Meet the Spime

   In an age where information has never been more readily available, there is also an overwhelming amount of information that parallels this ease of access. As information becomes easier to access, more information exists. Bruce Sterling mentions two ideas that relate to one another in terms of information accessing and archiving. He discusses the relevance of bar coding and at the end of his article, he has a “map” illustrating the network of a system that employs ambient informatics. The barcoding, in general, is relevant because we now live in an age where everything has an associated identity attached to it. The barcode is the associated identity that is run by the Uniform Code Council and EAN International. Sterling mentions that organizations such as these are colossal, yet the barcode itself is so second nature to people that its existence goes practically unnoticed. The Uniform Code Council and EAN International create barcodes so they can name items or products to track consumption patterns, as Sterling notes. There is big business in consumption patterns and businesses use barcodes to track the real, tangible products that people want in stores as oppose to a virtual economy where consumption data is stored as cookies or mined by companies.

   Ambient informatics is similar to the barcode system in terms of networked information, but it is much less subtle and intended for public use. Rather than rely on centralized development of software applications (i.e. Microsoft), ambient informatics is a universal computing system that involves real time information sent from RFIDs, sensors, and cameras to name a few. This would allow for faster and better quality information such as real time traffic updates, shipping information, logistics, entertainment (i.e. if a show is cancelled last minute), healthcare, and much more.  As I mentioned before, while information is becoming easier to access, more information exists especially with a real time system. Ambient informatics is meant to deliver information to people when and where they benefit from it, so as to not “overdo” it when people are strapped for time.