The Internet of Things will be the most complex structure mankind has ever created. In a generation, there will likely be a trillion nodes measuring anything on Earth that can be measured, and with the insights culled from that data, we’ll control every aspect of our built world.

We live in a connected world, where millions of people and objects are interconnected by the Internet. In many of my presentations over the past couple of years I've referred to the Internet of Things (IoT) as one of the key trends we need to be watching for – this topic was one of CORE's ten trends in 2011 – in that year it was estimated that there became more 'things' connected to the internet than people. 

Tonight I downloaded a free e-book titled The Internet of Things, developed by Accenture in conjunction with the Bankinter Foundation of Innovation. The publication describes the state of the art of this promising technology.

The e-book is over 70 pages long, and provides an excellent overview of the range of areas of our lives and the societies we live in that are being or potentially will be impacted by the Internet of Things. 

Anything imaginable is capable of being connected to the network, become intelligent and therefore offers endless possibilities.This topic can be quite mind-boggling for some, and a focus of real fascination for others. Whatever your thinking, there's a lot to think about with this topic, and it's definitely worthy of some time to consider. 

For those who'd prefer a more visual introduction to the thinking about IoT, the video below is quite useful, and I've used it in some of my presentations to set the scene for thinking about the implications of all of this for schools. for example:

• maintaining the temperature and air flow in the learning spaces
• monitoring student presence in class (no more roll calls)
• monitoring where teachers are in the school (teachers contactable where-ever they may be, no more lengthy delays tracking them down.)
• ensuring rooms are set up appropriately as people enter (A/V turned on, screens down etc.) 
• managing room usage and traffic flows in busy parts of the buildings
• moving digital resources to be available in areas when they are needed – rooms set up for the particular class/teacher as they approach/enter the room.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfEbMV295Kk?version=3&hl=en_US&w=374&h=210%5D