Ubicomp

1. Ubicomp Anderson/Fishkin CSE 510 CSE 510 - Winter 2003

2. Ubicomp – Weiser paper • Field started by Mark Weiser • Ms/PhD, Michigan • Faculty, MD • PARC Area manager • The 4th (and last) of our “visionary” papers CSE 510 - Winter 2003

3. The Zen of Ubicomp* • Ubicomp in one sentence: “The most profound technologies are those that disappear.” • Qualitatively different tack from making computers bigger, faster – instead lets make them vanish into the fabric • (Vanish == “cognitively” vanish) • *: Thomas Merton summarized Zen as “Zero = Infinity” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

4. Another way to put it • Weiser argument: “There is more information available at our fingertips during a walk in the woods than in any computer system, yet people find a walk among trees relaxing and computers frustrating. Machines that fit the human environment, instead of forcing humans to enter theirs, will make using a computer as refreshing as taking a walk in the woods” • “Focus on the task, not the tool” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

5. Digression • Ubicomp and Virtual Reality are philosophically: • Similar • Unrelated • Opposite • OPPOSITE • Virtual Reality – you vanish into the computer’s world • Ubicomp – the computer vanishes into your world CSE 510 - Winter 2003

6. Digression • Other terms in vogue are • Embodied Computing: Weiser ’91 • Invisible Computing: Fishkin ’98, Norman ’98 • Pervasive Computing: IBM ’98 • Proactive Computing: Tennenhouse ’01 • Autonomic Computing: IBM ’01 • Calm Computing: Weiser/Brown ’96 • Disappearing computer: EU ’00(?) • These are different emphases/slants, all within the “umbrella” of ubicomp. CSE 510 - Winter 2003

7. Not just a better UI • “the idea of a “personal” computer itself is misplaced” …. “we are trying to conceive of a new way of thinking about computers in their world, one that … allows the computers themselves to vanish into the background” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

8. Ubicomp by example • “Sal awakens: she smells coffee. A few minutes ago her alarm clock, alerted by her restless rolling before waking, had quietly asked “coffee?”, and she had mumbled “yes”. “Yes” and “no” are the only words it knows” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

9. Ubicomp by example • “Sal looks out her windows at her neighborhood. Sunlight and a fence are visible through one, but through others she sees electronic trails that have been kept for her of neighbors coming and going during the early morning. Privacy conventions and practical data rates prevent displaying video footage, but time markers and electronic tracks on the neighborhood map make Sal feel cozy on her street. CSE 510 - Winter 2003

10. Ubicomp by example • Glancing at the windows to her kids’ rooms she can see that they got up 15 and 20 minutes ago and are already in the kitchen. CSE 510 - Winter 2003

11. Examples • “she spots an interesting quote … she wipes her pen over the newspaper’s name, date, section, and page number and then circles the quote. The pen sends a message to the paper, which translates the quote to her office” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

12. Examples • “She can press a code into the [garage door] opener and the missing manual will find itself” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

13. Examples • “Sal glances in the foreview mirror to check the traffic. She spots a slowdown ahead, and also notices on a side street the telltale green in the foreview of a food shop, and a new one at that”. CSE 510 - Winter 2003

14. Examples • “The foreview helps her to quickly find a parking spot. As she walks into the building, the machines in her office prepare to log her in, but don’t complete the sequence until she actually enters her office” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

15. Examples • “The telltale by the door that Sal programmed her first day on the job is blinking: fresh coffee” • --what would that language look like? CSE 510 - Winter 2003

16. Examples • “She quickly starts a search for meetings in the past two weeks with more than 6 people not previously in meetings with her” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

17. Scrap computing • eventually computers/displays will become “scrap” – “can be grabbed and used anywhere; they have no individualized identity or importance” • Do you think this will/should happen? A: B: A:members.aol.com/humorme81/ citybike.htm CSE 510 - Winter 2003 B:castlebankandtrust.com/

18. Addlesee paper • Example of how far Ubicomp has come in 10 years (and how far it has to go) • Largest (by far) deployed, evaluated, real research ubicomp app: • 50 users (grew to over 150) • 200 bats • 1900 objects • 3700 locations CSE 510 - Winter 2003

19. Addlesee: Technology • Used “bats” to get cm-level positioning, then leveraged that in two ways CSE 510 - Winter 2003

