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What Is Ubiquitous Computing?
Wikipedia defines “ubiquitous computing” as “... a model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities.”
Taken literally, ubiquitous computing means “computing everywhere”. It is that, but it's much more than that.
Ubiquitous computing is also known by its shorter form of “ubicomp” and additionally, there are other terms used to describe this concept such as “pervasive computing”, “ambient intelligence”, “proximity systems”, and “location aware” computing. It would be easy to assume this is simply the work of academics or market folk trying to push their individual brands.
But, in fact, it is more that just a matter of personal naming preference. The variety of different terms reflects the multi-faceted nature of what can be done, and what it means, to have computing everywhere. Consider this list of some of the facets or aspects of ubicomp:
- Computing is ubiquitous, so it's available everywhere.
- Computing is pervasive so it essentially becomes impossible to avoid.
- In ubicomp, the computer is not something in the environment that interacts with a human—it is the environment interacting with a human.
- The computing infrastructure is aware of your location or proximity, and makes use of that information.
- Since the computing is integrated in the environment, the human may not even be aware that it is doing something.
- As a result of all of the above, the environment embodies an emergent sense of awareness, in other words: “ambient intelligence”.
Ubiquitous computing has the potential to:
- employ computation in ways we haven't thought of before,
- change our perspective on how we interact with our environment as well as computers,
- use information to impact our lives in new ways, possibly far beyond what the Internet does today,
- and forever change our notions of security, privacy, and community.
That's the party line anyway, and while I think most parties involved in the field believe the above to ultimately be true, it is still very speculative and the actual evolutionary path of ubicomp is less than obvious.
One of my new goals in life, then--if you'll pardon a little drama--is to help make ubicomp more real by exploring the technical aspects of ubicomp and practical applications. There has been a lot of academic research in the field, but, at least to my mind, the "killer" applications, or at least implementations, remain to be realized.
Until next time,
rk
