1 Application Areas Lecture 17 Date: 6 th April

2 Overview of Lecture Application areas: CSCW Ubiquitous Computing What is ubiquitous computing? Major themes in ubicomp Related topics

3 Ubiquitous Computing What are the main ideas in Weiser’s 1991 paper?What are the main ideas in Weiser’s 1991 paper? The disappearance of technology The opposite of virtual reality More humanizing, more human interaction More “natural” interaction, less fiddling Wireless, interconnected devices Constant, but unobtrusive, availability A range of different sizes Context-aware behavior Privacy considerations must be addressed – but no solutions proposed This work really started several years before After more than a decade, we are not much closer to dealing with the privacy issues but at least now there is a lot of interest in the topic. Ubiquitous Computing

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5 Technology Trends in Ubiquitous Computing Displays very small (inches) to very large (walls) Processors: cheap, small, dedicated, microprocessors Low Power small batteries, solar (?) Wireless Wireless ethernet, infrared, mobile standards, Bluetooth (in- room), in-building, metropolitan Operating systems Linux on a chip, Windows CE, … Packaging non-conventional devices Ubiquitous Computing

6 3 major themes in ubiquitous computing: Desire for natural interfaces Need to be context-aware Automate capture and access Ubiquitous Computing

7 Desire for Natural Interfaces Physical interactions will be less like current desktop/keyboard/mouse display paradigms, more like real human interactions More natural forms of communication: Speech Handwriting Gestures When used for recognition-based tasks, new and more types of mistakes are introduced Eliminating errors may not be possible e.g., computer handwriting recognition will never be perfect Error handling of recognition-based interfaces is a major area of research Ubiquitous Computing Themes

8 Need to be Context-Aware Context refers to the physical and social situation in which computational devices are embedded A goal of context-aware computing is to acquire and utilize information about the context of a device and provide services that are appropriate to the particular people, place, time, events, etc. Example: A mobile phone will always vibrate at a concert and never beep/ring in a concert, if the system can know the location of the phone and the schedule of the concert Ubiquitous Computing Themes

9 Need to be Context-Aware The five W’s can be used to define context: WhoWho: identity of a particular user WhatWhat: interpretation of human activity WhereWhere: location of user WhenWhen: time of activity, passage of time WhyWhy: reason for a person doing something Ubiquitous Computing Themes

10 Need to be Context-Aware Most common -> Location-Aware Computing location-based action nearby local printer, doctor nearby remote phone directions/maps location-based information real person’s location history/sales/events virtual walkthrough story of city augmented touring machine Ubiquitous Computing Themes

11 Automate Capture & Access Much time is spent recording events and then trying to remember important pieces of information from those events Most systems have separate capture and access phases e.g., Lecture Browser focuses on the capture presentations with attention to capturing arbitrary program interactions and production-quality video capture from multiple sources Ubiquitous Computing Themes

12 Automate Capture & AccessChallenges Capture: most common application areas are in meeting support & education/training. Other possible application areas: Recording of special events During collaborative design activities Much of the capture is for raw streams of information that are captured mainly for direct playback. It is often useful to derive information to provide a greater understanding of the live event Ubiquitous Computing Themes

13 Automate Capture & AccessChallenges Access: a number of playback activities need to be provided While real-time access is the most common, other methods are required Versioning and time-based interactions are issues in the access phase As systems move from personalized to more public settings, privacy concerns for both capture and access increase Ubiquitous Computing Themes

14 Other Related Topics Augmented RealityAugmented Reality Tangible InterfacesTangible Interfaces Wearable InterfacesWearable Interfaces Related Topics

15 Augmented Reality Augmented reality (AR) refers to computer displays that add virtual information to a user's sensory perceptions. Augmented reality is an environment that includes both virtual reality and real-world elements. Example: an AR user might wear translucent goggles; through these, he could see the real world, as well as computer-generated images projected on top of that world Related Topics

16 Augmented Reality Most AR research focuses on "see-through" devices, usually worn on the head, that overlay graphics and text on the user's view of his or her surroundings Related Topics

17 Augmented Reality Related Topics

18 Augmented Reality Related Topics

19 Tangible Interfaces Tangible interfaces provide physical form to digital information and computation, facilitating the direct manipulation of bits They employ physical objects, surfaces, and spaces as tangible embodiments of digital information. Related Topics

20 Tangible Interfaces These include foreground interactions with graspable objects and augmented surfaces, exploiting the human senses of touch and kinesthesia. Background information displays use "ambient media" -- ambient light, sound, airflow, and water movement-- that communicate digitally-mediated senses of activity and presence at the periphery of human awareness. Related Topics

21 Tangible InterfacesTriangles When the pieces connect together, they can trigger digital events. These events can influence the progress of a non-linear story, or allow users to organize media elements in order to create their own story space. Related Topics

22 Wearable Interfaces Wearable computers has focused on making it easier to take the desktop PC along The physical nature of the space and task is reflected in the design of the hardware and the user interaction modalities Computers on body track body relative movements monitor person train person Wearables will need to become much smaller and “socially designed” Related Topics

23 Towards Everyday Computing Activities rarely have a clear beginning and end Interruption is expected Multiple activities operate concurrently Time is an important discriminator Associative models of information are required Related Topics

24 Ubiquitous Computing Challenges Evaluating Ubicomp systems Finding a human need Evaluating in the context of authentic use Task-centric evaluation techniques are inappropriate Social issues Related Topics

25 Summary of Lecture What is ubiquitous computing? Major themes in ubicomp Desire for natural interfaces Need to be context-aware Automate capture and access Related topics Augmented Reality Tangible Interfaces Wearable Interfaces Summary

26 Terms of Reference Weiser, M. (1991) The Computer for the 21 st Century Ishii, H. (2004) Bringing clay and sand into digital design – continuous tangible user interfaces Abowd, G. & Mynatt, E. (2000) Charting Past, Present and Future Research in Ubiquitous Computing Scholtz, J. (2001) Ubiquitous Computing Goes Mobile Milgram & Kishino (1994) A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Display Benyon, D. et al (2005) Designing Interactive Systems References