|
IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE | SPRING 2005 | 7
Pervasive computing refers to visionary new
ways of applying information and communication
technologies (ICT) to our daily lives. It
involves the miniaturization and embedding of
microelectronics in non-ICT objects and wireless networking,
making computers ubiquitous in the world
around us.
1 Unlike most of today’s ICT products, pervasive
computing components will be equipped with sensors
enabling them to collect data from their surroundings
without the user’s active intervention. IBM
estimates that in ten years, a trillion electronically networked
objects could be available to a billion people [1].
The technology of pervasive computing is now
ready for large-scale everyday use. Its many applications
are expected to pervade the working sphere, cars
and public transportation systems, the health sector, the
leisure market, our homes, etc. In this respect, pervasive
computing is expected to have a great impact on
society and the environment.
On one hand, pervasive
computing will bring promising opportunities for both
social activities and environment management. On the
other hand pervasive computing might also have some
darks sides. The actual impact of pervasive computing
and our ability to cope with sustainability in an age of
pervasive computing will certainly depend on the way
equipment and technical infrastructures for everyday
life are designed, and on the way the social and environmental
issues of technology are managed.
In April 2004, at the initiative of the University of
Fribourg, the Centre for Technology Assessment (TASWISS),
and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials
Testing and Research (EMPA), a one-day workshop
on “Sustainable Pervasive Computing” was held
in conjunction with PERVASIVE 2004, the Second
International Conference on Pervasive Computing, in
Vienna, Austria. The aim of the workshop was to analyze
and eval uate the implications of pervasive computing,
and to allow cross-fertilization between technology
and application design, and technology
assessment towards sustainable pervasive computing.
This special issue of IEEE Technology and Society
Magazine assembles selected papers from that workshop
that have been updated by the authors and
reviewed for publication in this journal.
Mahshid Sotoudeh from the Institute of Technology
Assessment at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna,
opens this issue with an article discussing sustainability
as a multi-dimensional concept that includes criteria
such as fairness, local development, global interaction,
and innovation on the technical, organizational, and
social level. This model of sustainablity serves as a
framework in which links between sustainability and
technologies can be established. Sotoudeh argues that the
development of pervasive computing, like that of other
new technologies, should refer to that framework and be
worked out in an intensive interaction within society, calling
for deep organizational and institutional changes of
the technology development sub-system of society.
Andreas Koehler and Claudia Som from the Technology
and Society Lab at the Swiss Federal Laboratories
for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA), St.
Gallen, report on a technology assessment study on
pervasive computing. The aim of this study commissioned
by the Swiss Centre for Technology Assessment
(TA-SWISS) was to examine the promises of pervasive
computing and its impacts with a focus on health and
the environment. The authors refer to the precautionary
principle as an analytical framework for discussing the
opportunities and risks of pervasive computing for sustainable
development.
The third article by Johann ¢§ Cas from the Institute of
Technology Assessment at the Austrian Academy of
Sciences, Vienna, focuses on the privacy issue. In his
view, pervasive information systems will necessarily
erode privacy, which he considers to be a precondition
of societal sustainability. Although, in principle, technical
options offering effective privacy protection are
available, their integration into pervasive or ubiquitous
computing systems would require far-reaching restrictions
to functionality.
Jean-Marc Seigneur from Trinity College, Dublin,
introduces the concept of the computational trust
engine, which serves to foster collaboration between
stakeholders and allow them to collaborate in a sound
and trustworthy manner. Trust engines can also be used
to promote technologies that are more sustainable than
others by assessing and selecting them. The authors
depict techniques based on public key infrastructures
and trust engines to differentiate “eco-computing”
from more polluting computing in a trustworthy way.
Shiva Chetan, Anand Ranganathan, and Roy Campbell
from the University of Illinois define sustainable
pervasive computing technology as a technology that is
invisible to the user and does not intrude on his or her
consciousness. This concept of sustainability can be
viewed as a special case of multi-dimensional sustainability,
addressing the allocation of conscious attention
as a precondition of individual freedom. The authors
discuss how technical faults impact the sustainability of
pervasive computing, discuss present challenges to be
addressed in designing fault tolerant pervasive computing
systems, and describe a prototype of such a system.
Philipp Kräuchi and his co-authors from the Swiss
Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research
and from the Solothurn University of Applied Sciences
Northwestern Switzerland focus on the end-of-life phase
of pervasive computing components. Treating passive
RFID labels as an example of pervasive and unobtrusive
microelectronics, they quantify the impact of such smart
labels on waste treatment processes. Negative impacts
can be limited by precautionary measures, but the use of
active transponders and other active components in
future pervasive computing systems will bring about
new challenges for waste treatment.
None of these articles provide any ready-to-use
solutions for sustainable pervasive computing. They
do, however, contribute by reflecting on the impacts of
the pervasiveness of information and communication
technologies for a sustainable environment and society.
They also give some tips on how to achieve sustainability
in a field where this kind of consideration unfortunately
remains too rare.
References
[1] IBM, Research Spotlight, Sept. 2003; http://www.research.ibm.com/
compsu/spotlight/mobile/index/html.
Co-guest editor Dr. Danielle Bütschi is with TA-SWISS,
Birkenweg 61, CH - 3003 Berne, Switzerland; email:
danielle.buetschi@swtr.admin.ch. Dr. Michèle Courant is
with the Department of Informatics, Chemin du Musee 3,
CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; email: michele.courant@
unifr.ch. Prof. Dr. Lorenz M. Hilty is with the Technology and
Society Lab, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing
and Research (EMPA), Lerchenfeldstr. 5, CH-9014 St.
Gallen, Switzerland; email: Lorenz.Hilty@empa.ch.
|
인기도 :
