As Creative Digital Solutions enters its third year we thought we would take this opportunity to share with you some of our research and thinking. This particular short article and video presents part of our vision on “The Internetable of anything to everything in my pocket”.

Dr. Patricia Charlton was invited to give a cross-disciplinary research talk at the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science (QMUL). The presentation was given on International Women’s Day and as many of you already know at CDS we work across industry and education to break down barriers and bring about widening participation in science, art and culture. Part of our work is in addressing the gender imbalance in science and bringing creative and critical thinking through power of diversity and inclusion.

We have been commissioned by large and small organisations across the globe to design and develop resources, deliver workshops, professional development and to inspire creative and community driven thinking behind research strategies and skills across industry and the education sector. We are always driving towards empowerment and identity advancement through smart technology that supports an inclusive society through informal and formal education settings and new ways of thinking. The presentation provides a way to rethink IoT from a Creative IoT that is community centred.

The Internet of Things is taking us far beyond the semantic web and mobile computing to the next generation of computer science, engineering and design providing theoretical and practical underpinnings of ubiquitous everywhere and anytime embedded experience for everyone. These ever present interactive and to a degree smart objects that literally can and do connect ‘our heartbeat’ to the Internet are changing the world we live in. Given the rapid rate of growth and impact of computer science technologies and the clear disruption and potential of IoT, what does this mean for society (nationally and globally), as communities, students, industry, parents, teachers and individuals?

The talk presents the opportunities that are afforded by IoT as it potentially enables the interactive, communicative, connectablity of anything to everything. The talk draws on some project examples, such as the BBC Micro:bit and year 10 project of designing and building smart cities, mobile apps and smart spaces to investigate what it means to be a computer scientist and engineer today and in the future and what might be the impact on society and our everyday lives.