Principal Engineer At Intel's Internet Of Things Group Discusses Smart Texture Of Technology & Privacy At UF D-Tour Tourism Summit
The aspect of user experience in the real world or through the technology in our hand is what currently makes the world go round. But even when out experience adventure in a national park or on a rafting trip or relaxing in a cabin, it is about the end experience but also what information is being given up. Faith McCreary, Principal Engineer & Experience Architect for The Internet Of Things Group at Intel, understands this but also where the ideas are going. After her keynote of the new textures of privacy, McCreary sat down with MRV: The Buzz Editor In Chief Tim Wassberg to discuss metrics, analysis and the human variable.
The Buzz: Looking at your experience, you're all about taking data and making it experiential and translating it into real world solutions. Can you talk about the basis of that from your perspective?
Faith McCreary: I think it goes back to the human. The human's the one that we're building the experience with. It's going back and either through big data or small data discovering what it is they really want and need, and collaborating with them to deliver it.
The Buzz: Now, it's all about right now in the arena we're in about trackable metrics? And that can be tricky because it's not always black or white. Can you talk about sort of that flow?
FM: When you talk about tracking, I mean, then you get into privacy, and nothing in privacy is black and white (laughing). It'd be so much easier if it was.
The Buzz: That’s the thing. For some people, they want privacy. Others don't. Can you talk about that sort of ebb and flow because, I mean, it's all individual. But you have to put, sort of, big systems into play to be able to look at this kind of stuff?
FM: I think also how do you put services into play? Right now, everything in privacy is very incremental. You go to Disney…you handle your privacy here. You go to your cell phone…you can probably see it there. When we talk to people about that -- and we’ve talked to people about that—about what it means to make things smart around them and what they're concerned about -- we don't really talk to them about smart technology because no one knows what smart technology is, really. Unless you work for Intel or someplace, no one really knows. So we talk to them about, basically, [what you would want] if you could give things around you a brain. And everyone knows what a brain does, so we talk to them about, "Well, what would you be worried about sharing? What would you be worried about telling other people? What [things] are you worried about telling the companies that might be using this data?" And we use that to basically map out spaces and understand people's differences in privacy concerns.
Some of the things they want are like -- here's a button [I can push]…[where] I can basically make myself invisible to all services. It's not just about your service or your service. It is about, "Okay, I'm just suddenly invisible." Or, "You're going to warn me when I'm doing something I might get in trouble with someplace." I mean [it is taking] these individual dots and turning them into a cohesive whole, because that's how humans think about it.
The Buzz: One aspect you spoke about in your keynote was about taking analysis to a design point. Can you give an example where that came into play?
FM: We're doing a product in the industrial space that I've been involved in since last year. And we started out with being very sort of -- we did mobile lithography, which is basically you put a App on someone's phone, and they take you different places. Then you can do anything from surveys to video. They can basically put you in their life. [It is about turning] those into a list of requirements. [Then it becomes about doing] design thinking with people that fell into the category of people that we were working with. So we did a lot of participatory stuff around paper. How do you build the perfect thing you think you want? Ideally what's that perfect, smart thing that you want to have in your space? Taking it to a pilot [stage] and trying it out. Because sometimes, no matter how much you do this stuff in advance, you never quite know. So seeing it from the buyer's perspective of the company…seeing it from the person who's going to be the feet on the ground using it…and understanding how that really fit. [From there you] just keep on iterating it until you get a product that you think is solid and ready to go out the door.
The Buzz: One thing you were talking to me about last night at the reception - and I didn't really get the full concept of it until you started talking -- was about piloting, and field experience, and how important that is to the entire process.
FM: Piloting for us…we start from very much from a paper. We'll do paper prototypes for your phone or whatever the device is [and] we'll fake it and do a styrofoam versions of it…down to the point where people actually have a working technical version of it that we can then use to refine. So to us, pilot is basically putting someone hands-on with something that seems real, and then as you get closer and closer to getting it out the door, it becomes more and more real.
The Buzz: Now you can talk about that—using the example from last night of India. I think you were talking about smart buildings and smart technology. How did that apply
FM: Well, there's certain capabilities in different things. So part of what we do up front is what capabilities and things we need to build an interface for. With the one I was talking about yesterday we actually went out and worked with people that were out in the field who basically showed us all the things they were already [in place] and then we talked about what didn't work about the things they already had. What doesn't work about their current tools. We then started using that to create a device that we thought would solve their problems. Then we actually took it out in the field in March and basically had them wear it. So [you] try it on with all your other gear. Go through all the motions and stuff that you would [normally] do. We started out with just a Styrofoam [prototype], but by the time we got to the end, they [would] have an actual functioning device that we then would sit there and get their feedback on. And we could see like, "Oh. Wait. This thing catches on that." Or, "Wait, this thing sets it off and it's not supposed to."
