What is User Centric? (Rls 1.0)

In the last post, we touched on the idea of the “Youniverse,” and how the world of technology has changed from machine centric, where users contended for rare technological resources, to user centric, in which each user is surrounded by multiple available electronic or digital products, applications, and systems. 

Consider the technology you can now access on a daily basis. You probably have at least one computer at home and one at work, with a plethora of programs for communications, research, word processing, entertainment, and more. Your home entertainment system might now include a TV with DVR for increased interactivity, or game platforms that not only play a variety of games, but access the Internet to post your scores, download other games and demos, or just surf the Web. You also use (at least) one cell phone, smartphone, PDA, iPhone, electronic daily planner, or combination thereof.

Now you not only have the advantage of an abundance of technologies, but they are smaller, more portable, more and more omnipresent. Laptop computers and cell phones become ever lighter and more powerful. Many cars are now equipped with GPS systems. Portable music players barely take up more space than a pack of gum, with near-invisible earphones and wires.  

As the hub of all this activity, you get to make the choices, and you get to decide—how do you want your “Youniverse” to evolve?  How will people, systems, applications and requests get your attention? In the Youniverse, attention must be earned, not demanded. Are those things that are trying to get your attention earning the right to occupy your precious time?

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The Move from Machine to YOU

Business architectures naturally focus on getting the most leverage from the most expensive resources, which traditionally have been computing, storage, and bandwidth. For a specific example of system optimization, let’s consider email, which maximized a shared resource function. A person would compose mail offline, log in, use the minimum bandwidth, synchronize the client to the server, then log off, repeating the process numerous times per day. Although today most users are connected to systems full time, the process is essentially the same, continuing to optimize resources that are cheap, and even free. Such architectures are very slow to change.The computing environment has always been machine centric: a computer or network in the center, with many users contending for its time. The current move is clearly toward the user—YOU—being the center of your computing universe, with lots of machines, networks, and applications competing for your attention in a complete reversal of the past situation. Layer on ubiquitous, cheap, and constant connectivity, cheap computing and storage resources, and you have the perfect storm of change for the fundamental premises of computing. This calls for significant changes in thinking, architecture, and deployment.

New requirements for the user-centric “Youniverse” must be developed independent of traditional computing, storage, and communications designs and technologies. These new methods will take advantage of the lowering costs of formerly expensive resources, and serve to enhance the effectiveness of the new center of the computing universe—YOU.
Thanks for your thoughts
Steve Metzger

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