In the early 2000’s, I led a design research group which was part of the New Media Innovation Centre in Vancouver. NewMic was one of those brilliant ideas that come along once in a while but are generally rare. The inventory you see below was developed in 2002. When I was reflecting on how prescient we were, I realized that innovation is as much about ideas as it is about politics and interpersonal strengths as well as organizational vision. How did we arrive at these ideas well before they were put into place by the corporate sector? It was through old fashioned brainstorming, serendipity and most importantly an assumption that there was a need. But innovation can only be designed up to a point. Innovation requires investment and an understanding of the social and cultural environment into which new technologies might be placed. Two members of our group acted as anthropologists, a third worked on design and menus, a forth on the technology and two others on a scan of the competition. We used a small Sony camera as our prototype. We were anticipating the iPhone but were too focused on the network and its weaknesses. When we approached Sony with the idea, they rejected it, although many of the engineers present at that meeting became very excited about its potential.

Proposal: Social clusters using internet connected cameras for interpersonal communications (This is an extract).

— Collaborative television-based activities could provide a means for sharing content among family members even in different locations and at different times

— A multi-generational family (grandparents, parents, and children) have a desire to stay in touch and share activities, even if each generation fulfills different needs by engaging in the activities

—  Today’s multi-generational family is not co-located and perhaps not even in the same time zone

—  One- or two-way video cameras connected over the Internet can provide “togetherness” at a distance

— Picture-in-picture facilities common to current TV sets and set-top-boxes can provide views of other family members concurrently with other content that may be the focus of the activity

— Shared audio may be mixed with the program audio that is part of the primary content to enhance the feeling of togetherness

— An ability to create/play “private” content in addition to shared public (meaning either broadcast or pay-for-view) content personalizes the primary content and turns it into a family experience