Making Ubicomp Approachable Interaction Design For Augmented Objects David

Making Ubicomp Approachable: Interaction Design For Augmented Objects David Bouchard, Enrico Costanza, David Merrill, Sajid Sadi, Pattie Maes Ambient Intelligence MIT Media Lab Cambridge MA, USA {davidb, enrico, dmerrill, sajid, pattie}@media.mit.edu Claudio Pinhanez IBM Research, T.J. Watson Hawthorne NY USA pinhanez@us.ibm.com Marco Susani Advanced Concepts Group Motorola Chicago IL USA Marco.Susani@motorola.com ABSTRACT The workshop will focus on challenges and implications inherent in embracing the ubiquitous computing paradigm through augmentation of existing everyday objects. We strongly believe that the distribution of computational power into the environment is in most cases better realized by enriching ordinary, commonly used objects with extraordinary capabilities rather than creating new “gadgets” or “small computer bricks”. The primary and established functions of objects must be preserved, and extra functionality should be added without superseding traditional uses. Ubicomp research should take inspiration from daily gestures, designing around them to guarantee natural interaction. The principle of starting from usual and well-understood objects and gestures is well established among industrial and product designers. Although usually utilized with noncomputational media, good design often provides new interpretations that enrich common everyday objects. The workshop aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners from both the technology research and product/industrial design communities to promote a discussion influenced by each others vision. Keywords goal is to augment items already present in our everyday environment. Whether the approach has been to enrich them by adding new functionalities or to make extra information available in their proximity, many Ubicomp projects are centered around ordinary, commonly used objects. The richness of objects is often related to the ritual of their daily use: interaction design should augment daily gestures as much as the objects themselves, leading towards a natural and intuitive interaction paradigm. We believe that using an object or gesture as a basis, or “anchor”, for a new interaction often facilitates social acceptance, making the Ubicomp paradigm in general more approachable for real users. The use of everyday objects for Ubicomp opens up different and sometimes contrasting scenarios, each posing interesting questions. Analyzing projects presented by other researchers as well as our own work, we have identified a number of conceptual and practical issues related to the augmentation of items which are common in our everyday lives. Related vs. un-related augmentation. Objects can be augmented with new functions directly related to their original use (e.g. phone augmented with phone book, as in any current mobile phone) or with behaviors that are not traditionally associated to them (e.g. input device embedded into clothes [10]). Augmenting accessories vs. tools. Some projects augment accessories – items that are common in everyday life but do not serve a specific practical function, such as jewelry or picture frames [4, 1] – while in other cases the augmentation is applied to objects that serve a specific function, such as bathroom mirrors [5]. Physical embodiment vs. external augmentation. Functionality can be physically embodied in existing objects, by adding new electronic components in them [4], Ubiquitous computing, interaction design, augmented objects INTRODUCTION For more than a decade the Ubicomp community has worked on the problem of distributing computational power into the environment. One strategy to achieve this or simulated, for example through visually projected overlays [8]. Everyday vs. special purpose interaction. The purpose of the augmentation of an object can be related to an everyday activity, such as retrieving information about items that one wishes to buy [4, 12], or to special activities that are not typically part of the daily routine, such as physiological monitoring for medical analysis [7]. Functional vs. thought provoking/playful augmentation. The purpose of the augmentation can also be classified as strictly functional, such as mail scale that automatically prints out correct postage [9] or the result of critical design, leading to thought provoking and playful augmentations such as the Dunne and Raby GPS table [3] and the kite jacket by CP-Company [2]. We propose to organize a workshop that explores design decisions and technical issues related to these broad categories, encouraging the development of a discussion aimed at extrapolating general design guidelines and broad reflections on the topic. The principle of starting from usual and well understood objects and gestures is well established among industrial and product designers. Even thought usually in a way that does not involve computation, good design often provides new interpretations that enrich common everyday objects. From glasses [11] to CD music players [5] good design often redefines and enriches common objects. This workshop aims to bring together designers and computer scientists in order to allow a broad discussion on the theme of augmented