Gershon Dublon, Joseph A. Paradiso

Abstract

The modern world is filled with network-connected electronic sensors, but most of the data they produce are invisible to us, “siloed” for use by specific applications. If we eliminate those silos and enable sensor data to be used by any network-connected device, the era of ubiquitous computing will truly arrive. Although it is impossible to know precisely how ubiquitous computing will change our life, a likely possibility is that electronic sensors embedded in the environment will function as extensions of the human nervous system. Wearable computing devices could become, in effect, sensory prosthetics. Sensors and computers could make it possible to virtually travel to distant environments and “be” there in real time, which would have profound implications for our concepts of privacy and physical presence.