Laurie Butgereit

Turn me on! Using the “Internet of Things” to turn things on and off

The “Internet of Things” is the paradigm of connecting physical objects (things) with digital intelligence to the Internet. People have been connecting to the Internet for decades. It is only recently that things have been able to connect to the Internet. There are many examples of things posting their status on Twitter and allowing uni-directional access. TurnMeOn is an example of allowing bi-directional access between people and things using Internet protocols. Users can query the status of a light bulb. In addition, users can turn a light bulb on and off.

Dam that social networking: Connecting South Africa's major dams to social media

South Africa is a semi-arid country and water resources need to be monitored. The Internet of Things is the phenomenon of more and more things (as opposed to people and services) becoming connected to the Internet. This paper describes a project where four major South African dams are connected to Twitter and Facebook (and other social media such as MXit and Google Chat) in a mechanism which would be easy to replicate for additional dams or rivers. Data is supplied by the South African Department of Water Affairs. Beachcomber (a Mobicents based JEE application) routes the data to appropriate service building blocks and resource adaptors to ensure that the information is widely disseminated.