Let’s Connect
Some networks are for people. Some are for machines. Having an ethernet cable, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, USB or serial port on your computer means alternative wired, wireless or data transfer options. When you buy a SIM (Subscriber identity module) card, you choose a data or phone option. One is mobile internet focused (data) and the other for calls (telephony).
Access levels and User levels
Think of your device as an access point to a giant library. Internet connectivity is your ticket to this library. Depending on how your device is configured, it talks to other devices, servers, or services, sends and receives information and delivers functional commands.
Here’s how it works, in plain terms:
- A Device Needs a Connection: Your phone, tablet, or laptop has to connect to the internet using some form of technology.
- Data Travels Through Networks: Your device sends requests for information (like opening a webpage or checking email) through a series of networks. These networks include your home router, your internet service provider (ISP), and larger internet hubs.
- Reaching the Destination: That request travels to the server holding the information you want. Once there, the server sends it back the same way.
- Decoding the Data: Your device takes the incoming data and turns it into something meaningful—like loading a website, playing a video, or showing you a weather forecast.
Depending on who connects (your user level access) to the network determines how you can interact with the data.
My mobile device…
Let’s take, for example, the ubiquitous smart phone
Today, the physical unit is configured to give you a large screen relative to device size. This means you consume primarily imagistic content. Your phone is not a square, it is a rectangle. Landscape is how you watch movies, portrait is how you take selfies. One hand for portrait. Two hands for landscape.
User Experience (UX)
There is a consequential semiotic level called UX which deals with user experience. It is flat, because it must fit in your pocket. This determines how the hardware can be built into the case, which determines the materials used. Most phones are sleek and rounded. We intuitively lean to tactile shiny objects with rounded curves.
Scope creep
Images and video use a lot of data. Choices made to give you a relatively light device which prioritizes high resolution video and sound means a big screen, processor and battery. Your battery works for about a day before it must be recharged, which ties into the circadian rhythm of the normalized human. Consider these elements in reference to the core function of a phone:
- 50 years ago: Wired device to contact another person remotely by voice
- 30 years ago: Wireless device with reasonable sound capture, moderate network coverage, lousy video and a battery that lasts a week
- Today: Individualized entertainment system and tracker
You will focus on visual apps and games. Some are preconfigured choices bundled with the base unit. Why is entertainment and social connectivity bundled with the device? Many people do not use a phone to call anyone, but to passively stream music and video, navigating with it while on the move.
Choice Architecture
You will use only a few mini programs, scaled down to the level of access of the device (called apps), usually ones that are preloaded. Your interface forces click, swish and scroll actions. Adding complex tasks or having lengthy interaction time requires a desktop interface, which prioritizes the keyboard. This entails a different posture, activity level and interface type. Ergonomics is human factors engineering.
The bottom line
Network connectivity is about how we prioritize communication channels and what end goal we seek. From the hardware design to the software deployment, each choice architecture element has been configured and deployed to draw data from, and send data to, a specific network in different ways.
