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“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.
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“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 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 • 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