A significant component of knowledge management is remembering what we already know. Personal information management (PIM) software provides contact information, a list of things we want to do and our calendar of scheduled appointments; all things that we want to remember.
Those of us who have become dependent on PIM systems notice that reliance on the software dims our memory. We focus on the application in our wireless phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or laptop computer instead of using our memory to recall those things that are managed within these devices.
A doctoral student at MIT may have found a way to effectively use PIM software without forcing us to focus on the device running the application. From Wired News: Memories in the Corner of My Eye:
Trying to remember a full day's schedule is no mean feat--especially when it's full of business meetings, grocery shopping, kids' soccer practice and music lessons, and sundry other errands. Help may be on the way from a pair of specs dubbed the memory glasses…
The specs have a tiny television screen embedded into one of the lenses and are hooked up to a PDA. The PDA can be programmed to send messages or images to the screen. Each prompt is geared to jog the wearer's memory -- whether it is an image of a soccer ball, the day's calendar or the name of the guy who just said hello. And all of these messages are flashed before the eye at 1/180 of a second, so the wearer isn't even conscious that they have been sent.
The “memory glasses” are built by Micro Optical. The display device is not really ready for primetime yet, but many of us who have watched this company’s progress over the past eight years are impressed by the product’s development. It seems likely that progress with battery life and miniaturization will combine in the next few years to make the eyeglasses a very attractive alternative for displaying information.
It may not be long before I might turn this fading memory thing around and return to those days of my youth when my facile memory was sharp and dependable.
