"By 2047, almost all information will be in cyberspace -- including all knowledge and creative works," said one of the project's leaders, Gordon Bell. "The most significant benefit will be a breakthrough in our ability to remotely communicate with one another using all our senses."

To enable this remote communication, Bell's group is developing a technology that he refers to as telepresence. "Telepresence technology provides for both space and time shifting by allowing a user to communicate with other users via text, graphics, voice, video and shared program operation."

Multimedia Synapses

The core of the MyLifeBits project is an online PC-based system that holds everything that can be digitally stored about an individual. Microsoft researchers refer to it as a sort of "virtual shoebox" that holds all of a person's e-mail, home movies, meeting details and other memorabilia.

Unlike a real shoebox, say the researchers, MyLifeBits would allow a user to input a keyword like "pet" to see and hear all material relating to a childhood pet.

In effect, MyLifeBits would allow a user to run a Google search on his or her life. The database would be searchable in many ways, including by date, allowing a businessperson to find all communications associated with a given meeting, for instance.

MyLifeBits also would be capable of creating personal narratives by cross-referencing chronological material related to two or more people in an individual's life.

It's All About Me

"It sounds like weblogging run amuck," Aberdeen Group analyst Dana Gardner told NewsFactor, explaining that the current trend toward Internet self-expression sometimes veers toward the obsessive.

Yet Gardner also sees the value of MyLifeBits, especially as a time capsule for future historians.

He noted that there is currently an overcapacity problem in network fiber, storage and processing capability. "We need to find the application that will utilize the infrastructure that's available, and this sounds like a way of doing that," he said.

Guinea Pig

Microsoft researcher Bell is himself the guinea pig for the prototype system. He is uploading a massive amount of personal memorabilia, from his trips to Alaska to his biking excursions in France. All of his e-mail is stored on the system, as is his passport, all of his work documents, and recordings of all of his phone calls. (continued...)

1  |  2  |  Next Page >