Yup. Just found an article where Eric Paulos, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, is pushing the boundaries of cell phones.
His ideas include adding sensors to your cell phones to sample air quality and uv exposure, among other things. The first hurdle to overcome with this idea is that cell phones spend most of their time in pockets and bags. Personally, I think the first "sensor" that needs to be created is a simple solar based plug in charger. This would get that phone out into the open, where such sensors can then take the time needed to investigate the users physical environment. The big question they're raising is how is this going to change how people move through the world. I think that once people get used to the idea that they can discover more information regarding the world they move through, they're going to become addicted to it. Knowledge is power, yes, but it's also like a heroin - steroid cocktail, addictive and empowering. Once you have a tool that tells you things, you just won't be able to stop using it.
Think about all the tiny questions you are not allowed to answer in the course of the day: is the air conditioning in this building smelly, or is it just me? How much asbestos did they use in this old building? What exactly is in the air here? Is this place a safe environment for my kids? Why does this water fountain taste strange? If this was cleaned recently, how clean is it really?
I live in Seoul, one of the biggest, dirtiest cities in the world. However, I'm also one seriously curious ape by nature. Even out in the wilderness, a place I don't get to go to very often anymore, I would still like to know what's been going on in that environment since my last visit. Has the water changed? What's this soil composition?
I wholeheartedly support this idea. There will be resistance, absolutely, because there are people who prefer, insist, need to remain willfully ignorant. Dealing with hard facts on ground level environmental conditions is positively going to gross some people out. Imagine how you're going to feel if you are standing on the street watching your cell phone air quality meter when a diesel bus drives by, and for the first time in your life you can see what you've been breathing in every time one of those beasts drove by. How good is the ventilation in your school? Is that fog, or a dust storm?
Yeah, scary, might make you want to stay home, or wear a mask outside, or call up your representative in government and complain. It might make you want to stop driving your SUV down the street. It might make you start thinking seriously about the way we live, and that the faster we change certain things in our lives, the better it's going to be for everyone.
Even better on this idea, is the fact that it's not mainstream yet. Manufacturers are not interested, until the tech has been vetted over a few generations. This is very, very good for you my friends who have had the skill and strength to read this far. Why is this good? Well, once big companies get involved, they're going to select a small group of sensors that THEY think will be the most interesting to people. This selection process will be affected by powerful people who don't want you to be able to access information which may influence your opinion. However, the base tech for this is already out there, and genies are notoriously hard to put back in the bottle.
Yeah, I know, you're thinking, "Crap 'Nails, I don't know nuthin' bout puttin' no technology together." Really? Ever put lego together? Yes? Then you're ready for this. The only difference is that the pieces are more expensive and you might have to use a soldering iron. Your parents and teachers will help you, if you have the cajoles to ask, and the shutzpa to ask a hundred times.
I dare you.
ha!
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