Hi Benson! Thanks for the post. You’ve touched on a great element of mobility; modular modification. I became aware of the different sensors in our phones in an undergrad course on programming for mobile devices. One of the things that stood out was how the data from different sensors is mixed to give us information – for example, how location data from Wi-fi differs and complements location data from our provider, as well as from the built-in GPS sensor. All of these together, plus the accelerometer, can create incredibly accurate location data, down to the direction our phone is pointing. Paired with the NODE sensor, or even with NFC sensors, our phones can not only collect scientific data, but also make our daily lives easier. I use an application to keep track of my chronic migraines. Right now, the app fetches weather information at the time of my migraines from an external sight. However, if it had the capability to use the phone’s sensors for getting more accurate weather systems, or sync with a smartwatch or fitness tracker, it could keep track of migraines more accurately with little input from users. Auxiliary attachments also reminded me of the wonderful Raspberry Pi, a tiny programmable computer that can be paired with seemingly endless sensors, including gaming webcams (a group of my peers in my undergrad connected one to an Xbox Kinect camera for their final project). For projects where we cannot keep our phone attached to a peripheral sensor, this can be a great alternative. Thanks again!
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I first misunderstood the meaning of Benson Chang’s topic “smart senors”. I guess the notion of “smart senors” means a person who really now about the potentials of the mobile devices and purchases and uses them wisely. However, I should be a typo, and what did he mean is how to know about the sensors of a mobile device and make full use of it. He provided interesting sources and some ideas about how to dig deeper into one’s mobile devices. As he has revealed, indeed, many people have never made the most from their mobile devices, which had spent hundreds of dollars. The sensor is just one of the many potentials that worth some research. And I believe “digital immigrant” is no less smart than “digital native” about mobile technologies.