OPINION PAPER Our Digital Future: Connect with it, wear · PDF fileOur Digital Future: Connect...

Our Digital Future: Connect with it, wear it and beware of it

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Our Digital Future:Connect with it, wear it and beware of it

OPINION PAPER


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theteam.co.uk

Our Digital Future:Connect with it, wear it and beware of it

OPINION PAPER

A new digital world surrounds us. Every day it continues to offer us new ways of working; new ways of buying; new ways of playing.

The world of communication has and is being turned on its head. We are entering unchartered waters and shifting to a world where the concept of many-to-many communication is now a reality.

Daily, citizens connect and communicate with people in other countries, in closed communities or with businesses, conversing with people they know or do not. Networks are growing at an extraordinary rate as people connect, rate, like or debate with one another.

And now, our personal exchanges can take place without our presence. Big data and connected devices can trigger actions and communications on our behalf. From the sale of assets to the central heating kicking in as our home systems assess where we are by using GPS navigation, data and devices can take control. By tracking our work and social habits, monitoring our preferences and

patterns, data can now help organisations and things anticipate our needs with the potential to make work and home life more seamless. How data works will revolutionise our lives.

The Internet of things is starting to help us live our lives differently. It helps devices communicate to devices doing unseen tasks that keep us safe and keep our world working; it will help us navigate our cities – already the first driverless cars are a just a few years or months away from realisation – and it will.

We are also wearing technology in a new way. Forget Google Glasses and the Apple Watch. Mere gimics. Wearable technology will enable those who work in hazardous conditions to sense the environment around them; it will keep military personnel and workers on oil platforms or in mining far safer; this technology will even assess our movements and take decisions on our behalf that can protect our physical wellbeing.

A revolution is underway. The question is, how much do we realise this is happening? How much is happening with our consent, and how much do we really need?

CONTENTS

In this paper, we will look in a bit more detail at just three areas, asking what this means for us as consumers and employees, and what it means for those of us trying to reach them.

• Connecting people

• Wearable technology at home and at work

• Big data at work and at home


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Connecting people

It’s not uncommon to come across contacts on LinkedIn with 500+ connections. Boy, they must be popular. Or are they?

Networks have an uncanny knack of becoming clogged up. Facebook profiles with a thousand connections aren’t a sign that the individual in question is having a more active social life than anyone else. They’re a sign that they’re been actively marketing for friends.

And what use are 500 LinkedIn contacts? In the 1990s, the anthropologist Robin Dunbar proposed a limit to the number of stable social relationships an individual could maintain: 150(1). Malcolm Galdwell has suggested similar ‘tipping point numbers’, so what does this mean for how technology will help connect us in the future?

Everything and nothing appears to be the answer. To start with, short of implanting chips in our brains, we are not going to change human behaviour(2). We are what we are, and will always have primary and secondary contacts, each with stronger and weaker levels of engagement.

How can technology develop to help us navigate through the myriad contacts

we have? How can it surface the more relevant connections and the more relevant conversations happening between those them? The fact that Doris is talking to David about cognitive behaviour may or may not be interesting according to the credibility of those two contacts in your network; the level to which they have your trust; the level to which you have their trust; and things such as likeability, relevance to what is on your mind right here and now. Too often, technology doesn’t see this. In fact, it doesn’t feel it enough, and instead serves up every LinkedIn conversation happening in your network as if it is a priority.

But, technology can help us learn to be better communicators(3). The Us+ application from Google uses facial recognition and speech recognition to give advice to those using webcams on how to improve the way they communicate. It will tell you if you appear too bored, or if you are talking about yourself too much.

And those Google people just won’t stop. They are now patenting a system for creating different robot personalities, based on a user’s preferences, habits or, disturbingly, their dead family members. You’ve seen them coming. It’s been enough to prompt Stephen Hawking and Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak to warn that we will all be robots’ pets in the years to come(4). Wozniak is quite comfortably resigned to the fact, “They’ll be so smart by then that they’ll know they have to keep nature, and humans are part of nature,” he continued. “So I got over my fear that we’d be replaced by computers.” Hawking less so, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”(5)

CONNECTING PEOPLE

150The number of stable social relationships it is thought an individual can maintain(1)


