Friday, March 14, 2014

SxSW The Internet of Things

I play games. I like board games, card games, and video games. When I was teaching Multimedia, I was able to sneak in a unit on video game design with my students. I found it to be interesting because it introduced design, animation, storyboarding, and programming in one program. Kids who were design-oriented enjoyed designing characters and lands. Kids who were engineer-oriented enjoyed the variable programming aspect of the games they made and shared. 

Game dynamics are pretty similar whether they are in video or board form. 

In the book Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo, the authors outline the components of all games: 

Game Space - rules of life are halted and replaced with rules of the game

Boundaries - the time the game starts and ends as well as the physical space of the game itself. The Monopoly boundaries are the properties and landing spots. The grid spaces on RPG Maker are the programmable boundaries for programming variables of occurrences. 

Rules for Interaction - The rules define the way the game world operates. 

Artifacts - Objects that hold information about the game. Think of game pieces, cards, dice, characters, actions, objects, etc. that are the physical (or virtual) components of a game. 

Goal - The end-state or way of knowing when a game is completed. 

RPG Maker Screen shot
Monopoly board artifacts

In the above pictures, you see the squares of information are the points by which the gamer interacts with a variable. In a board game, a square is usually defined by the image you land on. You can see and hope a dice roll moves you to a particular interactive square or go around it. In a video game, as you establish play, you do not not see the variables until you interact with the game. The variables could be a certain place you step, an object you bounce, or based on the objects you carry at the time of movement. 


In 3D gaming, the grid changes to where all objects in time and space are programmable variables. Not only is it the ground you walk on but it is the air around you and the actual environment you navigate. Each green-box is a programmable variable in this type of video game. 

Now why am I talking about gaming when it comes to Internet of Things?

I started this post to explain gaming because I am fascinated by the parallels of programming games with the new experiences combining Internet of Things with wearable technology and life automation. 

So with all this in mind from gaming, let's look at why IoT is important. 



First, I don't like my phone. I don't like the idea that I still have to open specific apps to interact with information. I think watching Tony Stark in the Iron Movies has ruined me. I am frustrated that my technology isn't working like his technology. And we are so close to it working that way. 

But I want to know why can't my phone use the data that I am inputting into it to give me options from the world around me without requiring me to swipe and input more data into it?

What input? My calendar outlines not only my day but includes physical locations of where I will be at any given hour. I provide descriptive information on my feelings (adjectives) into Twitter and Facebook during the day. My phone knows my location because my location settings are on. My phone has voice recognition software. My phone gauges pressure. 

These are all input. Currently these inputs are collected in specific silos (apps) and not really shared across the operating system of the phone. But I think we are moving there. It's coming. 

What is missing is that the world around me isn't programmed to provide data automatically to my device or its apps. I still have to input. 

Let's take it a step further. I wear a Fitbit. A fitbit is wearable technology. It collects data from me based on the number of steps I take, the amount of calories burned, and how much uninterrupted sleep I have. The sensor collects the data. It beams that data to a sensor on my computer when I am in close proximity to it. The computer then collects the data and sends it up to the web via my account. I can then view the data in an app on my phone or on my computer. 

The wearable technology is passively collecting information from me. I am not having to input a thing. 


So this is the question and focus of what IoT can bring to our world. 

We have all this data we are putting into devices. We have personal data on our health collecting in apps and in the cloud. We are typing adjectives about our personal feelings at the exact moment we are locationally based to products or places where businesses know they can engage us based on the adjective we used at that exact moment. 

But everything is in silos now. 

What happens when our life has its own operating platform and all the data and all the objects we interact with are programmable and accessing the same data? That is Internet of Things. 

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The Internet of Things is the idea of adding programmable tech to everyday individual non-tech items. RFID tags were the initial step of Internet of Things in that you had a sticker tag that was beaming information from an object to some sort of reader. A QR-code is also a type of Internet of Things because the code connects a user to information from a stationary non-tech source (paper). 

IoT is about programming non-tech items into data points of interaction.

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Car Automation is about turning a non-technical device into another node on our personal networks. Apple announced CarPlay last week which is available in some 2014 car models. Automatic is another resource for those who aren't buying a new 2014 Apple car device. 

Imagine as your car gets closer to your home, the lights automatically turn on and your A/C unit starts cooling or heating to your desired temperature. Perhaps your TV automatically sets up to your favorite show for that given day waiting for you to voice-command "start" as soon as you are sitting. 

This is what Internet of Things is about. 

Programming non-tech to be on our own personal network of interactivity without us having to initiate each time. Wearable technology is Internet of Things. A previous post included how Gatorade is delivered automatically to your doorstep once you run 10 miles. 

Our cars, shoes, clothes, vehicles, heart rate, brain wave activity, kitchen appliances, etc. become data points along our personalized platforms of interactivity. 

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I keep thinking of all the discussions in education now about creating new learning spaces by applying new paint colors and mobile furniture. I think we are missing the boat by just looking at the objects as objects to be painted or given wheels. 

As a programmer, I don't see just a classroom with four walls and furniture. I see the grid of the room where objects are programmable to receive and transmit data by location and interaction in the physical and virtual spaces. 

I see learning opportunities in all areas of the school like a layer of learning accessible by cloud activation. Having trouble teaching 21st century learning in your classrooms? Why not create an online training accessible by kids who have 10-minutes while waiting in the cafeteria for food? Why not share a 6-minute financial guide lesson accessible as you walk down D-wing? Why not provide nutritional information about the food served in the cafeteria as well as guidelines for shopping for nutrition in the learning space?

Do your teachers get confused when they take students to the computer lab? Pull up your device in the lab for the menu of options on how to login, what to do when a keyboard is missing, or how to turn on the projector. Automate our interaction with the objects in the room. 

Are you a school that provides walkthroughs for visitors? Why are you pulling staff off their assignments to do that? Why not give out the app to let visitors take a self-guided tour while in your campus? 

You really want to revolutionize classroom instruction and create interactive learning spaces or are you just wanting brighter paint palettes and furniture with wheels?
PE has been using wheels for a while now.


I really hope there is feedback on this post. It is a mind-blowing idea to me and I feel we are just scratching the surface.

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