From GUI to UUI: Interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing

For our purposes, ubicomp is a model of computing in which computation is everywhere and computer functions are integrated into everything. It will be built into the basic objects, environments, and the activities of our everyday lives in such a way that no one will notice its presence [Weiser, 1999]. Such a model of computation will “weave itself into the fabric of our lives, until it is indistinguishable from it” (Weiser, 1999). Everyday objects will be places for sensing, input, processing along with user output (Greeneld, 2006). Take, for example, the multiperson interactive surface in Figure 6.1. Here, dozens of people can interact simultaneously with a large historical record using gesture alone. Coupled with directional microphones, personal displays, and other forms of novel interface, one can imagine this as part of a larger system in the future. is future experience might bring schoolchildren back to past events not just in one room but throughout a city, country, or continent. Ubicomp aims to make information, applications, and services available anywhere and at anytime in the human environment, where they are useful. In keeping with Weiser’s original vision of keeping technologies unnoticed (Weiser, 1999), a further aim is to have all this delivered in a uid manner appropriate to our current context (Coutaz et al., 2005).