Obvious but true concept | Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing

Content and commentary for the layman. | Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing | Adam Greenfield

books:


	• Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing Adam Greenfield New Riders Publishing, 2006 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

A rambling history of ....

The development of everyware (ubiquitous computing, calm technology, pervasive comptuting) poses some interesting questions. However, after I got past the introductory sections, my interest waned.

The book is not technical; I was not looking for that.
The book is not creative; I was looking for that.

"Thesis 11: Everyware appears not merely in more places than personal computing does, but in more different kinds of places, at a greater variety of scales."
That doesn't sound very ground-breaking. But let's see what he says about it. The old places were "coffee houses, transit lounges, airliner seats, hotel rooms, airport concourses". Then he says "How do you begin to discuss the "place" of computing that subsumes all of the above situations, but also invests processing power in refrigerators, elevators, closets, toilets, pens, tollbooths, eyeglasses, utility conduits, pets, sneakers, subway turnstiles, handbags, HvAC equipment, coffee mugs, credit cards, and many other things?" That's it. That's the end of Thesis 11.

And all the quotes and references to the 80s and 90s. I thought I was going to hear about new stuff. Although, if you want to go down memory lane, he's your man. He can reminisce even further back, like to the "fondly and much-beloved Archigram projects of the 1960s".

A couple of reviews mentioned how wonderful a speaker Greenfield was. I can see how he has lots of information to draw from. The writing, however, seems to be that of a rambling history professor.

There was too much name dropping and product dropping for me. For sci-fi enthusiasts there's William Gibson, Phillip Dick, Steven Spielberg. Ah, and the Don Norman references; take heart, he eases off on those mid way through the book. He'll be off to another name in the next paragraph, so you won't learn much about them. On the other hand, I guess that could be a starting point for those who wanted to learn more.

I was looking for some psychological or sociological insight, but didn't find it. "Thesis 18: In many circumstances, we can't really conceive of the human being engaging everyware as a "user". Okay, here we go, potential to get some insight here. What do we get - The word "user" is not very good. So how about "subject"? No that's no good either. End of thesis 18.

From the simple "Thesis 24: Everyware, or something very much like it, is effectively inevitable." to the abstract "Thesis 40: The discourse of seamlessness effaces or elides meaningful distinctions between systems." There is something here for everyone. It might just take you awhile to find it.

for more information click here

Obvious but true concept

Silicon cheaps are cheap to produce. They will appear everywhere in time. Obvious but true concept, but useful if one uses it to consider future designs, investments, strategies, etc.

Content and commentary for the layman.

For those who are "digitally literate" and truly interested in the implications and qualities of embedded computation I recommend Digital Ground: Architecture, Pervasive Computing, and Environmental Knowing.

If you have a penchant for reading and feel largely uninformed on the topic I might recommend this, but with a large grain of salt. Imagine a sci-fi book bereft of plot or characters. (Ironic as he has a section on how much ubi-comp ideas are driven by film -- or more accurately, the kind of narrative that Everyware lacks).

I'm not entirely sure what the intended audience for this book was at its date of publishing, but I can tell you if you now (2010) are actively engaged in digital media as a designer or developer, own an iPhone, and/or are a regular user of facebook or similar, this book is probably not the best use of your time. For those who are not, I agree with another reviewer who states that the presentation is perhaps not as delectable as it could (or should) be.

Despite its relatively clear writing, I found it difficult to sit through his treaties on topics discussed with much more nuance elsewhere. Even when discussing other works he provides neither additional insight or strong contrasting arguments (contrasting statements perhaps, but based on support largely subjective). At one point he comments on Paul Dourish's delve into phenomenology in "Where the Action Is" by saying that not all designers or technologists have the time to inform their ideas with such esoteric research. I agree. This is why books like Dourish's are useful though, as they synthesize large bodies of work, summarize, and make distinct useful statements. Greenfield summarizes a decent collection of related work, but his conclusions are hardly far from what the layman might make if presented with the same content. Yes, the digitization of personal information could, will, or has resulted in the erosion of privacy to mixed results. Yes we'll need to think of this as we move forward. Next topic?

If your position is like mine I recommend skipping to the last few sections on guides for responsible design and engineering. It'd be the best content here on which to try and formulate an interesting or potentially relevant conversation.

for more information click here

Page Turner

One of the reasons I like this book was because it was so well written. This guy is deep, a Webster's Collegiate should be close at hand, because your vocabulary will be expanded. Mostly, this book this thoughtful detailed glimpse into the future provided by Moore's Law. At the end of the book the author does a really gutsy thing, he proposes a lengthy persuasive counter argument of the first half of the book. This is a great book and well worth the cost and the investment of time.

Ubiquitous computing--almost imperceptible, but everywhere around us--is rapidly becoming a reality. How will it change us? how can we shape its emergence?

Smart buildings, smart furniture, smart clothing... even smart bathtubs. networked street signs and self-describing soda cans. Gestural interfaces like those seen in Minority Report. The RFID tags now embedded in everything from credit cards to the family pet.

All of these are facets of the ubiquitous computing author Adam Greenfield calls "everyware." In a series of brief, thoughtful meditations, Greenfield explains how everyware is already reshaping our lives, transforming our understanding of the cities we live in, the communities we belong to--and the way we see ourselves.

What are people saying about the book?

"Adam Greenfield is intense, engaged, intelligent and caring. I pay attention to him. I counsel you to do the same." --HOWARD RHEINGOLD, AUTHOR, SMART MOBS: THE NEXT SOCIAL REVOLUTION

"A gracefully written, fascinating, and deeply wise book on one of the most powerful ideas of the digital age--and the obstacles we must overcome before we can make ubiquitous computing a reality."--STEVE SILBERMAN, EDITOR, WIRED MAGAZINE

"Adam is a visionary. he has true compassion and respect for ordinary users like me who are struggling to use and understand the new technology being thrust on us at overwhelming speed."--REBECCA MACKINNON, BERKMAN CENTER FOR INTERNET AND SOCIETY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Everyware is an AIGA Design Press book, published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

hot