ITSME: Interaction design innovating workstations (Seminar)

ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace by Giorgio De Michelis and Marco Loregian giorgio.demichelis@itsme.it – marco.loregian@itsme.it © 2008 by Itsme S.r.l. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Itsme S.r.l.

Fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza. Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge. Dante Alighieri , La Divina Commedia, Inferno, Canto XXVI, 119-120, Transl. by A. Mandelbaum 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 2

! The scenario 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 3

During the 1984 Superbowl Apple launches the Macintosh ! A new personal computer with a graphical user interface based on the desktop metaphor ! It delivers the ideas developed at Xerox PARC by Alan Kay (and colleagues) to a large public, at a reasonable price 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 4

And then … All personal computers adopt the desktop metaphor There is a dramatic growth of the size of internal and external (ﬁxed and removable) memories of personal computers The email becomes a universal medium Tim Berners-Lee invents the Web 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 5

And then … The Web, originally a system for publishing documents, grows and offers a large variety of services: quot; Uploading and downloading ﬁles quot; Shared work and information spaces quot; E-commerce quot; Blogs and wikis quot; Chats quot; Social computing (Web 2.0) 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 6

Three main problems The personal computer has been unable to cope with the evolution of the Cyberspace: ! information overload (from keys to gigas; more and bigger objects) ! dispersion of information (in the ﬁle system, attachment folder, e-mail, browser) ! backwardness of the PC ﬁle system with respect to the Web (no tags, hyperlinks, and structure) 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 7

Unforeseen facts Dispersion of information supports sub-optimal search methods (from messages to attachments, from documents to urls, …): a casual and incomplete divide et impera strategy More efficient and reliable search engines The Web is constantly evolving to provide all the functions of personal computers: do we still need them? 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 8

Still some problems remain On-line computing is not yet ubiquitous The personal computer lacks some capabilities, compared with the Web Different users have different needs and desires: however, personal computers based on the desktop metaphor are not adequate for some of them Who has control? 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 9

! Our idea 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 10

A new workstation Helping to avoid the dispersion of information Embodying what we know about knowledge work Designed for those people who “think what they do has value” Based on a new metaphor: “stories and venues” 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 11

Avoiding the dispersion of information A new front-end where: quot; Related objects, messages, urls, people contact details, information sources, and tools appear together quot; All objects are characterized by tags and links We are also designing a back-end to deal with the structure problem 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 12

Trying to deal with information overload A hierarchical file system requires cognitive effort and ultimately leads to confusion Gathering everything in the same place does not directly solve the information overload problem. Worse, it might increase it Good search engines still do not solve the problem: while performing an action we need to have everything that may be relevant at hand Searching distracts from the action we are performing 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 13

The lessons of ethnographic research on work What human beings do is embedded in their relations with other people: actions and interactions Action and communication are strictly intertwined Any action is situated in space, time and, often, in the story within which it has sense The stories a person lives are not disjoint Stories are viewpoints on actions and interactions 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 14

The target users of ITSME High-value users, i.e., all those who have a great number of interactions with other people, manage loads of information, live a great number of stories at the same time, but do not have adequate support to manage the complexity of their life ! Professionals ! Managers ! Intellectuals ! Knowledge workers 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 15

The limits of the desktop metaphor The desktop metaphor allowed to sort workstation contents in a simple and intuitive way But it has not solved any of the problems people encounter while managing their actions and interactions Where is the message John sent me about that issue? Where did Rick tell me that important thing? Which is the relevant part of this huge document? 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 16

Beyond the desktop metaphor The desktop metaphor is over thirty years old. And it shows! The displays of today’s workstations are either populated with a huge number of icons or require functional commands to find an object. In both cases, users frequently do not find what they are looking for, or find the wrong thing 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 17

A new metaphor: stories and venues Our life interweaves a large number of different stories Each story has its participants and objects Each story has its venue, where you can access its participants and objects Each person lives in several diverse interweaving venues The new metaphor is characterized by its being plural and its reflecting situatedness of human experience 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 18

itsme / a workstation based on the metaphor of “stories and venues” At any moment, ITSME presents the venue of the story in which its user is acting ITSME users do not need to search for things: they have them at hand ITSME creates, maintains and updates the venues of its user ITSME venues can be corrected, modified and organized by its user ITSME is not intrusive: its behavior is purely reactive 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 19

