The Internet of Things
(a class about web 3.0, technology vocab, the changing world, the future tense and unlimited ideas)
Intro:
What does “ubiquitous” mean?
What does “traceable” mean?
The raise of Internet and advances in telecommunication and software services led to think the chance of connect every object. One of the first topics that arise when talking about the Internet of Things is the concept of ubiquitous society, where everything is traceable, everything can be identified and everything is connected together. These capacities create the concept of Internet of Things, where sharing information between objects and devices connected to the Internet becomes reality. A short video explaining the appearance and evolution of Internet of Things is shown below.
1. Watch the video once and answer the Comprehension Questions:
How was the internet “conceived” from the beginning?
What adverb is used with “speed” in the context of internet evolution.
How has the way we access the internet changed?
What adverb is used in the context of the number of devices connected?
2. Watch again and complete both tasks.
Task 1:
Try to remember 1 of the “Can you imagine” examples. Write down words to help you reconstruct the concept.
Task 2:
Listen for the statistics about the year 2020.
- How many devices will be connected to the Internet?
- How many devices per human?
Discussion:
What are your opinions/ impressions?
What practical applications can you think of with this technology?
(try to match actions, phrasal verbs with your existing vocabulary)
What do you think about smart cities?
3. IBM have produced a more advanced video on the subject.
Please read the text below and then watch the video.
Over the past century but accelerating over the past couple of decades, we have seen the emergence of a kind of global data field. The planet itself – natural systems, human systems, physical objects – have always generated an enormous amount of data, but we didn’t used to be able to hear it, to see it, to capture it. Now we can because all of this stuff is now instrumented. And its all interconnected, so now we can actually have access to it. So, in effect, the planet has grown a central nervous system.
Look at that complex set of relationships among all of these complex systems. If we can actually begin to see the patterns in the data, then we have a much better chance of getting our arms around this. That’s where societies become more efficient, that’s where more innovation is sparked.
When we talk about a smarter planet, you can say that it has two dimensions. One is to be more efficient, be less destructive, to connect different aspects of life which do affect each other in more conscience and deliberate and intelligent ways. But the other is also to generate fundamentally new insights, new activity, new forms of social relations. So you could look at the planet as an information, creation and transmission system, and the universe was hearing its information but we weren’t. But increasingly now we can, early days, baby steps days, but we can actually begin to hear the planet talking to us.
