Ubiquitous computing

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Ubiquitous computing (from English ubiquitous computing , short ubicomp ) - also ubiquitous computing or collectively computer ubiquity - describes the ubiquity (or ubiquity ; in English ubiquity , from Latin ubique 'everywhere' ) of computer-aided information processing ( EDV , IT or CAx for short).

The ubiquity of computers is a prerequisite for computer penetration , i.e. the process of linking all computers and thus sensors, but the link is not automatically given by the existence of the computers.

The term was first used by Mark Weiser in 1988 and coined in his 1991 essay The Computer for the 21st Century . According to his vision, (personal) computers will disappear as individual devices and be replaced by “intelligent objects”. Instead of computers and the Internet as explicit objects of human attention, the upcoming so-called “ Internet of Things ” is intended to provide imperceptible support for people in their activities. Ever smaller computers should help him without distracting or attracting attention at all.

development

Even today, the PC is less and less the focus. The (mobile) internet is gaining in importance. According to Friedemann Mattern , the current decade can be characterized by the fact that the Internet with mobile applications is expanding beyond its classic domain.

"In the 21st century the technology revolution will move into the everyday, the small and the invisible."

"In the 21st century, the technological revolution will be everyday, small and invisible."

- Mark Weiser , 1952-1999

After the first era of the central mainframe , which was operated by many scientists, and the second era of the personal computer, which assigned each user their own computer, ubiquitous computing can be described as the third computer era in which many computers are embedded for each person work in a network in the environment and form a "network of things".

Computers in the sense of ubiquitous computing usually communicate via a mobile ad hoc network . In this way they can also form a distributed system .

criticism

Ubiquitous computing creates data protection problems . Monitoring can be carried out particularly cheaply and inconspicuously with techniques such as RFID . The Federal Ministry of Education and Research therefore commissioned a study on the technology assessment of ubiquitous computing as part of the innovation and technology analysis, which was carried out by the Independent State Center for Data Protection Schleswig-Holstein and under the name "Technology Assessment Ubiquitous Computing and Information Self-Determination" (TAUCIS) at the Institute for Information Systems at the Humboldt University in Berlin and published in autumn 2006.

Energy expenditure, resource consumption and waste are also grounds for criticism. It is difficult to estimate the amount of energy required by the additional technology in production and operation, how many resources are tied up and what happens to the garbage, or how well, for example, packaging with an RFID chip can be recycled.

Another topic is the consequences for health: On the one hand, the direct effects on the organism through electromagnetic fields and the materials used. And on the other hand, the indirect effects if, for example, medical equipment is disrupted.

See also

literature

  • Mark Weiser: The Computer for the 21st Century . In: Scientific American . (English, ubiq.com ).
  • Siegfried Behrendt, Mathias Binswanger, Arend Bruinink u. a .: The precautionary principle in the information society. Effects of pervasive computing on health and the environment . TA-Swiss , 2003, ISBN 3-908174-06-6 ( ta-swiss.ch [PDF; 5.1 MB ]).
  • Adam Greenfield: Everyware. The dawning age of ubiquitous computing . Peachpit Press, 2006, ISBN 0-321-38401-6 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Marc Langheinrich: The privacy in ubiquitous computing . ( ethz.ch [PDF; 283 kB ]).
  • Marc Langheinrich, Friedemann Mattern: Digitization of everyday life . In: From Politics and Contemporary History B . No. 42 , 2003, p. 6-12 ( bpb.de ).
  • Lauritz Lipp: Interaction between humans and computers in ubiquitous computing. Lit Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7938-0 .
  • Carsten Orwat, Andreas Graefe, Timm Faulwasser: Towards pervasive computing in health care. A literature review . In: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making . tape 8 , no. 26 , 2008 (English, biomedcentral.com ).
  • Heinz Sauerburger (Ed.): Ubiquitous Computing (= HMD. Volume 229). dpunkt, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-89864-200-3 .
  • M. Friedewald, O. Raabe, P. Georgieff and others: Ubiquitous Computing. The “Internet of Things” - basics, applications, consequences (=  studies by the Office for Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag . Volume 31 ). Edition Sigma, Berlin 2010 ( tab-beim-bundestag.de [PDF; 56 kB ]).

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ^ The Computer for the 21st Century ( Memento June 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English) - Mark Weiser in Scientific American , September 1991.
  2. ^ Friedemann Mattern: Ubiquitous Computing: Smart Everyday Objects - The Vision of the Informatization of Everyday Life. (PDF) Institute for Pervasive Computing, ETH Zurich, 2004, accessed on December 1, 2008 (50 KB).
  3. ↑ TAUCIS - Technology Assessment Ubiquitous Computing and Informational Self-Determination. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Independent State Center for Data Protection Schleswig-Holstein and Humboldt University Berlin, July 2006, archived from the original on October 12, 2007 ; Retrieved December 1, 2008 (4.46 MB). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.datenschutzzentrum.de