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The Smarter System:
In the last section I decided that mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile bluetooth devices were too varied in terms of operating system, resolution and specification for a universal application designed to encourage communication between people. Limitations on the devices (the truly portable ones, such as mobile phones) are caused primarily by their limited storage space and limited processing power. However, I have already decided to include them in my solution because of their abundance and problem causing nature. Bluetooth is also something which should be included because of it's increasingly popularity. Whilst I was reading the wikipedia entry on bluetooth this particular line stood out: This comparison of bluetooth and wifi made me think about a collaboration between bluetooth and wifi, similar to a collaboration which occurs in peoples homes between devices. This leads me on to my smarter system. Instead of users managing profiles on their phones, they manage them online. Profiles could be as detailed or as sparse as the user wishes, however the more detailed the profile the more they will benefit from the system. Once a user is happy with their profile it is saved to a server. The user then goes about their daily lives, constantly passing between nodes. A node in this instance will be the integral part of the system. It will consist of, at the very least a bluetooth transmitter/receiver, an Internet connection and the ability to process data from each. More complex nodes could have screens, and even physical inputs. Some nodes will be made to go unnoticed, whilst others are made to be interacted with directly. Either way the nodes will all have a common purpose, to, where appropriate, unify the people in their range. When a bluetooth enabled device enters a nodes range it will be detected and it's unique ID noted. The node will then compare this ID to the corresponding profile on the server storing users profiles. The node will then select the key places, times and interests which have been entered by the user and store them locally. The node will do this every time a new bluetooth device is detected. Then node will have to scan for the devices every 15 or so seconds to see if they are still in the vicinity, if the device is not found then the information which is being stored relevant to that device will be discarded. As more people come into range of the node more profiles will be stored and compared, and the likely hood of finding matches is increased. If two or more users have enough matching keywords then it will send a message in the form of a vCard to these users informing them of the most pertinent information. In this message, the users will be informed of the common interest, and if they wish can message the node back with a vCard asking for more information, and the format they'd like it in. They would then be sent a link to view the profile online through the nodes Internet connection (if it is wifi), or request the node transfer a picture version of the profile through bluetooth. Armed with the profile, and the knowledge that they have something in common a person can request the service send the other person/people a message in the form of a contact card. Or they could even start talking to each other face to face. There are already a lot of friendship networks on the Internet which are attempting to link people through people. Their popularity with people embracing networking through the internet is sky rocketing, and I often get emails from people i know asking me to join 'the hottest new friends network'. The sole purpose of these sites, as far as the users are concerned is to keep in touch with people, and notable example include www.hi5.com, www.bebo.com and www.wayn.com. While my goal is to link complete strangers, software could be taught to scan existing profiles on these friends networks, pick out key words and phrases and use this to create a user profile, if the user were already registered with a friends network and didn't want to write yet another profile page. My idea for this smarter system should be almost transparent as far as the user is concerned. Their involvement in the system once they have they have entered their details could almost be entirely passive. The system only sending them messages they needed. Some scenarios of how the system could be used in day to day life follow. Scenario1: Jill is a long term user of the system living and working in central London. She uses the system as a personal organiser, being in such a busy area means she is never far from a node. Jill boards the tube in the morning as usual and goes over her meetings for the day on her PDA. Suddenly a contact is received over the network indicating that the service wants to draw her attention to something. It turns out that Margret a stranger she has never met, afew seats down from her is planning to have lunch in the same cafe at the same time as her. Jill downloads and browses Margret's profile over the network and sees they have a lot in common. Jill is about to inform the service it should ask Margret if she wants to have lunch together, but just as she is about to do so she receives another contact. It seems Margret was informed of their common ground too and has had the same idea. The pair tag each other as having interacted and the service updates their profiles accordingly. As Jill leaves the train she says she will see Margaret later at lunch. Scenario2: Mark is new in town and doesn't know too many people yet. He sits at a bus stop waiting for his bus into the town center. A stranger arrives and sits next to him. Moments later both Mark and our strangers phones receive a message. It informs them that they support the same football team as each other. Prior to their coincidental meeting at the bus stop, Mark and Steve has entered a few personal details into the system, including the football teams they support. The node, having detected the common interest has messaged it to them and the pair begin to talk about the season thus far.
1 “Bluetooth - Air interface”, 2005
Retrieved 7th November 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth |
