2009 Horizon Report Australia-New Zealand Edition

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Four to Five Years: Smart Objects and Devices

Smart objects and devices connect objects in the physical world with one another and with relevant information. A host of underlying technologies support smart objects, but the key to their potential is not in the technology but in its ability to collect, store, and transmit data about themselves and the world around them. Smart objects and devices are increasingly common in the consumer world, but they are just beginning to enter the educational arena. Early applications focus on real-world data collection and linking multimedia information to everyday objects, but additional uses are emerging as the supporting technologies become smaller, cheaper, and easier to use.

Overview

Smart objects are physical things connected to the virtual world through information, such as where they are located, what they are, who is using them, and how they are being used. This connection can be as simple as a printout of a quick response (QR) code taped onto the object that leads to a URL, or as complex as an embedded microchip and sensor apparatus that gathers, stores, and transmits data. Other technologies that support smart objects and devices include RFID tags, smart cards, and increasingly tiny and flexible sensors.

Smart devices take this capability one step further, combining the ability to collect and transmit information with the means to immediately use that information. The Pulse smart pen by Livescribe is such a tool; used with special paper, the pen can record and play back audio (a lecture, meeting, or conversation) that corresponds with notes taken with the pen while the speaker was talking. The Amazon Kindle is another such device. The Kindle can connect to the network, download and store reading material, keep track of the reader’s current position, and so on.

Smart objects and devices have been in use in the consumer world for some time, for everything from enhanced advertising to medical equipment tracking in hospitals. Increased capabilities allow objects to sense and communicate with other smart objects and to report and update their own history and status. The data collected by smart objects and devices has many uses, from monitoring a person’s health remotely, to keeping tabs on energy usage and efficiencies in buildings, to tracking the movements of objects over time as they are used or transferred from one owner to another. Such tools also have the potential to impact a variety of field-based disciplines like medicine, anthropology, ecology, journalism, ethnography, and many others.

Many smart objects are not inherently more capable than their normal counterparts. They can be very simple and have only a single essential function, like the Kindle. But because they are connected with information in the online world, they have more potential than unconnected objects. A poster for a local concert can include a printed QR code that, when photographed by a mobile phone with a free QR reader, provides a URL that includes information about the band, audio and video clips, record sales, and upcoming events in other places. The person who sees the poster does not need to remember the band’s name or remember to look it up later — all the information needed to link the viewer with the band is there in the QR code.

Smart object technology continues to develop. One key factor that will greatly influence the widespread adoption and use of smart objects is the standard for assigning unique identifiers. Mass production requires a vast number of unique IDs to distinguish, say, one mop or tire or pen from another. Organisations like the Internet Protocol for Smart Objects Alliance (IPSO) are seeking to promote the adoption of Internet protocol (IP) as the network for tracking and connecting smart objects. Formed in January 2009, IPSO comprises fifty companies — including Cisco, Intel, Sun, and others — who are working with standards organisations to promote acceptance and use of a unified standard for networking smart objects.

In order for the vision of ubiquitous, inexpensive smart objects and devices to be realised, many believe that IP version 6 (IPv6) must be in place. The Internet today is supported by IPv4, and IPSO recognises the importance for interoperability; however, the alliance also acknowledges the importance of features in IPv6 — such as increased address space and address auto-configuration — that will open up the possibilities for smart objects to become adopted into common use.

Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Enquiry

Certain forms of smart objects, especially RFID- tagged books and materials, have been in use in campus libraries for years; likewise, barcodes have been used to track inventory, and students are quite familiar with smartcards that buy their meals and give them access to dormitories and labs. As smart objects and devices continue to penetrate the consumer market, they will also find larger and more widespread use on campuses.

Devices like the Pulse pen, the Kindle, and the Sony Reader have obvious application for students. The Pulse pen records an entire lecture or presentation while the user listens, changing the nature of note taking by allowing the listener to take reflective notes that are tied to a particular point in time rather than attempting to record exactly what is being said. When the student reviews his or her notes later, tapping the pen on a written word plays back what the teacher was saying at the moment in time when that note was written. Recordings and notes can be stored and searched on the student’s computer or uploaded for review and sharing. The pen can also translate a few dozen words from English into Spanish, Swedish, Arabic, or Mandarin: simply write the word or phrase, and then select the desired translation to hear it spoken. Electronic readers like the Kindle are an ideal platform for course readings, being lighter than full-size textbooks (and often cheaper in the long run). A number of universities are beginning to offer textbooks on these platforms.

Sensor technologies — including accelerometers, temperature and pressure sensors, and GPS — are increasingly small and cheap, making precision data collection far easier. Mobile devices can be used to identify and explore smart objects, a fact that is beginning to be exploited for educational uses. Mobilae, a project at Western Sydney Institute in New South Wales is incorporating smart objects with mobile technologies to link real-world objects with text, photographs, sound, and video. Students use mobiles to identify the smart objects, which are tagged with 2D barcodes, and to access the related multimedia content. The project also seeks to explore ways to gather evidence using mobile devices.

As smart objects and devices become more common and as the technologies that support them continue to evolve, we will see additional educational applications for the linking of the physical and the virtual.

