#1: A Vision for the Real World

Today, a significant portion of human attention is spent on computer products. Everyday an individual moves between two separate worlds, the real world where he lives, and the virtual world of computer products. The virtual world is relatively a new human experience and in the future many more computer-things will proliferate to shape individuals, societies and the real world.

Any electronic product that contains a computer and connects to the Internet can be called an ‘Internet-thing’. The word internet-thing comes with many synonyms like connected-computer, computer-thing, connected-thing, connected-product, connected-device, connected-appliance, smart-thing, smart-product, smart-device, smart-computer, smart-appliance and more. All these words refer to an internet-thing.

A personal computer or laptop is an internet-thing because the computer hardware and software inside it is designed to compute and connect to the Internet. Similarly many other computer products like smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, smart speaker and VR headset are also internet-things.

The first proof of concept for an internet-thing was demonstrated in 1982, at Carnegie Mellon University. On the campus, a coca-cola vending machine was modified for the demo. The status of drinks inside the machine was periodically collected by a computer. Any user on the internet could access the real-time data of this coke machine using an app. The app gave information about the machine's inventory and could tell if the drink was hot or cold. It was the first connected-appliance.

Around 1988, Mark Weiser envisioned IoT (Internet of Things) as a technology ecosystem of future where computers would be a ubiquitous component in the design of everyday things. The word ubiquitous means present everywhere. His research concepts led him to conclude that an internet-thing will be built as a special purpose computer different than the general purpose computer that was used in the PC. To differentiate his ideas from the technology used in PC computing, Mark called his ideas of computing as ubiquitous computing, which is also known as IoT today.

Mark was the chief technology officer at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. During Mark’s tenure at Xerox, proof of concepts like PC, GUI, Ethernet and Internet, which are considered historic developments today, culminated into his vision for IoT. The technologies like PC and Internet that originated from Xerox research have been globally commercialized today, and IoT is ready for acceleration. Mark’s vision for IoT is captured in his article titled, ‘The Computer for the 21st Century’, which was published in the September 1991 issue, of the Scientific American magazine.

Mark saw the PC as one of the many transitional steps that lead to an IoT ecosystem which eventually could unlock the full potential of information technology. Mark’s vision for the IoT ecosystem was a special purpose computer technology that could disappear into the design of everyday things to provide convenience. His vision for internet-things was, different forms of computer-things, encountered at different places by the users in their everyday life. These things become a focus of users attention only when they are required and move back into the background of users attention when their purpose is over. Such an internet-thing would be primarily designed to provide a seamless and calming user experience by not becoming the center of users attention.

Many popular internet-things we experience today are antithetical to Mark’s vision. They come with jargon that requires learning, which is not a sign of seamless experience, and they lock-in user attention to screens for hours which is not a calming experience. Users of these products feel anger when they are disengaged from their gadgets, making their behavioral patterns look similar to that of an addict. These behavioral side-effects are not because of the screen or user interface but due to the fact that these internet-things were built to address all user needs in a single-box product.

IoT is the solution to many problems induced by popular single-box computer-products. It will result in division of user attention and restoring back user presence into the real world. Today, because of semiconductor miniaturization it is possible to shrink the entire computer into the design of an everyday object, as small as a watch. It means we are on the verge of a technology wave wherein a computer can disappear into the design of many everyday objects. If a few such connected-things can provide value, to unlock sufficient number of users locked-inside popular single-box computer-products, then the IoT ecosystem that is projected for a growth to trillions of internet-things is not a distant reality.

Stay tuned!

Reference:

1. The Computer for the 21st Century - Mark Weiser (link)