Computing devices and applications are now used beyond the desktop, in diverse environments, and this trend toward ubiquitous computing is accelerating. One challenge that remains in this emerging research field is the ability to enhance the behavior of any application by informing it of the context of its use. By context, we refer to any information that characterizes a situation related to the interaction between humans, applications and the surrounding environment. Context-aware applications promise richer and easier interaction, but the current state of research in this field is still far removed from that vision. This is due to three main problems: (1) the notion of context is still ill defined; (2) there is a lack of conceptual models and methods to help drive the design of context-aware applications; and (3) no tools are available to jump-start the development of context-aware applications. In this paper, we address these three problems in turn. We first define context, identify categories of contextual information, and characterize context-aware application behavior. Though the full impact of context-aware computing requires understanding very subtle and high-level notions of context, we are focusing our efforts on the pieces of context that can be inferred automatically from sensors in a physical environment. We then present a conceptual framework that separates the acquisition and representation of context from the delivery and reaction to context by a contextaware application. We have built a toolkit, the Context Toolkit, that instantiates this conceptual framework and supports the rapid development of a rich space of context-aware applications. We illustrate the usefulness of the conceptual framework by describing a number of contextaware applications that h...

Context-enabled applications are just emerging and promise richer interaction by taking environmental context into account. However, they are difficult to build due to their distributed nature and the use of unconventional sensors. The concepts of toolkits and widget libraries in graphical user interfaces has been tremendously successtil, allowing programmers to leverage off existing building blocks to build interactive systems more easily. We introduce the concept of context widgets that mediate between the environment and the application in the same way graphical widgets mediate between the user and the application. We illustrate the concept of context widgets with the beginnings of a widget library we have developed for sensing presence, identity and activity of people and things. We assess the success of our approach with two example context-enabled applications we have built and an existing application to which we have added contextsensing capabilities.

. In order for a smart environment to provide services to its occupants, it must be able to detect its current state or context and determine what actions to take based on the context. We discuss the requirements for dealing with context in a smart environment and present a software infrastructure solution we have designed and implemented to help application designers build intelligent services and applications more easily. We describe the benefits of our infrastructure through applications that we have built. 1 Introduction One of the goals of a smart environment is that it supports and enhances the abilities of its occupants in executing tasks. These tasks range from navigating through an unfamiliar space, to providing reminders for activities, to moving heavy objects for the elderly or disabled. In order to support the occupants, the smart environment must be able to both detect the current state or context in the environment and determine what actions to take based on this context...

: As computers are increasingly woven into the fabric of everyday life, interaction design may have to change -- from creating only fast and efficient tools to be used during a limited time in specific situations, to creating technology that surrounds us and therefore is a part of our activities for long periods of time. We present slow technology: a design agenda for technology aimed at reflection and moments of mental rest rather than efficiency in performance. The aim of this paper is to develop a design philosophy for slow technology, to discuss general design principles and to revisit some basic issues in interaction design from a more philosophical point of view. We discuss examples of soniture and informative art as instances of slow technology and as examples of how the design principles can be applied in practice. Keywords: Design; Human-computer interaction; Informative art; Slow technology; Soniture; Ubiquitous computing 1.

Researchers have explored the design of ambient information systems across a wide range of physical and screen-based media. This work has yielded rich examples of design approaches to the problem of presenting information about a user’s world in a way that is not distracting, but is aesthetically pleasing, and tangible to varying degrees. Despite these successes, accumulating theoretical and craft knowledge has been stymied by the lack of a unified vocabulary to describe these systems and a consequent lack of a framework for understanding their design attributes. We argue that this area would significantly benefit from consensus about the design space of ambient information systems and the design attributes that define and distinguish existing approaches. We present a definition of ambient information systems and a taxonomy across four design dimensions: Information Capacity, Notification Level, Representational Fidelity, and Aesthetic Emphasis. Our analysis has uncovered four patterns of system design and points to unexplored regions of the design space, which may motivate future work in the field.

Approaches This brings us to the question of how social cues might best be portrayed in a digital system. We see three design approaches to answering this question: the realist, the mimetic, and the abstract. The realist approach involves trying to project social information from the physical domain into or through the digital domain. This work is exemplified in teleconferencing systems and media space research---see Finn, et al. (1997) for many examples.

Telemurals is an abstract audio-video installation that seeks to initiate and sustain interaction between and within two remote spaces. Our goal is to improve the social aspects of casual mediated communications by incorporating events into the design of the communication medium that encourage people to engage in interaction when they otherwise would not. We call these events social catalysts, for they encourage people to initiate and sustain interaction. In this paper we discuss the design process and goals of our first Telemurals link between two public spaces, the building of Telemurals, and an ethnographic study describing how the system affected interaction between and within these two spaces based on the theories discussed in this paper.

How can we design displays that foster a sense of presence and awareness... that enhance a sense of community and togetherness... that enable human bonds to grow and flourish? Using five prototypes from the Human Connectedness research group at Media Lab Europe as a context for reflection, this chapter attempts to assemble a framework of questions and strategies for designers to consider when working to achieve these kinds of effects. The prototypes discussed include a media space that connects several physical locations in our organization, a video conference system based on the metaphor of a magic mirror, a video installation that displays layers of recorded social interaction, an ambient display for hospital patients in isolation wards, and a "sports over a distance" application with an "exertion" interface.

Abstract⎯This paper reports on the elicitation of requirements for Virtual Actors in Collaborative Virtual Learning Environments (CVLEs). The methodological approach followed involves the phased development of a series of learning environments which are observed in use by parents, children and teachers. The focus of study is on the interactivity and social communication issues that arise in the learning situation. The research uses as its case study the work of the Manchester Museum Education Service with children at Key Stage Level 2 (9-11 years old) of the National Curriculum. The particular learning situation is based on senet, an ancient Egyptian board game from the Museum’s collection of artefacts from the pyramid builders ' town of Kahun. Results are presented of the first phase prototype, a single display groupware system where interactions take place face-to-face in the “real-world ” external to the environment. Results are also presented of the second phase prototype, a multi-user groupware environment in which the users are remotely located and interaction is mainly internal to the environment. The paper discusses how the results from these two phases are being used to establish requirements for a CVLE to be developed in the third phase of research. Keywords⎯co-operative/collaborative learning, virtual reality, human-computer interface, interactive learning

In this work, we create an audio-video link via an interactive sculpture to facilitate casual, sociable communication between two remote spaces. This communication installation was designed to blend the benefits of online interaction such as low risk interaction, lower barriers to entry, and minimized geographical constraints with the ease and the affordances of interacting and signalling in physical space. We describe the creation and the iterative design process for creating a social virtual-physical hybrid space-interface we call the Chit Chat Club. In describing our design decisions, we note the advantages and disadvantages of two Chit Chat Club installations and their effect on interaction.