SITUATED COMPUTING- A New Paradigm for Design Computing

JOHN S. GERO

Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition

University of Sydney

Abstract. 

This paper introduces the concepts of situatedness and constructive memory as the foundations of situated computing. The difference is between encoding all knowledge prior to its use and allowing the knowledge to be developed and grounded in the interaction between the external world and the designer/tool. The paper elaborates these concepts and concludes with a discussion of the implication of situated computing on computational models of designing and on the development of adaptive design tools.

Introduction

Design computing involves all facets of the use of computers to support the acts of designing. Much of the research in design computing has been focused on modeling and representing designed objects, whether for the individual designer or for teams of designers using the World Wide Web.

There has continued to be an interest in computational aids that support designing more directly and in producing different design environments. Amongst the former are evolutionary systems and amongst the latter are virtual environments. All of this work is based a paradigm of computing that assumes that the underlying programs are unchanged by their use and certainly the underlying programs are not affected by where or how they are used. This is one of the foundations of objective knowledge: it is independent of who uses and what is done with it. We expect this of our objective knowledge. Objective knowledge is knowledge about the structure of the world. Thus, we expect that an object in a CAD model is unchanged by the view we present of it; that the algorithm that calculates shadows is unchanged by whomever uses it; and that the evolutionary algorithm used in a layout program is unchanged by using it on different types of problems.

Full paper

Building Information Modeling

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of generating and managing building data during its life cycle[1]. Typically it uses three-dimensional, real-time, dynamic building modeling software to increase productivity in building design and construction.[2] The process produces the Building Information Model (also abbreviated BIM), which encompasses building geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, and quantities and properties of building components. Source: Wiki

Introduction page

Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerberin the article 'The value of building Information Modeling' mentions:At the recent BIM CON ! FAB 2009 symposium hosted by the University of Southern California, architecture, engineering and construction practitioners described how their firms have effectively used Building Information Modeling (BIM) in their projects—their BIM processes, and the benefits they believe they have found. With the increasing number of case studies on the topic of BIM in practice, anecdotal evidence suggests that the use of BIM makes the building industry more efficient and effective. However, these case studies can only provide insight into singular situations; they fail to provide a complete and comprehensive list of benefits and associated costs and they rarely assign quantitative values. The question still remains: is BIM really lowering costs and making the building industry more productive? The intuitive answer is ‘yes’ but what is really needed are models for establishing metrics and benchmarks, so the benefits of BIM can established more definitively. 

See AEC bytes

Situated Architecture

Once again going back to the current architectural discourse, we saw the icon of the diagram succeeding as a good selling spectacle, the logo as a form combining action and form, and the call for a refocusing on the traditional tasks of a 5000 year old Discipline. Can we really continue debating about regional styles, or architecture as a programmatic diagram? What kind of architecture should be taught to a Chinese student at an US American university by a Middle Eastern teacher grown up in Europe?

Not only in the current emerging field of “situated-”, “responsive-”, “interactive-” etc- architecture people tend to fetishize the detail. Loosing the heuristics and hiding behind technical problems seems to avoid the broader conflict.

Instead of trying to revive form or symbolic meaning whose functions have long vanished, architects must rethink its potential tasks in order to find its place and relevance in the future.
Architecture must differentiate itself from the execution of demands for structure and space.
If architecture fails to do so it will be absorbed by the marketing machinery and by the ideology of market economy.
We can’t assume that any space is constructed by society and is therefore legitimized or even inevitable.
It is not the “extended body” of individuals or society which constructs space, rather larger systems like economic networks can be described as acting “in their own advantage”.
In this sense Lefebvre’s notion that every society constructs its space might have to be questioned. If we are not able to remove ourselves from the space surrounding us than it might be indeed hopeless to speculate on active involvement. But if we have arrived at a point where we understand biological systems and even ourselves not as unities but consisting of parts with different agencies then we must acknowledge that the combined effects of whatever organic or non organic, technological or natural parts might creates its own space. Such a space cannot be considered as being constructed by society.

In my opinion this is the point where architecture has to situate itself: On the one hand we might not be able to change existing models, but we have to negotiate between them. We can’t change them because the constituting parts are self-supporting and anchored in many different domains. But the notion that there is a need for actually intervening in the spatial construction might be worth considering.

