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Visionary
James Morris
7/1/2008
demonstrating a new basis for computing, based on those technologies. And of course, we received wonderful support from IBM and other companies, including Apple and Digital Equipment [now part of HP], to show how these new products could be used to make computing at the time a much more dynamic and useful utility for a group of people.We're now trying to do the same thing with mobility. We're not planning to invent new handsets, or even do research on how to invent new handsets. We have some people who work on new communications protocols, but in fact, many companies with research or development divisions are already creating a lot of this infrastructure. One of the things we hope to do is look deeply into the uses of technology by normal people, and understand those technologies and how they come together into systems that are useful for people. That's what we've done in the past. Carnegie Mellon isn't just an engineering school; it has a serious business school and a college of humanities and social science, which have been studying not how to build computers, but how computers should be used. We've always been interested in [technological] phenomena and the uses of computing, as much as the actual construction of these things.
Is there a role for higher ed institutions to play in fostering revolutionary technologies as they appear? Oh, sure! Aside from studying [technological] phenomena-- which actually is a very important thing to do-- and aside from building internets, social scientists at Carnegie Mellon and other institutions can tell society what the internet is doing for us or to us. And you would expect the same sort of thing to be happening with mobile computing. There are many reasons why universities might be innovators in this area.
For example, universities are full of young people, and if you look at 18-year-olds today, they generally don't own cars-- plus they have been told incessantly about global warming, and might not want to own cars. On top of that, they love using technology to communicate with each other. They might figure out whole new ways to conduct their lives using mobile devices and mobile communications. For instance, how would cell phones, which are aware of where you are all the time, help you get along without an automobile?
And since a university represents a community of people who trust each other, a lot of social networking activity can happen. So, one of the things we discuss is whether a university could greatly improve the quality of its carpooling and ride-sharing systems using technology.
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