Mike Kuniavsky of ThingM delivered a presentation titled “Sketching Smart Things: User Experience Design of Ubiquitous Computing Devices” at the BayCHI monthly program. Read the notes on his presentation about the rise of ubiquitous computing and its application through rapid prototyping after the break.

Update: Mike Kuniavsky has also made a pdf available of his presentation.

 

Why Is Ubiquitous Computing Important?

• hidden middle of Moore’s Law

  • 1989 20 MIPS 486 cost $900

  • 2007 20 MIPS AVR costs $0.50

 

What does ubiquitous computing mean to product design?

• products competitive advantage comes from behavior as much as form

 

Applianceness

• “the set of properties that guide the design process towards simple, helpful devices that exploit the potential of embedded information technology in everyday things.” - Bill Sharpe

 

Every material object casts an information shadow

• Information shadows have social lives of their own

• Amazon is a great repository of shadow information for consumer products

 

Networking

• the same information can be accessed through a variety of devices

• devices (mobile phones) are avatars for an information service

• device is a disposable channel for information

• iPod is extension of iTunes, Kindle is extension of Kindle store

• Artifacts have to reflect the services that they represent

 

Granularity

• traditional � input device the size of your hand, output the size of your head

• ubicomp interfaces are constrained to different scales

 

Magic

• enchanted objects

• ambient orb - crystal ball model

• wiimote - magic wand

 

How do These Work in Practice?

• Sketching is the application of agile software development protocols to design

 

• Hacking - Like using tracing paper, only with hardware

• video prototyping - act out

• the behavior of a smart product

• Henry Ford Museum - mocked up a series of experiences, one per month

• Working Prototype - WineM RFID Wine rack

  • different designs for different personas

  • built as much as possible into furniture, small detachable control panel

  • iterated UI 8 times on Nokia touch screen

  • relevant wines light up with LED’s mounted in rack

• Sketching and Hardware Conference
  • BlinkM smart LED - ubiquitous computing component
  • $12.95 through SparkFun