objects. GOALS science itself, have existed for a relatively short time, the principle of design based on ethnographic insights is not new. Designers have drawn upon these sources in their work since time immemorial, and we feel that by including interested designers in this workshop, we will be able to learn a great deal about their approach toward the design of spaces and artifacts that are modified by ubicomp. At the same time, it is important to remember that objects and human beings exist in a relationship, and as we augment environments and objects, it becomes important to consider the augmentation in design. By exposing designers to the technology, capabilities, and vision of ubiquitous computing, we hope that they will not only be able to help further the goals of ubicomp, but also be more informed in their designs about the technologies that will soon cohabitate the same design spaces and environments that their own work now occupies. Since the goal of this workshop is to focus on applications of ubicomp, we are interested in particular domains that can benefit from this work. It may be the case that certain classes of objects and interactions may be better suited to augmentation than others, and could indicate new directions for future work. Likewise, it may also be possible to direct interaction techniques towards specific physical domains (ie, kitchens, halls, meeting spaces), or towards particular types of objects (ie, accessories, clothing, furniture). We feel that issues more directly related to interaction design, such as the visual affordances of ubiquitous systems, social acceptability of augmented spaces and objects, trust within ubiquitous computing environments, and the willingness of the end–users to accept ubicomp are important as we move forward in designing new systems, interactions and techniques. We hope to provoke thought in each of these domains in the course of the workshop. Specifically from the “example scenarios” that fall out of the exercises, we also hope to approach several other considerations beyond the general ones discussed above, while drawing upon the insights from participants with design backgrounds to attach these issues from multiple angles. In particular, as we explore different approaches as a group, we hope to enable the participants to see and discus firsthand the advantages and limitations of various approaches. By the end of the workshops, we also hope to consider generalizations for both methods of selecting particular combinations of artifacts, gestures, and interactions to augments, as well as for addressing the problem of augmenting the usage scenario itself. Finally, we hope to approach the issue of evaluating and understanding the success of both approaches and heuristics in this little–explored area. By taking this practical approach, we hope that participants will be able to gain insights beyond mere discussion, and be able to put into practice and share with others their own unique tactics for dealing with this ever-expanding field. Our motivation in organizing this workshop is to provide a venue for discussion of the design considerations for ubiquitous computing. As Mark Weiser pointed out in his UIST 1994 keynote [13], Ubicomp has its design roots in the insights of social science, and attempts to “radically reinvent technology to fit people.” This requires careful consideration of the design heuristics to be used. In contrast to the more mature field of desktop user interfaces and interactions, which has been explored in depth, the relatively young field of ubicomp has thus far focused more on developing the basic technological and theoretical basis for the field. We feel that ubicomp is now developed sufficiently and practiced widely enough that it is important for considerations to move beyond system design to interaction and physical design. While many technical problems remain unsolved, we believe that this workshop can nonetheless provide a venue for those advancing the cause of ubiquitous interaction design to share experiences and provide basis for new directions of thought and new possibilities for collaboration. As we step forth to explore this new space, we must learn the lessons that practitioners in related fields can share with us. While the computers, and consequently computer TOPICS Possible topics to be discussed at this workshop include: • • • • • • • • • Related vs. unrelated augmentation Augmenting accessories vs. tools Physical embodiment vs. external augmentation Everyday vs. special purpose interaction Functional vs. augmentation thought provoking/playful second iteration of their object or pick a new one. After the results from the second exercise are presented and briefly discussed, the group will move on to an extended discussion aimed at extracting the lessons and heuristics discovered through the exercises. The workshop will take place over two days. preliminary schedule is as follow: Day 1 • • • • Day 2 • • • The Original and augmented affordances, and their perception Cognitive barriers to object augmentation Trust issues related to augmented objects What types of applications should be forerunners in introducing augmented objects to a broad audience? Social acceptability and consumer