Ubiquitous Computing

The trend in computing that we feel is most relevant for benefiting from the enhancement stage of HCI is this concept of ubiquitous computing (ubicomp). When considering ways to describe ubiquitous computing, we ask how today’s vision has been altered from the original vision provided by Weiser (1993). Given that we are closer to realising this vision, at least in terms of the advancements in perceptual and pervasive technologies, it may be necessary to consider this domain from a new perspective of HCI research. We feel that this can be described as the enhancement stage.

The traditional paradigm for conducting HCI research, which was based on the desk- top computing model may not be appropriate for perceptual or ubiquitous computing designs. Weiser suggested that we could use traditional methods to design such systems:

”The research method for ubiquitous computing is standard experimental computer science: the construction of working prototypes of the necessary infrastructure in sufficient quantity to debug the viability of the systems in everyday use, using ourselves and a few colleagues as guinea pigs. This is an important step towards insuring that our infrastructure research is robust and scalable in the face of the details of the real world.” (Weiser,1993)

But while Weiser’s vision was a motivational force behind developing a ubiquitous com- puting paradigm, we suggest that a possible reason for much of the research in ubicomp remaining prototypical, experimental and poorly defined may be because researches are still using 1st and 2nd stage HCI approaches, as Weiser stated, where we perform our tests on working prototypes.

There are however some researchers, such asRodden et al.(2004), who consider ubiqui- tous computing as an evolutionary concept, one that can evolve using current computing technology over time enabling the integration of the old with the new. This approach is a practical and methodical means towards the end of achieving a working ubiquitous computing systems. However, much is left to the imagination in terms of translating this concept to working systems. In stead, much of what we see in terms of ubicomp remains a treat for researchers, and those who have the opportunity to access cutting

the distance with which people can control their computers using the pervasive and perceptual computing technologies that are currently available. In this way, we can conduct extensive research to enable us to confidently predict which features would be best suited to ubiquitous computing without having to build such systems first.

7.3.1 Perceptual Computing

Perceptual computing presents a new direction of ubiquitous computing research where human abilities and their social needs are considered integral in the design of systems (Crowley & Jolle Coutaz,2000). One way in which we approach this study is to consider how this style of human-human style perceptual input can begin to enhance our computer interactions. In our work, we focus on the use of computer vision technology and hand gestures as a means of increasing the distance with which users can interact. However, while we have cameras that can easily be incorporated into our computing systems and programs, there are many limitations in the state of the art vision technology that make it difficult or currently impossible to recognise complicated gestures. But does this mean that we cannot experience the types of enhancements that are possible using vision enabled gestures? If we consider state of gestures in terms of their availability for everyday computing use, we envision many valuable interactions, however these are often not tested in real life situations. We see a similar situation with voice recognition, where any Windows or Mac OSx operating system user has voice control capabilities on their computers, however these are rarely used. In a study we conducted, out of 106 university computer science students, roughly 1/4 of the participants stated that they use voice commands on their computers. However these results do not suggest that this has been developed with enhancement in mind. The enhancement approach we discuss in this work considers current technology and different ways in which it can enhance our computing experiences. Through applying the methodological approach to gestures presented in the framework, we can begin to identify and address issues of technological limitations, and the appropriate application of current technology in its current state to create practical enhancements to our everyday computing experiences.

7.3.2 Gestures as Interaction Systems

When we think of perceptual interaction interfaces, which is not yet at the stage of enabling plug and play gestures, we must also consider the entire system that is involved

in creating gesture interactions. Based on our classification, a gesture system would require an input device, and processing software to recognise the gestures. With this approach, we can begin to consider what some of the critical parameters are that can express the goals of this interaction. While we have identified several parameters within the structure of the framework (Chapter 5, further attention is intended to focus on determining critical parameters for gesture systems.