Showing papers in "IEEE Technology and Society Magazine in 2013"
TL;DR: The term “the quantified self” and its associated movement includes a dedicated website with that title, and regular meetings and conferences, as well as the novel ways of self-tracking using digital technologies that have developed in recent years.
Abstract: The concepts of "self-tracking" and "the quantified self" have recently begun to emerge in discussions of how best to optimize one's life. These concepts refer to the practice of gathering data about oneself on a regular basis and then recording and analyzing the data to produce statistics and other data (such as images) relating to one's bodily functions and everyday habits. Some self-trackers collect data on only one or two dimensions of their lives, and only for a short time. Others may do so for hundreds of phenomena and for long periods.The tracking and analysis of aspects of one's self and one's body are not new practices. People have been recording their habits and health-related metrics for centuries as part of attempts at self-reflection and self-improvement. What is indisputably new is the term “the quantified self” and its associated movement, which includes a dedicated website with that title, and regular meetings and conferences, as well as the novel ways of self-tracking using digital technologies that have developed in recent years. A growing range of digital devices with associated apps are now available for self-tracking. Many of these devicescan be worn on or close to the body to measure elements of the user's everyday life and activities and produce data that can be recorded and monitored by the user. They include not only digital cameras, smartphones, tablet computers, watches, wireless weight scales, and blood pressure monitors, but also wearable bands or patches, clip-on devices and jewelry with embedded sensors able to measure bodily functions or movement and upload data wirelessly. In many of these devices global positioning devices, gyroscopes, altimeters, and accelerometers provide spatial location and quantify movement. These technologies allow self-trackers to collect data on their moods, diet, dreams, social encounters, posture, sexual activity, blood chemistry, heart rate, body temperature, exercise patterns, brain function, alcohol, coffee and tobacco consumption, and many other variables.
112 citations
TL;DR: The enormous amount of information collected by sensor devices allows the automation of several real-time services to improve city management by using intelligent traffic-light patterns during rush hour, reducing water consumption in parks, or efficiently routing garbage collection trucks throughout the city.
Abstract: Local governments have decided to take advantage of the presence of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in their cities to efficiently manage several applications in their daily responsibilities. The enormous amount of information collected by sensor devices allows the automation of several real-time services to improve city management by using intelligent traffic-light patterns during rush hour, reducing water consumption in parks, or efficiently routing garbage collection trucks throughout the city [1]. The sensor information required by these examples is mostly self-consumed by city-designed applications and managers.
48 citations
TL;DR: For a long time, "good" in the technology industry has been bound up with more easily quantifiable things like productivity, computing power, security, novelty, portability, or reduced cost.
Abstract: For a long time, “good” in the technology industry has been bound up with more easily quantifiable things like productivity, computing power, security, novelty, portability, or reduced cost. These are all valid drivers for invention, and they've taken us a long way. But we suggest that these are really proxies to a greater overall goal: happiness. The unspoken assumption is that when we have greater productivity, security, or convenience, life is better and we are happier. So what if we were to address the issue of using technology to increase happiness more directly? Arguably, the pursuit of happiness - or what psychologists refer to with greater precision as “psychological wellbeing” - drives everything we do. But this pursuit is often indirect. Wealth has been the most commonly used proxy for psychological wellbeing. It often seems safe to assume that if people get richer, they get happier, so governments and businesses work to build systems that generate greater wealth and measure success accordingly. But economists themselves have shown that the link between wealth and wellbeing is weaker than we'd like to think, and that beyond the satisfaction of modest needs, more wealth doesn't make a society significantly happier.
36 citations
TL;DR: Evidence is provided that empowering community health workers with appropriate technologies can address primary healthcare needs in developing countries and the potential remedial impact of technology initiatives for empowering Community Health Workers is highlighted.
Abstract: This article will provide evidence that empowering community health workers with appropriate technologies can address primary healthcare needs in developing countries. Through a comparison of case studies from various countries, a review of available resources and challenges facing CHWs, and primary data collected in Kenya, we will highlight the potential remedial impact of technology initiatives for empowering Community Health Workers.
25 citations
TL;DR: Even the effectiveness of initiatives such as security education can be improved if well-known human decision heuristics are taken as initial inputs to improve technical solutions, rather than sources of failure to be bemoaned.
