'What if' Pervasive Computing?

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'What if' Pervasive Computing?

5/2/2005

By Stephen R. Acker

In April of 2005, I attended the Apple Digital Leadership Institute hosted by the University of Missouri (http://edmarketing.apple.com/adcinstitute/).

Each of the 140 attendees who entered the large ballroom on the Columbia campus owned, or was given, a laptop that connected seamlessly to the wireless network that bathed the facility. Two very large monitors flanked the presenters’ dais at the front of the ballroom and the audience was organized in round tables of eight. A group blog, a radical departure from the typical individual blog, gathered the impressions and streams-of-consciousness of those in attendance, and University of Missouri journalism students roved throughout the assembly gathering interviews for podcasting and vodcasting (video podcasting). We had come together to explore pervasive computing, and for at least two days we were living in that future--a universally trained learning community with universal access to the information milieu--an amalgam of live utterance, typed commentary, Google searches, and sharable digital libraries. It was fabulous--we were all always there, always on, and always connected. Yet our individual takeaways were gapped by our individual distribution of attention, for among the constantly clicking keystrokes, many an e-mail was answered and many an IM session was conducted.

Pervasive computing is a seductive idea and I am among its advocates. However, I believe the impacts of pervasive computing will be both positive and negative, and that we should research learning outcomes as pervasive computing grows. On the positive side, engaged audience members can take individual forays into the infosphere and bring back insights to extend a presenter’s talk. Further, the presenter might be more attentive to style and substance if the audience can flee to competitive venues on the Internet.

To test this second hypothesis, at my next public presentation in a pervasive computing environment, I will record my voice and use an ambient microphone to pickup a synchronized audio track from the audience. During playback, I will mute my voice and listen to the audience activity. When the waterfall of audience keystrokes reaches crescendo, I assume my presentation is plodding, pedantic, or uninspired. When the audience is soundless, these will be the points during which the presentation might be worthy of attention. In some sense, this experiment is the creation of a “wiki on the fly,” in which the presenter’s points move forward uncontested by audience “noise” or are drowned out by the collective clacking of indifference.

Pervasive computing offers additional, unchallenged benefits in the asynchronous environment. The literature on adult learning suggests that most adults learn much more in informal settings than in formal, classroom environments. A comprehensive wireless environment offers access to information and needed others between classes. Pervasive computing leverages the teachable moment in ways unavailable when access to resources is placed-based rather than time-based.

On the negative side, pervasive access to both presenting and accessing information results in ideas that may be released prematurely.