SixthSense blurs the digital world and the real world

Researchers from the Fluid Interfaces Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab have unveiled the latest prototype of SixthSense – a wearable, gesture-driven computing platform that continually augments the physical world with digital information.

Imagine being able to turn any surface around you into an interactive surface – checking your email on a blank wall simply by drawing an @ sign in the air with your finger, or being able to check the time by using the same finger to draw a circle on your wrist to produce the image of an analog watch. You can put your thumbs and forefingers together to make a picture frame allowing you to take a digital photograph, or just use your hand as a keypad or dial pad.

If you were in a bookstore and holding a book, SixthSense will recognize that and go to Amazon and display the online reviews and prices of that book right on its cover. The system is also customisable so that if you don't want Amazon reviews you could instead choose to find out what the Guardian thinks of it, or if the actual bookstore had decided to provide their own content you wouldn’t even need to go online to find more information.

MIT are trying to make it possible to have access to relevant information in a more seamless way, and while today's mobile computing devices can be useful, they are still ‘deaf and blind’, meaning that we have to stop what we're doing and tell those devices what information we need or want. MIT have a vision of a computing system that understands, at least to some extent, where the user is, what they are doing, and who they are interacting with. It can then proactively make information available to that user based on the situation.

The idea is that SixthSense tries to determine not only what someone is interacting with, but also how they are interacting with it. The software searches the internet for information that is potentially relevant to that situation, and then the projector takes over.

The prototype has been improved since it was first introduced to the public last year when it consisted of a web camera strapped to a bicycle helmet. The current prototype promises to be more ‘consumer friendly’ by consisting of a small camera and projector combination (about the size of a cigarette pack) worn around the neck. An accompanying smartphone runs the SixthSense software and handles the connection to the internet.

The camera acts as a digital eye, seeing what the user sees, and also tracks the movements of the thumbs and index fingers of both of the user's hands. The hardware included in the SixthSense system is not that expensive, with the current prototype costing about £300 to build, however this attempt to merge the digital world with the physical world requires some serious programming and engineering! The real work is in the software that is constantly trying to figure out what's around you and what you're trying to do. It has to recognise the images you see, track your gestures, and then relate it all to relevant information at the same time.

This initial research phase has only meant a few applications have been developed, but in the longer term it is envisioned that the SixthSense platform will be opened up to let anyone develop applications for it.

There are already some commercial applications planned, with the team looking at developing a sign language application that would "speak out" a translation while someone was signing. There is also potential for SixthSense in the field of gaming. Unlike the Nintendo Wii, which keeps you in front of the television, the SixthSense system might allow a player to go outside and be able to get a real tennis lesson on a real tennis court.

No one involved in the SixthSense project feels that their platform will replace laptops and smartphones, but in certain instances, it can do things that a desktop or laptop can't do, which is quickly put contextual information right where a user wants it wherever they are.

Watch Pattie Maes talk about SixthSense at TED.

Advermarketing 2012

So what will the world of advertising and marketing look like in three years time? More importantly, what will an agency look like? If the current trends continue my guess is that many of us are in for a big shock.

Our industry is in a state of upheaval, and it is likely that the future will be marked by a dramatic shift in the roles of agencies, and the personnel we will need.

Most people are blaming this rapid rate of change on technology. But it’s not technology that’s changing it. Technological change has simply made it easier to identify the real challenge – consumers are complex.

Even more so, persuading consumers to do things is a really complicated business. In 2012 we will have to do more than just create campaigns. We will have to study areas such as; human nature, psychology, and human behaviour, and we will have to make our output really fun.

Yes, the outlook does depend on the future of global commerce, and while technology evolves, so must the tools, talents, and skills necessary to differentiate and communicate with consumers, and today these tools are increasingly digital. Agencies must ask themselves if they have the youth, the digital skills, the real experience, and the intellectual resources necessary to compete in this evolving economy.

By 2012 the actual size of an agency will only matter to clients who are more comfortable with the old analog model instead of the newer digital reality of open-source creativity and scientific accountability.

Agencies have traditionally hired young employees because they cost less, but now savvy agencies prize youth for their digital skills, fresh perspective and creative abilities. However in today’s climate can we really accommodate inexperienced junior staff, and make money out of them?

It is likely that the days of the traditional generalist agency will come to an end. Agencies of the future will either be defined as the ‘creators of ideas’ (known as C agencies), or ‘producers’ or ‘placers’ of those ideas (the P agencies). The really smart C agencies will become combined communication agencies that clients hire to handle strategy, creative, and multichannel advermarketing programs, and these agencies will solve problems and create ideas that grow brands, and their bank accounts.

The C agency of the future will need individuals who are each a mix of account strategists, possess creative vision, intellectual bandwidth, communication, and organisational capabilities, all of which are needed to direct highly fragmented, complex campaigns.

These ‘Producer’ types (think Hollywood style here) will work with a diverse mix of specialists – media, interactive, creative, PR, research, in order to craft highly complex, yet elegant solutions to real business problems, and then work with P agencies to bring those ideas to life in multiple channels, and to multiple audiences, while ensuring everyone stays ‘on brand’.

The thinkers and creators, those C agencies that solve business and communication problems, will enjoy better margins and healthier client relationships as their insight and intelligence will be recognised and rewarded, most likely on a fee, or percentage of profit basis.

The P agencies will face far more pricing pressure, as they will have engage procurement departments who will drive down the cost of production and placement of campaigns. Much of this work may even go offshore, so a successful P agency will need to combine efficiency, quality and customer service if it wants to succeed.

Bigger agencies can be slow, inefficient and expensive. Smaller agencies do not have the range of expertise, but in each we can already see the two main aspects to an evolved agency: creative (C), production/placer (P) often reflected in departmental names. In the future however, smart agencies will outsource more, both intra-agency and inter-agency, but increasingly harvesting more ideas and content through the general public.

By 2012 the full-service generalist agency tradition will give way to a Keiretsu model – a business group, or set of companies, with interlocking business relationships. Maybe the agency networks will play a larger role utilising all their agencies together. Maybe smaller agencies will form their own Keiretsu. In any event, agencies will need to define themselves in an effort to respond to a new order dominated by fragmenting consumer segments and cost-conscious clients.