Since we are living
in a time of rapid

everywhere, all the time and in many different types of contexts, and these will all be known and processed by online services.

This not only opens up opportunities for a range of new tools and services, but will fundamentally change our basic human experience, as the virtual and the physical converge more and more, and eventually become indistinguishable.

The ever-growing presence of localized and contextualized mobile devices will mean that well-designed services will have to be immersive services. The Web will be about providing people with things that matter at a particular time, in a particular location, within a particular context.

And it doesn’t stop there. Digital devices are not just smart phones. The digitization of our physical space also includes RFID systems, sensors, alert systems, cameras, GPS, among others.

In such a mixed physical/ digital space, designers need to be respectful of people’s identity and privacy, and not take all control away from them. But what does it really mean to design for a world of physical/ digital confluence?

Frankly we don’t know. Mike Kuniavsky wrote in this magazine about user experience principles for ubiquitous computing [ 1], and other thinkers such as Adam Greenfield, Genevieve Bell, and Jan Chipchase are approaching the subject as well, but there is no consensus yet. The debate is only starting.

Our behaviors change but the underlying human drives that guide those behaviors do not

change so easily. Understanding this delicate balance and being respectful of what it means to be human are the two keys to unlock the physical/digital design challenge.

change, our task as
professionals is not
just to understand

The High-Tech of the Local

People in local communities have always shared and exchanged things without the support of money. But this local practice sits at the margin of the dominant economic model and has a reputation for being naïve, precisely because it is local, relies on person-to-person trust, and is therefore slow.

But the anonymity that comes with global markets has created its own set of problems and this is currently affecting us all. Not just the current recession, but also the enormous environmental challenges of buying things from afar that could have been produced nearby.

Can the new digital world help recreate the trust of the local, and allow for other types of compensation, such as time, skills, services, a sense of belonging and community, visibility, reputation, public recognition, identity?

What could possibly replace money as it exists now? What could be sharable and what cannot? What impact could this have on people and communities? How could a post-money economy best be organized, especially given the failures of the current economic model? How do communities of sharing shape and maintain themselves? How do they build their values? Do they have explicit or implicit values? What are the differences between global/online

the current context
or anticipate future
possibilities, but
to help create a
future world that is
socially, economically,
spiritually, and
environmentally
sustainable.