Abstract: Failures of security technology are often attributed to individual fault. The lack of adoption of privacy enhancing technologies is explained as a societal failure, i.e., that people don't care. Security designers consider the individual user to be rational, certain, and self-optimizing. Thus, academic and practitioner efforts have focused on incentive alignment and education. But even the effectiveness of initiatives such as security education can be improved if well-known human decision heuristics are taken as initial inputs to improve technical solutions, rather than sources of failure to be bemoaned.
24 citations
TL;DR: The activist group Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) was founded in 1999 by Katherine Albrecht and Kevin Ashton, co-founder and executive director of the then Auto-ID Center at M.I.T.
Abstract: The activist group Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) was founded in 1999 by ?Katherine Albrecht. The very same year Kevin Ashton, co-founder and executive director of the then Auto-ID Center at M.I.T., made a presentation to Proctor & Gamble with a title that included the phrase ?Internet of Things.? According to Ashton, ?the most numerous and important routers of all? are people [1], but people have limitations and are not very good at capturing data about objects in the physical world.
24 citations
TL;DR: Results are presented from a study carried out in the U.K. exploring the relationships in the PSA-BI model and this is compared with a structural model from a previous study in Japan, allowing us to explore any potential differences and similarities.
Abstract: Ubiquitous Monitoring (UM) describes the continuous collection of data on a large scale, enabled by embedded, mobile, wireless, and sensory technologies [1]. This data will enable the envisioned applications of Ubiquitous Computing. Research has shown that monitoring can affect user behavior [2], which is problematic for ubiquitous computing because the data collected may not fully reflect the reality. Hence, any services provided may not fully align with user expectations or needs. One proposed solution is the use of deterministic models to predict the behaviors of users prior to deployment, reducing the undesirable effects of monitoring. The Perceptions of System Attributes-Behavioral Intention (PSA-BI) model was specifically designed for this purpose [1]. While the model has been validated, the moderating effect of culture has not yet been explored. As such, we present here results from a study carried out in the U.K. exploring the relationships in the PSA-BI model. This is then compared with a structural model from a previous study in Japan [3], [4], allowing us to explore any potential differences and similarities.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe an emerging field addressing fundamental questions about how the information, social, economic, and physical worlds are connected, focusing on the interaction between computing and the social sciences.
Abstract: This book describes an emerging field addressing fundamental questions about how the information, social, economic, and physical worlds are connected. The book was written by two authors at Cornell University, teaching in departments of Economics and Computer Science, who are particularly sensitive to interaction between computing and the social sciences.
21 citations
Journal Article•
16 citations
TL;DR: Around the world, CEOs and senior managers of healthcare systems are asking themselves how best to deal with the challenges of today?s rapidly changing healthcare landscape and the solutions they opt for must be solidly grounded on fundamental values.
Abstract: Around the world, CEOs and senior managers of healthcare systems are asking themselves how best to deal with the challenges of today?s rapidly changing healthcare landscape. The solutions they opt for must be solidly grounded on fundamental values that will guide future practices, decisions, and standards.
16 citations
TL;DR: The goal of an RFID-backed community healthcare solution is to enable easy and reliable identification of individual patients, maintain more accurate medical records, facilitate better healthcare, and enhance the quality of life in communities that are remote from a central medical facility.
Abstract: The paper states that community-based healthcare is increasingly important for the well-being of inhabitants of emerging economies. The community model is needed partly because roads are less developed, limiting patients ability to commute from distant villages to central medical facilities. Also, developing countries have a large rural population base. Some estimates are that rural agriculture employs 75% of the population in developing countries.The goal of an RFID-backed community healthcare solution is to enable easy and reliable identification of individual patients, maintain more accurate medical records, facilitate better healthcare, and enhance the quality of life in communities that are remote from a central medical facility. In addition, it can also help to relieve the workload pressure on the central medical facility when it is overcrowded and can increase revenue opportunities by broadening the base of patients to include more remote locations. It may also help to improve the efficiency of the central medical facility, allowing it to focus resources on cases that require more specialized attention and care.
TL;DR: The impact and benefits for public organizations of cloud services are explained and issues of why governments are slow to adopt use of the cloud are explored.
