Smart People, Dumb Objects, Networked Environments

In the coming age of extreme connectivity what will be important is not who we are, but what we are connected to. For the devices we use and the buildings we occupy in a wireless and ubiquitously networked world this will be even more vital: they will all need to communicate with each other and share information. Realtime interoperability between various types of entity will be essential. The world will become a vast 'eco-system' of conversant devices, buildings and virtual environments. But somewhere behind all these 'machines' are people, and it's the people that, ultimately, make interactions 'smart'. Pachube.com, a data broker for networked objects, devices, sensors, environments, and buildings, will face dilemmas: even though our intention is to make the development of such systems simpler, more participative and collaborative, given that data lies behind control-systems, how do we ensure that participation and collaboration actually ensue? How do we encourage not just making-data-public but public-making-data?