Communication In Context
from the useful-location-based-services dept
While most talk of location based services these days focuses on how it can be used to either spy on people or send them annoying "local" advertisements as they pass the nearest mall, the BBC is now running article talking about some of the more positive possibilities of putting communication in "context". For example, if you know someone is in their car driving, you might not want to call them, and might prefer to leave them a voicemail instead. This, of course, is what used to be called "presence" information - but which has gotten a bad name in some places. The same questions apply though: who do you reveal this information to and how? Do you want everyone to know you're out driving? Will you really tell your mobile phone that you're in the car - or will it be able to figure that out itself? There clearly are some possibilities here - but it needs to be both highly customizable and intuitive - two things that don't always go together well. I still think we're a ways off from really useful services of this nature, but it will be interesting to watch the space.
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Appropriate use for context?
Just wondering if this could be applied to a feature that benefits everyone - imagine if physical locations where ringtones are annoying (theaters, places of worship, restaurants, etc.) could register their GPS locations as 'no-ring zones'. The phone feature would be that if it was aware of it's location in such a zone all incoming calls would be forced into vibrate mode vs. ringing. (Total suppression would be too much to ask for, I'm guessing)
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