Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Pervasive Computing, DOOH, Intelligent Buildings, Programmable Nano-based Sensors, Privacy & Security, & Ethics...hmmm
Through my coursework and readings, I've become more aware of issues that we face in the future regarding the use of intelligent agents within the applications and related technologies that are cropping up in public spaces. Most people who pass by digital displays in retail settings don't know that quite a bit of information can be gathered about them, without their knowledge or permission, via camera-enabled technology, embedded in the displays around them.
These issues have been percolating for quite some time. Most recently, a company from China, Danoo, has partnered with Blue Bite, to use location scouting and scalable web technologies to provided very specific marketing content to people as they are out and about. To participate in this process, detailed metrics regarding the user/customer is required. Although I assume this information is used for marketing purposes only, the data generated by this system, over time, would generate quite a bit of fodder for someone who was interested in using this information for ill-intended purposes.
From what I can tell, this is a topic that is not on the radar of the mainstream population. I'm concerned that we don't have a forum for sharing information and gathering input from the general public about this matter.
Perhaps there is some hope.
Christine Peterson, of the Foresight Nanotech Institute, raises some key issues and important questions that need further discussion in her talk, "Open Source Physical Security: Can we have both?"(pdf), part of the O'Reily Open Source Convention held in 2008. Christine is invovled in the Open Source Sensing initiative, one of the projects of the Foresight Institute.
The following byline and related graphic, taken from the Open Source Sensing website highlights why this is very important:
"Pervasive sensing is arriving soon - we have a short window of opportunity for guiding this technology to protect both our security *and* our privacy."
Christine asks the question, "Who can figure out whether & how to collect public sensing data? She states that we "need a community that understands the relationships between security, privacy, functionality (and) freedom".
Christine points out that governments use a "top-down" approach to a "bottom-up" problem. This process, she defines, is centralized, mandatory, monolithic, limited in participation, secretive, and leads to a "Surveillance State". (Think "1984").
The biggest problem, in my opinion, related to this topic, is that it affects a wide range of sectors that are in the process of converging, and this convergence appears to be market-driven. Intelligent Buildings. Digital Out of Home. Interactive Display Marketing Systems. Mobile Gaming. Location-Based Media. Some of these issues are becoming important areas of concern in academia, particularly with those involved in privacy/security, pervasive computing research, and so forth.
Video of Presentation
RELATED:
Some socio-technical aspects of intelligent buildings and pervasive computing research (pdf)
Vic Callaghan, Graham Clark, Jeannette Chin of the Digital Lifestyles Centre, University of Essex
Intelligent Buildings International (1)
"In this article we have discussed how embedded intelligent agents might contribute to future directions of intelligent buildings and smart environments, together with raising social consequence of their use. Currently there is an increasing level of debate on ethical issues such as privacy in ICT, particularly with respect to technologies such as identity and loyalty cards, data mining, internet search engines and RFID tags. As computer scientists actively researching the technologies involved, we have sought to extend this discussion into the area of intelligent buildings and smart environments....we have found ourselves dealing with questinos that concern the ethics of specific aspects of intelligent buildings and smart environments together with its potential for being turned from a beneficial technology for both the individual and society into its opposite....These issues are also critical for all those pursuing ambient intelligence projects which intail the widespread deployment of intelligent agents."
Foresight: Open Source Sensing
Open Source Sensing Blog "Maximizing benefits and minimizing downsides of the Sensing Age"
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Technology-Supported Shopping and Entertainment User Experience at Ballantyne Village: "A" for concept, "D" for touch-screen usability
There is a relatively new shopping and entertainment center, Ballantyne Village, in Charlotte, N.C. that was developed in partnership with Cisco Systems Connected Real Estate and Intelligent Buildings. The goal of this project was to use innovative technologies to plan, implement, maintain, and update a customer and tenant-focused environment. This concept is sure to catch on.
Free WiFi service is available to visitors in and around the center, even at the fountain. The video security system is networked. In the movie theater's bathrooms, an e-mail is automatically sent to the manager's computer when the paper towel dispensers are low on paper. There are several interactive large touch-screen displays located around center. The displays can be easily updated to provide visitors with information about the various stores, sales, and types of activities available at Ballantyne Village.
I first learned about this center last year, when I was taking Human-Computer Interaction and Ubiquitous Computing. Since part of my work focused on large interactive touch-screen displays, I was interested to see if the screens at the Ballantyne Village center would hold up to usability standards. I had previously watched a promotional video about the center, and was hoping that the displays would prove to be "useful, usable, and used".
The promotional video will show you why I was excited about Ballantyne Village.
Purpose of my visit:
Since I was new to Ballantyne Village center, my primary goal was to quickly learn more about the shops, all located outdoors, and target my shopping around sales. Since it was a gray, cold, and rainy February day, I didn't want to spend my time exploring the center by foot. I also wanted to take a quick peek at the layout of the center to learn about other services, such as restaurants, coffee shops, and services, in order to plan ahead for future visits.
Critique
To get the full picture of my experience, first view the unedited video-clips.
Note: The narrative is what came out of my mouth as I interacted with the screens, and the perspective is first-person. This is NOT a polished voice-over.
First experience: Fade to red
Second Experience: Chasing the Red Ball
Third experience: Difficulty with navigation
The large interactive touch screen displays I found at Ballantyne Village didn't live up to potential, nor did they help me achieve my goals as a first-time visitor who happened to have some time and money for an after-work shopping session.
They displays were attractive, but they weren't very useful. They were difficult to use, and during the time I spent exploring the displays, I was the only person who interacted with the screens or noticed the other forms of digital signage in the area.
As I approached the first screen, I noticed that in order to activate the display, I had to chase a red ball around the screen. The migrating red ball attracted me to the screen, but it wasn't always functional. On the first display, as soon as I managed to touch the ball, the screen faded to red, and did not reactivate. I chased a ball on another screen, but it did not activate at all.
I was able activate another screen which allowed me to navigate and find more information. Unfortunately, the content wasn't well-organized or as interactive as I'd expected.
The display performed as if it wanted to be both a video infomercial AND an interactive website at the same time. Web-like navigation conventions, such as a back arrow and navigation bars did not always activate when touched. This might have been related to a screen calibration problem.
There were many on-screen items that were puzzling. There was a rotating map of a large view of the Ballantyne Village area that didn't seem to provide information when touched. There was another image of the main building, with small billboards displayed that looked like they were navigation tools, but did nothing when clicked. Some menu items activated when clicked, but the sub-menus that displayed did not link to anything. I never found out about the sales!
I gave up:
I wonder if the same people behind the touch-screen application at Ballantyne Village were also responsible for the user-unfriendly interactive touch-screen map I experienced at the Cleveland Clinic:
User Unfriendly Information Kiosk Map
I'm still looking for user-friendly, useful examples of large touch-screen applications in public spaces, so if you know of any, please leave a comment and a link!
In my opinion, more work needs to be done to ensure that touch-screen interaction in public spaces is truly user-friendly. For more about interaction and usability, read my post, Reflections on Interaction: Update.
