Internet of Things

9Status of the Body within the Internet of Things: Revolution or Evolution?

9.1. Introduction

The Internet of Things (IoT) concerns the control of the physical world, made possible in numerous areas of activity by a processing chain that starts with a material object that measures its environment and returns the information to another object or to a central data integration system that is also capable of Big Data analyses. Effective control over the physical world is done either through the recovery of consolidated information, in a form that is easy for a human or a machine to interpret, or by feedback on objects equipped with activators. The Internet of Things therefore “modifies” “the way in which it is possible to perceive our environment and to interact with the objects that populate it” [DIB 15, p. 76].

Beyond the strictly industrial world, the IoT applies to the domain of wearables, home automation tools or hand-held objects, in the field of the individual and his/her environment, but also the social organization of a country. As a result, it poses a large number of corresponding questions, such as the control over behavior, the question of social acceptability and presence in the physical world and presence in the user’s real and perceptive body [WEI 99].

In this article we explore the status of the body within the Internet of Things. We begin by studying the body in the field of sports and e-health.

9.2. Presence and absence of the body in the field of sports and ...