20. Bats on people • You know who was were, when • Can annotate cameras w/o vision algorithms • Can migrate working set of docs • Can find docs by user/location/time • Can forward phone calls • (Some of these were also done @ PARC, but in a less real way) CSE 510 - Winter 2003

21. Bats on objects • Use bats as “magic wands” • Similar in concept (although totally different in execution) to Want work with posters, etc., we saw last week. CSE 510 - Winter 2003

22. Ubicomp: a different take • Instead of instructions/second: • Instructions/joule • Instead of installed code size • Hours/installation • Seconds/reboot • Instead of MB of memory • Cm3 of volume • Instead of “list files in directory X”: • List files used in room X by user Y • Instead of “when user clicks on button X, do Y” • When you are reasonably certain user X has performed activity Y, do Z CSE 510 - Winter 2003

23. Ubicomp: critical issues • Heterogeneity • Assumes a world of drastically different sizes, shapes, functionalities in computers • Networked • Assumes (nearly) everything is networked. Calls for Bluetooth – “engineers must develop new communication protocols that explicitly recognize the concept of machines that move in physical space” • Sensor fusion to derive context – what happened, where, when • Uncertainty abounds • “Why” is machine learning CSE 510 - Winter 2003

24. Ubicomp critical issue: power • Explicit charging • Disposable devices • Power scavenge • Inductive coupling/zapping media.mit.edu/resenv CSE 510 - Winter 2003

25. Location • “Ubiquitous computers must know where they are” –important subset of sensor fusion • How do you know where everyone and everything is? • No one answer: IR, Ultrasound, motion sensors, RFID, Crickets, etc., etc. • Each has its own characteristics, own uncertainties • Merging them is Jeff Hightower’s PhD work CSE 510 - Winter 2003

26. HCI challenges in Ubicomp • If it’s invisible, how do you know it’s there? • How do you know it’s working • “Car Talk” • The Want work on RFID tags had this issue as well CSE 510 - Winter 2003

27. HCI challenges in Ubicomp • Working with false positives/negatives • “If he fires one, then I’ll fire one” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

28. Ubicomp challenge • Finding the “killer app” • Is there one? Perhaps we should just “let a hundred flowers bloom” • “[ubicomp] will enable nothing fundamentally new, but by making everything easier and faster to do, with less strain and mental gymnastics, it will transform what is apparently possible” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

29. HCI Challenges in Ubicomp • Capture, integration, and access • How do you organize/present/integrate all the data? • Different programming model • Context-aware • Mentioned in AT&T paper • Privacy • How do you do evaluation? • Users moving around, performing multiple actions with multiple devices, etc. CSE 510 - Winter 2003

30. But was he right? CSE 510 - Winter 2003

31. A challenge • “This work really started several years before 1991. After more than a decade, we are no closer to dealing with the privacy issues.” – Marti Hearst, UC Berkeley • Is this true? • Is this a problem? • Club cards CSE 510 - Winter 2003

32. Reviewing 101 • For Monday, you will review two papers on wearable computing. • The review session will be held at CSE 510 paper review HQ: 1100 NE 45th St, 6th floor • We will delay the review session until 12:45 • The review session will end at 1:30 • When you review, you are writing for two audiences • The author • The papers chair CSE 510 - Winter 2003

33. Two audiences Author Papers Chair CSE 510 - Winter 2003

34. Do they know what they are talking about? • Do they re-explain the main point(s) of the paper? • Are the criticisms specific? • Do they give examples from the body of the paper? • Do they contribute additional references if that is a complaint • Do they articulate the contribution of the paper and related it to past work? • Do they state what the value of the contribution is to an attendee of the conference or reader of the proceedings • Do they have some clear ideas about how the paper can be improved or extended to increase its value CSE 510 - Winter 2003

35. Random tips • “One of the most valuable suggestions for reviewing I ever received was to focus on the paper, not the research, nor the researcher.” • Critique “the paper”, not “you” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

36. Have an opinion • “I wish to God I could find a one-handed economist” – Harry Truman • "Neutral" ratings are much less helpful to meta-reviewers than "[weak] accept" or "[weak] reject"; I try to avoid the middle ground.” CSE 510 - Winter 2003

37. Short paper != long • Short papers typically have no chance for revision – they are accepted or rejected “as is”. CSE 510 - Winter 2003