CHIFOO 2005 Program Series
Imagination to Transparency:
Ubiquitous Computing Comes of Age

Series Overview

As we near the mid-point of The Computer's 7th decade, we tip our collective hats to the past, lend our sense-making equipment to the present, and train our eyes on the future. Many of us have been around long enough to observe the transformation from BC (before computers) to AD (after digital). We have seen the progression from computing as an alien oracle to a new religion to a prevailing manifesto for work and play. Will computing become as fluid, yet unremarkable as tap water?

We engage with those who are growing up with computing as their first language...for whom "podcasting" and "blogs" are ways of life. The dialog is getting more interesting, the questions more surreal. What will this mean to the way we learn about ourselves, interact with each other, construct a world where electrons pass seamlessly from one medium to another carrying all manner of information. How fast? How small? How integrated? And what of our sense of privacy and self? Will the boundaries between body and machine blur even more than they have? What's next?

Our ten programs describe profound changes in the way we relate to technology and expect it to relate back to us. Each talk describes an activity or capability that relies on some combination of sensing, computing, and communicating. In each, we'll see how the technology itself is becoming less interesting than how its applied and less problematic than the psychology and sociology surrounding its use.

Join us as we entertain the next era of the information revolution -- from medicine to media, from the lab to the coffee stand, from the arcade to the living room -- where we move from realizing what we could only imagine to what we cease to even notice.

Location:

Thank-you to Tektronix, Inc. for hosting the CHIFOO 2005 Speaker Series.

Beginning January 2005 CHIFOO meetings will be held at Tektronix in Beaverton, just 3 miles SE of PCC. Maps

Tektronix Corporate Snapshot

URL: www.tektronix.com
Founded: 1946
Stock Symbol: TEK

As a world leader in test, measurement and monitoring, Tektronix enables innovation in all its forms. Whenever you view a Web site, click a mouse, make a cell phone call, or turn on a TV, you touch the work of Tektronix.

12-Jan-05

Facilitating the Social Health and Morning Routines of Older Adults

Intel's Proactive Health Research group used ethnography to discover the needs and challenges of older adults, particularly those struggling with cognitive decline.

2-Feb-05

Exocog: A Case Study of Internet-Based Storytelling

One of the oldest known human activities is that of telling stories. It's an important part of how we educate ourselves, pass down culture across generations, and entertain each other. Throughout the ages, storytellers have adapted their art to take advantage of changes in technology...

2-Mar-05

Human Factors Research and Development for In-Vehicle Systems

DaimlerChrysler extends the process of iterative design and testing even to drivers of heavy trucks. Chris Kirn, Human-Machine Interface team leader, presents computer and communications applications for passenger cars and heavy trucks, including the Freightliner Driver Message Center.

2-7-April-05

CHI 2005: Technology, Safety, Community

4-May-05

Designing for Glance-able Experiences: Awareness & Context

How do you make everyday objects and interactions smarter? How do you design for awareness? Dane Howard, Microsoft's design manager for Smart Personal Objects Technology, describes "Glance-ability" and some of the opportunities and challenges of design for awareness.

1-Jun-05

Wireless at the Bedside: Social Impacts of Technology Introduction in Health Care

Good patient care depends on good information at the right moment. Ivy Holt describes how Providence Hospitals moved from paper to wireless bedside patient records and uses knowledge management systems for advice.

6-Jul-05

Experiences Implementing and Using Wearable Computer Displays in an Automotive Repair Environment

Microvision's Nomad projects a semi-transparent display into the eyes of Mechanics at Jim Fisher Volvo. With Nomad, they access manuals and parts information without turning away from their work. Nik Anderson demonstrates Nomad, describes the shop floor introduction and speculates about Nomad's future in the automotive workplace.

3-Aug-05

No-Strings Internet

The basic utilities of water, electricity, gas and telephone are about to welcome a new sibling: Wireless broadband Internet. And many technosavvy road warriors already depend on such access. We welcome experts Scott Shamp of Athens, Georgia, and Aaron Baer of Portland, who are making wireless access available to citizens in their cities.

7-Sep-05

Microsoft Media Center Extender Technologies: Usability Testing Adaptations

Consumers don't want to be tied to the room where their PC lives. Windows Media Center Extender technologies provide access to video, photos and music on from any room in the home. Human Factors manager Lisa Mason describes the special challenges and usability testing adaptations needed to create a smooth and easy consumer experience.

5-Oct-05

Understanding Fun and Games: User Research at Microsoft Game Studios

John Davis, a Games User Research Engineer, will describe some of the challenges the Games User Research group has faced and some of the methods they have developed to gather useful information from consumers to help make games more fun and playable.

2-Nov-05

Data: Finding What You Need; Documenting What You Did With It; Publishing What You Produce

There is a common philosophy that says if you collect more data, you can distill it into more information, and that will result in greater knowledge, culminating in greater wisdom.

In modeling complex systems and evaluating policy decisions, we develop models that require data sets that establish initial conditions as well as continued data for model validation and correction. This data is largely non-textual. The quantity of high quality data required is daunting, but more daunting are the candidate data sources -- both in the number of possible sources and the quantity of data.

As an example, the GOES R satellite system scheduled for deployment in 2012 will produce roughly 500,000 data products per day per satellite, and it is but one in a myriad of data sensing devices. Data collectors report that as much as 98% of the data they collect is never looked at. Clearly, having more does not translate into greater wisdom unless we can effectively use what we have. Addressing this is as much a social as a technical problem.