Introduction to Ubiquitous Computing Spring 2014

Ubiquitous

Ubiquitous Computing

It’s (ubi)complicated This course will help you learn about this topic, and give you some conceptual tools to think about it.

Example: Ring Tones Goal: Phone rings (or doesn’t ring) in exactly the right way for a given user in a given situation. How do phones work at present? How could they work instead?

Activity Design a ubicomp system together. Design with 40 people is hard. Work in small groups, then integrate several projects, then augment them with elements from others. (Like persona generation from HCI.)

Activity Team up with a neighbor Design a ubicomp system that tracks all the resources used by a person (materials, energy, etc.) – Rules: May include current technologies, and technologies that are likely to exist in the next 5 years. – ~10 minutes

Activity: Pitches Several groups describe what they envisioned What topics did they miss that other groups decided were important?

Activity: Questions Are all users the same? How do you scope the domains of particular users? How does it sense the world? How does what it senses affect how it acts? What are the material and energetic costs of implementing it? What are the social implications of such a system?

Logistics

Introductions: Bill Professor of Informatics Courtesy appointment in Education Biology, Animation, Media Arts & Sciences Wife Rebecca is in Education Department, Kid named Miles. Interested in sustainability, oceans, animals. First time I’ve ever taught this class, so if you have suggestions about how I could do it better, please let me know!

Introductions: All of You Pair up (different neighbor from first activity) Tell your neighbor about your background, present/future goals and interests, hobbies, etc. (3-4 minutes each). Share as much or as little as you are comfortable with. Practice listening. Introduce your neighbor to the class.

Structure of the Course Lectures Readings Discussion led by students Activities Final Project

Note on Readings 20 assigned readings Plus additional ~20 readings during the course of your final project

Syllabus

Errors If you see errors in the syllabus, or inconsistencies with what I’ve said in class, please let me know so we can get it straightened out quickly.

Final projects May be implementation-based – Galileo/Arduino based – Android/iOS based May be evaluation-based – Some existing ubicomp system Or some third type of project

Final project teams Will form teams next week. Start thinking now about what kind of project you’d like to do, and chatting with classmates about teaming up if you’re interested.

Resources Galileo boards If you have specific needs for your project, feel free to ask.

Policies

Food policy Since we overlap with lunch time, discreet eating of food is okay. Distracting food (noisy, smelly, etc.) should be eaten before or after class.

Leading Discussion Discuss expectations (15 minutes in week 2-3, 20 minutes in later weeks, see syllabus for rubric) Discuss process of assigning people to the 20 readings sent out shortly

Questions?

Break policy 15 minute break, or 5 minute break and end a little early?

Break (or end at 1:30?)

Arduino/Galileo Single-board microcontroller Open-source hardware

Arduino/Galileo How many of you have ever worked with Arduino or similar systems before?

Task: Distribute boards. Gather around people with computers Steps 1-10.

Final Projects You may use Galileo boards, or not, in your final projects. If you want to use one or more of them, please note that in the questionnaire I’ll distribute in Week 2.

Goal of the Course Give you the conceptual tools to think about and create ubiquitous computing systems, and understand the roles that they play in the world around us.

Questions?