Bringing the field into the lab: supporting capture and replay of contextual data for the design of context-aware applications

  • Authors:

  • Mark W. Newman;Mark S. Ackerman;Jungwoo Kim;Atul Prakash;Zhenan Hong;Jacob Mandel;Tao Dong

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

  • Venue:
  • UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

When designing context-aware applications, it is difficult to for designers in the studio or lab to envision the contextual conditions that will be encountered at runtime. Designers need a tool that can create/re-create naturalistic contextual states and transitions, so that they can evaluate an application under expected contexts. We have designed and developed RePlay: a system for capturing and playing back sensor traces representing scenarios of use. RePlay contributes to research on ubicomp design tools by embodying a structured approach to the capture and playback of contextual data. In particular, RePlay supports: capturing naturalistic data through Capture Probes, encapsulating scenarios of use through Episodes, and supporting exploratory manipulation of scenarios through Transforms. Our experiences using RePlay in internal design projects illustrate its potential benefits for ubicomp design.