The Internet of Things in Practice

I once heard Bruce Sterling speak about the Internet of Things, and he sounded completely not credible. When I heard him pronounce with glee, “I call it, a spime!” I could only look down at my lap and close my eyes. Julian Bleeker in his article, however, presents less of a sci-fi perspective and a more practical interpretation of what smarter objects could do for us. Despite being more down to earth, Bleeker still fails to paint a concrete picture of how Things with agency would operate.

The best way to evolve technology and propogate changes in the way people use technology is not to make big changes. Nothing can be declared as “the way of the future” without being somewhat backwards compatable. I do not see the Internet of Things as some fancy new protocol designed to replace anything. Imagine purchasing a set of cheap stickers that you can slap on to any object and tag with its identity. You might have a variety of stickers to choose from, so you can record more information about your Thing. This idea is not outlandish, and it is immediately practical, useful, and desireable. If these objects blog, you can now Google your long underwear or old camp stove rather than look for it. These blogjets could tell you when they are lost. Taking this a step further, if this idea catches on, maybe manufacturers for electronics or power tools might report their status or need for repair. What if your iPod could blog the songs you listened to? Wait a minute, this idea already exists and has been implemented. Unfortunately iPods aren't wireless, but using amaroK, a media player for Linux, one can build an online collection of listening statistics, including what you play on your iPod.

These are actual concrete examples of systems that could be implemented. These ideas are important enough and useful enough that we should not be worried about the semantics of “agency.” Agency seems to boil down to a philosophical question of causality: who is responsible for the information, the Thing or its maker? Let us not be too stuffy about this and other questions such as, will the introduction of spimes spur a new, recycling and reusing relationshipt with our stuff? Right now and in the next few years, that's not practical. Right now, I want to tag my stuff.