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CONNECTING PEOPLE

SOURCES(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number

(2) https://medium.com/@zeynep/a-brief-primer-on-human-social-networks-or-how-to-keep-16-billion-in-your-pocket-c290c8ac23dd

(3) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/17/us-plus-app_n_4455788.html

(4) https://fortune.com/2015/06/25/apple-wozniak-robots-pets/

(5) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30290540

(6) http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.m&r=42&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT& s1=google.ASNM.&p=1&OS=AN/google&RS=AN/google

But, let’s look at the positives. The patent filing from Google outlines a method by which a robot could scan a user’s device to determine the best personality to assume(6). This would be an extraordinary advance. In its simplest form, imagine a POS device that knew how long you wanted to spend purchasing at a till point. Imagine it knows you are a regular shopper, you spend approximately three minutes in a store and that you buy 9 times out of 10 and that you know what you want and you never return items. If it knows this then it’s not going to waste time asking you questions at the POS. You’re in a hurry.

Now imagine another shopper. You’ve been in the shop three times already and spent most of your time in one area of the store. It knows this from Near Field Communication in your phone. You’re clearly in two minds. You’ve been in the changing room with the same item twice. This time the POS is going to talk to you differently. The machine is going to learn how to connect with you. Even better, the brand is going to connect with you in a more appropriate way.


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Wearing technology at home and at work

Let’s face it, wearable technology frightens people. The sight of masses of people roving the streets all sporting Google Glasses tends to unsettle us. What is the wearer looking at? What images are they capturing? What do they know about you? But, we need to see wearables in a different context. It can add far more value than just being some fancy gadget for early adopters.

Wearable tech in the workplace is not new. Tesco have been using wearables to speed up picking and packing for the online delivery service for over a decade, and certain ‘lifestyle’ wearables are wanted by employees(1).

In a report from Modis, the IT recruitment specialists, wearable devices, such as the smart watch are wanted by 90% of white-collar workers(2). Their report talks about the perceived physical and health benefits of wearables for employees. It reflects employee understanding of what wearables offer in their life, and in particular an understanding that they might improve the way they communicate or organise their work lives. But interestingly, employees fail to see the potential wearable technology has for improving the actual tasks they are asked to do.

This means there is a job to be done to open employers’ and employees’ eyes to the potential for technology. In order for us to benefit from the power that technology can bring, we first have to think about it in the right way. Research from Pew indicates that whilst we understand the power of technology in our personal lives, we struggle to translate that into what it means in our work lives(3). This is something that needs to be addressed before the potential for wearables, indeed all technology, can be embraced,

Wearables at work aren’t just about giving you better access to your emails. There are endless possibilities. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been able to predict how successful employees will be in their roles simply by tracking who talks to whom. So, the technology isn’t doing the job for an individual; it is providing contextual data that can inform a business on how it structures itself and how employees organise themselves to best effect(4).

Robotics and AI are where the most incredible changes are afoot. Robotics is the fastest growing industry in the world, and the implications for employees and employers are huge. The law firm Littler gives a snapshot into some of the challenges, and opportunities that robotics and AI bring to the workplace. From ‘Sophie’ – a two-foot-high, totally objective interviewer, to fulfilling prescriptions in hospital pharmacies, to ‘carer robots’ to reduce the workload for nurses the potential for robotics is huge(5).

And as with anything which is unimaginable – we are constrained by our own ability to imagine a different world and a different way of doing things.

But the march of technology, robotics and AI doesn’t mean a lesser need for humans – yes in some instances, where robotics and AI can ‘replace’ a human. But, as with Watson, IBM’s ‘cognitive computer’ – a learning computer, works in partnership with humans(6). It is the quality of the data ‘fed’ to Watson which will impact the quality of the decisions he makes.And that data is defined by the humans he works with. And it is humans – for now – carrying out the treatment he recommends.

WEARING TECHNOLOGY AT HOME AND AT WORK

“ We need to see wearables in a different context. It can add far more value than just being some fancy gadget for early adopters.”


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Today, talking about technology in the workplace, is a little bit like discussing new designs for driving gloves when the development of driverless cars continues at a cracking pace. The workplace is changing so fast that some technologies in development are obsolete before they can be adopted. Or fads are seized upon. Apps are all the rage, and the thing that clients ask for, but why? Unless there is a true single purpose use, the app is worthless.

