Morten Kyng, University of Aarhus

Morten Kyng's main research areas are participatory design, computer supported cooperative work, pervasive computing, and human-computer interaction. His main focus is currently participatory design of new paradigms for 'palpable' pervasive computing systems within healthcare. That is pervasive systems that are capable of being noticed and that the users may investigate and apprehend mentally.

Morten Kyng is professor of pervasive computing at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Aarhus. The professorship is sponsored for a five-year-period by Systematic Software Engineering - www.systematic.dk. Morten received his Doctor of Science from the University of Aarhus in 1996. He currently directs the Centre for Pervasive Computing - www.pervasive.dk, a national research centre with headquarters at Katrinebjerg in Aarhus. In 2001 he was, as the only European, appointed to the ACM CHI Academy for leadership in the field of computer-human interaction.

Track:   Pervasive Computing

Abstract:

Pervasive or ubiquitous computing is an emerging field based on a number of insights and assumptions many of which were described by Mark Weiser in his 1991 Scientific American paper "The Computer for the 21th Century". The promise and the ambitions are high, and several contributions illustrate the potential. This talk presents some visions for pervasive computing and then explores a new perspective called Palpable computing. This perspective challenges some of the assumptions taken for granted in the design of pervasive computing. Thus palpable denotes that systems are capable of being noticed and mentally apprehended. Palpable systems support people in understanding what is going on at the level they choose. Palpable systems support control and choice by people. Often the default mode for a palpable application is to suggest courses of action rather than acting automatically.

Thus palpable computing complements the unobtrusive effectiveness of pervasive computing with a focus on making the means of empowering people intelligible. Palpable computing supports users in coping with situations where technology is not doing the (right) job and thus enable us to create technology for a dynamic society where we cannot assume that (all of) our technology has become so natural that we use it without even thinking about it.

Track:   Pervasive Computing