CTO Blog
There has been a lot of comment recently about the runaway success of Nintendo Wii, and it sure brings the human interface to machines up a new level in terms of the mass market. The potential is there to do a lot with Wii, and a look at the Wii site, also makes you realise that not only can Wii be linked to the Internet, but the inevitability of some smart geeks figuring out how to use Wii and the Internet to take things to the next level is but a matter of time. Actually take a look around with me and you can see it’s well under way, indeed it has surprised me to see how far and how fast things are moving.
The first stage for many committed Wii users is to download the Opera Browser and surfing from their Wii console graduating towards Wii based Social Networking. This is only scratching the surface of what this kind of interaction is already bringing us. Take a deeper look at the Wiitalk site and you will find that you can construct your own avatar in a crude way.
However that’s not nearly good enough, there are talented people out there who have ‘adapted’ Wii controllers to work in Second Life, just take a look at this video. The Linden Labs people have open sourced the necessary code that allows people to experiment with taking virtual world interfaces to a new level using simple, and that also means everyday cheap, Wii controllers. There is now a full Open Source project under way at Sourceforge so expect this to rapidly become mainstream over the coming year.
I admit to having been uncommitted in my support for Second Life when blogging on the topic a year or so back, but this seriously changes my mind about what might occur. It will as ever obey the ‘golden rule’ for high speed progress of combining Web 2.0, Open Source and users driving their own experiences.
However that’s not all that a Wii based revolution could change; try thinking through your own ideas, from my side as a starting point what about Telepresence? Surprisingly I can find no reference to anyone trying to add the abilities of a Wii to allow a group of executives in a Telepresence session the benefit of entering into a 3D environment to see and handle something of interest. I have little doubt it will come and suspect currently its not happening as the Telepresence interfaces are not open to allow experimentation.
We are talking about Rich Internet Applications as the way to enrich our experiences with the Web, but I think we may be being too limited in our thinking, we are assuming the interface is through a browser as an extension of the World that has created the Web as we know it. I am no longer as sure, and as a final discussion point throw in Apple and the iPhone. It’s a fascinating combination of movement based, or Wii like, interaction in an entirely Apple presentation format, take a look at Piers Fawkes post ‘Has Apple helped create the Real Web 2.0?’. Given the numbers who are taking up the iPhone, plus the numbers of Wii users, and the we may well find that our view of ‘rich’ user interaction being based on the Browser is dangerously narrow.
About the author
Capgemini Global Chief Technology Officer, Andy is a member of the Capgemini Group management board and advises on all aspects of technology-driven market changes, together with being a member of the Policy Board for the British Computer Society. Andy is the author of many white papers, and the co-author three books that have charted the current changes in technology and its use by business starting in 2006 with ‘Mashup Corporations’ detailing how enterprises could make use of Web 2.0 to develop new go to market propositions. This was followed in May 2008 by Mesh Collaboration focussing on the impact of Web 2.0 on the enterprise front office and its working techniques, then in 2010 “Enterprise Cloud Computing: A Strategy Guide for Business and Technology leaders” co-authored with well-known academic Peter Fingar and one of the leading authorities on business process, John Pyke. The book describes the wider business implications of Cloud Computing with the promise of on-demand business innovation. It looks at how businesses trade differently on the web using mash-ups but also the challenges in managing more frequent change through social tools, and what happens when cloud comes into play in fully fledged operations. Andy was voted one of the top 25 most influential CTOs in the world in 2009 by InfoWorld and is grateful to readers of Computing Weekly who voted the Capgemini CTOblog the best Blog for Business Managers and CIOs each year for the last three years.
We are talking about Rich Internet Applications as the way to enrich our experiences with the Web
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World that has created the Web as we know it
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In The Netherlands there are two DJs (they call themselves Wii-Js) who use a Wii on their set. The Wii-J is on a stage and uses an adapted Wii controller to mash songs while dancing around at the same time. I thought that was extremely cool. You can watch this on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slQ9KOwd6MM
Now what about providing means to interact with the Wii-Js mixing via, say SMS (or twitter)? People on the dance floor could request songs or increase/decrease the beat. Or maybe, the Wii-j will automatically only mix songs his current audience likes based on knowledge of them on social sites.
Hi Mark
excellent example! though i must say that its not the kind of example that i would have come across !! The challenge now is, as you say, not to bring together two things, such as Wii and Second Life, but how to blend all the formats together.
its interesting that we understand the concept of context aware in terms of content format, but we are only just begining to consider using the term to talk about using the ‘right’ media form for an interaction.
andy
There is another example I can think of here. There is this Wii workout system (Wii Fit) that does BMI (body mass index) analysis. Here’s a really good opportunity for a social Wii application. Seeing others also sweating their pounds off while you are doing your workout can be really motivating. And a second life like virtual experience is also easily envisioned. You see your ideal self (what you look like with a healthy BMI) and other’s who are working out with you. A visual indicator tells you how far you are from your ideal BMI. Well, something like that.
By the way, I neither visit dance parties nor do I own a Wii.
What i find interesting about the Wii and working out is that as with Nike and their semi competitive way of getting you to advise your times to others its all about the ‘collaboration’ side. No may be thats not the right word – its the ability to create the very human requirement of sociality.
mmm interesting the way we are moving to using technology to enhance the basic human behavoiurs instead of being forced to work in the way the computers can accept.