The Internet of Things (IoT).
These potential stocking stuffers are fun, but why should educators and health care professionals care about the Internet of Things (IoT)?
Abstract
BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS COLUMN, THE HOLIDAY SEASON WILL LONG BE OVER. But as I write, I am still searching for the perfect gifts for my tech-savvy family and friends. You can imagine my excitement when I found Liz Gannes' article (2012), "LeWeb's 'Internet of Things' Makes for a Shopping List Full of Smart Gadgets." It's a terrific source for great gift ideas. Gannes describes the stocking stuffers showcased at the LeWeb conference in Paris in early December, with the theme "Internet of Things." Here are just a few of the smart gadgets she describes. * For those with young children or grandchildren, purchase a magical stuffed animal powered by your iPhone or iPod (www.ubooly.com). It will talk with the child, tell jokes, and provide branching stories and games. You can get a subscription for monthly updates. * Perhaps one of your relatives could use the InteraXon Muse, a brainwave-monitoring headband that includes apps for healthy brain training. It uses Bluetooth technology to transmit the information. Look for the video about thought control computing that allows a person to control physical objects (http://interaxon.ca/blog/2010/12/ ariel-garten-speaks-at-leweb-2010/). * For colleagues who must attend faculty meetings, consider purchasing the Double (www.doublerobotics.com). These wheels for iPads are targeted to those who want to teleconference in real time and have mobility. * For those making New Year's resolutions to be healthier and control their weight, there is the Withings wireless bathroom scale (www.withings.com), which communicates with an app on your smartphone. The company also has a smart blood pressure monitor and a baby monitor. A product called FitBit (www.fitbit.com) will help you eat better (log your food through your mobile app, follow your caloric intake), get active (track your steps and distance), manage your weight (the Aria[TM] smart scale interacts with apps), and sleep better (measure how long and how well you sleep). These potential stocking stuffers are fun, but why should educators and health care professionals care about the Internet of Things (IoT)? After all, the term lot has been around since 1999 (Ashton, 2009), and the 2012 education edition of the Horizon Report (Johnson, Adams, & Cummins, 2012) projects IoT to be on the far horizon of four to five years. But higher education always seems to lag behind. Knowles (2012) predicts that 2013 will be the year of Iot. Humphries (2012) notes that "there are roughly two Internet-connected devices for every man, woman and child on the planet. By 2025, analysts are forecasting that this ratio will rise past six. This means we can expect to grow to nearly 50 billion Internet-connected devices in the next decade." According to Humphries, IoT will allow us to have a "real time digital representation of our changing world." That fits with one of the megatrends, the drive for details, and "with that comes increased knowledge and levels of specialization," corresponding to society's obsession with data and how to translate data into knowledge and wisdom. Most important for us, examples of IoT are percolating in the health care arena. So what exactly is it? Knowles (2012) simply describes IoT as "the way in which objects around us will gather data and connect to controls or other machines via the Internet." Ashton (2009) uses the term to "describe a system where the Internet is connected to the physical world via ubiquitous sensors." According to the Horizon Report (Johnson et al., 2012, p. 30), IoT "is the latest evolution of network-aware smart objects that connect the physical world with information." Several attributes are associated with these smart objects; they are small, easy to attach and unobtrusive, contain a unique identifier and data or information, and can connect with an external device on demand (e.g., your smartphone or tablet). Accordingly, these smart objects have the capability to digitally manage, monitor, and track physical objects in addition to providing accessible information such as descriptions, instructions, and tutorials. …