Abstract: Governments are facing reductions in ICT budgets just as users are increasing demands for electronic services. One solution announced aggressively by vendors is cloud computing. Cloud computing is not a new technology, but it is a new way of offering services, taking into consideration business and economic models for providing and consuming ICT services. The paper explains the impact and benefits for public organizations of cloud services and explore issues of why governments are slow to adopt use of the cloud.
TL;DR: During the 15 years of research examining the brain electrical activity and behavior of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), there has been an increase in the use of technology and gaming in the treatment of this disorder.
Abstract: Parents often express concerns about that technology, particularly video has on their children. Indeed, have been associated with problems social isolation and a drop-off in academic achievement, and games containing violence shown to increase aggressive thoughts and. Frequent interaction with video games been associated with subsequent problems functions such as attention and impulse-control However, it is important to note that technology and video games can also be used to improve behavior. During my 15 years of research examining the brain electrical activity and behavior of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), there has been an increase in the use of technology and gaming in the treatment of this disorder.
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TL;DR: There are numerous risk-reduction technologies that can be deployed to minimize risk while still maintaining the efficiencies created by efficiency-raising technologies.
Abstract: Technology is a source of risk. Technology is a risk not only because it often has unintended consequences, but also because accelerating technological change creates compound risks resulting from multiple interacting technologies. More importantly, a fast changing technological environment introduces additional risk because of the numerous social, economic, and political opportunities it creates, and because of the threats it facilitates. In a competitive world, taking advantage of these new opportunities, and protecting against emerging threats are constant battles not only for individuals, but also for businesses and governments. These risks are most pronounced in global communication, military, and banking systems, but no social institution is immune. Reduction of these risks should be a major concern for all social institutions. The undesirable consequences need to be dealt with before, not after they occur. There are numerous risk-reduction technologies that can be deployed to minimize risk while still maintaining the efficiencies created by efficiency-raising technologies.
TL;DR: This work studies how trust can be facilitated among entities to build sustainable networks with limited resources or misbehaving entities by learning from the lessons in the social sciences and investigates how socio-cognitive models of trust may enhance the sustainability of a system.
Abstract: Trust is modeled in many disciplines as a key factor in determining if entities cooperate with each other. In the social sciences, particularly within the social, economic, and environmental domains, trust has received considerable attention as the key element to building sustainable societies. However, in the networking and telecommunications fields, trust-based approaches to developing sustainable systems have yet to be examined. In this work, we study how trust can be facilitated among entities to build sustainable networks with limited resources or misbehaving entities by learning from the lessons in the social sciences. We discuss the multifaceted relationships of trust with both security and decision making. We also investigate how socio-cognitive models of trust may enhance the sustainability of a system. We discuss ways to make more intelligent interactions based on trust and economic principles.
TL;DR: This essay draws on the history of engineering and research ethics, and on the way priorities in those disciplines were established in the United States, to discuss how to teach social responsibility in research ethics.
Abstract: In this essay I draw on the history of engineering and research ethics, and on the way priorities in those disciplines were established in the United States, to discuss how we should teach social responsibility in research ethics. Following Deborah Johnson, I use the term ?social responsibility? in the sense of having a moral obligation ?to protect the safety and welfare of society? [1]-[3].1 I focus on one obstacle in teaching this aspect of research ethics: the long-standing belief that social responsibility is not the primary concern of scientists because they produce basic knowledge rather than technology. In this view, scientific knowledge is seen as neutral, neither good nor bad, and those who apply this knowledge, mainly engineers, should bear the primary social responsibility for its use.
TL;DR: How multiplexed networked individuated communications are creating new contexts for human behavior within communities is explored, particularly noting the shift from synchronous to asynchronous communication as an adaptation.
Abstract: The permeation of the mobile platform is creating a shift in community behavior What began with a few individuals, has now quickly replicated as many people communicate not only through mobile phones, but through smartphones that are multi-functioning communications computers Mobile devices have broadened people's capability and reach, and within that context, people have adapted their behavior to adjust to communications "on the go" In this article we explore how multiplexed networked individuated communications are creating new contexts for human behavior within communities, particularly noting the shift from synchronous to asynchronous communication as an adaptation
TL;DR: A world of ubiquitous computing, full of networked mobile and embedded technologies, is approaching, and the benefits of this technology are numerous, and ubiquitous monitoring acts as the major driving force behind its development.
