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Joseph Boman
Marc Aubertin
WRIT 340
21 February 2014
Spider Web of Data: How the Internet of Things is Revolutionizing Usability
You arrive home from work at night during the dead of winter and step into your house to
find it a comfortable temperature. Walking from room to room, the lights come on in front of
you and turn off behind you. As you enter the kitchen, the oven has already been pre-heated to
the proper temperature. Your phone beeps at you, informing you that you need to put your
casserole into the oven now for it to be finished before your appointment tonight. You place it in
the oven, and the timer automatically sets itself. As you leave the room, you check your phone,
planning on reminding yourself to buy more coffee, only to realize that coffee has already been
added to your shopping list, most likely by the coffee machine.
While all this sounds a great deal like science fiction and a futuristic dream, the truth is
that this story is something that could happen in just a few years. The Internet of Things has
long been a grand idea – the idea that all objects could interact wirelessly to improve the user
experience in something as simple as the home is not a new one, but recently, the progress
towards it has been exponential [1]. As this dream becomes a reality, it becomes clear that not
only will the Internet of Things make life in general much easier and interaction with many
objects more user friendly, but it will also spur onward a great deal of new innovation and
creativity. One must be careful, however, to look at the consequences that may arise from
connecting all objects to the internet, especially how such a thing relates to privacy.
The Internet of Things
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The concept behind the Internet of Things is simple. Various sensors, such as cameras
and gyroscopes, are used to collect information about how users interact with various devices
[2]. That information is then passed on to computers that can analyze the information and draw
conclusions about what can be done to improve the user’s experience. Many digital devices and
services already do this on a variety of scales, from internet browsers keeping track of your most
visited sites and placing them on your home screen to companies tracking your search and
purchase history to target you with more specific advertisements. When taking in regard to other
objects, this data can be used in a variety of ways [2]. From a business standpoint, this could be
used to note what products certain people purchase, and then providing them with discounts on
those particular items, increasing customer satisfaction and total revenue. From a consumer
standpoint, this could be used to identify how much one actually uses a product, better informing
that person about which products they are getting full use of, and which they would be better off
not purchasing. However, the benefits of the Internet of Things extend far beyond simple
consumers and businesses – in fact, the Internet of Things could touch almost every facet of
society.
Transportation
It is easy, when discussing the advantages of applying the Internet of Things to vehicles,
to make the jump to discussing automated cars – which sense the other cars on the road, drive
themselves, and can even perform certain tasks on their own [3]. The issue with this, however, is
that it strays slightly too far into the realm of the future, instead of focusing on the benefits that
the Internet of Things can bring to drivers and commuters today. While automatic busses are a
thing to dream of, being able to know exactly where busses are on their routes is a thing of today
[4]. This principle can even be extended further, through the use of various sensors and riding
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patterns, to inform bus riders which seats are unoccupied or when those people in those seats are
likely to get off the bus. These same concepts can be easily applied to all forms of public
transportation, enabling commuters to have a far more relaxing and simple time getting to where
they need to go.
On the side of the drivers, the possibilities are near endless. Vehicles already have
sensors that inform the driver if an object is behind the car while the car is backing up, and this
principle can be extended to being able to sense all the cars around them, especially if the cars
are communicating with one another. But, the ‘Internet of Cars’ could do so much more than
that [3]. Vehicles would be able to detect the drivers around you, warning you if there is a driver
with a history of reckless driving, suggest optimal routes to you as you drive, and continuing the
current trend: allow you to access the internet through your phone. In addition to these, the car
could communicate with your house and the objects in it, turning on the thermostat so that the
house is comfortable when you arrive home, preheating the oven, or even drawing a bath for
you. While most of these features simply make the user experience more enjoyable and
advantageous, these things are also able to improve safety, reduce accidents and save lives.
Health and Safety
The Internet of Things is able to provide safety and improve health in a multitude of
areas, not just on the road. To begin, since objects are able to use the internet to communicate,
stealing an object can tell the owner exactly where you took it, or at the very least can enable the
owner to wipe any sensitive data. Furthermore, if someone enters your house via a method other
than a key, the house could sense that and inform you – waking you up or contacting the
authorities, depending on the user’s choices. Also, depending on what settings the user chooses
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to activate, their house could call an ambulance after a certain amount of time lying on the
ground, or the fire department should a fire break out.
In regard to health, on a basic level, your medicine cabinet could detect whether you had
taken your medicine and remind you about it. Any objects on the walls that are starting to get
loose and are in danger of falling could be noticed and fixed long before they end up falling.
Customizability would allow the user to be reminded about exercising, track calorie count, or
even help the user improve posture [5].
