[IP] Robots nag and sofas whine in the land of digital natives

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

________________________________________
From: Brian Randell [Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk]
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 8:48 AM
To: David Farber
Subject: Robots nag and sofas whine in the land of digital natives

Dave:

Here's an interesting account from today's (UK)
Guardian about how "South Korea's investment in
new tech has led to a booming economy and the
world's most wired citizens" - for IP if you wish.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/17/robots.korea

>Can you pull an economy up by its bootstraps?
>South Korea's government would argue that you
>can - by embracing every new appliance,
>digitised entertainment and contrived
>convenience.
>
>The country invested billions in IT and
>broadband infrastructure and it worked. South
>Korea has become the world's 10th largest
>economy and as a result of its government
>putting buckets of money where usually there is
>only rhetoric, it is now the most connected
>country in the world.
>
>Almost 70 years after its occupation by the
>Japanese came to an end, the South Koreans seem
>determined to outdo their neighbours when it
>comes to early adoption. Seoul maintains that
>this characteristic has become South Korea's
>saviour and will keep its economic engines
>gunning through the next decades.
>
>Brave new world
>
>Unlike similar British government initiatives -
>remember Harold Wilson's "white heat of
>technology" speech in the 1960s - Seoul's bid to
>make South Korea the number one early adopter
>has triumphed spectacularly. In fact, its
>citizens may have actually gone overboard in
>their zeal to embrace all things digital.
>
>According to Tomi Ahonen and Jim O'Reilly's book
>Digital Korea, 43% of South Korea's population
>maintain an online profile or blog site, while
>nine in 10 twentysomethings use a social network
>daily. Online gaming is also mainstream - the
>South Korean's most desired car is not a Ferrari
>but a Solid Pro, a virtual car from the online
>game Kart Rider.
>
>The average broadband connection is between 50
>and 100 megabits a second (compared with the
>UK's average 4.6Mbps), and the country is
>already rolling out pilot connections at
>1,000Mbps. South Koreans pay less for their
>broadband than any other OECD country - about
>£10 per month for connections that download
>films in minutes.
>
>So wired are South Koreans that some speak of
>"digital natives" or "new human beings",
>referring to the generation that was born and
>grew up in the 21st century internet era
>surrounded by gadgets like computers and mobile
>phones. "Some babies here appear to pick up a
>computer mouse and cell phone earlier than a
>spoon and chopsticks," says Park Jung-hyun, a
>senior researcher at LG Economic Research
>Institute. "Digital natives are thinking, acting
>and reacting much differently from how we did."
>
>The capital Seoul sees much early adoption of
>new technology, although you might be forgiven
>for thinking the 21st century hasn't yet
>happened to much of the city. Mostly shabby and
>filled with ugly signage and concrete high
>rises, this city of 12 million people hasn't yet
>begun to place its utility lines underground.
>
>But inside some of the smarter clusters of
>buildings and even traditional wooden "hanok"
>homes are blisteringly fast internet and hi-tech
>security systems. Up to a million new-build
>flats now sport voice-controlled electronics,
>intelligent fridges, and talking RFID-linked
>appliances that would not look out of place in a
>Philip K Dick novel.
>
>Nor do visitors to Korea have to wait for a
>personal invitation to experience such advanced
>home electronics. The government has
>thoughtfully built a mock-up of a totally wired
>apartment for public tours. In The Ubiquitous
>Dream Hall, furniture tells you what to do and
>the fridge nags you to buy new stuff or pay the
>bills.
>
>It is a vision now made concrete with the
>building of what South Koreans call a
>"ubiquitous networked world". Ubiquitous because
>it will be everywhere and brings together
>technology as diverse as telematics, wibro
>(South Korea's form of the long-distance
>wireless broadband Wimax), RFID tagging and
>intelligent robot services. There are now
>U-homes U-shops and U-cafes in Seoul.
>
>Ubiquitous too is the happy ethos that the tour
>of the Dream Hall's space promotes. Even the PR
>handouts lend an eerie over-optimistic glow,
>referring to "our super happy and bright
>futures".
>
>But wait a minute, why is that large, shaggy
>brown sofa whining like a puppy? Our guide
>informs us the sofa is "lonely". One Filipino
>visitor leaps on a shaggy dog-robot settee
>that's only happy when you sit on it and caress
>its arms.
>
>Maybe I-Robi, the winsome but attentive robot
>that follows our tour, can bring me a stiff
>drink to calm the nerves? No - the home bot is
>handy only as a glorified messenger and security
>guard - with more nagging: "Don't forget your
>keys! Have a nice day!" But as it has no hands,
>it can only carry your drink, not fetch it.
>
>The South Korean government reckons there will
>be an I-Robi in every home by 2010. This seems
>doubtful but there is a definite demand for the
>rest of the kit, demonstrated by Samsung's and
>LG's successful commercialisation of such future
>homes - where the front door opens when it
>recognises the radio tag in your mobile, the
>lights and TV go on and that day's video
>messages are played to you as your favourite
>background music kicks in automatically. For
>many South Koreans, these now come as standard.
>
>Cooking with ads
>
>One of the niftiest pieces of hi-tech in the
>home is the RFID-tagged paper flyer. Paper, but
>magnetic, they are designed to cling to a sort
>of intelligent flat screen-cum-notice board in
>your kitchen. Once in place - say a flyer
>promoting a concert - video, music and links to
>further information are relayed to your kitchen
>screen.
>
>Marketing people are also excited about a new
>advertisement projection campaign that the hall
>shows off in its "digital streets section". Ads
>will no longer be ignored as mere urban
>wallpaper; now they are fun and interactive,
>thanks to Reactrix, a US-based interactive ad
>company. Images projected onto flooring or
>pavements mean kids can now kick around virtual
>footballs, courtesy of Coca-Cola; or your shadow
>can move images of splurges of paint to create a
>messy virtual canvas.
>
>There are some definite social benefits to South
>Korea's eager adoption of IT. The hall allows a
>peek into the virtual classroom. South Korean
>schools have just introduced digital textbooks
>for the first time, but what is new is Korea
>University's experiments with regular textbooks
>and augmented reality. Pass a special black and
>white graphic from a book under a special camera
>and it translates the code into a colour 3D
>image. You can move the book around to see a
>cross-section of the Earth, for example.
>Something that will bring science alive for our
>own digital natives perhaps?

--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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