Two weeks ago you would have been hard pressed to convince me that handheld devices are getting critically close to the elbow on the hockey stick adoption curve. Yet it’s now clear. A few factors have contributed to my conversion:
Bob and I went to a talk by Howard Rheingold, which we found out about less than an hour before it happened. Thanks to our physical proximity (Scott and I were biking over to suites) and ease of wireless communications (amazingly, Scott can bike and talk without crashing) Bob was able to spread the news about this important event. My cell phone battery was dead when Bob came to pick me up, which made me appreciate how much I depend on it, particularly for time-critical communications. Anyway, the talk was at Xerox PARC, part of the Stanford/Palo Alto axis of innovation.

Rheingold, the foremost thinker on the future wherein everyone is constantly, wirelessly connected to those around them, extemporized on how Smart Mobs are currently revolutionizing social interaction in other countries (particularly Scandanavia, Japan and the Philipines). Text messages are inexpensive, and, critically, easy to forward to your friends. Being able to forward a message to those on your friends list facilitates the fan out of information, disinformation, critical news, updates to where in the mall people are meeting, etc. Since one person forwards to many, as recipients forward to their friends, it information spreads exponentially.

In countries where texting has already blossomed, it takes the place of the AIM culture in the States, only it’s an AIM which goes with you wherever you go, all hours of the day. I was skeptical, until a couple of days later, back in the Canadian Rockies I went skiing and while sitting in the public hot tub, two high school girls were holding their cellphones barely out of the water texting with their friends. Shortly before I left Stanford, I talked to a friend of mine whose roommate plays volleyball, and had text messaged the result of the match minutes after it was finished.

Text messaging is a critical aspect of the near future of handheld communications. Event information (reminders, updates, etc) is ideally suited for this kind of communications. It already happens via email, with people forwarding information about relevant upcoming events to their friends and colleagues. We need to consider this mode of use as we brainstorm future avenues for ISIS projects.

The development of handheld devices is another key aspect of this trend. Sharp, Sony, Ericcson, Neonode, etc. Not only are handhelds available in svelte Titanium and Barbie colors, with your choice of ringtones, but they are networked by cellular, Wi-Fi, and other networks at all times. These devices also pack a thousand times the computing power of the first desktop personal computers, and tens of thousands of times the bandwidth that made email possible in its early days. Wireless streaming video is now a reality, soon to become mainstream. Imagine ISIS Video content in your pocket. The picturephones of yesteryear are finally handheld and connected by suitably fast networks to make videoconferencing from your handheld device viable. Soon it will be possible to make calls over the internet from a handheld device, potentially bringing another round of cheap/free long distance service available on handheld devices.

What does this mean for ISIS?
We must not limit ourselves to thinking of the web browser and large public screens as the way to inform people of the tremendous events happening at Stanford every day. Clearly mobile devices are a key, and also, it’s critical to think about how people will use text messaging, email, phone calls, etc. to inform each other about what’s going on at Stanford. Ultimately, how do we enhance the Stanford experience.