WEARING TECHNOLOGY AT HOME AND AT WORK 6


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And lastly, wearable technology can become something that truly is an extension of you. How many of us are frustrated every time that infrequently visited website asks for that unfeasibly long password? Security is certainly an issue that is top of our list of priorities, but it is also a bugbear. Then try Nymi, the wearable technology that senses your heartbeat(7). Nymi detects your unique heart pattern, your ECG, and is able to remember all your passwords. Whenever you need one, Nymi can authenticate who you are. Remember thoses scenes from films like Inception and Minority Report. Well we are there already.

A recent KPMG report suggested that connected cars will create 320,000 new jobs in the UK(8). Changes to how we use technology are coming faster than any of us anticipate. The world in three years’ time will be as unrecognisable to us today as 2015

was unrecognisable to an adult in 1995. Just twenty years ago the idea of Twitter and Facebook as the primary sources of information sharing would have been beyond most people’s comprehension. The concept of the 3D printer would have been hard to grasp and the idea that the London black cab might disappear due to an app called Uber would have been dismissed as ridiculous. Change is speeding up.

We can take a pessimistic, or optimistic stance on technology in our world. But I want to be with Dave Coplin – Chief Envisioning Officer of Microsoft UK – as a naïve optimist. Believing that ultimately tech will deliver us a better world, a better fed, powered, safer, healthier, more peaceful world.

The alternative is to spend a lot of time being pretty scared of the unknown. And that’s really no fun for anyone.


SOURCES(1) https://hbr.org/2013/09/wearables-in-the-workplace

(2) http://www.modis.com/~/media/adeccogroup/brands/modis%20brand/usa/media/downloads/surveys/Modis-2014Q4-Technology-Survey-Media-Deck.pdf/

(3) http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/08/06/future-of-jobs/

(4) http://m.fastcompany.com/3045275/this-work-id-collects-employee-data-aims-to-be-the-moneyball-for-business

(5) http://documents.jdsupra.com/d4936b1e-ca6c-4ce9-9e83-07906bfca22c.pdf

(6) http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/ibmwatson/

http://www.kpmg.com/uk/en/issuesandinsights/articlespublications/newsreleases/pages/connected-cars-to-deliver-huge-uk-jobs-boost-finds-first-uk-study.aspx

(7) https://www.nymi.com/the-nymi-band/

(8) http://www.kpmg.com/uk/en/issuesandinsights/articlespublications/newsreleases/pages/connected-cars-to-deliver-huge-uk-jobs-boost-finds-first-uk-study.aspx


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Big data at home and at work

Firstly, what is big data? For the past few years there has been some confusion around this. This definition from Gartner, sometimes referred to as the 3Vs, captures big data nicely.

“Big data” is high-volume, -velocity and –variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision-making. The definition consists of 25 words, 182 characters with quotation marks(1).

That last line is essential in understanding big data, because data has changed and is changing all the time. It’s numbers; it’s patterns; it’s relationships between things that happen; it’s context. Big data does not mean big databases.

Let’s look at big data on a small scale. There are six people living in one house. Every time one of them goes to fetch a coffee cup from the cupboard they let out a sigh. They make the coffee and drink it.

What does all this mean? Why are they sighing? Is it a sigh of satisfaction? Or is it a sigh of despair?

Perhaps they love coffee? Perhaps they are frustrated that their favourite cup has been used by another in the house. Why don’t they mention this to one another? Perhaps they do not have time.

So much can be left to interpretation. But what if over time one could piece those sighs together? Match them with other similar sighs, made at times when it was clear whether the person in question was happy or frustrated. What if that data could work fast enough to make suggestions?

In this case, move the cups to a shelf lower down where each housemate can reach them more easily.

Big data isn’t just about numbers, it’s about patterns and context.

We read a lot about smart devices and applications that allow you to monitor your house whilst you’re away; or turn the heating and lights on and off before you arrive home(2). That’s smart, but it’s not big data.

What if your house really was intelligent? What if it learned more about you from your patterns, your moods and your needs? What if it knew that what you were doing was inefficient, and it made a little change on your behalf? This is the power of data in your home. The ability to track patterns, analyse the data contained within those patterns and make improvements.

What if your bathroom scales were built into your shower? What if they could sense changes in your weight? Perhaps they could communicate with your fridge, or change that weekly supermarket delivery to cancel the full fat milk – at least just for this week(3).

