The research, strategic planning, design, engineering, fabrication and code development of this effort was a collaboration between the following:

The Internet does not have an Off button. Social media sites, email, apps, online marketers and most others are designing systems with the goal of capturing your attention. And the assumption is that “always on” and “always accessible” are the best possible scenarios and states. After all, who wants to miss a post by one of your 3000 Facebook friends (or) any reference to anyone that you are connected to on LinkedIn?

Some of the most controversial topics in the media these days are about data collection, privacy and the transparency and use of data collection. Related to those topics are issues of data manipulation to guide your behaviors, to persuade you in a certain direction and to eventually change your behavior. At this point, some believe that your self-awareness is gone and that you cannot be sure why you are doing what you are doing online.

At least I think that these are popular topics of discussion. These days one ever knows precisely how their attention and interest is being controlled. It is difficult to know what is “real news” and what is my machine-generated lens of the world – as controlled by my clicks, my pauses, my words, my path, my likes and the patterns and the predictions of algorithms.

The smartphone ushered in a new era of always on and anywhere connectedness. Operating systems evolved and apps multiplied by the thousands.  Deeper levels of integration resulted and now these apps notify us whether they are active or not. They notify us whether we are engaged with their service or not. The systems evolved from pull to constant push. Sure you might be able to control them if you dedicate the time, the experimentation and the learning to do so. I suspect that we rarely ask ourselves if the value of these tools and services is worth time and emotional investment required. It feels as if the technology ran right by any humanistic considerations - and keeps piling on.  

Our smartphones, their collection of apps and the notifications that they push deliver so much new noise into our lives. “Why am I getting that?” “Why so much spam and robo-texts?” “How do I turn them off?” These are now our everyday questions and tasks. Controlling settings of permissions, notifications and system and service behavior is getting easier, so is identifying all of the Spam, but why do I have to do it in the first place? How did we let this happen? The tech may have been invented with good intentions, but its implementation has run a muck. I think that it is safe to say that we have valued the technology and its attention grabbing and monetization capabilities more than the humans that are intended to interact with it.

Utilizing Technology for an Experiential Purpose

Designers have the ability to incrementally write these wrongs. Recently, I had the good fortune of working on the design and development of a physical device and digital app that work in coordination to provide a new level of awareness and confident to folks exploring the outdoors. This product brings connected technologies into the outdoors with the intent of easing the concerns of aging hikers and providing confidence and familiarity to first-time outdoor explorers that may or may not already live a connected lifestyle.

We asked “how might we leverage connectivity, but only as it is relevant and adds value to the context of our activities or our lives? How might we turn-off more than we turn on and keep the consumer’s focus on the adventure?”

If you are like me and you get most of your news and content online, then you may have noticed that it is becoming more and more difficult to discover new music, new movies, new people and new events.  These are all being predicted and more or less formatted for me. “Here is an endless stream of recommended things for you to look at, and here are some suggested (friends, events, shows, replies, apps, etc.) for you.” This is all cause for concern as the primary goal is to get your attention and your dollars. And unfortunately, these algorithmic manipulations and the growing scale of feeds and recommendations across all digital media feel as if it they are getting more abundant and invasive by the week. Your actions online and now in the real world are also feeling more and more recorded and manipulated.

To-date, this is not the case for your outdoor adventures where you are in control and new discoveries are around every turn. That said, as connectivity and digital access blanket the world, our concerns about privacy, surveillance and ultimate manipulation may also scale.

Reality is that I do not want to live in a predictable bubble or in a world of familiarity and sameness. That said, these days it is as if my online existence has been geofenced by a handful of algorithms. This includes my likes, dislikes, morals and values, what I see, hear, what I need, what I pay attention to – and ultimately what I think and how I feel. As we have heard and witnessed, these influences and this curated lens becomes most dangerous when they “activate behaviors” and influences what I do.

Two widely talked about and seen publications related to these topics have made them top-of-mind for many. They are 1) The Social Dilemma as seen by millions on Netflix, and more recently 2) the publication of Shoshana Zuboff’s book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and her subsequent discussions and interviews and multiple media channels. And we can expect more as society adopts the point-of-view that raw aggregate data collection and manipulation is considered poor practice.

