Don't Unplug by Chris Dancy

Author:Chris Dancy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

PART FOUR

KNOWLEDGE (2012–2014)

Health and Environment

Barbara Walters: “But what would you do if the doctor gave you only six months to live?”

Isaac Asimov: “Type faster.”

What is knowledge? Is it something that comes from a textbook, a professor or a professional? Data lacks context; information needs some type of validation before it becomes knowledge. To understand how we travel from data to information and end up with knowledge, let’s examine a GPS.

When you use a GPS, data is represented by the speed, direction and distance traveled. Those numbers don’t factor into your starting point or your destination, they are just raw numbers. A map provides the platform to turn GPS sensor data into contextual information. You can see exactly where you are and all the data elements that are driving you.

If a GPS could understand historical trends and the future traffic of a highway, or if it could suggest when to leave so you have a more pleasurable time on the road, that would be more than information. Your GPS could be said to possess knowledge beyond the basic data that it is using.

This idea of mapping services being knowledgeable, rather than merely information-based, is fundamental to your understanding of the future of your connected life. All the large technology companies are creating mapping databases. Google and Apple don’t care what you search for, they only care about where you are when you search and what they can offer to you at that time. Think of it as impulse buys at the grocery store, full time, everywhere. We are about to enter peak convenience when it comes to our consumer lives.

A map and a destination make the otherwise useless location sensors in your phone a knowledgeable system. Knowledge is the application of information systems over time to make their use more efficient for a certain goal. If your goal is to drive the fastest way on a route with no tolls or using back roads, the GPS becomes a knowledge appliance.

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