The Disappearing Computer: Interaction Design, System Infrastructures and Applications for Smart Environments

✍ Scribed by Norbert Streitz, Thorsten Prante, Carsten Röcker, Daniel van Alphen, Richard Stenzel (auth.), Norbert Streitz, Achilles Kameas, Irene Mavrommati (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 314
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4500
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

“The-computer-as-we-know-it” will have no role in our future everyday lives. This is the position taken in this book which elaborates how it will be replaced by a new generation of technologies, moving computing off the desktop and ultimately integrating it with real world objects and everyday environments. Computing becomes thus an inseparable part of our everyday activities while simultaneously disappearing into the background. It becomes a ubiquitous utility taking on a role similar to electricity – an enabling but invisible and pervasive medium revealing its functionality on request in an unobtrusive way and supporting people’s everyday activities.

As members of the Steering Group of the EU-funded Disappearing Computer research initiative, the editors of this book successfully assembled a collection of 13 elaborate chapters and three forewords that address the issues and challenges in this area. All authors are prominent researchers who set out investigating, developing and deploying future, people-centred smart environments. This book provides a unique combination of concepts, methods and prototypes of ubiquitous and pervasive computing reflecting the current interest in smart environments and ambient intelligence.

Excerpts from the three forewords for the book:

Thierry van der Pyl and Thomas Skordas from the European Commission state that: The Disappearing Computer initiative anticipated and pioneered the concept of ambient intelligence … and allowed to advance the boundaries of what is possible with the computer today.

Gregory Abowd from GeorgiaTech in the US writes about this research: While substantial progress was shown on the creation of information artefacts, it is the new behaviors and user experiences that promise long-term impact.

Finally, Emile Aarts from Philips Research comments on the relationship of ambient technology and people’s behavior: "This current volume undoubtedly provides a major contribution to fill up this gap of knowledge."

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages -
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Smart Artefacts as Affordances for Awareness in Distributed Teams....Pages 3-29
From the Disappearing Computer to Living Exhibitions: Shaping Interactivity in Museum Settings....Pages 30-49
Opening the Digital Box for Design Work: Supporting Performative Interactions, Using Inspirational Materials and Configuring of Place....Pages 50-76
Spatial Computing and Spatial Practices....Pages 77-95
Front Matter....Pages 97-97
Co-designing Communication Technology with and for Families – Methods, Experience, Results and Impact....Pages 99-119
Assembling Connected Cooperative Residential Domains....Pages 120-142
Intrusiveness Management for Focused, Efficient, and Enjoyable Activities....Pages 143-157
Front Matter....Pages 159-159
Towards Ubiquitous Computing Applications Composed from Functionally Autonomous Hybrid Artifacts....Pages 161-181
Towards Dynamic and Cooperative Multi-device Personal Computing....Pages 182-204
An Attention-Based Architecture for Context Switch Detection....Pages 205-229
Front Matter....Pages 231-231
Emerging Sounds for Disappearing Computers....Pages 233-254
Electronically Functional Fibre Technology Development for Ambient Intelligence....Pages 255-274
Augmented Paper: Developing Relationships Between Digital Content and Paper....Pages 275-297
Back Matter....Pages -

✦ Subjects

User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Multimedia Information Systems; Information Storage and Retrieval; Software Engineering; Computers and Society