One of today’s most critical global imperatives is "universal access." In our world’s now thoroughly computerized, internetworked economic, social and cultural environment, all people must have access to like information technology (IT) tools, resources and capabilities. As access becomes increasingly universal, exciting interpersonal dynamics become possible; like distant learning, telemedicine, virtual community, and 'infomediation,' a core interest of this document that enables the other dynamics listed before and many still to be seen on our virtual horizons.
The concept underlying infomediation is that an individual should 'own' his or her own data and that only trusted parties should broker individuals’ data as allowed and authorized by the individual. Recent IT developments like the explosive growth of the Internet, maturation of wireless technologies, increasing deployment of extensible markup language (XML), Microsoft’s development of a .net (DotNet) philosophy, and the emergence of application service providers (ASPs) indicate 'infomediation' will rapidly become a big part of all our lives. Consider how it may impact yours.
In an InfoMediated Enterprise (I/ME) environment, when my daughter Kylie was born last year a database or map of known, standardized, internetworked databases of her information would have been established for her and included all her personal, legal, governmental, financial and medical records (actually, it would have been established in-uterus and included her ultrasounds, mother's tests, etc.). Her data would have been linked to mine, my parents', her mother's, etc. As she grew and lived, her databases would grow and live and include all her personal learning data, writings, photos, diaries, etc. Only she and her guardians, and government authorities as mandated by law, would have authority over and access to her data and most related access to and transactions with her data would be mediated by trusted parties assigned by the owners. These infomediaries would connect her data to the othside world, for what purpose was acceptable and specifically authorized.
When medical issues surfaced, medical providers would access her databases (which would actually contain all her correct medical records, images, etc.) and to the extent new records developed they would be added to her files (and linked to her relatives’ records). Access would be allowed only as needed for appropriate care giving, diagnosis, research and lifesaving purposes as she, her guardians and established precedent allowed. These medical data transactions would be managed by specialized, trusted ASPs established specifically for such purposes – of which there would be many.
When she starts school (or more accurately 'learning' - increasingly by computer), her learning data would be activated and grow. As she was tested, results would be added. As schools and teachers reported on her progress, those reports would be added. As she misbehaved in school, so her official record would show. As she developed learning work products, from book reports to a PhD thesis, they would have a permanent electronic home. Access would be allowed for her, her guardians, schools to which she applied and attended, and even potential employers she opted-in. Specialized eEducation ASPs and hubs will coordinate these processes.
Throughout her life, she may include personal photos and videos, already largely created in digitized format. She may keep a private diary, active from her earliest writings through her death. She may add poetry. She may include works of art and other creative expressions, whether scanned or increasingly made digitally through developments of enhanced, expressive information technologies. She may include voice notations, allowing her to allow others to hear her words, in her voice, from throughout her lifetime, and her great, great grandchildren may some day be lulled to sleep to her voice reading one of her favorite children’s stories. Shortly, she may be able to include a three-dimensional representation of her self that could preserve her presence in various states of time to share with future generations – in her christening gown, graduation robes, wedding gown, death shroud. She would have all this to have and to hold. Throughout her life, she may offer access to some or all of these digital expressions to friends and relatives and she may will them to her heirs to keep her personal expressions and expressive process alive for generations to come. I wish my grandmothers and grandfathers and theirs had been able to do that for my family to experience today and forever. ASPs, perhaps developed by traditional imaging companies like Kodak or created from scratch, will drive and manage this expressive evolution.
If she develops products, ideas, images, stories, articles, books, games, videos and music to sell, she will have a store from which to market them and as optimal as possible a marketplace where they can be sold. This is where infomediation will most immediately offer her traditional models for commercial enterprise. If she has good stories, books and articles to share, she may self-publish, as Stephen King recently did, and infomediaries, like in his case Amazon.com, will make it possible for people to find her work and compensate her for its value if that is her sharing requirement. If she makes available her original music, she can freely distribute it by providing access to napster and gnutella type applications or sell it via ASPs specialized in on-line music commerce, of which there will be increasingly many. Even if she has things to sell that are not innately digital, like masks she carves or trees in her backyard, infomediaries will provide the markets and help her establish her optimal commercial values and perfect the transactions.
When Kylie starts developing a financial identity, with money she is given and earns, it will increasingly exist entirely in electronic form, recorded in her financial databases. All her wealth and debt will be clearly defined and she will always have available a current balance sheet of her networked worth. She will have a credit rating and line established based on her actual financial where withal and her bills, payments and debts will automatically be debited. She will have no need for traditional ‘credit cards’ but American Express and VISA may still exist as ASPs to monitor her finances and broker her transactions. Chase Bank and other ASPs are already providing personal financial data aggregating services so this scenario is right around the corner. There will be no ‘credit rating’ services, as her credit worthiness will be based on her actual finances, as defined by her accurate financial data thereinafter found only at the source
When she is pulled over for speeding, the police will scan her fingerprints and access her correct data from one central enforcement database system (this is already viable and, correctly or not, is happening). Even more likely, her vehicle will contain a ‘black box’ linked to global positioning satellite (GPS) systems, as recently introduced by Progressive Insurance in Texas, and she will automatically be fined when she speeds, the fees will be deducted from her financial databases, her insurer will be notified and rates increased, and she will very quickly learn to safely drive the speed limit. Speed kills, and people will stop speeding. Computers will soon learn the characteristics of drunk drivers, and their cars will automatically be disabled. I don’t want Kylie driving drunk, so I won’t mind her having an effective deterrent. Whether she’s the potential drunk or victim, IT could soon save her life and I’ll sleep better when she heads off to college, as this will be reality long before then. ‘Big Brother?’ Maybe. Whether an eye in the sky or a black box under the hood, we’re all being watched constantly already, so the system might as well be fair, reasonable and accurate. Rather than put this technological force in the hands of the police, let us choose ASPs to monitor our driving, enforce such basic laws and civil behavior, and escalate problems to police attention only for the truly problematic, like chronic drunk drivers, as they should be stopped for all our safety and well being.
In a perfect world, her data will only live in her databases - no credit bureaus, no FBI files, no psychiatric files scattered about doctor's offices, just one stop, reliable, confidential sourcing. She will opt-in or out as fits her needs, lifestyle and, of course, government mandate (which they will). All data will grow with her over her lifetime and survive after her death. What happens to it after then will be determined in her last will and testament.
Infomediation will pay for itself and make individuals (and technology and application services providers) money. For example, if Kylie maintains a database of her personal preferences, perceptions and buying activities (e.g. what products she buys and likes, her opinions on movies, her favorite Internet resources) that have market value (which for all people they do) she can sell that data to those that care (and the people developing products and services do care what we think). If she allows detergent companies to know her preferred brand of detergent, by allowing them access to her grocery store buying data now locked in the stores IT, they can offer to buy her business through eCoupons for their brands that will be integrated into her preferred stores information and register systems – never hitting paper but worth much in savings. Perhaps they’ll just send her free samples. In any case, she will be compensated. Companies like Nielsen may still exist, but we will own our preference data and they will become ASPs that will work for us rather than the other way around.
For all these concepts to work, we only need effective data management technologies/services/capabilities, common standards, and fair, reliable, secure brokering/access processes, which we have today and is why all these ASP models are rapidly developing. This InfoMediation revolution will put many powerful businesses out-of-business require survivors to realign their business practices, and offer entrepreneurs and established enterprises a wealth of new opportunities to prosper by doing IT right. An eRevolution has begun and for Kylie and the rest of us the realignment of individuals' data ownership, management and rights represents a new world of great opportunity.
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