With the launch of our new Tech Beyond the Screen series I thought I would take some time to explore the differences between IoT/IoE/IoP and the reasons behind why we have chosen ‘Tech Beyond the Screen’ as a title for this series of events.
What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
In its most generic of terms IoT is simply any physical ‘thing’ that can transfer some form of data to either something else or to the internet that makes it ‘connected’. Be it a ‘smart’ watch, a proximity sensor, or a complex weather system; these ever growing ‘things’ now constitute part of the Internet of Things.
However one of the best definitions I have found is from Derek McAuley (IoTUK Privacy and Trust Principal Consultant) whereby “IoT is not about technical capabilities or novelty, rather it is a social phenomena that reflects a significant proportion of society, and importantly businesses, who have started to recognise that there is value in building a virtual presence for many of our everyday physical things. These connected ‘things’ are enabled by the continued reduction in cost of communications, computing, storage and sensing”. You can find Derek’s blog post on the IoTUK website here.
What is the Internet of Everything (IoE)?
With this definition in mind, Cisco take this one step further by saying its more than just things its everything – “The Internet of Everything brings together people, process, data and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before - turning information into actions that create new capabilities, richer experiences and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses, individuals and countries”
What is Internet of Place (IoP)?
This is the Internet of Things + People + Context and it’s really about exploring the potential benefits to the users of these connected things and in what context will they be using them. Phil Jones our MD points out, “Brighton as a city is particularly renowned for its user experience and our digital cluster therefore has the ability to really own this space and be not only national, but global leaders within it.”
What is Tech Beyond the Screen?
Tech Beyond the Screen is a new series of events exploring the rapidly emerging opportunities and challenges these developments present.
At the introductory event Shane Mitchell pointed out that we should focus on IoT’s “potential to transform the status quo, disrupt and participate” and that IoT and IoE are too technical terms “that misses the wider socio-economic trends and resulting impact”. You can see Shane’s post here.
This resonates with Derek’s message that we mentioned earlier in the post and when exploring IoP, we look for tangible use cases in order to define it and make it easy to see what and how businesses can be inspired to enter or pivot within this space.
Therefore we have launched Tech Beyond the Screen as a way to cover this technology in a different and more meaningful way to support businesses looking to enter the space.
What’s Next in the Series?
If you’re design focussed and want to better understand where you can get involved from a UX perspective, then come along to UX and Design for Connected Products.
If you want to understand more about how this all fits together and what will make all these connected devices possible then come along to Connectivity and Infrastructure.