Comment by daniel-levin | Hacker News Reader

Comment by daniel-levin | Hacker News Reader

I am looking forward to reading the next few articles in the series. Mapping applications are awfully hard to get right [1]. There is just so much to do and do correctly that it is quite the technical achievement to create a functional mapping application. Doing it in 3d seems more difficult.

But, I have a huge philosophical disagreement with the (education) product that beestar offer. I am a university student, and the freedom and independence that comes with being a student is invaluable. I transitioned from the narrowly rule-bound high school to the liberated, independent university life. I feel it is my responsibility and mine alone for my attendance. I would feel like I was back at school if my attendance was monitored. So many universities are places that engender freedom of thought, movement and expression. It seems as if this "were you there?" Big Brother system stands in opposition to the liberty offered by universities. The system that can offer you freedom unlike in any other institution instead clamps down on you, Theory X style [2]. If I were to attend a university using this system, I would feel less free than I do now. I don't think that removing someone's freedom to guarantee attendance is a worthwhile payoff for the education they'd be receiving

[1] www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/how-google-builds-its-maps-and-what-it-means-for-the-future-of-everything/261913/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y

I understand your concerns and in facts the system has been designed for 1) UK universities and it generates statistics based on 2) anonymous positioning traces.

Point 1) is important because due to the legislation in UK, students are obliged to scan their ID card at the barcode scanner in class to certify their presence at lesson. Just like employees at the supermarket. I feel that our system frees them to have to do that. The student positions are not visible unless there is an emergency and even in that case realtime viewer does not show any data on whom the student (or lecturer) is. It just shows to the firefighter that there is someone at the second floor in room 3A.

For what concerns point 2) you can think that we used anonymized positions as GPS navigators backend use the device traces to generate data about traffic jams, map corrections and so on. This data is used to improve campus life as it gives an idea how to distribute resources optimally. I remember that I was very frustrated as a student when I never seemed to find room in a computer lab while the classes adjacent where always very busy.

'This data is used to improve campus life as it gives an idea how to distribute resources optimally'. My university really needs this; just today I wasn't able to get a seat in the lab for an originally 2-hour session. We were split in two groups and each group got 1 hour in the lab instead of 2. This is a real problem and I would agree to carry a beacon-card if you could guarantee that my data sent is anonymous. And given the fact that attendance certification is law in the UK, I think that the safety and security use cases for this technology are completely invaluable. The firefighter example shows that you could actually end up saving lives.

As CEO, you should note that your comment completely repositioned my attitude towards your product. This is because your website is clearly aimed at decision makers at universities, whereas all I (a student) saw was a system conducive to draconian monitoring system. You should probably make your site more clearly demarcated. At http://beestar.eu/insight/learning-analytics it seems as if about half the points are targeted at students while the other half at educators. It seems slightly mismatched. And you also don't mention how this system could improve safety (I see the benefits of the firefighter case now that it's been explained)

I have to thank you a lot for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I will modify the website so that it will be clearer where we stand with our product

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