“Machines that fit the human environment, instead of forcing humans to enter theirs, will make using a computer as refreshing as taking a walk in the woods.” -- Mark Weiser The Computer for the 21st Century

Calm Computing Hari Khalsa September 20, 2004

The Coming Age of Calm Technology  What has come before  Mainframe - many people share one computer  PC - one person, one computer  Internet - transition to ubiquitous computing  Calm Technology  Utilize a user’s periphery  Come to center only when necessary  Enhance peripheral reach to keep people tuned in to surroundings without demanding attention  Examples  Inner office windows connect people to nearby world  Dangling string connects people to network usage  But why? By Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown, 1996

Unremarkable Computing  Making technology “invisible in use”  Routines  Done in the doing  Knocking on the door has a specific meaning at a specific time  Perceptual visibility and practical invisibility  Alarm clock going off at a specific time starts a routine  Clock has practical invisibility since no one thinks about the clock itself  Do not command attention unless necessary  Routines are calm and generally unspoken  Problems with current approaches  Perceptual invisibility vs. invisibility in use  Augmenting and adding semantics to tangible artifacts can confuse  Systems intended to support a routine must not ask the user to describe or account for activities  Need more research to create actual designs By Peter Tolmie, James Pycock, Tim Diggins, Allan MacLean and Alain Karsenty, 2002

Seeing the Invisible  Invisibility in Use  Fades into the conceptual background  Work through tools rather than with them  Example: computer mouse  Often arises from learning and practice  Infrastructural Invisibility  Computation is embedded in environment  Ability of infrastructure to become tacit in thought and action  Interaction is less apparent  Example: plumbing and electrical systems  Invisibility is an experienced relationship between humans and their tools, whether physical or conceptual By Jeffrey Heer, Peter Khooshabeh

Calm vs. Invisible  Invisibility  Invisibility In use  Infrastructural / Perceptual Invisibility  “Calm” computing fits into both  Challenge: making ubiquitous computing calm  Systems that “encalm and inform” simultaneously

Questions and Discussion