Smartware: The Evolution of Computing
"With smartware, computers as a device are replaced by ecosystems of smart software and hardware with invisible interfaces that are highly personalized and helpful in potentially life-changing ways," said Jonathan Follett, Principal at GoInvo.
Arlington, MA (PRWEB) September 29, 2017
This week, principals from GoInvo, an Arlington, MA-based healthcare innovation and design firm, authored the first in a series of six articles about a new type of technology, dubbed “smartware”. Published in UXmatters, the popular online publication for the user experience profession, the series is entitled “Smartware: The Evolution of Computing."
According to the authors, Smartware is the synthesis of four converging advances in science and technology: artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning; the Internet of Things; explosive advances in the hard sciences, particularly neuroscience and genomics; and a variety of different hardware advances that compress space and time, most particularly additive fabrication and artificial intelligence.
“We are on the cusp of a new era of computing,” said Jonathan Follett, one of the authors and a principal at GoInvo. “First, giant supercomputers brought computing to large companies and research universities. Then, personal computers brought computing into our homes. More recently, mobile computing wove computing into our everyday lifestyles. With smartware, computers as a device are replaced by ecosystems of smart software and hardware, with invisible interfaces that are highly personalized and helpful in potentially life-changing ways. Our work on the healthroom is a good example of that in practice.”
In 2014, GoInvo published “Bathroom to Healthroom” (http://www.goinvo.com/features/from-bathroom-to-healthroom/) a vision for the bathroom of the future — where passive sensors are integrated into hardware like the floor, bath, sink, and toilet, to passively analyze health data unobtrusively. According to the essay, testing that previously happened infrequently, and was invasive in terms of both time and method, now becomes a daily check-in that not only identifies major health issues much earlier than was ever before possible but becomes a focal point for well living, integrating a lifestyle of diet and activity that is customized for each individual as the ultimate in preventative care. "That's really what smartware is all about," said Mr. Follett. "A seamless computing experience that enables us to live better lives."
"In their new UXmatters column, 'Smartware: The evolution of computing,' Dirk Knemeyer and Jonathan Follett of GoInvo provide their insights about some exciting digital technologies of the near future," said Pabini Gabriel-Petit, the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of UXmatters. "Once these technology products mature, their features—integrating the digital and physical worlds and the ability to learn from experience—promise to deliver capabilities that will make life easier for the humans who use them. All UX professionals should be thinking about how to design these emerging technologies. I’m very pleased to be able to deliver this stellar content to our UXmatters audience."
The first article is available now at UXmatters at: https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2017/09/smartware-the-evolution-of-computing.php. The rest of the six article series will be published once a month.