BIG DATA AT HOME AND AT WORK

“ What if your house knew that what you were doing was inefficient, and it made a little change on your behalf? This is the power of data in your home.”


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TAKING BIG DATA TO ENTERPRISE SCALE

Now blow the power of big data up to what it could and should be doing for customers. Not data that just tracks the cookies you use in visiting websites and then offers you deals for hotels in destinations that you’ve already visited – data that can make meaningful suggestions to you.

Data that anticipates what you might do; where you might go and what you might need. Data that can instruct designers on how to change product design, or change systems to tailor a process just for you. Imagine your bank calling you with the answer to a question you had, but hadn’t got around to asking, just because the bank

knew that yes you can afford that car, and furthermore, here’s a number of ways in which it can be done. Accenture have identified product development and how we organise as the top ways in which big data can add value(4).

All this requires huge amounts of computing power. The sort of work done by Hadoop(5). Haven’t heard of Hadoop? It’s a kind of crowdsourcing for computing power. Hadoop crunches data from all sorts of sources. Walmart are using it to track pricing and so guarantee its famous low-price promise. But that still requires bodies on the ground, with WalMart Labs – its data facility in Silicon Valley – employing somewhere in the region of 2,200 developers(6).



2,200Hadoop data facility in Silicon Valley is employing

developers to help handle big data


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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR COMMUNICATORS?

The challenge for communicators is to be aware of how big data can affect the lives of customers and employees positively. The challenge is to think in a big data mindset. Think that way, and solutions will follow, and competitive edge for your brand is delivered.

Jennifer Golbeck’s TED Talk, ‘The curly fry conundrum’ or why social media ‘likes’ say more about you than you think, is something we should all watch(7). Because that innocent ‘like’ you give on Facebook and Instagram; that tweet you retweet; that item you buy online, it all adds up to a picture of you. And that data, is all out there being harvested. Facebook can read the texts on your smartphone; Instagram can use the camera function on your phone; Gmail can read – even modify – your phone contacts. All your data.

Goldbeck is a computer scientist, and as she says, “I’m going to start a company that predicts all attributes, a company that can say whether you are a high performer or a drug user. And then I’m going to sell reports to HR functions so they can decide whether to hire you. That can be done, because the data is out there. It’s public.”

She says of Facebook, “There a saying that the users aren’t the customers, they are the product.”

And lastly, back to Gartner’s 3Vs.

Volume is one, and that goes without saying, but those last two are Variety and Velocity. Gartner calls Variety dark data. Rather like the theory of dark matter in physics, dark data cannot be seen directly, yet it is the rich information. It’s the information that computer scientists like Goldbeck can pull together.

Velocity is, Gartner says, the most misunderstood. It is real-time data. The things that people are doing online now; the things they are sharing and speaking about now. A simple explanation would be the ‘trending’ on Twitter, but this isn’t the only place where interactions are happening, and trends can rise to the surface just because one demographic is doing something at a particular point in time. At 9 o’clock on a Saturday evening the X Factor might trend on Twitter, but it doesn’t mean that the entire ITV audience is ready to welcome Simon Cowell to dinner. Velocity requires us to compare data sets, just as we’d compare interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. It’s this that enables us to see the difference of opinion that might exist towards Mr Cowell. Data and computing advances mean that now, with the right analytics, it can be done in a matter of minutes rather than months.

Data is changing the way we live our lives, as is the way we connect devices together. The way we use this technology to improve our lives at home and at work is still very much in our hands.


SOURCES(1) http://www.forbes.com/sites/gartnergroup/2013/03/27/gartners-big-data-definition-consists-of-three-parts-not-to-be-confused-with-three-vs/

(2) http://www.smartthings.com/

(3) http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/software-platforms/big-data-in-the-home/d/d-id/1141608

(4) http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2015/05/25/roundup-of-analytics-big-data-business-intelligence-forecasts-and-market-estimates-2015/

(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Hadoop

(6) http://uk.businessinsider.com/walmartlabs-openstack-hadoop-2015-7?r=US&IR=T

(7) https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_golbeck_the_curly_fry_conundrum_why_social_media_likes_say_more_than_you_might_think?language=en#t-556862

OPINION PAPER Our Digital Future: Connect with it, wear · PDF fileOur Digital Future: Connect...

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