Convergence task

This Monday, we were set our “convergence” task – the aim to bring together everything we’ve learnt thus far, and present it as a 2-page proof-of-concept PDF document responding to one of these areas:

  • Making simple music
  • The death of newspapers/books
  • Personal security
  • The Digital Doctor
  • Toy Hack

One of the great things about this task is that the product does not have to exist in the real world, and the brief states we are not restricted by “time, technology or budget”.

The idea I’m going to go for falls under the theme of “personal security”. It’s actually a concept I touched upon in my very first blog post – an application that utilises NFC/GPS technology to transmit a signal to a receiver and act as a form of digital registration – useful for school, or work. The idea is that the user will automatically be signed in and out of the system based on the signal and the the receiver. For instance, the application sends out a signal every 10 steps the user takes (judged by an accelerometer), or every 2 minutes. This means that as long as they are within range of a receiver, they will continually logged as present wherever they may be – however if their signal falls short of the receiver, they will be automatically signed out as absent at that present time. This application would be useful for automatically logging the presence of an individual in the workplace or school – allowing for the data to be automatically uploaded and managed via a database. This concept has several shortcomings, such as the unreliability and distance available for transmission via NFC, and in GPS case, the need to be constantly within mobile or wifi signal range. The app could be exploited and abused in several ways and, finally, there would have to be several receivers, depending on the size of the building/area in which the system is utilised; for bigger companies/schools, this may become rather costly. While it may be impossible, or costly, or even simply inconvenient; I believe there is a high possibility that the app could have some potential great uses – including military application.

EDIT: I’ve just short conversation with my workshop tutor, and he’s given me several good ideas.

Thinking about the broader uses of such an application is the idea of automatically generating census and statistical data from the information received from each individual who uses the application; if the application submits anonymous statistics from the user such as location, then by the information gathered from every user is compiled and a, for example, a heatmap can be generated of the area. If the example was a university campus, from this data, it would be easy to see where students go and where they don’t go, leading the way for improvements on less desirable areas of campus, event planning and even applying the data for future safety purposes – if planning a fire route, it would be useful to have a generated heatmap to tell which areas to avoid and as such reduce congestion. In military application, this would also be useful for training and field exercises; planning strategies, for example.
Even more so,  

I like the idea that, in the future, almost anything you could possibly want to do when out and about could be done through NFC technology – imagine not only being able to pay quickly with NFC, but also being able turn on your car and open secure doors (http://www.nfcworld.com/2012/04/23/315235/bmw-uses-nfc-car-keys-to-open-hotel-room-doors/, http://www.nfcporter.com/)

But what about having, if you chose – your entire identity on your NFC (Driver’s license, Passport). Although this idea is somewhat a scary one, I believe that the technology could be coupled with fingerprint identification, retinal identification or something of the similar so that no-one can steal your information if you lose your phone. Imagine being able to buy a plane ticket just by swiping your phone at the terminal – your card is charged, and your passport information – linked to your NFC, if automatically transmitted to airport security, who perform a manual check before letting you on your way.

I personally think one of the big promises of NFC is removing the aspect of carrying so many various things – keys, ID, money, etc… and condensing them down into a single device. Like I said – security is the problematic issue I’ll have to try and find a decent solution for – but as it’s simply a concept and security could always get better in the future, I’m still going to stick with the idea for now.
Problematically, such features could lead to a potential Orwellian future – if all this information is on a single device which has a consistent internet connection, then anyone who could gain potential access – including companies and the government – would have so much information about you that privacy wouldn’t even be a concept – where you live, where you’ve been, where you visit often; your financial transactions… Not to mention your (in theory) entire body of identification. I imagine many people may be opposed to such a concept from the start.

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This is an app concept idea I made quickly for fun.

SEE: Time and motion study, NFC/Bluetooth alternative to GPS

 

Indoor/Bluetooth GPS:

https://www.google.com/atap/projecttango/#project

http://www.infsoft.co.uk/Products/Indoor-GPS-Hardware

I’m trying to think of a way I can implement a system like this, but the only thing I can think of is military application. If a unit of soldiers mapped out a space in full 3D; the data could effectively be transmitted real-time from units on the ground and sent back to command; from here, along with IF tagging of the units, command effectively has a real-time 3D map they can interact with – something that would provide a huge tactical and strategic advantage over traditional helmet cams or satellite/drone feeds.

The device should be strapped to the helmets of the soldiers and, with hopefully a much larger FOV than is available now, this would allow for 3D real-time mapping of objects some distance away. If the information collected from each soldier’s cam is stitched together, it could create a decently accurate and sizeable 3D map of the area.

The first lecture of the year

We had our first digital media lecture today.

This year, the module is split into 4 key skills areas:

  • User Oriented Design
  • Motion Graphics and Visual Effects
  • Digital Publication
  • Digital Interaction

And the aims are as follows:

  • Further develop skills from level 1
  • Introduction to new software
  • Creative and innovative thinking
  • “More tools in your toolbox”
  • The history of digital media

So far, so good!

It certainly looks to be an interesting year, I look forward especially to working on user oriented design and digital interaction. In fact, I actually already had an idea for digital interaction; and an app/system in general, so I hope this is relevant.

I remember having a conversation with my friend in sixth form about the inconvenience and wasted time of everyone involved  because of having to check in and out of school using a logbook at the reception desk when going to/from the school grounds. Every. Time. While I understand that safety of the students was absolute an priority and it was necessary for the faculty to know whether or not we were on school grounds in the event of an emergency, it was, as I previously said, an inconvenience for everyone involved.

The idea we had was this: an app for smartphones (which, at this point, pretty much everybody had), which could connect to a computer in the sixth form center by Bluetooth, NFC (Near-field communication), WiFi, etc. and in doing so, automatically log you in or out of a registry system on the computer saying whether or not you were on school grounds. As I said, this was just a discussion we had in passing once as we made our way into town during a free period, so I have no idea how feasible such the idea actually is in reality (Although I’m pretty confident it could be possible). But despite my lack of technical know-how, I do understand several outlying issues with the system:

  • Expenses (development of the app/system/etc.)
  • Unreliability of Bluetooth/NFC/WiFi, etc. signal
  • Not everybody has a smartphone
  • Not everybody has a phone with these features (at least, apps/NFC)
  • The system could be “tricked”; i.e: turning off your phone/the battery dying once logged into the system, and then leaving the grounds. This would have you registered as still in the school.

I still think it’s a good idea that could really become something with future technologies.
A (somewhat) similar idea takes place in the original PSX Metal Gear Solid: keycards for security doors will automatically open them when nearby provided you have them equipped due to the information using “the salts in your body” as a transmission medium. (NOTE: I AM PARAPHRASING: I have not played the game in a long time, but it is definitely mentioned that this is the reason)).
The card itself is called a PAN card (Personal Area Network) and has something to do with working alongside your body’s natural electrical field to activate electrical devices some distance away from the user.
Now, I know nothing about the salts in body being used as some sort of PAN system, but with some sleuthing online and google-fu, I’ve found a Thesis by Thomas Guthrie Zimmerman from  MIT circa 1995. It’s an interesting read: http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/29101/34289663.pdf

Nonetheless, the example stands true and it’s certainly the sort of application I’d like to see NFC technology develop into, you know, instead of using your phone for credit card purchases.

I look forward to my workshops.