Life with the cloud (as I saw it in 2006)

I wrote the article below in 2006 as a thought piece for Fjord, the design consultancy where I worked at the time. It ties in ideas about mobile internet, cloud based software, augmented reality, value ecosystems and the role of a design consultancy in the midst of it all.

Towards a 99.999% available network and Digital Lifestyle 2.0

Information and communication technology is constantly migrating, from one generation to another. Users and use cultures lag behind in the migration often leading to a feeling that technologies are created to invent needs rather than full-fill existing ones. The World Wide Web is now in its second generation: Web 2.0. The mobile internet is slowly following behind. After the dismal failure of its first generation, there were attempts by leading mobile industry players to focus on proximity driven mobile experiences based on Bluetooth and RFID. Software has been migrating as a result of Moore’s law and ultimately, the stock markets demand for growth. What makes the present time so fascinating for the ICT industry is that finally users have caught up with the Web. This is seen in the phenomena of Web 2.0. What’s more important is that the user learning curve for new technology (services and products) will start to accelerate as a result of increased reliance on the network, subsequently driving the accelerated development of networks. And before you know it Digital Life 2.0 will be upon us.

Web 1.0 was about e-commerce and portals to information provided by companies. Web 2.0 is really about participation. This is a big paradigm shift for how technologies should be developed. The Web 2.0 from technical perspective is about making the browser based interface more responsive. The page metaphor of the Web 1.0 UI is disappearing. This is important because it paves the way for the next web migration, this time in the domain of productivity software.

The vision from the early days of computing of a network computers is slowly materializing. As the name implies the software (applications) on the network computer resides and is used on the network. The computer is a mere browser. Widgets (I’m a Mac) or Gadgets (I’m a PC) are a sign of what the network computer will be like. Desktop widgets are limited touch-points to data and functionality on the network. The invisible engine that runs them is a browser. This model of providing productivity software over the network on demand has hugely disruptive potential for the software industry. It will change how users acquire, use and collaborate via software. For front-runners in this domain see 37signals and zoho.

With Web 2.0 social software, and the coming of the network computer model for all software will accelerate the migration of daily life to the network. And this trend is not about technological determinism but about human needs for self-definition (piloting emotions and creativity), projection (observe me) and social intercourse. Of course, the network is doing its bit as well, by increasing its coverage. It has also made its way into the machines we use, from trains to airplanes.

To appreciate the changes we will experience its useful to examine how information impacts our reality. We are currently approaching the age of information for reality, which according to the design guru Harold Nelson is the second step in a three phase evolution towards an immersive mixed reality existence. The first phase in this socio-technical evolution is “information about reality”. This phase has emerged from our natural capabilities for conceptual thinking and symbolic representation. From oral culture to the development of visual culture and subsequently literature, its all been about creating, storing and communicating observations about the world we live in. Information about reality has been the driver behind the emergence of science, which aims to create general indisputable information about nature and mankind, philosophy, which aims to create general information about how we conceive ourselves and our relationship to the world and in some respects art, which is a subjective, inspired and often surprising interpretation of the first two.

Information about reality is embodied in the form of books, recordings and Web 1.0. There is a temporal disconnect between the use of the information and the medium through which it is consumption. For example, I can read a travel guide to London while in Helsinki and still enjoy it. It is when availability and consumption of information is synchronized with is application to achieve a goal in real-time that information about reality transforms into information for reality. It is about directly connecting information with the now: what I’m doing, where I’m at and what I’m feeling. Manuals are a rough approximation of information for reality. They are support tools for accomplishing a novel and often complex task.

Information and communication technologies together make information for reality possible. They enable the transcoding of signals/bits, processing and their transmission between points defined by the network infrastructure. This process is better understood as the on-demand real-time delivery and use of contextually relevant information/service to help navigate, interpret, transact or project one’s voice/intention. Its what the value of the ICT industry is based on. And it scales from individuals to companies.

In fact, as a result of its scaling down to the level of the individual we are now entering the age of information for reality. Location based services are finally able to offer relevant content to consumers at the point of need thanks to the wealth of user generated content wrapped with social significance and mashed up with e-commerce and mapping data and functionality. And mobile technologies are able to supply this content to anywhere and with the desired level of richness for the consumer. The second phase of the evolution information’s relationship with reality is what we at Fjord call Digital Life (1.0).

Digital Life 2.0 will emerge on top of Digital Life 1.0, when the age of the information as reality is finally upon us. It is then that information about reality, information for reality and information as reality will be facets of daily experiences. Previously this age has been referred to as the age of the cyborg. Its been conceptualized as a mixed reality world of smart environments and adaptive multi-modally layered information. The technologies we carry and interface with in our surroundings will enable (force) us to negotiate identities (profiles) and privacy levels (smoke screens) required for social and consumption driven interactions. The majority of industries will rely on this infrastructure to be in place to deliver their services and goods. It will be when finally proximity networking driven experiences will be mainstream. And the personal area networks formed by the devices we carry and embed into ourselves, the ad-hoc networks formed by the people around us and the local area networks embedded into our surroundings, the wide area networks blanketing our neighborhoods and the global meshes they form will all be available 99.999% of the time.

Fjord’s competence as design consultancy is rooted in the ability to synthesize customer facing-propositions from the complex system of networks, connectivity, explicit and more importantly implicit or future needs, services for them and the interfaces that ultimately embody the propositions. We are there to help define relevance for consumers, negotiate the usability issues arising from the digital representation of functionality and data and the interaction with both. Moreover, we are also willing ourselves to create those services that will propel this evolution from information about reality ultimately to information as reality, but always placing the consumer first.