Source: Micah's Weblog; 6/19/2003; 12:05:49 PM
Macroscopes and Ubiquitous Computing.
Today I'm thinking about how information spreads, Ubiquitous Computing, and Calm technology:
Macroscope Manifesto - "Patterns of propagation, ramification, and repetition are the warp and woof of life, mind, and culture. These patterns are usually invisible. A “macroscope” could make them visible."
Ubiquitous Computing - the age of calm technology, when technology recedes into the background of our lives.
Designing Calm Technology - Calm technology engages both the center and the periphery of our attention, and in fact moves back and forth between the two.
Mark Weiser and Ubiquitous Computing
Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing Reading List
The Invisible Interface: Increasing the Power of the Environment through Calm Technology - excerpt:
- First, the more the periphery is engaged, the smarter we are. No amount of conscious working out can replace the intuitions of the expert. The smartest people are the ones who have built up the thickest periphery, and can apply it quickly to new problems. A fully engaged periphery also goes by the name of "flow state", familiar to athletes.
- Second, we are constantly moving items into and out of the periphery. Millisecond by millisecond what was just periphery becomes center, and then back again. To move perception in and out quickly is a source of great power and comfort.
- Third, take the periphery away and we are crippled. Imagine looking at the world through narrow tubes taped to our eyes, blocking peripheral vision: you would stumble, and be constantly surprised, and tire quickly. Digital technology in the PC is like those tubes: it presents a view excessively stripped of periphery.
[Micah's Weblog]
12:07:01 PM 
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