CIS 677 Knowledge-Based Interfaces
Instructor: Professor Sarah Douglas
Spring 2004
Tues/Thurs 10-11:20 AM
112 Willamette
The topic of this course is Ambient Interfaces.What is an ambient interface? It is the integration of architecture (space) with computer technology. It is also known as a smart environment. The interface then is the surface of the room itself such as the walls, desks, etc. These become interactive with human-beings who enter the space either intentionally with elements such as interactive touchable surfaces or context-aware sensors. An example of this is the IBM Everywhere Displays Project (http://www.research.ibm.com/ed/). At another extreme is the use of ambient interfaces in art. By the 1980s, the musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) made it possible for musical events to be generated by light detection, motion detection, or other environmental sensors. For example, Noriyuki Fujimura at CMU is interested in interactive public art installations (http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/noriyuki/ARCHIVE/2001/index.html).
Ambient Interfaces can also be associated with "user-friendly information and services anywhere and anytime." Still others relate it to the anticipated cross-fertilization of three emerging technology fields: (a) ubiquitous computing, (b) wireless and ubiquitous communication, and (c) intelligent multimodal user interfaces.
Ambient Interfaces are a major funding area of European Community computing research activities for the next ten years and a major theme of the CHI 2004 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Vienna, Austria in April this year.