As an industry, technology is often found shooting for the stars — sometimes literally. Whether online platforms with billions of users or rockets designed to take us to Mars, tech is preoccupied with the massive, the transformative.
Just outside Ottawa, though, there will soon be an application of technology that is less grand, but arguably no less important.
This week, Amazon announced that it is introducing a slate of technologies it calls Alexa Smart Properties into Canada, and is testing it in an establishment in Orleans, near the nation’s capital.
An Amazon Alexa smart speaker is placed in the rooms of seniors in assisted living facilities, and the seniors use it to control basic functions, such as turning on lights or calling family members, while also hearing things like announcements.
The speakers are linked to a central system that enables buildings to tailor them to their needs.
It sounds simple enough, and it is. But perhaps those small, day-to-day improvements to life, particularly for those, such as our elders, who are so often underserved by tech, are precisely where the digital giants should be placing their focus.
I am rarely more acutely reminded of the gulf between technology’s grand aims and its quotidian applications than when I watch one of my elderly parents talk on their phone or gingerly speak to the Google smart speaker they have in their kitchen.
What is often clear in those moments is that technology can be confusing for those not familiar with its language.
The Amazon experiment in integrating its tech into seniors’ homes is, thus, a little promising. For one thing, voice is vastly easier as an interface as it requires neither manual dexterity, nor the acquired skills, such as typing, which those of us who grew up with computers possess.
It also uses generally familiar terminology; you don’t only ask Alexa what the weather is, you also ask more ordinary questions, such as: “Do I need a jacket today?”
So, at least in the idealized world of Amazon’s press release, someone using the system might say “Alexa, call my grandkids!” or “Let my team know I’m ready for lunch!”
That, to me, at least, feels like the direction technology should take: making ordinary things such as staying in touch more manageable and accessible, particularly for those who might find everyday options, such as video chats or texting, more intimidating.
We shouldn’t be Pollyanna about the motivations here. As with any device that is actively listening, there are privacy concerns. But, reached for comment, Amazon Canada stated that “all resident interactions with Alexa in a property are designed to be anonymous … and no personal information is shared with Alexa.”
Obviously, this is a business ploy, not charity; if Grandma has an Alexa in her room to make it easy to call her family, then her family might need an Alexa, too. Companies, such as Amazon, like setting themselves up as a kind of infrastructure, and then it can feel like you have little choice but to play along.
As the world of bitcoin collapses and Elon Musk makes depositions in court claiming that he wants to make us an interplanetary species, it might be worth asking what tech can do to serve ordinary people better.
Seniors are a prime example. As we age and our mobility decreases and mental acuity or memory slips, tech could be used to augment our minds. Then there is simply accessibility — everything from remembering passwords, to filling in and signing forms, to simply managing our finances online is vastly too complicated.
There are positive signs on the horizon. Apple appears to be releasing a new mode for the iPhone that includes large, clear buttons on the home screen that may be a boon for people with limited vision or dexterity. Google is working on smart glasses that will translate language in real time, showing text in one’s field of vision while someone else speaks.
But these ostensibly smart, useful features are coming later than the flashy ones because their creation is guided by a truism of markets: you have to appeal to the masses, because the masses are where the money is.
What could people achieve by making tech for the marginalized? Rather than devise apps that see food for the well-heeled delivered by recent immigrants on bikes, what if tech tried to address the problem of feeding people? What if it attempted to tackle the housing crisis? How might it reduce, not exacerbate, inequality?
Yes, these are idealistic thoughts, but perhaps only because the prevailing logic makes them so. And, if the availability of markets is the concern, we are hardly running short of seniors or those for whom tech could do so much more.
Isn’t it time tech stopped gazing up at the sky and worked for us on the ground?
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