Smart Objects

From Horizon.K12

2009 Short List Time-to-Adoption: One year or Less Collaborative Environments Communication Tools Personally-Owned Devices One-to-One Laptop Initiatives Time-to-Adoption: Two to Three Years Mobiles and Next-Generation Mobile Virtual Worlds New Forms of Assessment Cloud Computing Time-to-Adoption: Four to Five Years Smart Objects New Tools for Filtering and Security Expanded Personal Web Semantic-Aware Applications Critical Challenges Key Trends

Time-to-Adoption: Four to Five Years

A smart object is simply any physical object that includes a unique identifier that can track information about the object. There are a number of technologies that support smart objects: radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, quick response (QR) codes, and smartcards are some of the most common. The thing that makes smart objects interesting is the way they connect the physical world with the world of information. Smart objects can be used to digitally manage physical things, to track them throughout their lifespan, and to annotate them with descriptions, opinions, instructions, warranties, tutorials, photographs, connections to other objects, and any other kind of contextual information imaginable. Thus far, smart objects are awkward to tag and difficult to scan for the everyday user, but that is beginning to change as manufacturers create user-friendly systems for tagging, scanning, and programming smart objects.

The vision for the future of smart object technology is a world of interconnected items in which the line between physical object and digital information is blurred. Applications that tap into “the Internet of things,” as this vision is called, would assist users in finding articles in the physical world in the same way that Internet search engines help locate content on the web. Reference materials, household goods, sports equipment: an actual instance of anything a person might need would be discoverable using search tools on computers or mobile devices. Further, while looking at an object, a prospective buyer could call up reviews, suggestions for alternate or related purchases, videos of the item being used, and more, as well as finding out whether something similar lay forgotten in the garage back home.

Relevance for Teaching, Learning & Creative Expression

• Libraries use smart tags to track books and assist with check-in and check-out.

• Students examining tagged cultural objects brought into the classroom could use handheld devices like the iPod Touch to call up a wealth of information, including photographs, maps, video and audio recordings, related to the object they are holding.

• A school- or community-wide scavenger hunt might make use of QR codes or other smart tags to offer clues for participants and direct them to certain locations.

Examples

• The Illinois Institute of Technology’s ThinkeringSpace combines physical and virtual components to produce an environment where physical objects, like books, can be annotated with contextual information that is added manually or retrieved automatically: http://www.id.iit.edu/ThinkeringSpaces/

• Semapedia is a collaborative project that aims to connect tagged physical objects with online information from Wikipedia using QR codes: http://semapedia.org

• The Attendee Meta-Data Project at the 2008 Hackers on Planet Earth conference was intended to bring conference-goers together based on shared interests, recommend sessions to attendees, and facilitate hallway networking: http://amd.hope.net

For Further Reading

Internetting Every Thing, Everywhere, All the Time
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/02/digitalbiz.rfid/
(Cherise Fong, CNN.com/technology DigitalBiz, November 2008.) This article describes the Internet of things and illustrates some current examples of smart object technology.

The Net Shapes Up to Get Physical
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/16/internet-of-things-ipv6
(Sean Dodson, Guardian.co.uk, October 2008.) This article describes the “Internet of things” and discusses the technologies involved, as well as considering potential applications for networked smart objects.

iPhone in Education: Using QR Codes in the Classroom
http://olliebray.typepad.com/olliebraycom/2008/11/iphone-in-education-using-qr-code-in-the-classroom.html
(Ollie Bray, OllieBray.com, 24 November 2008.) The author explains and demonstrates a way to use QR codes to convey homework assignments to students.