HCI in the era of ambient media - And beyond 2009 INTERACT tutorial

Abstract

According to McLuhan, "the medium is the message" - but what means interaction and what is the medium in the age of ubiquitous and pervasive computation - when the medium is 'in' daily objects? Ambient media are media that are embedded throughout our natural environment - location based services, context awareness, emotional responsive interfaces, touch and gesture based interfaces, haptics and biometrics, sensor perception, mobile devices, and smart data mining are the technological enabler for smart media environments. The latest trends from emotional computation, affective computation, and tangible media lay the foundations for this new and exciting form of media existing far beyond screen concepts and mouse based interaction metaphors. The tutorial trains participants in the basic technologies as tools for the design of new interactive 'ambient' environments. It presents case studies and latest research results in the field of ambient media, ranging from ambient assisting living, user experience design, user contributed content, and mobile services. After the tutorial the participants should understand the principles of ambient media with its underlying concepts and methods, especially emphasizing human-computer-interaction. As roundup, the tutorial presents a more visionary viewpoint to the future of media technology: the use of biological metaphors for interactive environments (biomedia). © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.