Location-dependent information appliances for the home

  • Authors:
  • Kathryn Elliot;Mark Watson;Carman Neustaedter;Saul Greenberg

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Calgary, Calgary Alberta, Canada;University of Calgary, Calgary Alberta, Canada;University of Calgary, Calgary Alberta, Canada;University of Calgary, Calgary Alberta, Canada

  • Venue:
  • GI '07 Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2007
  • Year:
  • 2007

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Ethnographic studies of the home revealed the fundamental roles that physical locations and context play in how household members understand and manage conventional information. Yet we also know that digital information is becoming increasingly important to households. The problem is that this digital information is almost always tied to traditional computer displays, which inhibits its incorporation into household routines. Our solution, location-dependent information appliances, exploit both home location and context (as articulated in ethnographic studies) to enhance the role of ambient displays in the home setting; these displays provide home occupants with both background awareness of an information source and foreground methods to gain further details if desired. The novel aspect is that home occupants assign particular information to locations within a home in a way that makes sense to them. As a device is moved to a particular home location, information is automatically mapped to that device along with hints on how it should be displayed.