Mapping Hacks

The revolution will not be televised, and the revolution will not come from the creeping crudge of ‘The Internet of Things.’ I’m as excited as Bruce Sterling to have technology help me to keep track of my crap. You won’t need to look for your shoes, you’ll be able to Google Your Shoes!

And the truth will set us free. The truth of knowing where we are in relation to the constellation of objects which we have allowed to assume the role of defining who we are. We will all have our own “Airborne Warning and Control System” following us about doing ‘Object Traffic Control’ (’object one niner seven, please be advised that we anticipate heavy foot traffic through your sector, please take appropriate action’ ‘this is object one niner seven, wilco on that heavy traffic’).

An internet of things? That is a creaking metaphor. I’m sorry, but I’m already almost completely flumuxed in my efforts to deal with the current Internet of Bits. The Internet of projects and news and information and good conversation and social activism and community development and the overwhelming undertow of The Internet of CRAP!

Knowing where my objects are is great. Having objects which know something about themselves is great. They can communicate with each other, and scheme together. If you thought managing your Stuff 1.0 objects could be maddening, wait for Stuff 2.0, where your stuff can actively conspire to drive you insane.

The Internet of Things: because we can make dealing with your crap even more complicated!

An actual conversation (transcribed from flawed memory), from ETech 2003:

person one “I’d like to get a roomful of Tawainese VCR and Microwave oven user interface designers in a room and tell them…”

Wes Felter, of Hack the Planet fame “Do you think there is a whole roomful of them? I think there is just one, and the one isn’t very busy.”
With apologies to Frank Zappa, Everyone in this room has a VCR blinking 12:00. The ‘Self Improvement’ industry is devoted to offering (contradictory) instructions on how to set the clocks in the various VCR’s of our life. Getting Things Done is all about setting one clock. The Atkins diet is another. And in a piece of useful advice, an offer of candy, flowers, a back rub, or your relationship’s equivelent can often get the VCR Clock of your personal life running a tad smoother.
Everyone has a VCR blinking 12:00. Won’t you join me in this, say it, all together and out loud: “I have a VCR blinking 12:00.”

Thank you brothers, thank you sisters.

Being able to google your shoes will be, well, something. But the revolution is not in your shoes. The revolution is within.

As always truth comes from the bumper of a car “Lord, please help me to be the person my dog thinks I am.” With just a little cleaning up we get “Internet, please help me to be the person who I defined myself to be in filling out my Values Clarification Matrix.”

The revolution is creating and using the tools to remind us of who we are when our attention is directed elsewhere. The tools from an ‘internet of things’ are useful, as are the buzz from ‘context aware computing’ and ‘ambient computing,’ but the key is to direct the technology in support of our personal values. To drive our lives the way you drive a Prius. To create an Internet of Values.

An Internet (in support) of your values.

obligatory mapping focused reference: one way (right now the most obvious way to me) to implement the internet of values is to present information at the time and place where it can be acted upon. To put your keys on top of the library book you need to return. To provide feedback on your actions quickly enough so that you can alter your actions.

Posted in qpsycho, software, Internet of Values |

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