This paper describes an architecture for supporting interface attuchments - small interactive programs which are designed to augment the functionality of other applications. This architecture is designed to work with a diverse set of conventional applications, but require only a minimal set of hooks into those applications. In order to achieve this, the work described here concentrates on what we will call observational attachments, a subclass of attachments that operate primarily by observing and manipulating the surface representations of applications - that is the visual information that applications would normally display on the screen or print. These attachments can be thought of as looking over the shoulder of the user to assist with various tasks. By requiring very little modification to, or help from, the applications they augment, this approach supports the creation of a set of uniform services that can be applied across a more diverse set of applications than traditional approaches.

Most current interface designs require that the user focus their attention on them in order to be of value. However, as the price of computation falls, and computational capabilities make their way into many everyday objects, the demand for attention from many different directions may begin to seriously reduce the usefulness of these computational objects. Ambient information displays are intended to fit in a part of the interface design space that does not have this property. They are designed to convey background or context information that the user may or may not wish to attend to at any given time. Ambient Displays are designed to work primarily in the periphery of a user's awareness, moving to the center of attention only when appropriate and desirable. This paper describes a new ambient information display that is designed to give a rich medium of expression placed within an aesthetically pleasing decorative object. This display — the Information Percolator — is formed by air bubbles rising up tubes of water. By properly controlling the release of air, a set of pixels which scroll up the display is created. This allows a rendition of any (small, black and white) image to be displayed. The detailed design and construction of this display device will be considered, along with several applications.

It is well known that paper is a very fluid, natural, and easy to use medium for manipulating some kinds of information. It is familiar, portable, flexible, inexpensive, and offers good readability properties. Paper also has well known limitations when compared with electronic media. Work in hybrid paper electronic interfaces seeks to bring electronic capabilities to real paper in order to obtain the best properties of each. This paper describes a hybrid paper electronic system — the Paper PDA — which is designed to allow electronic capabilities to be employed within a conventional paper notebook, calendar, or organizer. The Paper PDA is based on a simple observation: a paper notebook can be synchronized with a body of electronic information much like an electronic PDA can be synchronized with information hosted on a personal computer. This can be accomplished by scanning, recognizing and processing its contents, then printing a new copy. This paper introduces the Paper PDA concept and considers interaction techniques and applications designed to work within the Paper PDA. The StickerLink technique supports on-paper hyperlinking using removable paper stickers. Two applications are also considered which look at aspects of electronic communications via the Paper PDA.

Article Ubiquitous collaboration via surface representations Share on Authors: Dan R. Olsen Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PAView Profile , Scott E. Hudson Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PAView Profile , Matt Phelps Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PAView Profile , Jeremy Heiner Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PAView Profile , Thom Verratti Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA Human Computer Interaction Institite, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PAView Profile Authors Info & Claims CSCW '98: Proceedings of the 1998 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative workNovember 1998 Pages 129–138https://doi.org/10.1145/289444.289487Published:01 November 1998 10citation527DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations10Total Downloads527Last 12 Months4Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access