Abstract: Aworld of ubiquitous computing, full of networked mobile and embedded technologies, is approaching. The benefits of this technology are numerous, and act as the major driving force behind its development. These benefits are brought about, in part, by ubiquitous monitoring (UM): the continuous and wide spread collection of significant amounts of data about users [1].
TL;DR: The recent advancement of Web-based collaboration tools and social networking platforms has enabled a new type of pervasive working environment where barriers imposed by geographical expanse are diminishing due to the authors' increasing technological "connectedness".
Abstract: The recent advancement of Web-based collaboration tools and social networking platforms has enabled a new type of pervasive working environment. People have the ability to create content, perform interactions, and collaborate online by using Web 2.0 technologies. Barriers imposed by geographical expanse are diminishing due to our increasing technological "connectedness."
TL;DR: Access to clean and renewable energy technology and services can make a difference in rural South Asia if those resources are also targeted at improving women's access and welfare.
Abstract: As feminist scholars have long argued, there are no purely technological solutions to achieving progress on gender equity and women's empowerment. Nevertheless, in rural South Asia, where many women's lives are marked by gender inequalities, access to clean and renewable energy technology and services can make a difference if those resources are also targeted at improving women's access and welfare. This, however, compels us to go “beyond the meter.” Special social and technical interventions that simultaneously target energy access and gender equity are necessary.
TL;DR: How an innovative ICT tool called “mHEHealthPrimary Health Care” (mHEALTH-PHC) can be used to meet the primary healthcare requirements of the community is described.
Abstract: Access to timely, quality healthcare is one of the important issues concerning communities in rural India, among many others such as education, safe drinking water, transport, approach roads, and electricity. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has made a significant impact on the functioning of enterprises and urban communities; however, the benefits of ICT are yet to reach rural communities. This article describes how an innovative ICT tool called “mHEALTHPrimary Health Care” (mHEALTH-PHC) can be used to meet the primary healthcare requirements of the community. The MHEALTH-PHC tool was developed after studying the needs and the logistic problems related to primary healthcare of the rural tribal population of villages in India.
TL;DR: Ultimately the fog has to lift from the clearing to see, through adequate ontological concepts, that and how all beings are in estimating interplay with one another and above all, that human beings strive to be somewho in a free power play with each other.
Abstract: Heidegger's reading of the essence of Technik is beset with a fatal ambiguity between technology and technique, which can be traced back further to an ambiguity lodged in the heart of Aristotle's metaphysical concept of power This unresolved ambiguity, in turn, is intimately related to the historical cover-up of the twofold in the manifold of being between whatness (quiddity) and whoness (quissity) This cover-up is exposed using the example of the art of rhetoric Ultimately the fog has to lift from the clearing to see, through adequate ontological concepts, that and how all beings are in estimating interplay with one another (the much abused phenomenon of value) and above all, that human beings strive to be somewho in a free power play with each other
TL;DR: Hands-free no-look texting while driving involves the use of technology that can translate text into audio, and voice into text, and one concern regards what could be called “no-look” texting whiledriving.
Abstract: Multiple countries across the globe and thirty-nine states in the U.S. have banned the act of sending “text messages” on handheld cell phones while behind the wheel of a car. The scientific research shows texting to result in substantial driver distraction. And a rough consensus between science, policy, and public opinion appears to be emerging that the distraction caused by the acts of physically typing into a phone and looking at a screen constitutes a significant threat to traffic safety. But as cellular phone technologies develop, as policies are formed, and as user practices become established, new issues of concern are emerging. One concern regards what could be called “no-look” texting while driving. Hands-free no-look texting while driving involves the use of technology that can translate text into audio, and voice into text.
TL;DR: This project is first and foremost a futures oriented product for the purpose of thinking about - in advance - risk and resilience analysis and management for a time that is beginning to feel familiar - if yet to come.
Abstract: In this article we introduce the concept of a human information appliance as a merging of advanced information technologies architectures (Martin Libicki) - Jeff Raskin's 1978 idea of an "information appliance" - and advancing science and engineering in cybernetics (the fusion of human and machine into a hybrid entity. That we create this technology/entity for the purpose of conducting and advancing situational awareness capability in intelligence - homeland - and diplomacy spaces - invokes the primary environment of national security critical infrastructures and their protection (CIP) for which we must investigate performance and risk dimensions in the future states that we describe. Due to the unique nature of this technology as a function of human evolution and human enhancement - we identify the variable of public human ethics for inclusion into the policy decision-matrix for our open society. This is initiated by examining the ethics of human enhancement in another national security scenario that involves information technology for enhancement outcomes within the realm of genetic therapy applied to weaponization and corresponding defensive technologies.
