The Streitz perspective: computation is ubiquitous, yet must be designed for human use (a festschrift for Norbert Streitz)

Abstract

In many ways, embedded computation—the increasingly common way of adding computers into everyday life and everyday artifacts—is a natural outgrowth of technology trends over the past two decades. Adding computation is an easy way to increase the range of affordances and capabilities of devices, adding the ability to sense, cooperate, and support extended work practices and leisure activities. However, as Norbert Streitz has illustrated throughout his career, just adding computation to systems does not guarantee a successful or useful merging of capabilities. As this special issue points out (and as Streitz has argued many times), ubiquitous/pervasive/ambient computation must be carefully designed, with particular attention paid to the multiple and overlapping domains of human interest (cognitive, social, collaborative, and architectural). It is only by designing such systems with an eye toward actual use patterns, with an eye toward the behaviors of people who would use, inhabit and move through work and play, data and artifacts, that a clear “design for humans” trend become clear.