Other writers have crafted vignettes of the e-knowledge future.
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Scenario
Augmented Reality through
Ubiquitous Computing

By Chris Dede

“Alec and Arielle strolled through Harvard Yard on the way to the museum to collect data for their class assignment. Each carried a handheld device that pulsed every time they walked past a building. This signaled that the building would share information about its architecture, history, purpose, and inhabitants using interactive wireless data transfer. Alec usually stopped to use his handheld to ask questions about an interesting looking location. Today, he was in a hurry and ignored the pulses.”

“Inside the museum, they split up to work on their individual assignments. When Alec typed his research topic into the museum computer, it loaded a building map into his handheld device, with flashing icons showing exhibits on that subject. At each exhibit, Alec could capture a digital image on his handheld device, download data about the artifacts and links to related Web sites, and access alternative interpretations about the exhibit. To ensure that the server sends him information tailored to his native language, reading level, and learning style, his handheld device automatically supplies information about Alec’s age and background.”

Complete viewing this vignette, and find others, at Cite Challenges Grand Web page: www.citejournal.org/grandchallenges

Scenario
‘Dimitrios’ and the Digital Me
(D-Me)

“It is four o’clock in the afternoon,
Dimitrios, a 32 year-old employee of a major food-multinational, is taking a coffee at his office’s cafeteria, together with his boss and some colleagues. He doesn’t want to be excessively bothered during this pause. Nevertheless, all the time he is receiving and dealing with incoming calls and mails.”

“He is proud of ‘being in communication with mankind’: as are many of his friends and some colleagues. Dimitrios is wearing, embedded in his clothes (or in his own body), a voice activated ‘gateway’ or digital avatar of himself, familiarly known as ‘D-Me’ or ‘Digital Me’. A D-Me is both a learning device, learning about Dimitrios from his interactions with his environment, and an acting device offering communication, processing and decision-making functionality. Dimitrios has partly ‘programmed’ it himself, at a very initial stage. At the time, he thought he would ‘upgrade’ this initial data periodically. But he didn’t. He feels quite confident with his D-Me and relies upon its ‘intelligent’ reactions.”

Complete viewing this vignette, and find others at: www.cordis.lu/ist/istag.htm
Scenarios for Ambient Intelligence in 2010.