Wearable Technology: Lap Dancing With Our Smart Phones

Hmmm, is bypassing your laptop to tap your lap a step forward or a frivolous use of innovation?

Here we go again charging towards the ever expanding horizon of digital technology. The sky is not the limit anymore. What am I ranting about this time? The brave new world of wearable technology. Wikipedia tells me that to understand this phenomenon I have to grasp some new concepts.

1.  Ubiquitous computing (aka pervasive computing aka ambient intelligence aka ambient media aka everyware) – A concept in software engineering where computing can be made to appear anywhere and everywhere.

Wave goodbye to desktop computing. Ubiquitous computing, as the name suggests, is a no-holds-barred proposition. It can apply to any device in any location in any format.

2. Middleware – Not to be confused with Middle Earth, for Tolkien fans. This is computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It is an in between layer of software sometimes called “software glue”.

3. Sousveillance – Best understood in contrast to surveillance which refers to watching from above. Sousveillance brings the means of observation down to the human level – i.e. the camera or detecting device resides on the person.

Sousveillance can come in the form of undersight (aka inverse oversight), which is high level, and inverse surveillance, which is watching from underneath.

Do I know what I am talking about as I relay these concepts? Absolutely not. I am getting a massive, ubiquitous, inverse headache at all levels of my low tech brain just trying to wrap my mind around this technical jibber-jabber.

So let’s circle back to the original premise. Wearable technology refers to clothing and accessories which incorporate computer and/or advanced electronic technologies. It gives a whole new meaning to fashionista.

The latest development is something called Project Jacquard – a code name for “Smart Jeans”. It seems that within a year or two we will be able to buy a pair of jeans that can interact with, transmit to and relay data from nearby devices. Simply by tapping your lap (yes, I said lap, not laptop) you will be able to control a nearby smartphone.

Wearable technology is the latest metaphor for technological development that has long left behind what is practical and crossed over into science fiction. It is no longer about making our lives better. It is about how far we can push the envelope and who will get there first to cash in on deep pockets with plenty of disposable income.

We cannot cure cancer but we can lap dance with our smartphone. Is this really progress?

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

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