ThingsCon Amsterdam 2016 Keynote: A responsible IoT

In the keynote for ThingsCon Amsterdam I had the chance to tackle some of the pressing issues and challenges I see for a better, human-centric, responsible IoT:

• Hardware is hard
• Connected systems bring dynamics of power & control to the forefront
• Our language and metaphors haven’t evolved as quickly as the technology, so we don’t have good shared language to discuss the implications of IoT

Here are the slides to my presentation until the video is ready:

I think the ThingsCon community is at the eye of the storm in many ways: We’re embedded in the right conversations, we’re in the room. We (kinda-sorta) understand the issues at stake, and with the interdisciplinary mix of people (designers, developers, researchers, humanities folks and social scientists, etc.) we can help develop a better and more holistic understanding of the issues. And we’re capable as a group to push for good choices and decisions.

I think we’re in a unique position to have an impact, to leave a positive mark. This is our chance to have real impact, at scale, in a positive way. And we might just be the only group—or one of a few—who focuses on addressing these questions.

So let’d dig right in. It’s up to us to get this right!