Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium
We connect companies that build personal control over personal data
It is a constant complaint: We’re choking on information. The flood of data on the Web has reached mind boggling proportions, and it shows no signs of stopping. But wait, says Harvard professor Ann Blair in an NPR radio program — this is not a new condition. It’s been part of the human experience for centuries.
Listen to program (or read transcript)
(via InfoDesign)
The idea of sharing things instead of owning them goes against everything we’ve been taught as a consumeristic society.
Those who have spent their lives “keeping up with the Jones’” may find it hard to suddenly relinquish their death-grip on idea that owning things is the path toward happiness. But younger generations, poised to inherit the economic turmoil and environmental disaster caused by consumerism, are increasingly embracing the alternatives offered by collaborative consumption.
Findings of a recent independent study revealed that Millennials (18-34-year-olds) are more willing to used shared vehicles than individuals from previous generations.
The study, commissioned by leading car sharing network Zipcar, surveyed over one thousand adults to better understand the current generation’s attitude toward car ownership.
Frog’s Robert Fabricant breaks down the themes from the 2011 Interaction Design Awards.
“Technologies like cheap sensors and cloud computing are increasingly being used to augment our daily lives in both magical and mundane ways. Everything we do is an app in the making (a million and counting). But in this environment we are also developing a new sensitivity to the thin line between enrichment and annoyance. Which is why interaction design continues to gain prominence as the discipline with the greatest potential to maintain our sanity in this brave new world of distraction. So it was with high hopes that I joined a gathering of some of the best minds in interaction design today, including Massimo Banzi, Janna DeVylder, Matt Jones, Younghee Jung, Jonas Löwgren, and Helen Walters, to judge the first annual Interaction Design Awards sponsored by the IxDA. Our job was to recognize the best examples from 2011 as well as communicate the critical role of good interaction design in our lives. While I cannot share the winners–yet– this experience was a great moment to reflect on the state of interaction design and what it might hold in the next few years.”
NY Times technology reporter Steve Lohr writes on how consumer-based Internet technologies are morphing into new uses in energy conservation, transportation, health care, traffic management and food distribution.
Low-cost sensors, clever software and advancing computer firepower are opening the door to new uses in energy conservation, transportation, health care and food distribution. The consumer Internet can be seen as the warm-up act for these technologies. [...]
“We’re going to put the digital ‘smarts’ into everything,” said Edward D. Lazowska, a computer scientist at the University of Washington. These abundant smart devices, Dr. Lazowska added, will “interact intelligently with people and with the physical world.”
Chip maker and technology group Intel says that women are emerging as the dominant users of technology and if it continues to enhance its ease of use, the fairer sex will continue to dominate the adoption of technology.
This is the opinion of Genevieve Bell, Intel fellow and director of interaction and experience research, who noted that European women spent more time on social networks than men, sent more text messages and used more location-based services on phones.
“What is social proof? Put simply, it’s the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something. It’s also known as informational social influence.
Wikipedia describes social proof as “a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect the correct behavior for a given situation… driven by the assumption that the surrounding people possess more information about the situation.” In other words, people are wired to learn from the actions of others, and this can be a huge driver of consumer behavior.”
The author provides a “teardown” on various forms of social proof, and how some savvy digital companies are starting to measure its impact.
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What happens when one of America’s most successful and beloved companies suggests that consumers reduce their purchasing of new products?
Outdoor outfitter Patagonia did just that – raising the economic ante for Corporate America with a first-of-its-kind “Buy Less, Buy Used” initiative, offered in coordination with eBay and the Common Threads Initiative. Instead of encouraging consumers to buy new Patagonia products on the company’s e-commerce site, the company has suggested that consumers purchase used clothing and gear via eBay auction. Not only does this represent the first time that eBay has sold items directly on another company’s e-commerce site — it represents a radical statement about the future of a U.S. economy predicated upon consumption, planned obsolescence and the relentless celebration of the new and trendy. |
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At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco in September last year, Justin Rattner, the director of Intel Labs, announced a new research division, called Interaction and Experience Research (IXR) and headed by Genevieve Bell, and also presented a new vision of context-aware computers and mobile devices.
Now the Intel website provides some more background on Intel’s work on Context Aware Computing.
Most interestingly, the site goes into some depth on Intel’s current projects that explore the boundaries of context-aware computing:
There is also more information on Intel’s Tomorrow Project & Futurism initiative.
Check the stories by Douglas Rushkoff, Ray Hammond. Scarlett Thomas and Markus Heitz. The next one is by Cory Doctorow, it seems. |
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The World Economic Forum just came out with a report, “Personal Data: The Emergence of a New Asset Class,” that surely is going to raise some controversy, as it explores what it means to commercialise personal data and make good money doing so.
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/Aktiviteter/Book_Cover_with-stroke.jpg%20(200x274).jpg "Innovating with People") |
Last year I wrote about the book “Innovating with people – The business of Inclusive Design” by the Norwegian Design Council.
It provides an introduction as to how Inclusive Design can be used as a strategy for better business and as an opportunity for profitable innovation. At the time the book was not yet widely available. But now it has its own website, where people can purchase a hard copy (for 19.90 euro) or download an extract for free. |
