Activity-based Ubicomp: a new research basis for the future of human-computer interaction

Ubiquitous computing (Ubicomp) is bringing computing off the desktop and into our everyday lives. For example, an interactive display can be used by the family of an elder to stay in constant touch with the elder's everyday wellbeing, or by a group to visualize and share information about exercise and fitness. Mobile sensors, networks, and displays are proliferating worldwide in mobile phones, enabling this new wave of applications that are intimate with the user's physical world. In addition to being ubiquitous, these applications share a focus on high-level activities, which are long-term social processes that take place in multiple environments and are supported by complex computation and inference of sensor data. However, the promise of this Activity-based Ubicomp is unfulfilled, primarily due to methodological, design, and tool limitations in how we understand the dynamics of activities. The traditional cognitive psychology basis for human-computer interaction, which focuses on our short term interactions with technological artifacts, is insufficient for achieving the promise of Activity-based Ubicomp. We are developing design methodologies and tools, as well as activity recognition technologies, to both demonstrate the potential of Activity-based Ubicomp as well as to support designers in fruitfully creating these types of applications.