SIMS 213: User Interface Design & Development

Marti HearstThur, April 17, 2003

Today: Alternative Interfaces

Hardware– Small mobile computers– Sensor networks– Tangible interfaces

Software / Systems– Ubiquitous computing– Context-aware computing– Augmented Reality

PDAs are everywhere!

This is new … the first few attempts failedGary Trudeau lambasted the failed (ahead-of-its-time) Apple Newton

Bergman & Haitani Reading

What went right with the Pilot?What can we currently not do well on PDAs?– Ping’s Peephole design

Information Appliances

Main idea:– General purpose computers are too complex– So, create devices that do just one thing well

Ubiquitous Computing

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 1991. After more than a

decade, we are no closer to dealing with the privacy issues.

Slide from lecture by Anind Dey

Sensor Networks

Berkeley/Intel sensor motes

“Context-Aware” Computing

Related to Ubicomp and Mobile ComputingTakes your current environment into account in making decisions– Turns off cell phone when you enter the lecture hall.– When you ask where to go for a meal, notes that it is morning

and you are in Taipei before making a recommendation.– Knows who wrote on the whiteboard so a copy of the ink can

be emailed to the author.– Plays music you like when you enter an empty elevator.– Notifies your doctor when your heart rate goes too high.

“Context-Aware” Computing

Makes use of different kinds of information– Geographic– Temporal– Social … ?

Slide from lecture by Prasun Dewan

Location-Aware ComputingMotivation– 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

Slide from lecture by Prasun Dewan

Wearable Pose-Aware Computers

Computers on body– track body relative movements

• monitor person• train person

Alternative Realities

Virtual Reality creates a completely computer-generated environment.Augmented Reality uses an existing, real-life environment, and adds computer-generated information (virtual objects) thereto. Diminished Reality filters the environment: it alters real objects, replaces them with virtual ones, or renders them imperceptible.Mediated Reality combines Augmented and Diminished Reality. – Definitions by Steve “Cyberman” Mann

Slide from lecture by Prasun Dewan

“Augmented Reality”

Operations based on locations and orientations of users and devicesCool app: – Point a camera at a sign –

see its translation on the screen.

Tangible Interfaces

Merge physical with computationalAlso called Phidgets – Physical Widgets– http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/grouplab/phidgets/gallery/gallery.html

Still only an area of exploration, but lots of fun

Slide from lecture by Jason Hong

metaDESK

Slide from lecture by Jason Hong

ambientROOM

Slide from lecture by Jason Hong

Tradeoffs of Physical versus Digital

Bits– represent all symbols– extremely flexible– quick to disseminate– cheap to reproduce– computational power

Physical– direct manipulation– persistent– collaborative– affordances– multimodal

• Bits + Physical => Tangibles?– can we get the best of both worlds? – good physical representations of abstractions?

Slide from lecture by Anind Dey

Phidgets

Slide from lecture by Anind Dey

Why Tangible Interfaces?

Lose something when we use a non-tactile, non-material interface

Tradeoffs between human touch and subtlety of expression vs. search for efficiency

Tangibility / physicality: humans reach for, children experience the world through

Some examples, not all leading to experiences, but meant as inspiration and fodder

Summary

Human-computer interaction is heading in many new directionsWhich ones will become part of our everyday lives?