The Buzz: People were talking about today about that blend between or when technology becomes almost like magic. But also, there's the blend of that passion, which one of the other speakers was just talking about with micro and macro. Can you talk about these different themes and different ideas in the tourism industry right now? Almost in making processes like you said: “invisible”.
FM: Invisible and also, when you put a device in someone's hands, oftentimes the first thing you hear back is like, "Oh my God. Now I can't go to the movies in the afternoon because my manager will know the fact that this is on." If you are someone working in the tourism industry, or if you're someone else's guest [at their destination] you can be like "Oh my God. Wait. Do I want people to know the fact that I come here with someone other than my girlfriend or something." I mean there's just so many different options of things that you don't think about, that you don't want other people to know until you have the device. And you're thinking… you're going through your day, and you're realizing there's all these things that maybe you don't want to share…or you want to at least have control over who you're sharing it with. Part of what we get out of a pilot [test] is some of that information because it makes it real to people in a way that you don't if you're just going, "Well, I did a survey.”
The Buzz: I was reading up on you a little bit, with the aspect of social science and how important that is to the whole process. Because it takes into account sociology, neuroscience, psychology…all these things. Can you talk about the blending of all that?
FM: A lot of what I worked [on and] with is something called socio-technical systems theory, which basically takes that macro experience, as well as the micro, [in] how do you actually use the interfaces on your phone or someplace else. How does it fit into your larger world? How does it fit into the environment? How does it fit with the other people you work with? Because with IoT [the Internet of Things, which is Intel’s group], privacy is not only about you. You may be actually impacting the privacy of all the people around you. Because if you're a sensor, you're gathering data about yourself, but you also may be gathering [information] about everyone around you. So what does that mean in terms of usage?
The Buzz: Now, can you talk about the Internet of Things…and about how that group works. Because with this kind of think tank you really do have real world connotations.
FM: It goes back from the guy saying, "You have a technology looking for a problem." And you really want to have a problem that you'd find the technology for, not the other way around.
The Buzz: In talking about crisis management versus technology, which is not something the DMOs want to think of at first point. But you also have a JPL [Jet Propulsion Lab] background, and now you live in Oregon. You love that outdoor element too or that blending of that idea of that lifestyle. Can you sort of talk about how these different sort of facets that made you the person you are?
FM: I like putting all the pieces together. What I love about places like this, and certainly I love about Intel, is that you bring so many perspectives together, but you also come up with something new, and creative…something out of the box that you wouldn't have come up with otherwise. Like, for instance, two of my closest partners on the work I talked about today? One's an anthropologist, and one is a lawyer. And it's just completely different perspectives but we come together, and we bring it to a totally different place than any of us would have ended up separately.
The Buzz: You have to have a very specific perspective, but it's like jazz. You have a rhythm and can use unconventional ideas to bring the idea in. I think it is a great thing for Intel, and you've sort of made them think outside the box in many ways. It’s cognitive thinking, but it's hard to say…it’s almost instinctual.
FM: I think Intel attracts a lot of people from different backgrounds. UX [User Experience], in general, we have people from all sorts of backgrounds, and in part, our role within the company is to bring that different perspective to the technologists who are like, "Oh, it's all about the chip okay. Well, what does a chip do? What problem does it solve? How would people react to it? I mean, we're by definition-- people are transforming, just by working with product teams.
The Buzz: Where’s the balance between education and experience, between book knowledge and being out in the field?
FM: Part of what I love about user experience, and why I stayed in it as long as I have, has been [that] people, no matter how many degrees [of separation] you have, [they] always manage to surprise you. I love that…that's there's no substitute for actually going out, and observing, and talking, and working with people. There’s such a diversity of people. They always surprise you. And it's always about the context that they're in. That's why I came in to talk about [privacy]…the fact that there is no one magic solution. You can't just say, "Do this, do this and do this," and it will always work out okay. Because that person in the middle is always different. What one person may worry about or recommend, may be completely different to somebody else.
Tim Wassberg
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School Of The Arts with degrees in Film/TV Production & Film Criticism, Tim has written for magazines such as Moviemaker, Moving Pictures, Conde Nast Traveler UK and Casino Player. He enjoys traveling and distinct craft beers among other things.
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