TL;DR: The experience of the University of Puerto Rico's College of Business Administration in crafting, translating, implementing, and challenging a declaration of their common values is recounted.
Abstract: How do ethics apply to computer programming, or to software development? Another question is “How can software design-specifically values-based design-advance the discipline of ethics?” The answer is that techniques used in realizing values in educational computer games can help faculty communities develop statements of values. This article explains how, and recounts the experience of the University of Puerto Rico's College of Business Administration in crafting, translating, implementing, and challenging a declaration of their common values.
TL;DR: The author thinks the authors shouldn't be thinking brand liking or brand love, but be defining "high-tech lust," an overwhelming desire or craving to be "with" their device, all the time.
Abstract: The author thinks we shouldn't be thinking brand liking or brand love, but be defining "high-tech lust." Lust can be defined as: "an overwhelming desire or craving." When we couple it with technology it is an overwhelming desire or craving to be "with" our device, all the time. She has seen first-hand and on numerous occasions, people become strongly agitated or extremely fidgety, emotionally fall apart, and constantly crave to be reunited with their high-tech device when they have left it behind or it is misplaced. She cannot describe it in any other way than there every thought is obsessed by its absence. Desires and cravings if not tempered can work to have negative consequences. The folly is in that we are willingly beckoning in these times without thinking about the social implications for us and for future generations. Rather than lusting for our high-tech gadgetry we should be lusting for life - there is a difference. When high-tech lust turns ugly it becomes high-tech disdain. We can develop a dislike, and even disgust for technological apparatus. We may even seek in-part or total separation away from it. It becomes the opposite of brand love; it becomes brand hate. Some parents regret the day they handed their child an Internet-enabled computer, registered an e-mail address or bought a smartphone for them. But we should never be surprised at the usage patterns of the younger generation. They are only mimicking our behaviors and at even greater speeds.
TL;DR: SRDI, with funding from Katalyst, contracted out the development of the Fertilizer Recommendation Software (FRS) database and paid for the digitization of the supporting information tables.
Abstract: Agriculture is Bangladesh's most important sector for sustaining growth and reducing poverty. However, a lack of adequate nutrient supply, the depletion of organic matter in soils, and soil erosion are major obstacles to sustainable improvements in agricultural production. Katalyst initiated and supported a process where SRDI would collaborate with a Bangladeshi software developer to design a computerized decision support system able to undertake the calculation for providing localized fertilizer recommendations for individual farmers. Katalyst funded the development of this software (although SRDI would own the application). Katalyst also paid for the digitization of the supporting information tables initially for 30 upazilas, selected as pilots for the program, although this has now been extended to effectively all of upazilas in Bangladesh. SRDI, with funding from Katalyst, contracted out the development of the Fertilizer Recommendation Software (FRS) database.
TL;DR: Given that Project Glass connects wearers en-mass and ostensibly ensures that they can continue with physical activity hands-free, it creates arguably one of the largest known veillance vehicles into previously unmapped territories that humans already frequent.
Abstract: The paper mentions that Project Glass is a research and development program by Google to develop an augmented reality head-mounted display (HMD). The intended purpose of Project Glass products is the hands-free display of information available to most smartphone users, allowing for interaction with the Internet via natural language voice commands. Given that Project Glass connects wearers en-mass and ostensibly ensures that they can continue with physical activity hands-free, it creates arguably one of the largest known veillance vehicles into previously unmapped territories that humans already frequent. A hands-free, fashionable, and constantly connected technology positions the product well among the seemingly unending array of Google's seamless and integrated services.
TL;DR: At the Intellect 2012 conference in London, Liam Maxwell, Cabinet Office Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) futures, championed that OS is the future model for delivering IT.
Abstract: Open Source (OS) [1], [2] refers to a new software development paradigm where volunteers collaboratively create software. The promise of OS is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to vendor lock-in. At the Intellect 2012 conference in London [3], Liam Maxwell, Cabinet Office Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) futures, championed that OS is the future model for delivering IT.