XplanaZine

Until now, most of our thinking regarding distributed information in education has been with reference to the Web and specific, digital devices. If I want to distribute the ability to register for classes, I make that information available on the Web and then students can have access to that process/information from any computer.

The same general approach is used for course information, teaching materials, and research. These methods of distribution, I might add, have proven effective and reliable. They are, however centralized — the user must have enough technological sophistication to access these distributed materials via an Web interface or a handheld device because the point of data access and entry is still “back home” in a central location — and they are also ubiquitously digital - users must make a shift from traditional, analog practices and adopt new, digital technologies in order to sue them.

An interesting alternative, just now presenting itself, comes from Cypac. Specifically, Cypac is marketing a special microchip that can be embedded in almost any material or product — it is a full-featured computer the size of grain of rice. The chip’s general specifications are as follows:

• • Full custom ASIC with advanced power management features
  • 32kBytes of FLASH memory
  • 32 analog inputs for event detection
  • Integrated Cypak wireless transceiver
  • Temperature sensor

Add to that a printable antenna and sensors along with a powerful scanner that collects Cypac data and stores it in an organization’s database, and you have a whole new option for distributed activity and/or information.The uses for businesses are already starting to mount up — e-banking and credit cards, interactive pharmaceutical packaging, travel vouchers and tickets, and vehicle service records just to name a few.But what about education? The uses of Cypac there would provide an option that de-centralizes information and allows users to operate in an ostensible analog world. Test sheets can automatically report and record grades. Notebooks (that look like the old-fashioned kind) can send data directly to other members of a study group. Admissions and registration materials can be mailed in paper form yet contain the interactivity needed for tracking results. Library records, student retention, the list goes on.

The technology is promising because it can be embedded in familiar objects and distributed to the user, wherever he or she may be, and in a context that seems familiar to her/him. From that point the chip does the rest. A de-centralized yet interactive method of gathering information without making users adapt to ostensible digital change. Indeed, that has real promise.