Supporting the unremarkable:experiences with the obje Display Mirror

Many believe that ubiquitous computing will succeed when it has faded into the background of everyday life and work—that is, when it has become mundane. This paper examines the potential for technology to enhance users’ experience of their environments through the improvement of the unremarkable activities that comprise everyday experience. Based on a year-long longitudinal study, we describe how we designed, deployed, and evaluated technology to support and enhance a common but unremarkable practice: the act of connecting a portable computer to a shared display (e.g., VGA projector). We found that new capabilities of our technology introduced subtle but significant changes in the practices surrounding the sharing of information in meetings. However, we also met with substantial challenges in terms of deployment, adoption, and evaluation. We analyze and discuss these challenges in depth, in order to inform the design of future mundane, pervasive applications.