Basic human needs: meaningful connection vs. privacy

With the beginning of SXSW, we thought it appropriate to discuss one of the newest trends in social technology. According to the pundits and the press, the hottest technology to emerge in 2012 will be location-aware personal discovery applications. What does this mean? It means that there is technology being launched whose sole purpose is to put you together, in both the digital realm, and more importantly, the real physical world, with others who share your interests.

Apps in this vein, which are already in the app stores and markets, and which are getting great positive reviews by tech thought leaders, include such apps as highlight, Glancee, Sonar and Banjo.

So what does this technology do? How does it work? Once you’ve downloaded the app, it typically asks you to login via facebook. Why you ask? So that the app can scan your friends lists and your interests and then make telling connections between your friend/interests, and others and let you know who’s close by using location-aware services on your phone.

Basically, it will tell you when people are physically near you who share your interests. In some cases, this is pulled from your list of pre-existing facebook friends. In other cases, you’re being introduced to people who you do not yet know, but the software figures you might want to.

If you’re going to a conference like SXSW, or have just moved to a new city and want to meet new folks, it sounds great right? But wait, what about the fact that your socially-enthusiastic teenager has access to this very same person-to-person recommendation engine? Do you want her reaching out to everyone who shares her taste in Eminem? Or even M&Ms? Or even more unnerving to her parents, having her being approached by strangers who happen to be introduced to her via one of these emerging services? Only time will tell if this type of technology has broader application among later adopters of technology

If services like this are to gain traction, privacy concerns will ultimately have to be addressed. Where do you net out? Is privacy worth reducing if it means more meaningful human connections?

Developing Next Generation Mobile Health Care Applications

Acsys Interactive develops the Mobile Health Rankings for My Community application for smartphones and mobile devices as part of the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge. The mobile application displays Health Rankings information for each county and the state in a mobile friendly format.

The application has won the Health 2.0 Developers Challenge – The Health Factor – Using the County Health Rankings to Make Smart Decisions Challenge and was presented at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. The challenge was sponsored by Health 2.0 Developer Challenge and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute

The native android application can be downloaded from the Android MarketPlace by searching for ‘My Community Health Rankings’  or by scanning this QR code:

The web-based version is available here: http://mobilehealthrankings.acsysinteractive.com

The Mobile Health Rankings for My Community application is location-aware and shows County Health Data based on the location of the user. For example, if the user launches the application in New Haven, Connecticut, the application will display the New Haven County Health Rankings information along with helpful links and other information.
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