The world is becoming increasingly connected. This offers opportunities for designers, engineers and entrepreneurs to create unprecedented products and services. Yet, a connected world also brings new questions and challenges to the table.
This manifesto serves as a code of conduct for everyone involved in developing the Internet of Things, outlining 10 principles to help create balanced and honest products in a burgeoning field with many unknowns.
We pledge to be skeptical of the cult of the new — just slapping the Internet onto a product isn’t the answer. Monetizing only through connectivity rarely guarantees sustainable commercial success.
Value comes from products that are purposeful. Our commitment is to design products that have a meaningful impact on people’s lives; IoT technologies are merely tools to enable that.
A complex web of stakeholders is forming around IoT products: from users, to businesses, and everyone in between. We design so that there is a win for everybody in this elaborate exchange.
With connectivity comes the potential for external security threats executed through the product itself, which comes with serious consequences. We are committed to protecting our users from these dangers, whatever they may be.
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Equally severe threats can also come from within. Trust is violated when personal information gathered by the product is handled carelessly. We build and promote a culture of integrity where the norm is to handle data with care.
This is not the business of hoarding data; we only collect data that serves the utility of the product and service. Therefore, identifying what those data points are must be conscientious and deliberate.
IoT products are uniquely connected, making the flow of information among stakeholders open and fluid. This results in a complex, ambiguous, and invisible network. Our responsibility is to make the dynamics among those parties more visible and understandable to everyone.
Users often do not have control over their role within the network of stakeholders surrounding an IoT product. We believe that users should be empowered to set the boundaries of how their data is accessed and how they are engaged with via the product.
Currently physical products and digital services tend to be built to have different lifespans. In an IoT product features are codependent, so lifespans need to be aligned. We design products and their services to be bound as a single, durable entity.
Design is an impactful act. With our work, we have the power to affect relationships between people and technology, as well as among people. We don’t use this influence to only make profits or create robot overlords; instead, it is our responsibility to use design to help people, communities, and societies thrive.
This manifesto is a living document, we seek your input to help it grow. Please discuss, contribute, remix, and test the boundaries of these principles. Share updates, questions and comments via Twitter @iotmanifesto.