What if everybody had access to information whenever they wanted it? This is what analysts at Queens University of Belfast are trying to do by creating a human network. This new idea aims to use humans as network nodes. Certain academics at QUB's Institute of Electronics believe that humans can carry these mobile sensors both externally and/or internally. Another way that this can be done is if these sensors are carried inside the next-generation of smartphones. The result is a body-to-body network or BBN.

Suppose you are at a large event with numerous people carrying numerous smart phones. Now imagine everybody at this event trying to go on to a single web page. This would most definitely cause some connectivity issues. This is because the information is being sent and received by one or two sources. With BBN, everyone is their own source. Multiple networks would augment the information into smaller packages thus eliminating the connection issues. Dr. Simon Cotton from ECIT explains his vision:

"It will provide a number of key benefits compared to cellular networks alone such as in disaster situations where cellular infrastructure has become damaged or is unavailable, body-to-body networks could help provide networking for relief workers and civilians. It promotes the concept of 'green spectrum' whereby we can re-use frequency allocations over much shorter distances, meaning that the precious resource of radio spectrum is utilised much more fully."

I found the concept of 'green spectrum' to be quite interesting. It is a term that's based upon the sustainability of our earth's resources and twisted around by describing the sustainabilty of our technological resources. I believe this concept is very important when dealing with information. The spread of any data, signal, message, e-mail, or any information must be done so in the most efficient way possible. Although this technology is very innovative it dose pose some problems.

This emerging technology has all the attributes of being a certain commercial success in the near future. The body-to-body network makes accessing information through the internet a more reliable and seamless process. Although the potential of this product is evident, one must question the ethics behind this technology. The idea of implanting any sort of technology into a human can be seen as a radical ideal that can pose some sort of moral dilemma.

Overall, this technology is very captivating and has a high potential for success. The academics at ECIT explain the benefits of this human network. Dr. Simon Cotton explains his idea of a 'green spectrum'. Cotton's idea of a 'green spectrum' focuses on the importance of efficiency when dealing with data transfers. With many emerging technologies, sometimes there are problems. The problem with having a human network is that there are some ethical disputes. The ever increasing amount of information in this world can even be greater with this technology.