ActiveMap: A Visualization Tool for Location Awareness to Support Informal Interactions (HUC99)

Slide 1: ActiveMap: A Visualization Tool for Location Awareness to Support Informal Interactions Joe McCarthy & Eric Meidel

Slide 2: Outline • Grand Challenge for Ubiquitous Computing • Active Environments Research • ActiveMap Application • Experiences with ActiveMap • Future Work

Slide 3: Ubiquitous Computing • Proliferation of devices • Variety of “network computers” • telephones, TVs, cameras, microphones, refrigerators, microwaves, toasters... • Distribution of computing resources • portable • wearable • embedded

Slide 4: Major Trends in Computing 18 Mainframes 16 14 PCs 12 Year ($Bn) Sales per 10 Ubiquitous Computing 8 6 4 2 0 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Slide 5: Grand Challenge: So what? • UbiComp: technology in search of a problem? • Lots of devices that can communicate with us and each other … what are they going to say? • What would your toaster say to your refrigerator? • What kinds of new capabilities are enabled by this new paradigm of computing? • Applications? • HUC99, others (CHI, ISWC, …)

Slide 6: Sense & Respond • UbiComp: New paradigm of computing • Old: input/output (foreground) • New: sense/respond (background) • Active Environments: “UbiComp in a box” • Network of sensors, responders • Concentrated in a small area • Redefining human-computer interaction • users --> inhabitants

Slide 7: Active Environments Most environments are passive -- deaf, dumb & blind -- unaware of their inhabitants and unable to assist them in a meaningful way. In contrast, an active environment is a physical space that can sense and respond appropriately to the people and activities taking place within it.

Slide 8: First Steps Toward Active Environments • Focus: Informal Communication • Crucial for success in project/team-oriented work • Attempts to connect often end in failure • Suite of Awareness Tools • Provide information about who’s where • Infrared badges, sensors • Create informal interaction opportunities for non-adjacent colleagues • “semi-serendipitous encounters”

Slide 9: Active Environments Research Issues • Utility of Awareness Tools • [How] useful? • Useful how? • Which tools? • Which settings? • Measurement • usage, polls, interviews, logs • Privacy / benefit tradeoff

Slide 10: PocketWatch

Slide 11: EventManager

Slide 12: ActiveMap

Slide 13: Related Work • Xerox PARC • “locations” program • Olivetti Research Lab • Active Badge system • Our goals • Explore visualization issues • Privacy / benefit tradeoff • User experiences

Slide 14: ActiveMap: Visualization

Slide 15: Visualization: Groups

Slide 16: Visualization: “Freshness”

Slide 17: Interaction with ActiveMap • View manipulation • pan, zoom, “home” • tool-tip pop-ups on mouse-over • people, locations • Find • recenters map over person’s location • Directed audio • text messages via speech synthesis to node

Slide 18: User Experiences • Desktop computers • Infrequently used • Early bugs, screen size, poor marketing • Kiosk • Used by group members & non-members • Members: consult after physical search • Non-members: no instruction

Slide 19: Visualization Preferences • Groups • stacked over tiled • Freshness • frame shading over image fading • Elapsed time scale • logarithmic over linear, 0-15 mins. to 1-2 hrs. • Sounds • none

Slide 20: Future Work • Integration of other “sensors” • Presence: motion, camera, microphone • Activity: keyboard, telephone, calendar • Integration of other communication modalities • Instant text messaging (AIM) • Telephone • Videoconference (NetMeeting)

Slide 21: Future Work • New interaction modes (kiosk) • Speech recognition / speech synthesis • Touch screen • New visualization capabilities • Rotation of stacked images (at-a-glance) • Snail trails • Playback

Slide 22: Future Work • [More thorough] user studies • Log analysis, option settings • Extend to new group (ETS) • Inter- vs. intra-group issues • Infrastructural, political, social • Integrate with Workplace of the Future (ETS) • Integrated Email, NetMeeting, Scheduling

Slide 23: ActiveMap: A Visualization Tool for Location Awareness to Support Informal Interactions Joe McCarthy mccarthy@cstar.ac.com