The Sensor Web: Bringing Information to Life
Keynote
by Barry Smyth
There is no doubting the impact that the information revolution has had on our everyday lives. How we learn, work, and play has been forever transformed by the always-on connectivity of the Internet. But this information revolution has largely been confined to the online world and, for many of us, we continue to interact with two very separate worlds: the physical world in which we live and the online world of the web. There has been a physical-digital divide. Every second of every day information is created through naturally occurring events in the physical world but these events go largely unnoticed and the information is lost. In the world of the Sensor Web this is set to change.
Introduction - The Sensor Web - Bridging the Physical-Digital Divide
by Mark Roantree and Mikko Sallinen
One of the truly multidisciplinary research efforts involving computer scientists revolves around the topic of sensor networks. It brings together chemists who develop the sensors, engineers focusing on wireless platforms and other hardware components, and the computer scientists who develop the services, knowledge layers and middleware. In many cases, research must also include the knowledge workers associated with the specific domain, many of whom are represented in the articles in this issue of ERCIM News. In almost all cases, some aspect of the research will seek to create a bridge or bidirectional channel between the physical world of the planet, its people and the sensors, and the digital world of computers and their software applications.
Read more: Introduction - The Sensor Web - Bridging the Physical-Digital Divide
