Communicates what the environment is sensing

Today people increasingly find themselves in spaces that invisibly sense them. The increasing use of cameras, motion detectors, and microphones means spaces often know people are present and can hear what they are saying. Our research investigates different ways for smart environments to communicate what they perceive. We draw ideas from phenomenology and from work on ambient displays. We want to design systems that make it easy for people to perceive that the room perceives them such that can effortlessly shift their social performance. Our current work focuses on the design of a coffee table that lets people know the room can sense people, can sense their location, and can hear what they say.