Possible Detriments
Although everything I’ve said thus far portrays the Internet of Things as something that
will benefit everyone, there are still some risks and hazards that will need to be addressed before
it can become a reality. The first and most easily addressed is that of design problems. When
implementing the Internet of Things, there are many small details that could be forgotten, leading
to catastrophic consequences, such as if a leap year caused a reminder for a lifesaving medication
to be delayed. Furthermore, if all the above reminders signaled the user through the use of an
alarm, it may cause people to ignore more urgent alarms, such as those relating to fire, carbon
monoxide, or tornados. The design issues, however, can be addressed simply by taking more
time when creating the individual components and collaboration between different companies to
ensure that alarms sound and look different.
The bigger issues, however, arise when it comes to security and privacy. In a world
where everything is connected by the internet, if a phone is compromised by a hacker, he or she
then has access to almost everything in that person’s house and car, and perhaps even more
important things, such as a person’s pacemaker or IV drip [6]. These are extreme examples, yet
they highlight the dangers of a world in which all of a person’s essential devices are connected.
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If a new computer virus is created, an update can be quickly be given out that will combat that
virus effectively, and the disaster is averted. However, in regard to devices where the hardware
and software might be as much as five or six years old – ancient in terms of computing – nobody
is creating updates for it [7]. Since updates are not getting created, the software is in danger of
attacks from all sorts of hacks that have been blocked successfully on computers and phones.
While this problem certainly is more difficult to fix than the previous one, it simply requires
companies to be willing to create updates for all of their old devices, something that will cost
them more money, however, if the alternative is cyber-murders, monetary costs pale in
significance.
The final barrier that must be overcome before the Internet of Things can truly become
user-friendly is that of privacy. We already live in an age where it seems as though our privacy
is under attack from almost every direction possible: governments tap phones and record text
messages, companies track user spending and use it for targeted advertising, and the prevalence
of social media means that anyone can find out at least some facts about everyone else. The
Internet of Things simply makes the removal of privacy easier. For companies, they not only
know what products you purchase, but how much you use them, when you use them, and how
long you keep them before you throw them out. While it may be possible to prevent them from
this level of spying through legal measures, such laws would have little to no effect on the
actions of the government. The house that turns off the lights as you leave the room could also
tell the government precisely what objects and people you have in that room. The car that turns
on the thermostat when you arrive at home could just as easily inform law agencies when you go
to a location that you ordinarily would not. These invasions of privacy are not created by the
Internet of Things; however, they do make them far easier. Thus, in order for the Internet of
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Things to become widespread, either some way of preserving privacy must be established, or
privacy may very well become a thing of the past.
Final Thoughts
The Internet of Things is already well on its way to becoming something found in not
only every household and car, but also every pocket, object, and mind. Whether or not it is a
good thing does not seem to be a question – one needs only to look at the long list of benefits to
see all the good it can do – however, the questions regarding privacy, security, and design need
to be addressed before it is too late. It is not a matter of things that are impossible, but simply a
matter of things that need to be fixed, things that need to be avoided, things that need to be
connected, things that need to be watched for, in short, just a few things that need to be taken
care of to facilitate the Internet of Things.
Works Cited
[1] MCT. (2014 Feb). “Google starts journey to lead the ‘internet of things.’” Financial Review.
Online. Available:
http://www.afr.com/p/technology/google_starts_journey_to_lead_the_j7GuB1BOqzuNs0eN
GJ7PZJ. [Feb. 20, 2014].
[2] Michael Chui, Markus Löffler, and Roger Roberts. (2010 March). “The Internet of Things.”
McKinsey Quarterly. Online. Available:
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_internet/the_internet_of_things.
[Feb. 20, 2014].
[3] Thilo Koslowski. (2014 Jan). “Forget the Internet of Things: Here Comes the ‘Internet of
Cars.’” WIRED. Online. Available: http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/01/forget-theinternet-of-things-here-comes-the-internet-of-cars/. [Feb. 20, 2014].
[4] Glen Martin. (2014 Feb). “Why the Internet of Things Is More 1876 Than 1995.” WIRED.
Online. Available: http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/02/internet-things-1876-1995/. [Feb.
20, 2014].
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[5] Megan Bernstein. (2013 Dec). “The Internet of Things could play a massive role in the future
of healthcare: here’s how.” memeburn. Online: Available: http://memeburn.com/2013/12/theinternet-of-things-could-play-a-massive-role-in-the-future-of-healthcare-heres-how/. [Feb.
20, 2014].
[6] (2013 Jan). “Murder by Internet.” Kurzweil. Online. Available:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/murder-by-internet. [Feb 20, 2014].
[7] Bruce Schneier. (2014 Jan). “The Internet of Things Is Wildly Insecure – And Often
Unpatchable.” WIRED. Online. Available: http://www.wired.com/opinion/2014/01/theresno-good-way-to-patch-the-internet-of-things-and-thats-a-huge-problem/. [Feb 20, 2014].