Introduction to Ubiquitous Computing

Spring 2014

Ubiquitous

Ubiquitous Computing

It’s (ubi)complicated

• This course will help you learn about this topic, and give you some conceptual tools to think about it.

Example: Ring Tones

• Goal: Phone rings (or doesn’t ring) in exactly the right way for a given user in a given situation.

• How do phones work at present? How could they work instead?

Activity

• Design a ubicomp system together.• Design with 40 people is hard.• Work in small groups, then integrate several

projects, then augment them with elements from others. (Like persona generation from HCI.)

Activity

• Team up with a neighbor• Design a ubicomp system that tracks all the

resources used by a person (materials, energy, etc.)– Rules: May include current technologies, and

technologies that are likely to exist in the next 5 years.

– ~10 minutes

Activity: Pitches

• Several groups describe what they envisioned• What topics did they miss that other groups

decided were important?

Activity: Questions

• Are all users the same?• How do you scope the domains of particular

users?• How does it sense the world?• How does what it senses affect how it acts? • What are the material and energetic costs of

implementing it?• What are the social implications of such a

system?

Logistics

Introductions: Bill

• Professor of Informatics• Courtesy appointment in Education• Biology, Animation, Media Arts & Sciences• Wife Rebecca is in Education Department, Kid

named Miles.• Interested in sustainability, oceans, animals.• First time I’ve ever taught this class, so if you

have suggestions about how I could do it better, please let me know!

Introductions: All of You

• Pair up (different neighbor from first activity)• Tell your neighbor about your background,

present/future goals and interests, hobbies, etc. (3-4 minutes each). Share as much or as little as you are comfortable with.

• Practice listening.• Introduce your neighbor to the class.

Structure of the Course

• Lectures• Readings• Discussion led by students• Activities• Final Project

Note on Readings

• 20 assigned readings• Plus additional ~20 readings during the course

of your final project

Syllabus

Errors

• If you see errors in the syllabus, or inconsistencies with what I’ve said in class, please let me know so we can get it straightened out quickly.

Final projects

• May be implementation-based– Galileo/Arduino based– Android/iOS based

• May be evaluation-based– Some existing ubicomp system

• Or some third type of project

Final project teams

• Will form teams next week.• Start thinking now about what kind of project

you’d like to do, and chatting with classmates about teaming up if you’re interested.

Resources

• Galileo boards• If you have specific needs for your project, feel

free to ask.

Policies

Food policy

• Since we overlap with lunch time, discreet eating of food is okay.

• Distracting food (noisy, smelly, etc.) should be eaten before or after class.

Leading Discussion

• Discuss expectations (15 minutes in week 2-3, 20 minutes in later weeks, see syllabus for rubric)

• Discuss process of assigning people to the 20 readings

• Email sent out shortly

Questions?

Break policy

• 15 minute break, or 5 minute break and end a little early?

Break (or end at 1:30?)

Arduino/Galileo

• Single-board microcontroller• Open-source hardware

Arduino/Galileo

• How many of you have ever worked with Arduino or similar systems before?

Task:

• Distribute boards. Gather around people with computers.

• https://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-22204

• Steps 1-10.

Final Projects

• You may use Galileo boards, or not, in your final projects. If you want to use one or more of them, please note that in the questionnaire I’ll distribute in Week 2.

Goal of the Course

• Give you the conceptual tools to think about and create ubiquitous computing systems, and understand the roles that they play in the world around us.

Questions?