A sampling of applications of smart objects and devices across disciplines includes the following:

• Engineering. Using relatively inexpensive smart technology embedded into the infrastructure of bridges, civil engineers can track shifts in temperature, expansion and contraction, and vibration and erosion; students have access to the same information and can study the effects of stress and weather on complex structures in real time.
• Marine Biology. Researchers at the University of Melbourne and James Cook University are deploying a multi-depth wireless sensor network to detect temperature differences in the waters around the reef. The sensors relay their data to an onshore system where it is used to draw a 3D picture of temperature upwellings that may affect plankton populations.
• Nursing. A project co-engineered by IBM and Google gathers patient data, such as blood pressure, heart rate, and glucose levels, and transmits the information to a central computer, allowing for remote monitoring of multiple patients.

Smart Objects and Devices in Practice

The following links provide examples of smart objects and devices in educational settings.

The Educational Point of View
http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/the-educational-point-of-view
(Leigh Blackball, Learn Online, 26 March 2009.) EDUPOV’s camera-glasses provide a unique point-of-view experience that can be used for remote assessment and development of instructional materials. As an example, watch this video: using EDUPOV’s mobile device, a chef from Otego Polytechnic prepares a variety of culinary delicacies, including saffron ice cream and duck confit (http://www.youtube.com/user/adrianwoodhouse).

IBM Australia Smarter Energy Video
http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2009/07/ibm-australia-smarter-energy-video.html
This video describes the Australian initiative to use smart grids as an energy efficient part of the power supply. Smart meters at home, work, or school would save additional energy and money.

NEC’s Visual Processors Help Cars Spot Objects on the Fly http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/12/necs-visual-pro (Jose Fermosa, Wired, 23 December 2008.) Smart chips embedded in automobiles detect objects in the road, including stop signs and pedestrians. The software assists in lessening delayed reactions from drivers, which is the main cause of accidents.

RFID Tags Survive Hospital Sterilization
http://www.rfidupdate.com/articles/index.php?id=1775
(Brian Albright, RFID Update, 7 April 2009.) RFID tags have long been used in hospitals to locate and track equipment. Unfortunately, facilities have been unable to use the tags on surgical equipment that must undergo severe sterilisations. A recent breakthrough has allowed the University of California San Diego Medical Center to use durable RFIDs to track and locate surgical equipment, saving time and money.

Siftables: Making the Digital Physical
http://www.siftables.com
Siftables are small, block-like smart objects that include a digital display and the ability to sense their own location, orientation and the proximity of other Siftables. The blocks interact with one another to communicate, spell, create music, and solve math problems. The link above provides a brief video demonstration.

Tweet-a-Watt Crowned Winner of Greener Gadgets 2009 Design Competition
http://www.engadget.com/tag/greener%20gadgets
(Ross Miller, Engadget, 2 March 2009.) The Tweet-a-watt sends daily wireless updates about power consumption via Twitter, allowing homeowners to track their power usage.

For Further Reading

The following articles and resources are recommended for those who wish to learn more about smart objects and devices.

Dell Looks to Turn Netbooks into Navigation Devices
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/dell-netbooks
(Priya Ganapati, Wired, 1 July 2009.) Dell combines a small laptop, or netbook, with a GPS system that delivers turn-by-turn instruction. The device also makes the netbook location- aware, allowing for easy geotagging of blog entries, photographs, and more.

Interactive Technology Keeps Classes ‘Relevant’
http://mlearningworld.blogspot.com/2009/05/interactive-technology-keeps-classes.html
(Matthew Nehrling, mLearning-World.com, 1 May 2009.) Interactive technology like the InterWrite pad keeps students and teachers equally engaged in lectures. This article describes a variety of technologies used in the classroom.

IPSO Alliance Demonstrates Smart Objects at Las Vegas Expo
http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/559-ipso-alliance-demonstrates-smart-objects-at-las-vegas-expo.html
(Smart Meters, 20 June 2009.) Green energy smart tools take humidity, temperature, and light readings from points across the globe, then transmit that data to a central location. Each device costs less than AU$8, making this technology efficient and cost-effective.

Letting Google Take Your Pulse
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/04/google-ibm-healthcare-technology-internet_0205_google.html
(Andy Greenberg, Forbes, 5 February 2009.) Google and IBM launch a collaborative project that enables medical equipment to send data to a patient’s online health chart.

Spime Watch: Cisco Launches Consortium for ‘Smart Objects’
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2008/09/spime-watch-cis
(Bruce Sterling, Wired, 25 September 2008.) An alliance of leading tech companies, IPSO aims to promote Internet protocol (IP) as the method of collecting and sharing data gathered by smart objects.

The Use of QR Codes in Education:A Getting Started Guide for Academics
http://opus.bath.ac.uk/11408/1/getting_started_with_QR_Codes.pdf
(A. Ramsden, University of Bath Opus, 2008.) This paper is how-to guide for using quick response (QR) codes in the classroom. The au- thor offers clear instruction and explanation of the uses of these codes.

Delicious: Smart objects and Devices
http://delicious.com/tag/hz09au+smartobject
(Australia–New Zealand Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2009.) Follow this link to find resources tagged for this topic and this edition of the Horizon Report, including the ones listed here. To add to this list, simply tag resources with “hz09au” and “smartobject” when you save them to Delicious.