Transcript “Machines that fit the human environment, instead of forcing humans to enter theirs, will make using a computer as refreshing as taking a walk.

“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.”
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-- Mark Weiser
The Computer for the 21st Century
Calm Computing
Hari Khalsa
September 20, 2004
The Coming Age of Calm
Technology
By Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown, 1996
 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?
Unremarkable Computing
By Peter Tolmie, James Pycock, Tim Diggins, Allan MacLean
and Alain Karsenty, 2002
 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
Seeing the Invisible
By Jeffrey Heer, Peter Khooshabeh
 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
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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
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