foth receives research funding from the Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects funding scheme and the Australian government's Low Income Energy Efficiency Program. He is a member of the Queensland Greens and was their 2015 Queensland state election candidate for Mount Isa.</span></em></p>Australia’s Smart Cities Plan largely conveys a limited role for people: they live, work and consume. This neglects the rich body of work calling for better human engagement in smart cities.Marcus Foth, Professor of Urban Informatics, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/234402014-04-24T21:05:16Z2014-04-24T21:05:16ZIt’s not the Back to the Future we imagined<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46595/original/pvsw4dvc-1397694478.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A giant shark hologram snaps Marty to advertise the latest Jaws 19 movie.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://movieclips.com/mVSr-back-to-the-future-part-2-movie-hill-valley-2015/">Movieclips.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you remember the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096874/">Back to the Future II</a> and its vision of technology in 2015? Marty and Doc arrived in a world with giant shark holograms for movie adverts, flying cars, hoverboards and massive interactive screens on every surface.</p>
<p>The problem is, that’s not where we are going. </p>
<p>While the writers might have got some things right, it’s clear they went the wrong way with the prevalence of technology – they went bigger when they should have gone smaller, especially when it came to mobile phones.</p>
<p>This small screen device now dominates our lives with the major players Apple and Samsung this year battling it out again with the latest versions of their <a href="http://www.apple.com/au/iphone/">iPhone</a> and <a href="http://www.samsung.com/au/smartphone/galaxys/index.html">Galaxy</a> smartphones.</p>
<p>Our addiction to the smartphone is getting worse with <a href="http://blog.flurry.com/bid/110166/The-Rise-of-the-Mobile-Addict">a report this week</a> showing a 123% annual increase in the number of people who launch a mobile phone app more than 60 times a day.</p>
<p>Super users (who launch 16 to 60 apps a day) increased by 55% in the 12 months to March and regular users (under 16 app launches a day) up 23% with the report predicting things will only get worse with wearable mobile technology such as <a href="http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/gear/gearfit_features.html">Samsung’s Gear</a>.</p>
<p>Think you can do without your smartphone? Then take a look at this video released in August last year and now viewed more than 40 million times.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OINa46HeWg8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">I Forgot My Phone.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The message is clear – we are all connected, every minute of every day, and without your phone you are on the outskirts of everybody else’s new, more digital, world.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, this is not a new phenomenon. </p>
<h2>Are you a nomophobe?</h2>
<p>The term “<a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/nomophobia-is-the-fear-of-being-out-of-mobile-phone-contact--and-its-the-plague-of-our-247-age-6634478.html">Nomophobia</a>” was coined in Britain back in 2008 to describe the “fear of being without a mobile phone”. Back then, a Post Office survey found that up to 52% of mobile phone users could be affected by the condition.</p>
<p>Things clearly haven’t changed that much as a survey by web security firm AppRiver <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2013/0826/470293-mobile-phone-phobia/">last year</a> found that 54% of Brits still fear being without their phone.</p>
<p>And really, who could blame them? Since the debut of the iPhone in 2007 and Android in 2008, smartphones have become more and more a part of our increasingly connected lives.</p>
<p>Web surfing, social networking, banking, dating, gaming and more can all be accessed directly from the device residing in your pocket. The mobile phone accessory supplier Mophie <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/12/23/data-travelers-infographic/">reported in December</a> that 88% of travellers identify their smartphone as the most important device to take with them on holiday, and 59% of business travellers feel disorientated or lonely without their phone.</p>
<h2>The knowledge of the world in our pockets</h2>
<p>It’s amazing how important the device in our pocket has become, driven by advances in computing and networking. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46954/original/r7t58t4s-1398304621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46954/original/r7t58t4s-1398304621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46954/original/r7t58t4s-1398304621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46954/original/r7t58t4s-1398304621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46954/original/r7t58t4s-1398304621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46954/original/r7t58t4s-1398304621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46954/original/r7t58t4s-1398304621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46954/original/r7t58t4s-1398304621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our obsession with the mobile smartphone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/niallkennedy/351971886">Flickr/Niall Kennedy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To put this in perspective, the iPhone 5s puts more <a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/09/review-with-the-iphone-5s-apple-lays-groundwork-for-a-brighter-future/">computing power</a> in your pocket than you had on your desktop computer less than 10 years ago.</p>
