Participatory Sensing - An Interview with Deborah Estrin

Subscribe to this video podcast via iTunes. Or, you may download the file.

While the iPhone doesn’t ship nearly as much as its humbler brethren - the iPhone opened up many minds about the potential of phones to do a whole lot more than talk. In that regard it is a peek into the future.

The iPhone is a rich portable computer with onboard sensors. Specifically, it is a location-aware (GPS), motion-aware (accelerometer), directionally-aware (digital compass) visually aware (camera being used to scan QA codes or serve as visual input), sonically aware (microphone and speakers), always-connected (wireless or 3Gs) handheld computer. Every operative word in that sentence is deeply meaningful and rich with possibilities we have just begun to explore. The iPhone does a whole lot more than display information. It is an environmental sensor. Its value lies just as much in sensing information as it does in displaying information.

While the iPhone has the richest set of onboard sensors even basic feature phones are allowing for some remarkable innovation (see my interview with April Allderdice of MicroEnergy Credits) This is an enormous leap forward when our devices are not only connected but context-aware. It is a core theme behind Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle’s “Web Squared” definition that see concepts of Web 2.0 moving into the world.

This concept of “humans as sensors” was the subject of the Web 2.0 Summit panel led by Radar’s Brady Forrest last week. I caught up with panelist Deborah Estrin before to discuss her UCLA group’s work on participatory sensing. Deborah is building multiple applications to express the value of the phone as a sensing device; from large group projects to collect data on an area (such as www.whatsinvasive.com) to personal applications that blend GPS and accelerometer to constantly map your location in time and space then overlay valuable information upon it such as air quality and so on. In the case of air quality - this data might help inform your decisions about where you go jogging or take your baby for that morning stroll.

John Hagel on The Social Web

Subscribe to this video podcast via iTunes. Or, you may download the file.

I am releasing my conversation with John Hagel in three segments. In the first segment we discussed the real-time web. Here we discuss the move from the information web to the Social Web.

John makes the point that the rise of the Social Web feels “a bit like Back to the Future” for people who have a long history with the Internet. In the early days the Internet functioned to link people - scientists, researchers etc. The advent of the World Wide Web saw the Internet functioning more as a publishing platform. Now, with the Social Web, we are back full circle to a network that connects people together. When you connect people to people (as opposed to just brokering information) you are able to surface valuable tacit knowledge that is difficult to express in documents.

Abandon Stocks, Embrace Flows - A Conversation with John Hagel

Subscribe to this video podcast via iTunes. Or, you may download the file.

John Hagel spoke yesterday at the Web 2.0 Summit on the panel, Web Squared and the Economy of Work I met with John beforehand and wanted to discuss three “Big Shifts” that have dominated 2009 (1) The move to the real-time web, (2) the move from the information web to the Social Web and (3) the rise of mobile. Since John co-chairs Deloitte’s Center for the Edge I wanted to get his take on each in terms of its impact on larger organizations.

This first video covers the Real-Time Web.

Recent Video Posts

• Silicon Valley's First Phone Company - A conversation with Ted Griggs on June 27, 2009
• Radar Interview with Clay Shirky on February 16, 2009
• Security and Data Risk in the Age of Social Networks on February 6, 2009
• Work On Stuff That Matters: Video Interview with Tim O'Reilly on January 15, 2009
• Seeing New Possibilities in Existing Technologies: An Interview with April Allderdice of MicroEnergy Credits on January 9, 2009
• Software for Civic Life: An Interview with Mike Mathieu of Frontseat.org on December 29, 2008
• “Technology is the 7th Kingdom of Life” - A conversation with Kevin Kelly on November 24, 2008
• Online Communities: The Tribalization of Business on November 12, 2008
• Technology, Politics and Democracy on October 20, 2008
• Customer Service is the New Marketing: Interview with Lane Becker on October 1, 2008