Architects must operate between the layers of space generated by networks and agents. Such architecture must not depend on clients it must be deliberately placed in between conflicting agencies. Of course there is still the need for the traditional construction business but I would see this as a secondary or detached aspect of architecture. Its preliminary task should be the exploration of a potential where it can get actively involved. It needs to negotiate the massive changes and conflicts we see on a territorial and spatial scale. Changes triggered by the clash between the agency of global networks and local identities, political agendas and individual resistance, as well as unforeseeable changes caused by the environment.

The second notion of a situated architecture is the task to design scenarios and environments.
We have to avoid designing emptiness but also answer the question how to draw a line between a consumerist spectacle and the concept of an open playable scene.
As opposed to closed systems the parts defining an environment doesn’t necessarily form a unity.
They must be defined as interfaces, links, switches boundaries, edges etc. At this level we can start thinking about technical applications and communication devices.

In all these scenarios the event, the moment when energy is exchanged between systems must be seen as the foundation of Architecture. Such a concept includes the micro scale where an event is defined as change or as exchange of information and the macro scale where an Event is usually understand as a accumulation of people.
Today such events like festivals are already creating new temporal places. The effect of lights blinking in the darkness can be compared to an agglomeration of people. It is the collectiveness that creates place not symbols or historic memory. Even supermarkets traditionally considered as the non-space are in fact complex environments of events creating places.

Codes and protocols rapidly evolve and vanish and places can exist for centuries as well as only for minutes. We can’t see spaces as closed systems but must focus on the wider networks of events in order to create a potential for negotiation.

I think the most important conclusion we can draw from this observation is that our traditional understanding of architecture as typology (making enclosures) has arrived in its must simplistic reduction of the global box which is like the economic model generating it, almost invulnerable and undisputed.
Avoiding the collapse of the discipline, which would be architecture only located in the world of luxury commodities, the framework of thought I tried to summarize here should point in a different, more optimistic direction.
At least inside the academic world we are talking not only about global cities but also about the forming of a global architectural culture which should be discussed in the near future. Such architecture has no culture per se it is action as well as space, it is physical and event simultaneously, and it establishes differences and negotiates the occupation of space.

Reference Link

21 IDEAS CONTENTS

---- From Business Week-----

We are offering 21 doors to the future and invite you to explore.

Introduction

As humans, we're tempted to embrace a likely scenario and stick to it. But in these volatile times, the smart idea is to pursue multiple paths and not be afraid to change direction

Link

Eco-Feedback Can Change Our Consuming Ways

Original website

Technological innovations have impacted society, forging changes in our culture and how people view the world.  The telephone, radio, and automobile were innovations with the strongest impact in the early 20th century. 

     During the 1990s, the computer and internet impacted our culture by enabling individuals and companies to send much information to others within seconds.  The recent convergence of telephones, computers, and internet in small handheld devices or smart phones promises instant communication of audio, text, and video communication just about anywhere at anytime.

     As with all technologies, these innovations have had both positive and negative consequences.  The positives relate to a shared sense of community that people felt by watching the same broadcast programs. People can learn about news events simultaneously and then share that information with others via phone or internet. 

     Automobiles enabled families to visit relatives or see this country’s magnificent landscape. In addition, workers could move out to the country and commute to the cities to work, creating the suburbs, essentially redesigning the American landscape, for better or worse.  

    While the negarives of these innovations are several, the enviromental effects are the most relevant to this essay.  Overpopulation around the world is fueling massive consumption of nonrenewable resources.  Unfortunatley,  technological innovation has not helped so far to alleviate the environmental strain.  Automobiles add to the global warming problems by promoting long commutes.   Increased electrical power needed for electronics is also warming the planet by spewing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

     Technology can be the solution to this dilemma, delivering an ecological balance between earth’s resources and human consumption. Many innovations including solar, wind, geothermal, hybrids, bio-fuels and other technologies have been developed but not adopted by Americans for the most part.   

     Widespread adoption of green technologies requires a major change in American culture.  People must want to engage in a green lifestyle, decreasing their carbon footprint, not because it is fashionable but because they have a strong desire to do what is right for the planet.   And, it must be economical to do so.

     So, the question becomes: What innovation can promote a fundamental change in our consuming culture?   The innovation might be as simple aseco-feedback devices so that people know instantly their impact on the environment and more importantly, how much it is costing them. 

     For example, whenever someone turns on an oven, a panel in the kitchen could display how many watts are being used in real time and then show the environmental and monetary costs.   Where I live in Appalachia, it might show mountains being blasted off to get at the coal used for generating electricity.  These panels could also list a more energy-efficient alternative, such as using a toaster oven or microwave. 