acceptance Introduction (30 min) Five minute presentations from participants (2 ½ hours) First design exercise (2 hours) Discussion of first design exercise (1 hour) Second design exercise (2 hours) Discussion of second design exercise (1 hour) General discussion to extrapolate general principles and takeaways (3 hours) • PARTICIPANTS We hope to attract a diverse group comprised of researchers as well as industrial and product designers to facilitate exchange of ideas and approaches between the two groups. We believe these insights can be carried forward into the future work of all participants. In addition to promoting our workshop within the Ubicomp community, we plan to invite designers and scientists from the large number of industrial partners of the MIT Media Lab as well as IBM and Motorola. Additionally, we will promote the workshop among colleagues from design schools around the world. FORMAT AND SCHEDULE WORKSHOP OUTCOME The proceedings of the workshop will be published online on the workshop's website. Additionally, a wiki will be provided to allow long-term discussion. Finally, the organizers will submit a paper summarizing the workshop to an appropriate venue. The URL for the workshop is: http://ambient.media.mit.edu/approachable ORGANIZERS Workshop organizers are as follows: • David Bouchard is a Research Assistant and Graduate Student in the Ambient Intelligence Group at the MIT Media Laboratory, USA. His research interests include: interactive environments, HCI, and electronic art. Enrico Costanza is a Research Assistant and Graduate Student in the Ambient Intelligence Group at the MIT Media Laboratory, USA. His research interests include: intimate interfaces for mobile HCI, low cost tangible interfaces and the integration of technology in everyday objects. David Merrill is a Research Assistant and Graduate Student in the Ambient Intelligence Group at the MIT Media Laboratory, USA. His research interests include: HCI for mobile devices, haptic and tactile feedback channels in HCI, interactive experiential art, and interaction design for musical expression. Sajid Sadi is a Research Assistant and Graduate Student in the Ambient Intelligence Group at the MIT Media Laboratory, USA. His research interests lies in behavior centric design and interfaces for ubiquitous computing. We expect the number of participants to be around twentyfive. Candidate participants will be required to submit a position paper, which will be reviewed by the organizers. Papers will be briefly presented and discussed in the introductory session. The remainder of the workshop will be centered around two design exercises. For each exercise participants will split up into groups. The organizers will provide a number of objects that will serve as seeds, as well as a kit containing paper modeling tools. Each team will be asked to mock up the augmentation of one selected object and create a scenario centered on its use. In this first exercise, participants can only augment the object using internal electronic device. The objects should keep their functionality regardless of where they are. After the first exercise, all participants will meet to demonstrate their creations and discussion will follow. The second day will start with a new exercise. In this case an object has to be augmented without incorporating any electronics into it. All the functionality should come from systems in the environment (projectors, cameras, etc.) or worn by the user (cell phones, wearables, etc.). Participants will break up in the same groups and will be free to either go through a • • • • Pattie Maes is an Associate Professor, Program in Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. Her Research interests include: human-computer interaction, artificial life, artificial intelligence, collective intelligence, and intelligence augmentation. Claudio Pinhanez is a Research Staff Member in the Experience Management Group at the IBM Watson Research Center, USA. His research interests include: Interactive spaces, Ubiquitous computing, HCI, Services research, Computer theater, Computer Vision, AI. Marco Susani is an Architect and Industrial Designer. He is the director of the Advanced Concepts Group at Motorola, USA. Susani's recent research focuses on interaction design, telecommunication, media spaces, multimedia, interface devices and robotics. 4 5 • 6 7 • 8 REFERENCES 9 10 1 2 3 Consolvo, S., Roessler, P., Shelton, B.E., "The CareNet Display: Lessons Learned from an In Home Evaluation of an Ambient Display," Proceedings of the 6th Int'l Conference on Ubiquitous Computing: UbiComp '04, (Sep 2004), pp.1-17. http://www.cpcompany.com/flash.htm under “Archive” Dunne, A and Raby, F. Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects, Princeton Architectural Press, 2002 11 12 13 Feldman, A., Tapia E.M., Sadi S., Maes P. and Schmandt, C. ReachMedia: On the move interaction with everyday objects, ISWC 2005 Kaori Fujinami, Fahim Kawsar, Tatsuo Nakajima AwareMirror: A Personalized Display using a Mirror. Proc. Pervasive 2005 Fukasawa N, Design Dissolving in Behavior closing keynote for Ubicomp 2005 http://ubicomp.org/ubicomp2005/closing.shtml Morris, S.J. and Paradiso, J. 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