Age of Context

Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy

By: Robert Scoble, Shel Israel

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

In 2006, co-authors Robert Scoble and Shel Israel wrote Naked Conversations, a book that persuaded businesses to embrace what we now call social media. Six years later they have teamed up again to report that social media is but one of five converging forces that promise to change virtually every aspect of our lives. You know these other forces already: mobile, data, sensors and location-based technology. Combined with social media they form a new generation of personalized technology that knows us better than our closest friends. Armed with that knowledge our personal devices can anticipate what we'll need next and serve us better than a butler or an executive assistant. The resulting convergent superforce is so powerful that it is ushering in an era the authors call the Age of Context.

In this new era, our devices know when to wake us up early because it snowed last night; they contact the people we are supposed to meet with to warn them we're running late. They even find content worth watching on television. They also promise to cure cancer and make it harder for terrorists to do their damage. Astoundingly, in the coming age you may only receive ads you want to see. Scoble and Israel have spent more than a year researching this book. They report what they have learned from interviewing more than a hundred pioneers of the new technology and by examining hundreds of contextual products.

What does it all mean? How will it change society in the future? The authors are unabashed tech enthusiasts, but as they write, an elephant sits in the living room of our book and it is called privacy. We are entering a time when our technology serves us best because it watches us; collecting data on what we do, who we speak with, what we look at. There is no doubt about it: Big Data is watching you. The time to lament the loss of privacy is over. The authors argue that the time is right to demand options that enable people to reclaim some portions of that privacy.

©2013 Shel Israel (P)2013 Shel Israel

Age of Personalized Technology

If you know something about Big Data, this is the next book to read. The authors are knowledgeable and engrossed in technology and convey well how we're entering an age of personalized technology (e.g., your phone knows when you're home and reminds you of your tasks). I would skip the last chapter, which is fanciful thinking from the authors of what they expect to see in the year 2038.

Interesting and entertaining

What made the experience of listening to Age of Context the most enjoyable?

It gave a good overview of the trends in technology shaping future society.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Age of Context?

The whole aspect of context - the trend towards the weaving together of data and information from different sources and contexts giving a whole new dimension to our lives.

Any additional comments?

It was a pleasure to listen to, and although many subjects dealt with in the book - like self-driving cars and Google glasses - are well known novelties by now, the book dealt in depth with the possible implications of these different new technologies.

Enthusiastic view of a new medium

Would you consider the audio edition of Age of Context to be better than the print version?

For my taste, yes.

What other book might you compare Age of Context to and why?

Experience on Demand by Jeremy Bailenson and Dawn of the New Everything by Jaron Lanier. Both are about virtual and/or augmented reality.

What aspect of Jeffrey Kafer’s performance would you have changed?

Would have preferred if the authors read the book themselves.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A documentary.

Any additional comments?

We need more books like this to foster experimentation and adoption of extended reality as new media.

Tech as a human helper in the near future

Very interesting views on how the role tech will play in everyday life in the near future.

Good book but already starting to get stale

Was a good book about where things are on the technology front, but some of what they were talking about is less relevant already. As an example, one of the chapters was dedicated to Google glass (almost felt like an add for the product) which it seems went nowhere, contrary to what they were predicting.

Regardless, it was a good read.