In reading Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous computing (1991), I believe completely in the goals that are proposed. The first line of his article reads, “The most profound technologies are those that disappear.” Although he refers to all kinds of technologies, his interest lies in developing computational technologies that become ubiquitous in the environment.
I am very interested when he writes, “Whenever people learn something sufficiently well, they cease to be aware of it.” This statement does not mean that ubiquitous technology disappears by becoming invisible; he actually means that we are capable of adapting to technology, to learn its metaphors and interaction, until it becomes second nature to us. He is implying that a learn phase exists.
I am also pleased when Weiser writes about all different sizes of tabs, pads, and boards. The first computers made us think that we had to sit at a computer terminal. Then, the introduction of laptops suggested that we did not have to sit at a computer, that we could bring our computer anywhere. In another stream of development, interactive whiteboards were being digitized by companies such as SMART Technologies and Mitsubishi Electric. Now, almost 20 years later, we are now realizing Weiser’s actual vision where there are various sizes of interactive surfaces such as smartphones (e.g., Blackberry, iTouch) and iPad. I can foresee in the future that there will be many other sizes of tablets in a “reasonable” form and factor. Some will be better for certain tasks than others. All sizes will be useful for someone. The marketplace will decide who and how these devices will be used once the existing size and weight limitations are removed.
Weiser identifies an engineering limitation when he says, “Yet the problem of transparently linking wired and wireless networks resists solution.” Several advances are making this less of a problem. Devices such as the Kindle e-Book reader use a cellular network to give the appearance of seamless wireless communication. The actual innovation on this front, given the disparate cellular network standards and front-end access companies (read: monopoly cellular carriers), is from the top-down and government legislation of the basic right to wireless access. On a more local scale, people can now situate their own local wireless networks and organizations such as universities are providing a single logon access to wireless services such as the Internet.
Weiser is brave to mention that “hundreds of computers in every room, all capable of sensing people near them and linked by high-speed networks, have the potential to make totalitarianism up to now seem like sheerest anarchy.” He refers to the privacy invasion and big brother phenomenon that could arise with such sensing technologies. This issue is much larger than sensing technologies of ubiquitous computing; almost all technology can be abused by individuals. There are some ways to make this less threatening, for example, by separating audio and video from a webcam and allowing the lens to close, by using infrared cameras that cannot capture in visible light spectrum, and so forth. I think that there is a lot of work that still needs to be addressed on this front.
Weiser and Brown (1996) introduce another concept, calm technology. Calm technology appears to address the output form and factor of a computing technology. He defines calm technology as engaging “both the center and the periphery of our attention, and in fact moves back and forth between the two.” Like ubiquitous computing, once the user has understood/seen the technology, the user does not have to think about what it is, but what it tells us; again, it will be second nature to use a calm technology. More concretely, if there a calm technology, I can choose to look and attend to the output of the system or I can choose to glance at it and then continue doing what I was doing before. A good example would be a watch: I can pay attention to it on my wrist or ignore it, with the latter case happening more often. I would categorize ambient displays as a subclass of calm technology.
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