Designing for the Internet of Things

(^314) | dEsiGninG for EMErGinG tECHnoLoGiEs
Augmented reality (AR) is here, already deeply engrained in our under-
standing of the world. The screen-based AR espoused by apps such as
Layar is primitive compared to the augmentations that we all use on a
daily basis. Google Maps, Twitter, Facebook, Nike FuelBand, and more
are prime examples of how we are already augmenting our reality in
fundamental ways that are less obvious and intrusive than digital over-
lays (which will see their day eventually, I’m sure). We have been aug-
menting our reality since the invention of clothing allowed us to live
in harsher climates, and now we are augmenting it with networked
technology giving us not just a sixth sense, but a seventh, eighth, and
ninth, as well.
As augmentation and networks change our understanding of reality,
we begin to understand old technology through our lens of new media.
A chair is no longer solely a physical object that exists in our environ-
ment, it is now an interactive object by which specific behavior and per-
son-to-person relationships can emerge from its use (Buchanan, 2011 ).
A building is no longer only a collection of materials that defines a
place, it is also understood through its interactions with people, the
interactions it facilitates, and how it interacts or interferes with our net-
worked augmentations. We are McLuhan-esque cyborgs, with media
devices that extend our body and mind from the outside. Objects that
exist as part of this network become more than their discrete pieces; we
internalize their behavior and it changes the way we understand our
world and ourselves.
We can see shifts in common language that allude to these changes.
We talk about “downloading” knowledge from one person to another
and “interfacing” with organizations. Words like “interface,” “down-
load,” and “stream,” once not commonly used outside of technologi-
cal circles, are now part of our daily lexicon, used in reference to their
technological meaning as well as applied to much older concepts in the
physical world.
A 2007 study on mobile phone usage conducted by Nokia concluded
that the mobile phone is now one of the most essential items for daily
use around the world, putting it in the same social category as wallets