<p>The 64GB model has more memory than the default amount put in laptops in 2005, and the solid state storage in the base model is eight times more than the iPod Nano when it launched in the same year. This gives you the ability to store and play more than 4,000 songs, look at more than 2,000 photos, or store and watch every Hollywood movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000150/">Michael J Fox</a> has starred in back-to-back.</p>
<p>This is coupled with advances in networking and mobile communications. In the 33 years since <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-11/30-years-of-the-mobile-phone-in-australia/2835564">mobile phones were introduced in Australia</a>, the device has moved from a humble communication device to a digital hub, with speeds increasing from 56 kilobits per second to over 300 megabits per second.</p>
<p>So, if you don’t have the latest Back to the Future movie stored on your device, you can probably download it as you watch it - all while the device simultaneously checks your e-mail and deals with your calendar.</p>
<p>The capabilities of these devices have improved and they are doing more. Flickr <a href="https://www.flickr.com/cameras">reports</a> that the iPhone 5 is the most popular camera used to upload photos, followed by the 4S, 5S and 4 Apple devices. Only one dedicated camera make the top 5 list.</p>
<p>Similarly, the phone is replacing the traditional GPS device with Apple <a href="http://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/">announcing</a> integration of the iPhone for GPS and music into future models from over a dozen different car manufacturers. </p>
<p>Smartphones are becoming the centre of our digital lives and with the increase in computing power, networking and capability, it’s not surprising. In six years, the smartphone has managed to replace the camera, GPS, MP3 player and diary. And it’s continuing to spread.</p>
<h2>The need for a smartphone</h2>
<p>New devices for 2014 are beginning to assume you have a smartphone, from the <a href="http://www.fitbit.com/au/aria">digital scales</a> that send your weight directly to an app, to the new television systems that forgo the easily lost remote <a href="http://www.logitech.com/en-au/product/harmony-smart-control">for your smartphone</a>. </p>
<p>Forget the <a href="http://www.lg.com/us/refrigerators/lg-LFX31995ST-french-3-door-refrigerator">touchscreen-laden Internet-enabled fridge</a> from a few years ago, with a smartphone all you need is a scanner and the yet-to-be-developed FridgeCheck app and you’ll always know what’s in the fridge for dinner.</p>
<p>Ten years ago, when somebody mentioned <a href="http://www.ubiq.com/weiser/UbiHome.html">ubiquitous computing</a>, we visualised a world with robots everywhere, screens in every device and video phones mounted on every wall.</p>
<p>The CEO of IBM in the 1950s, Thomas Watson, is often <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/documents/pdf/faq.pdf">misquoted as saying</a> that “there is a world market for maybe five computers”, but could anybody have seen a world where every one of us carries a computer in our pocket, a computer so important to us that, according to a <a href="http://content.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2122187,00.html">survey by Time Magazine</a>, over two-thirds of us can’t sleep without it next to our bed?</p>
<p>Ubiquitous computing is here, but instead of giving us computers in everything, it’s given us everything in one computer, one that can fit in your pocket and allows access to a comprehensive digital world full of friends and colleagues, and increasingly connected to the physical world through connected devices.</p>
<p>Forget your phone at your peril, because if you do, you will end up on the outskirts of the digital world, feeling less and less connected as time goes by.</p>
<h2>Back to Back to the Future</h2>
<p>So, perhaps in 10 to 20 years, when we invent our own Delorean time machine, we should go back to 1989 and speak to the writers of Back to the Future II?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NXtJ4ewCHxo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Back to the Future II.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead of a world with flying cars, Marty should arrive to a world where he wanders through a city of people, each looking down at their smartphone, engaging with their digital world, perhaps even occasionally narrowly avoiding <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-texting-turns-you-into-a-walking-disaster-22244">crashing into walls</a>, saved only by their <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-we-need-transparent-texting-to-avoid-a-mobile-accident-25092">transparent texting devices</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23440/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Cowling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Do you remember the movie Back to the Future II and its vision of technology in 2015? Marty and Doc arrived in a world with giant shark holograms for movie adverts, flying cars, hoverboards and massive…Michael Cowling, Senior Lecturer & Discipline Leader, Mobile Computing & Applications, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/132682013-04-08T04:06:41Z2013-04-08T04:06:41ZSee change: is Google Glass all it’s cracked up to be?