Technology Ecologies

Problem description

During the recent years, the characteristics of human interactions with digital artefacts have changed away from one user - one software paradigm in a profound way. Using multiple devices and applications together has become a persistent phenomenon. For instance, sharing photos to a group of friends nowadays requires the use of a digital camera, PC, web folder or a sharing service before the photos are available in the web, and then email and SMS before the friends have been notified. At each step, the user may be using two or more devices interchangeably, coupling them together or manipulating information separately in each device.

Laptops with wireless and cable-based internet connections, mobile phones and a video projector in a project meeting.

Research questions

To advance the design of technology ecologies, we will concentrate on addressing the following problems:

1. How should the increased complexity be managed with interaction design? This question addresses how different technologies complement each other, and calls for an analysis of users' device management practices and issues of information overload. The aim is in identifying fluent patterns of interaction in multi-device usage.
2. How can we enable the user be a designer herself? For instance, in the case of Web 2.0 mashups it is a viable idea to consider applications as toolkits that allow tinkering, modifying and tailoring.

The approach adopted in UIx is to pay attention to problems arising from everyday settings, not solely from technology-driven research in instrumented environments, and consider the new prototypes as being part of the existing technology ecology, not a single technology being studied independently from others. Research in this track pays attention to the cues and resources - both digital and physical - in the environment that users may take up to support their activities, and tries to increase understanding for design of suitable heterogeneous resources for action in the different settings.

Application areas

The application areas of this information cover personal information technologies (such as PDAs, laptops and mobile phones) and the related services. Such technologies and programs are prevalent both in mobile work and mobile everyday settings, as well all the places that provide wireless services for users.

Projects

The track is advanced in IPCity-project.

Publications

Oulasvirta, A. and Sumari, L. (to appear). Mobile kits and laptop trays: Managing multiple devices in mobile information work. Proceedings of CHI 2007.