the changing nature of things: getting ready for a connected world
TRANSCRIPT
The changing nature of things Getting ready for a connected world
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino designswarm @iotwatch
First UK distributor of the Arduino (2007-2010)
Product & interaction designer
Consultant designswarm
Founder Good Night Lamp (2010-now)
About me
Summary
We are building a grass-roots revolution in the way we interact with the built environment. We need to be ready to see things we previously chose to ignore. We will need to change the way we do business and interact with customers.
The internet of things
Ubiquitous connectivity & digital services connected to real world events. Embedding cheap sensors, actuators, connectivity or cloud services in previously “dumb” objects.
• Hardware components were expensive
• Specialist knowledge & expensive “design for manufacturing” services
• An emerging digital economy • No hardware funding
Before
Now
• Easy access to cheap hardware
• Democratisation of electronics prototyping and product development
• A robust digital economy
• Crowd funding
Easy access to cheap & easy to learn hardware
Arduino MiRobot SAM Labs
Primo Little Bits Raspberry Pi
Knowing your loved ones are safe
Glow Caps BleepBleeps
Lively Good Night Lamp Good Night Lamp
Good Night Lamp
Are consumers ready for this?
Access to cheap credit, mass production in Asia & mostly free internet services has lowered consumer expectations around the price of every day objects. Connected everyday objects will suffer from this.
Corporations are looking to own different spaces in the ecology
The hardware ideas are built on top of The connectivity used (M2M, GSM, Whitespace) The cloud services (Smart Things, Thingworx)
This revolution is full of opportunity
• New ideas and companies to acquire • New vendors to work with
• New investment opportunities
The economic downturn has been good for #iot
• Freelance electronics engineers are more common
• Smaller design firms are doing interesting things
• Small amounts of investment can go a long way.
The internet of things changes how we do business
Giving a consumer access to his data for the life of his ownership of a product Hosting that data beyond the company’s life Exposing the data roots and third party relationships
And how we treat our customers
Knowing every time a customer stops using your product and leaves in a drawer. Maintaining a direct relationship with your customer for the life of the product (10+ years) Being responsible for its ultimate disposal & recycling
So what can I do now?
• Explore new ideas internally with small prototypes first before reaching out to large vendors. Buy some Arduino kits.
• Expose yourself to what’s happening, hire
creative technologists, read postscapes.com
• Grow a local meetup.
Read up
Everyware, Adam Greenfield Smart things, Bruce Sterling Designing the Internet of things, Adrian McEwen UX for Connected Products, Claire Rowland
And remember
Recognise the complex relationships that people have with the built environment. Design for incremental changes in behaviour and long lasting relationships. Consider new ownership models (design for disassembly & second hand markets).