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/22133/original/ptqdc6nr-1365380605.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Glass has been smashed by the critics … but is that reaction justified?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Slinky2000</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was labelled one of <a href="http://techland.time.com/2012/11/01/best-inventions-of-the-year-2012/slide/google-glass/">2012’s most important inventions</a> and “<a href="http://www.geekinsider.com/2013/02/22/google-glass-is-the-next-big-thing/">the next big thing</a>”.</p>
<p>So it was, with <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/20/google_project_glass_competition/print.html">great fanfare</a>, that Google sent its <a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/how-to-get-one/">first batch</a> of <a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/">Google Glasses</a> out into the geekdom in March - and was met with a resounding “meh”.</p>
<p>Critics claim the sleek new device brands the wearer as an <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/09/google-glass-geek-aesthetics-fashion">irredeemable nerd</a>, will make it too easy to <a href="http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/04/03/Google-Glass-Privacy-Issues-040313.aspx">invade people’s privacy</a>, and will be a <a href="http://drive.10n2tek.com/bid/248699/Is-Google-Glass-as-Dangerous-as-Texting-and-Driving">danger when driving</a>, to mention just a few problems.</p>
<p>But are the critics right, or are they simply reacting with knee-jerk aversion to an emerging paradigm of computing?</p>
<h2>A culture of fear (of change)</h2>
<p>Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It shows us that new technological paradigms have a strongly <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2011-08-21-obsession-with-technology_n.htm">polarising effect</a> on public opinion - people either love them or hate them, with little common ground.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/22141/original/8btkdqqh-1365381040.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/22141/original/8btkdqqh-1365381040.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22141/original/8btkdqqh-1365381040.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22141/original/8btkdqqh-1365381040.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22141/original/8btkdqqh-1365381040.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22141/original/8btkdqqh-1365381040.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22141/original/8btkdqqh-1365381040.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah G…</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But extreme views cannot last for ever.</p>
<p>When the telephone first came into widespread use, people were sure it would be an <a href="http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/150/1870.xhtml">invasion of their privacy</a>. </p>
<p>When television arrived, conventional wisdom held it would rot people’s brains – indeed some people are <a href="http://www.brainfitnessforlife.com/brain-health/does-television-rot-your-brain/">still saying it</a>.</p>
<p>But society has a way of integrating new technology through the evolution of acceptable-use protocols, such as places where your phone should stay in your pocket (in change-rooms) and when it is not polite to make and receive phone calls (at funerals).</p>
<h2>What makes Google Glass different?</h2>
<p>Google Glass is the latest addition to the emerging field of “ubiquitous computing” (<a href="http://www.emc-square.org/emc2/?p=6470">UC</a>). Unlike the old paradigm of <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/virtualization/why-desktop-computing-failed/3747">desktop computing</a>, UC is designed to fit comfortably into people lives.</p>
<p>In the old paradigm, people had to adapt to the demands of the computer. In a world in which <a href="http://techland.time.com/2012/05/07/six-reasons-why-apple-is-successful/">user-friendliness is as good as money in the bank</a> for technology developers, it’s not difficult to see that UC has a big future.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/22136/original/cjkjh82j-1365380721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/22136/original/cjkjh82j-1365380721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22136/original/cjkjh82j-1365380721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22136/original/cjkjh82j-1365380721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22136/original/cjkjh82j-1365380721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22136/original/cjkjh82j-1365380721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22136/original/cjkjh82j-1365380721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">sndrv</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Glass is a personal assistant that connects directly to the Web via WiFi, or tethers to a 3G or <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-4g-9448">4G</a> smartphone via Bluetooth. Weighing less than a pair of sunglasses it is operated by touch and voice.</p>
