Adam Greenfield on Everyware
Adam Greenfield gave a talk at the Institute today. Here are the notes:
What
AG's notion of ubicomp draws on Weiser's vision of computing being "invisible but everywhere around us" (weiser 1990), built upon very cheap computing "spread around like grass seeds", and "embedded, wireless, imperceptible, multiple, and post-gui" (AG, 2006).
This would generate new kinds of modalities of interaction, particularly design "dissolving into behavior."
It would also allow for the instantiation of computing and interaction with it at a wide variety of physical scales, at the level of the body (Body Media SenseWear), the object, the room (Sensasell), the building, the street (Shinjuku RFID lamppost).
But they're also networked together, which allows for some really interesting interactions; and hard to see, literally and figuratively (because you can't detect or sense embedded computing). So what does this look like?
Meaning
In the PC age, you have clear interactions and presentations of self: it's obvious to others that you're online, and it's obvious to you what technologies you're using (or are studying you). In everyware, in contrast, users aren't knowingly engaged in a technical interaction; they're surrounded by many devices, systems and services; their positions (location, orientation) matter.
"The way the self is perceived is beyond the user's control."
Desigers "need to take particular care in crafting these experiences, because... everyware can be engaged" inadvertently, unknowingly, or unwillingly.
When
Isn't this all science fiction? No. Here are three straws in the wind:
Octopus (1997): RFID-based smart card infrastructure in Hong Kong, adopted by 95% of the population, and is used constantly-- at vending machines, public transportation, as a key, an e-money. You don't get much more ubiquitous than this.
New Songdo (2004): Korea's ubiquitous city, filled with RFID, sensors, etc..
Mastercard Paypass (2005): RFID-embedded credit card. Market research suggested that people would spend more when they can just swipe and go; but it hasn't worked out, in part because Paypass is more of a stand-alone system than Octopus. Still, it's a signal that these kinds of everyware are coming to the U.S.
Why Do It?
Why are companies into it?
- Money.
- Structurally latent. IPv6 gives enough address to provide a vast number of addresses.
- "It's technically sweet."
- Public safety.
How
How to design systems that respect prerogatives of civil liberties, privacy, etc.? AG suggests five ethical principles:
- Default to harmlessness. Everyware "should default to a mode that ensures their users' safety." It's beyond graceful degredation, because everyware takes so much responsibility upon itself to take care of people.
- Be self-disclosing. You should be able to see what systems are operating in a space, both to geeks and to people who aren't wired up. This requires "a new universal vocabulary of signs" for everyware; and the ability to look under the hood.
- Be conservative of face. Everyware should not "unnecessarily embarrass, humiliate or shame their users." Nor should it completely dissolve the boundaries of privacy that people expect.
- Be conservative of time. Don't "introduce undue complications into ordinary operations." Having physical equivalents of Clippy the Office Assistant would be a pain.
- Be deniable. Everyware "must offer users the ability to opt out, always and at any point." If ubicomp systems offer some functionality and benefit, opting out should just turn those off. (How do you opt out of being photographed by surveillance cameras?)
Technorati Tags: design, digital-physical, end of cyberspace, Everyware, IFTF, pervasive computing, ubicomp
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