Virtual worlds translate into palpable computing
January 25, 2008
When the first books were printed, the presses had little to debate whether they should use paper or energetic fields. There were simply no energetic fields. Today, computing is at a similar crossroads for the uninitiated, ICT Results seems to imply.
Palpable versus ubiquitous, as in computing that is complex and sophisticated yet transparent and fully comprehensible versus invisible computing. Morten Kyng, a researcher at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, stands for the palpable, leading a pan European team of researchers, who develop and implement palpable open source models. Their products currently range from large events monitoring to disaster alleviation and critical health interventions solutions.
Leaving aside the importance of computing per se in such areas, the user should be put in the center of technology and participate at its adaptation, while the ubiquitous technology would simply stay invisible to a user, the website argues.
Photo: Flickr