<p>You pass a billboard for your favourite band, so you ask Glass to remind you to buy tickets. Arriving at your destination, you query the location of a friend, and you arrange to meet.</p>
<p>This latter aspect is a major source of criticism; the thought of <a href="http://au.businessinsider.com/i-dont-want-to-talk-to-my-google-glasses-2013-3">talking to your glasses seems absurd</a>. Yet using your voice is more natural than typing on a QWERTY keyboard, or even using a mouse.</p>
<h2>Keeping your private life private</h2>
<p>Glass takes photos and videos on command, allowing you to capture high-definition images and audio wherever you go.</p>
<p>This has privacy advocates <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/opinion/say-mortified-google-glass-will-turn-strangers-into-your-personal-paparazzi/">worried</a>. After all, you could record people without their consent.</p>
<p>Yet smartphones have had the capability to covertly record audio and video for years. At least with Glass, the camera is visible and when recording, a red light is displayed.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v1uyQZNg2vE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The world through Glass.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The presence of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-gps-12248">GPS</a> chip in Glass means the location of the wearer could be determined, creating another potential privacy issue.</p>
<p>Again, smartphones are already GPS-enabled. If justified, Australian law enforcement can <a href="http://www.netcorpgps.com.au/blog/legislation">get a warrant</a> to track a person of interest, but regular people cannot be tracked unless they give their permission for individuals to see their location. The same principle would apply to Glass.</p>
<h2>Paying attention</h2>
<p>Driving a vehicle while wearing Glass has observers worried – perhaps rightly so. Inattentive driving is a <a href="http://wellness.missouri.edu/DriveSafe/facts.html#3">major cause</a> of accidents.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/22137/original/4mc57qj7-1365380760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/22137/original/4mc57qj7-1365380760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22137/original/4mc57qj7-1365380760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22137/original/4mc57qj7-1365380760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22137/original/4mc57qj7-1365380760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22137/original/4mc57qj7-1365380760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/22137/original/4mc57qj7-1365380760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">funkypancake</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Heads-up displays are becoming more common in motor vehicles because the driver does not need to look away from the road to get information and operate controls.</p>
<p>Glass works on the same principle. Typing a text message on a smartphone while driving has to be slower and more dangerous than dictating the message while not taking your eyes off the road.</p>
<p>As a general rule, you can always rely on a few individuals to do reprehensible things with technology, but the abuse of something should not in itself prohibit its use.</p>
<h2>Google’s vision</h2>
<p>Google has a grand vision for the future: the company wants to make all of the world’s information “<a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/112020874/Analysis-of-Google-HR-strategy">universally accessible and useful</a>,” and with Google co-founder <a href="http://www.google.com.au/about/company/facts/management/">Sergey Brin</a> as Glass’s most avid champion, it’s not hard to see where all of this is going.</p>
<p>On release later this year, the price is expected to be around USD$750, about the price of a top-end smartphone. But cheaper clones are already appearing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.eweek.com/mobile/motorola-hc1-device-is-google-glass-for-business-users/">Motorola</a>, <a href="http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/personal-3d-viewer">Sony</a>, <a href="http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Moverio/Home.do">Epson</a>, Chinese newcomer <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22013676">Baidu</a> and <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/04/04/rumor-microsoft-to-introduce-google-glass-competitor-in-2014">others</a> are developing similar devices that will compete with Glass.</p>
<p>With such an influx, wearable technology will quickly evolve and become comfortably integrated into our lives. Soon we will wonder how we ever lived without it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/13268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Tuffley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It was labelled one of 2012’s most important inventions and “the next big thing”. So it was, with great fanfare, that Google sent its first batch of Google Glasses out into the geekdom in March - and was…David Tuffley, Lecturer in Applied Ethics & Socio-Technical Studies, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.