Supporting Configurability in a Tangibly Augmented Environment for Design Students

Thomas Binder, Georgio De Michelis, Michael Gervautz, Giulio Iacucci, Kresimir Matkovic, Thomas Psik, I. Wagner
Supporting Configurability in a Tangibly Augmented Environment for Design Students
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 8(5):310-325, July 2004. [ pdf]
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Abstract

In many environments, the landscape of space and artefacts is evolving and changing with the tasks at hand. Integrating digital media and computation in these environments has to take into account the fact that people will configure space functions and tools according to the situation, organising use in unexpected ways. In this article, we present and discuss how the issue of configurability is dealt with, in a series of field trials with design students. The aim of these trials was to construct, for architecture and interaction design students, a mixed-media environment for inspirational learning. The results include physical infrastructure in space and in furniture as integral parts of the interaction technology and the creation of composite representations called ldquomixed objectslsquorsquo, which blend digital and non-digital media in one design artefact. Configurability has to be supported at different levels (infrastructures, artefacts, functions) and across the physical and digital realms.

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@article{binder-2004-supp,
  title =      "Supporting Configurability in a Tangibly Augmented
               Environment for Design Students",
  author =     "Thomas Binder and Georgio De Michelis and Michael Gervautz
               and Giulio Iacucci and Kresimir Matkovic and Thomas Psik and
               I. Wagner",
  year =       "2004",
  abstract =   "In many environments, the landscape of space and artefacts
               is evolving and changing with the tasks at hand. Integrating
               digital media and computation in these environments has to
               take into account the fact that people will configure space
               functions and tools according to the situation, organising
               use in unexpected ways. In this article, we present and
               discuss how the issue of configurability is dealt with, in a
               series of field trials with design students. The aim of
               these trials was to construct, for architecture and
               interaction design students, a mixed-media environment for
               inspirational learning. The results include physical
               infrastructure in space and in furniture as integral parts
               of the interaction technology and the creation of composite
               representations called ldquomixed objectslsquorsquo, which
               blend digital and non-digital media in one design artefact.
               Configurability has to be supported at different levels
               (infrastructures, artefacts, functions) and across the
               physical and digital realms.",
  pages =      "310--325",
  month =      7,
  number =     "5",
  issn =       "1617-4909",
  journal =    "Personal and Ubiquitous Computing",
  volume =     "8",
  URL =        "http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2004/binder-2004-supp/",
}