Tag Archives: Data

Visualizing Wearble Data: Is It a Good Idea?

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Innovate LINK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iFuTaqD4fM

Finding ways to visualize wearable data is sometimes a tough challenge. How exactly do yo visualize physical attributes when the meaning of those numbers are different for each person? Then there are the ethical considerations of what should you be displaying and where you should display it. So this article about displaying stress levels for everyone to see seems more concerning than intriguing (see also the video above about bio-wearables). Anyone that has used a stress monitoring device of some kind knows they are not always accurate. But even when they are, would you really want that information broadcast to people around you? Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t – we are probably all different. But there is also the very real concern of people that could see you are stressed and take advantage of that. Which I realize already happens without technology, but the concern over what data is being collected and who it is available to is a huge one to grapple with.

Re-designing the Data Ownership Structure of the Internet

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Brought to you by a team of developers led by the guy that invented the World Wide Web (Tim Berners-Lee), Solid is a new project designed to “radically change the way Web applications work today, resulting in true data ownership as well as improved privacy.” The basic idea is that the data in an application is “decoupled” from the data inside it, meaning that if your favorite service shuts down (like MySpace, Jaiku, etc), you can switch to another and not lose what you did on that service. You would control your data and what happens to it. Stephen Downes looks at some of the applications being built on Solid. Solid is probably quite a way away from going mainstream, so don’t plan to use it this Fall in classes. However, for people that want to get serious about data ownership, this is a project to keep your eyes on.

Atomic Memory Inches Closer to Reality – But Don’t Make Any Plans Yet

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJpZWKQ1q-g

Scientists this week published an article about technology that could possibly fit thousands of terabytes of information on a single drive. The idea is that they basically used the position of atoms to store data. This is very new technology that is a long way away from being sold to people, but it points to a future where you could potentially store more data on a single device than you would ever need in an entire life time. Of course, we have access to that through the Internet, but a lot is still locked away behind paywalls and the Internet is still not everywhere. Breakthroughs like this could put a library of knowledge in your hand where ever you go. What it means to learn has also been evolving along these lines for a while now as memorizing facts becomes less important when you can easily look them up. More details in the video above.