Lecture

Ambient Intelligence, Smart Environments and the Disappearing Computer

Dr. rer.nat Dr. phil. Norbert A. Streitz
Senior Scientist and Strategic Advisor
AMBIENTE - Smart Environments of the Future Fraunhofer IPSI
Darmstadt, Germany

Date: 6 April 2006
Time: 15:00-16:30
Seminar Room "Stelios Orphanoudakis" - FORTH

Host: Prof. C. Stephanidis
Director ICS-FORTH

Abstract:
It seems like a paradox but it will soon become reality: The rate at which computers disappear will be matched by the rate at which information technology will increasingly permeate our environment and our lives [5]. Computers are increasingly becoming an important part of our day-to-day activities and determine many physical and social contexts of our life. The availability of computers is one step, soon to be followed by the integration of information, communication and sensing technology into everyday objects resulting in "smart artefacts".
I will present and critically comment the associated visions and resulting challenges for the design of future smart environments [6]. This is grounded in an approach that exploits the affordances of real objects augmenting their physical properties with the potential of computer-based enrichment. Combining the best of both worlds requires an integration of real and virtual worlds resulting in hybrid worlds [3]. In this approach, the computer "disappears" and is almost "invisible" but its functionality is ubiquitously available and provides new forms of interacting with information [2, 5]. I will also comment on related issues that cause a change from designing primarily interaction with information to designing experiences by being exposed to ambient displays and/or immersed in smart environments [4].
In order to demonstrate what is possible already today, I will present several examples of prototypical developments. One example is the so called Roomware® approach [3, 7]. Roomware® refers to computer-augmented room elements like doors, walls, furniture (e.g. tables and chairs) with integrated information and communication technology that require and facilitate new forms of interaction [1]. Roomware components are the constituents of the larger environments called Cooperative Buildings [3, 7].
Another example is the EU-funded proactive initiative "The Disappearing Computer" (DC) [www.disappearing-computer.net], a cluster of 17 related projects designing new people-friendly environments in which the "computer-as-we-know-it" has no role. The general discussion will be illustrated by the DC-project "Ambient Agoras" [www.ambient-agoras.org]. It aims at transforming places into social marketplaces ('agoras') of ideas and information. One application scenario is the support of informal communication between remote teams at different locations using combinations of ambient displays and mobile devices [6]. I present examples of the smart artefacts (Hello.Wall, ViewPort, Personal Aura) we developed. In this context, I will also address the possibilities and implications of sensing and being sensed in smart environments and related issues of privacy. I will conclude with an outlook on new developments as, e.g., in the Amigo-Project "Ambient Intelligence for the Networked Home Environment" and our activities on Interactive Hybrid Games [4].

About the Speaker:

Dr. Dr. Norbert Streitz (Ph. D. in physics and Ph.D. in psychology) is a Senior Scientist and Strategic Advisor with more than 20 years of experience in information technology. Until recently, he was is the head of the research division "AMBIENTE - Smart Environments of the Future" at the Fraunhofer institute IPSI in Darmstadt, Germany, where he also teaches at the Department of Computer Science of the Technical University Darmstadt.
He was a post-doc fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and a visiting scholar at Xerox PARC as well as at the Intelligent Systems Lab of ETL-MITI, Tsukuba Science City, Japan.
He was the Chair of the Steering Group of the EU-funded research initiative "The Disappearing Computer" and was/is involved in many other EU-funded projects and efforts. His research interests include Ambient/Pervasive/Ubiquitous Computing, Interaction and Experience Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Hypertext/ Hypermedia, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, and Cognitive Science.
He has published/edited 16 books and (co)authored more than 100 technical papers, e.g., recently in IEEE Computer and guest-edited a special issue of Communications of the ACM.
He serves regularly on the program committees of national and international conferences and on several editorial boards and is often invited to present keynote speeches to scientific as well as commercial events in Europe, USA, South America, Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan.

Selected publications on the topic:

1. T. Prante, N. A. Streitz, P. Tandler (2004). Roomware: Computers Disappear and
   Interaction Evolves. In: IEEE Computer, December 2004. pp. 47-54.
   
2. D. Russell, N. Streitz, T. Winograd (2005). Building Disappearing Computers.
   In: Communications of the ACM, Vol. 48 (3), March 2005. pp. 42-48.
   
3. N. Streitz, J. Geißler, T. Holmer (1998). Roomware for Cooperative Buildings:
   Integrated Design of Architectural Spaces and Information Spaces. In: Streitz, N.,
   Konomi, S., Burkhardt, H. (Ed.): Cooperative Buildings - Integrating Information,
   Organization, and Architecture. Proceedings of CoBuild '98, Darmstadt, Germany,
   LNCS Vol. 1370, Heidelberg, Germany, Springer, 1998. pp. 4-21.
   
4. N. Streitz, C. Magerkurth, Th. Prante, C. Röcker (2005). From Information Design
   to Experience Design: Smart Artefacts and the Disappearing Computer. In: Special
   Issue on Ambient intelligence, ACM interactions, 12 (4) July + August 2005. pp.
   21-25.
   
5. N. Streitz, P. Nixon (2005). The Disappearing Computer. Guest Editors' Introduction
   to Special Issue. In: Communications of the ACM, Vol. 48 (3), March 2005. pp. 33-35.
   
6. N. Streitz, C. Röcker, Th. Prante, D. van Alphen, R. Stenzel, C. Magerkurth (2005).
   Designing Smart Artefacts for Smart Environments. In: IEEE Computer, March 2005.
   pp. 41-49.
   
7. N. Streitz, P. Tandler, C. Müller-Tomfelde, S. Konomi (2001). Roomware: Towards the
   Next Generation of Human-Computer Interaction based on an Integrated Design of Real
   and Virtual Worlds. In: J. Carroll (Ed.): Human-Computer Interaction in the New
   Millennium, Addison-Wesley, 2001. pp. 553-578.