1. DCS 891C Research Seminar Summer 2004 July 16, 2004 Richard Harvey
Charting Past, Present, and Future Research in Ubiquitous Computing Gregory D. Abowd and Elizabeth D. Mynatt (March,2000)
DCS 891C Research Seminar
Summer 2004
July 16, 2004
Richard Harvey

2. What is Ubiquitous Computing?
“Ubiquitous computing is the method of enhancing computer use by making many computers available throughout the physical environment, but making them effectively invisible to the user”.[7]
The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.[8]

3. What is Ubiquitous Computing?
Human interaction with the environment and no need for knowledge that a computer is involved.
A large array of computers (from tiny computer chips to super computers) seamlessly and transparently used in all aspects of our everyday lives.

4. What Ubiquitous Computing is not
The analogy that is often held up as an example of Ubiquitous Computing is the refrigerator that can tell you when to buy more milk.[5]
…stark contrast between the marginality of the enhancements and the complexity of the computing infrastructure required to achieve them.[3]

5. Requirements for Ubiquitous Computing
Natural interfaces – “We desire natural interfaces that facilitate a richer variety of communications capabilities between humans and computation.”[1]
Context-awareness – “Ubicomp applications need to be context-aware, adapting their behavior based on information sensed from the physical and computational environment.[1]

6. Data Capture Problems
Electronically capturing the hand movement is relatively easy using special pens, inks and tablets. But interpreting and manipulating those strokes as words and numbers or other symbols is much more difficult.

7. Data Capture Problems
Electronic Whiteboards, audio and video devices, pens and tablets, new types of ink and other devices are being developed and tested. [4][3][8]
Researchers are also working on basic programming support for audio, video and pens to parse and interpret that information. [3][5]
Basic information about the user (Active Badges, RFID)

8. Location awareness
Location awareness is an important aspect of Ubiquitous Computing. The most well known example is the Global Position System (GPS) device that can report where it is anywhere in the world. But there has also been research into Active Badges [8] and other location aware devices.

9. Other areas that need to be explored
Context Fusion
Audio/video
Merging of multiple forms of media will add value to the Ubiquitous Computing environment.

10. eMail Example Multiple points of input Multiple providers
Must still enter URL, username, password
Wearable devices could change that and provide “natural Interfaces” but what about personal information security?

11. Conclusion Standards must come first Personal information
Video storage will have to be advanced

12. Bibliography
[1]Abowd, Gregory D. and Mynatt, Elizabeth D. “Charting Past, Present, and Future Research in Ubiquitous Computing”, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, Vol 7, No 1, March 2000, PP28-58
[2] Agu,Emmanuel , “CS 525M Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing Seminar”
[3] Araya, Agustin A., “Questioning Ubiquitous Computing”, Proceedings of the 1995 ACM 23rd Annual Conference on Computer Science, PP230 – 237, Nashville, TN, Also at
[4] Dourish, Paul, “What we talk about when we talk about context”, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, vol 8, Issue 1,February, Also at
[5] Forcinio, Hallie , “What can Radio Frequency Identification Do for Pharmaceutical Packaging?”, Pharmaceutical Technology, Vol 27, No. 5, May, also at
[6] Rhodes, Bradley J., Minar, Nelson and Weaver, Josh,”Wearable Computing Meets Ubiquitous Computing” The Proceedings of The Third International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC '99), San Francisco, CA, October , pp also at:
[7]Weiser, Mark, “Some computer science issues in Ubiquitous Computing”, March 23, 1993,
[8] Weiser, M. (1991) The Computer for the Twenty-First
Century. Scientific American, 265 (3), also at