A metaphor implemented through a light model Venues do not constitute a hierarchy, e.g., the same file or resource can appear in different venues Users can move things between venues, and also copy things to different venues (so that they appear in all of them) Venues may have sub-venues that simply define viewpoints on venues The hierarchical model is only a light support to the metaphor The metaphor helps users understanding what they see on the screen 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 20

! Creating a new workstation and communicating it 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 21

ITSME components A new workstation, with a radically new design An open-source back-end supporting stories A front-end embodying the venue metaphor A service supporting the migration of Microsoft and Apple users to ITSME A consistent and reliable plan for further improvements of the system 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 22

ITSME / the back-end Files can be tagged, linked and have an XML-like structure An email system supporting conversations, with bi-directional links between messages and attachments A browser locating its bookmarks in the file system Navigation systems within venues Multiple views of venues 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 23

ITSME / the front-end Based on consolidated Linux contributions Coupled with the back-end to performs effectively Presenting the newly conceived interface design allowing users to understand effortlessly what is going on, even when changes are not generated by the user 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 24

ITSME Interaction Identity 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 25

From the concept manual: the interface architecture 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 26

From the concept manual: the home 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 27

From the concept manual: the home 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 28

From the concept manual: a venue 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 29

From the concept manual: the limbo and the transition panel 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 30

The migration service Associating Vista or Mac OS applications to Linux alternatives, allowing users to continue working on their files Exploiting a Vista emulator to run unsupported applications Placing by default in the Limbo what cannot be located immediately in a story Defining the interaction protocol for creating new venues and placing objects 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 31

Development milestones A three - year process Two years for the development of the front-end (spring 2008 - spring 2010) One year and a half for the development of a hardware prototype (spring 2009 - autumn 2010) Two years for the development of the migration support system (autumn 2008 - autumn 2010) 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 32

The help we need Three active communities, supporting Itsme from the very beginning: Research (CSCW, KM, ID) Open source software (Linux community) High-Tech industry (particularly in Europe) Good coverage of Itsme milestones by media and research community world-wide Support from public institutions in Italy and Europe 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 33

Next steps in communication An interactive Web site (Web 2.0) On line testing of the concept Presentations in major Universities/cities all around the world Courses at major Universities and Educational Institutions all around the world 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 34

Selling an innovation Proving Itsme with added value with respect to competitors Proving system and after market - assistance reliability of the Itsme initiative Granting small migration costs (moving from Vista or Mac OS to Itsme is not more costly than moving from one version to another of those systems) 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 35

! The company 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 36

The ITSME team A growing multi-disciplinary team organized in three work areas: Interaction Design Development and Open Source Software Communication and Innovation 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 37

The partners of ITSME Giorgio De Michelis, who is its CEO A group (!20) of founding partners, subscribing the majority of its capital A group of academic institutions (among which, University of Milano - Bicocca, whose it is a spin-off) The managers of the company, who will receive warrants, allowing them to participate in value creation Venture capitalists, who will provide the financial resources needed to reach its objectives 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 38

The Scientific Committee A growing group of senior scholars in the field advising the company on its activities: ! Alfonso Fuggetta (Politecnico di Milano and Cefriel) ! Patrizia Marti (University of Siena) ! Roberto Polillo (University of Milano – Bicocca) ! Marco Susani (Motorola Corp., Chicago) 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 39

The Advisory Board A group of senior managers and entrepreneurs advising the company on its business plans. Among its members: ! Elserino Piol (chair) ! Luca De Michelis ! Roberto Galimberti ! Emanuele Marcianò ! Roberto Polillo 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 40

The ITSME Institute A non-profit association, called ITSME Institute, will be created to better access public funding for open source code development Giorgio De Michelis and Itsme will control the Institute The Association will be open to research and academic institutions The Association will allow significant cost reduction, if design and development will be funded by public institutions 09/12/08 ITSME a new workstation to exploit the potential of the cyberspace 41

Thank you for your attention! giorgio.demichelis@itsme.it marco.loregian@itsme.it www.itsme.it

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ITSME: Interaction design innovating workstations (Seminar)

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