On Ambient Information Systems: Challenges Of Design And Evaluation

The rise of the Internet, the ever increasing ubiquity of data, and its low signal-to-noise ratio have contributed to the problem of information overload, whereby individuals have access to more data than they can assimilate into meaningful and actionable information. Much of the success of Web 2.0 has been achieved after an effective tackling of this problem. Ambient Information Systems take the battle into the physical world by integrating information into the physical environment in a non-intimidating and non-overloading fashion. After two international workshops on Ambient Information Systems, we outline our vision for the field, consolidate a new definition, identify the key concerns of the research community, and issue a call to arms for future research.