Ubiquitous Computing
In the early days of personal computing, the computer was a standalone desktop machine and a person had to directly interact with it. But in the 1980s, a new vision for computing was emerging.
What if computing could be integrated into the everyday life environment so seamlessly that it becomes ubiquitous? The term ubiquitous comes from a Latin word meaning “everywhere” and today this idea of pervasive computing is no longer far fetched.
We have come a long way since CMU grad students connected their Coke machine to ARPANET in 1982 – an event that occurred before the terms “ubiquitous computing” and the “internet of things” (IoT) were coined in ‘88 and ‘99 respectively. Now we are blending technology into everyday objects in many ways – adding sensors to make things context aware, connecting a variety of devices to the internet, and using AI and ML to create personalized experiences. However, as technical advancements allow for more “smart” items in our lives (wearable health trackers, smart homes and smart cities to name a few), look for continued work in the related HCI areas of user experience design, data privacy and ethics.
Students who want to learn more about ubiquitous computing and HCI might be interested in the following course: