Information Week recently posted a feature on the five disruptive technologies to watch in 2008. The final disruptive technology deals with “presence awareness.” An increasing number of applications figure out the activities of the user in a given moment and make it easier to communicate or route work flows to that person.
The current spate of technologies deal with communication – if you’re using your VOIP phone, a message might get routed to your computer screen. There’s also Instant Messenger (IM) technologies that recognize when you’re on the phone so that others know that you’re occupied.
The idea is to eliminate dead ends in communication, and make the communication as efficient as possible. I can appreciate this idea given our short amount of patience these days. Rather than receiving an IM, voicemail and e-mail when I’m not available, the technology could step in to alert the person that I’m on the phone, and I’d simply receive one e-mail or IM message. That efficiency step would prove helpful to both parties.
I’m curious how these “presence awareness” technologies might work in a geospatial context. Perhaps the technology could be used in a workgroup setting to allow for more efficient data sharing, printer sharing and communication on projects. If you spend time in the field, the presence awareness feature could route communications to you seamlessly or communicate your location automatically. The knowledge of your location within the organization might speed response times and increase efficiency.
I really like the thought of technology stepping in between me and the many devices and applications that I can, and am connected to — whether it’s my land line, cell phone, Skype, IM, multiple e-mail accounts, etc…