It appears that public opinion will hold these companies more accountable but incremental changes to practices may or may not be noticeable for some time to come. So, a critical question for contemporary design is how else might we counteract their measures, regain our privacy, control our own attention and be freer – while still finding value in a connected lifestyle?

Connectivity for Context

A major part of the design process of our connected outdoor product included defining the features that would exist in the system. Some of these included …

The ability to limit messaging and notifications to a single individual or your hiking partners (when the gear and your phone are connected) turns-out to be somewhat refreshing. The noisy digital world is shut-off and all digital data and connectivity is focused on the task or adventure at hand. At the same time, the hiker has the peace of mind of guidance and added awareness.

Our research revealed that there are not many mature “connected product systems” in the outdoor adventure space – especially those that are integrated with the tools used in the outdoors (beyond bike components and apps). Hiking, kayaking, mountaineering, backpacking and most other outdoor sports do not have a collection of complimentary hardware and apps that you can employ to enhance your experience. Wearables count, but they are more like secondary attached trackers as compared to the primary physical tools and equipment used in outdoor activities.

It felt a bit like starting with a blank slate of objects and talk – no antennas, no modems, no digital interaction, no network connections, no batteries powering electronic parts – no connected anything. Subsequently, it felt a bit opportunistic – like we had a chance to hit the Reset Button on today’s digital system development and invasive behaviors. Our focus on the right tech for the task felt like a healthy mindset to remain mindful of and to intentionally consider and embrace. We think that these principles could extend and scale - and we know that features can be refined, removed and new ones can be added.

Imagine that when my phone is connected to my scooter, I only receive notifications related to my ride or trip. That might include something about who I am going to visit, where I am going to visit, the status of my scooter, something about the route, a food that I like along the path and the like. The only social notifications that I receive are related to the people that I am going to visit. Business emails, text messages from my network and calls from marketers were all Off during my trip.

On a larger scale, imagine if my SUV knew more about the context of my trip and destination. Not only where I was going, but why, to see whom and to do what. And as I get closer to that destination, more relevance surfaces to the vehicle interface - about my plans, who is on-site, confirmations, needed adjustments, predictions and relevant recommendations. A paradigm shift from modal access to features, domains and settings to a more fluid activity and context-based man-machine dialogue.

Connecting the Outdoors

I feel good about being able to connect day hikers, campers and others in a way that they can easily communicate and stay aware of each other and the conditions of the surroundings. I don’t necessarily feel good about making our outdoor assistive gear or tools “connected” in the popular sense. Most of us go into the outdoors to disconnect or to reset – quite often with the goal of clearing our mind or rejuvenating our soul. We make fires, we sleep on the ground, we eat simple foods, we exert ourselves physically, we don’t shower and we tend to spend more time directly interacting with (and depending on) each other.

At the same time, our digital lifestyles and the ubiquity of connectivity are expanding our horizons. Our society seems to have an insatiable appetite for ever increasing connectivity everywhere that we go, so how do we best balance that connectedness with the humans that are using it? And can a small amount of connectivity create greater peace of mind or assuredness or awareness and confidence? Can the technology remain invisible, non-intrusive and only be there when you need it? The objects that we have created are now more deeply attached, aware and full of connected meaning. Like your phone or your wearable, when they vibrate, that means something. When they make a sound, that means something. When they light-up, that is another meaning being conveyed. The difference is that each of these meanings is directly relevant to your task at hand or your outdoor activity. Your phone and your gear are directly connected and all other digital noise has been silenced. Metaphorically, we have dialed-up your “Do Not Disturb” Settings to the app level so that you can concentrate on the trail or the river or the sounds of nature and each other. As opposed to a more extreme measure which is my son’s upcoming school sponsored camping trip and the directive to leave your phones at home.

Digital ecosystems that provide this level of context and focus seem like a logical progression for the connected world and the control remains in the hopefully thoughtful hands of Designers, Programmers, Engineers and others. We are looking forward to sharing our inventions and in time, bringing you the opportunity to experience the outdoors in compliment with these products, services, partnerships and ecosystems.