Contextual awareness is the idea that things that are “aware” of the context around them and behave differently if their environment changes. This term is being used a lot around mobile devices to describe what location-aware phones, or smartphones, and software can do—and it’s a topic that information architects like me are thinking a lot about. But contextual awareness goes well beyond smartphones and location. Moreover, it’s not new. Not brand new, anyway.
Motion sensor lights, toilets that flush themselves after you do your business, and those moving sidewalks in airports that warn you when you get to the end are all examples of contextually aware objects. Likewise, the air conditioner in your home that only turns on when it gets over 75, or the sensor in my laptop that adjusts the brightness of the screen depending on the ambient light, or those fancy cars that parallel park for you or break if you are going to crash into the car in front of you…these are all devices that are contextually aware to some degree.
So what’s noteworthy about contextual awareness and mobile devices?
First, a mobile device, more than any other physical electronic, is typically a single-owner object that isn’t shared. Also, most people carry their smartphones with them all the time. So now there is an object that can easily use GPS and other technologies to broadcast where it is and receive information about its environment. Add in the age of Facebook and social “sharing,” and everyone with a mobile device is now a little blip on a radar screen constantly shouting about where they are, what they’re doing, and what YouTube videos make them ROFLOL. (Do people even type that anymore? Did I just date myself with texting lingo that’s gone out of vogue?)
Enter consumerism. In this age of information overload, consumers aren’t the only ones grappling with what to do with the flood of data. All those tweets and check-ins and status updates provide a wealth of information that businesses and marketers could potentially use to provide highly targeted experiences for consumers, if only it were possible to access and analyze all that data. But it’s starting to become possible, and that makes me excited, both as a consumer and a professional working for a digital marketing agency. But I’m also a bit skeptical, too. Here’s why.
Today, mobile technology is providing an explosion of information that our mobile devices—be it a smartphone or tablet—could be aware of (directly or indirectly), such as: location (GPS); device orientation; movement/acceleration/speed; what places are nearby; what devices are nearby (Bluetooth, etc.); what objects are nearby (RFID tags); time of day; temperature (indirect via GPS); what you can see around you (Google street view, recognition of image inputs or streaming video); nearby tweets, check-ins, etc. As a consumer, I’m excited about the convenience all of this can offer me. But let’s consider what else an app might know, with the right integration or App owner: everything you email and when you send it (thanks, Google); everything you search and when you search it (thanks again, Google); current and historical transaction and financial information (through APIs with financial services or using your phone as a credit card).
Right now, contextual awareness is not often used; if it is, it is used only in the most basic ways (put a “you are here” pin on a map). So the many marketing opportunities that could come from businesses collecting and consolidating all the contextually relevant information consumers provide—all those blips of information on a radar screen—are not yet being realized. Contextual awareness is really going to make a big difference for consumers when two things happen: first, businesses figure out what to do with the data available to them; and second, businesses are able to compel consumers to allow major consolidation of information to happen (systems integrate, APIs, allowing one app to access another, etc.).
Imagine your toothbrush sending you an update when it’s wearing out, with a button to add to your shopping list (for that exact brand, of course, complete with a coupon offer automatically redeemed when you pay with your phone). Imagine your car not only telling you it’s time for some regular maintenance (which many do now), but also checking your calendar, scheduling an appointment with the dealer and automatically pulling up the driving directions before you leave. Imagine your tennis shoes emailing you feedback to improve your footwork. Imagine getting a coupon for dollar off a low-calorie Guava Chia Smoothie to incent you to pop into the Starbucks 10 yards in front of you.
Pieces of this are already reality. Awesome, right? I’ll admit, I also find it a little creepy. But the way I see it, the privacy ship sailed somewhere between Facebook and smart phones, so we may as well enjoy the digital wave and ride it out while drinking a bargain smoothie with 280 calories, 2 grams of fat and 15 grams of protein.
The Rise of Contextual Awareness
by Perficient Author on August 16th, 2011 | ~ minute read