   To illustrate further, sensors in a sink drain could detect polluting chemicals.   A voice with a visual display might show malformed frogs that are occuring in our nation's waterways as a result.    

   At the end of the year, carbon footprint maps based on energy consumption would be displayed on these eco-feedback devices for homeowners.   A comparison to the average footprint in the locality and suggestions for improvement should help people engage in a green lifestyle. 

    Hybrid cars already have a type of eco-feedback device by showing instant fuel economy in a display panel.  Many hybrid car owners  change their driving habits to save on gas because they get immediate feedback on what works.    Manufacturers could add more features to the panel, such as carbon emissions.    Maybe they could be combined with the GPS smart phone to tell drivers how they could combine errands or suggest alternatives.  

    Of course, eco-feedback devices will not have a strong impact on our consumer culture if it is cheap to consume nonrenewable resources. Government intervention is required so that the price of nonrenewable energy sources and pollution reflect their true environmental costs. Then,eco-feedback devices can have a strong impact on consumer culture.

gadget trash

on-line social networking site

Whrrl- online story sharing community
Brightkite- social networking
Aka-aki- shows you people around you on mobile phone

Gypsii.com-on-line social networking site

What Is GyPSii? GyPSii is a way to share the places in your life with the people in your life. With GyPSii you can:

• Upload and share your Places worldwide
• Find your friends and meet new people
• Browse hundreds of thousands of interesting Places uploaded by community members
• Customize your experience with favorites and your own Personal Profile
• Integrate GyPSii into other web services using simple embeds.

Link

Power MIT- real-time energy data

http://cogen.mit.edu/powermit/
The page refreshes every 15 seconds
*MIT price based on fuel flow (natural gas and distillate oil), and price of natural gas ($4.60 / thousand cubic feet) and distillate ($1.59 / gallon) Energy Information Administration, 2002. NSTAR price based on NSTAR load and NSTAR default service price for large commercial service ($58.77 / MWH) NSTAR Default Sevice, 2003.

Energy usage map
This site is built in Ruby on Rails, sitting on top of a MySQL database. The map is drawn with SVG, and all of the updating and coloring and whatnot is driven by JavaScript (or ECMAScript if you prefer), using a technique called AJAX. The JavaScript coding was made a whole lot easier by using the Prototype JavaScript Framework. The page layout uses the Blueprint CSS Framework.

Real-time electrical output

EEML Introduction

Overview

EEML is a markup language that describes the data output of sensors and actuators, often in an architectural context but also in interactive environments, interface devices and even Second Life objects. Crucially, EEML supports the addition of context or "meta-data" about where the data came from. This is meaningful both to machines and humans when searching for data streams that they particularly need without knowing the exact details of the source. It is also important for those wishing to make spontaneous or previously unplanned connections between data streams from different sources with common contexts.

So that everyone talks the same EEML 'language', a schema has been written in XML for formatting data streams from sensors and devices. This provides a simple yet sophisticated structure for formatting environmental data, in the widest sense possible. The source that EEML is designed to support is data from sensors and devices deployed in the environment. The term "environment" encompasses both the physical world of, for example an office, your home or studio as well as the virtual world of, for example Second Life. EEML is designed to be extensible to support on-going development of environments that EEML's designers did not initially envisage.

EEML can be used along side well-established XML formats for data interchange such as Industry Foundation Classes in the construction industry, developed by the International Alliance for Interoperability where IFC2x has gained acceptance as one of the formats for Building Information Modeling or BIM. Crucially, using EEML, sensor data from buildings can be mapped onto building components in realtime and exchanged with simulation software and facilities management software thus extending the benefits of BIM to the post-occupancy phase.

To read more

Conference, Proceeding, and journal

CAAD Futures
Creativity and Cognition Conference
ACADIA
CAADRIA
ECAADE
SIGRADI

Some companies for smart home

Echelon
EnergyHub
Onzo
ZigBee Alliance
HomePNA
M-bus
HomePlug Powerline Alliance

Shared space- a city without signs concept

Wiki article

Shared space is a traffic engineering concept involving the removal of the traditional separation between motor vehicles and pedestrians and other road users, and the removal of traditional road priority management devices such as kerbs, lines, signs and signals. The reasoning behind the idea is that it will result in improved road safety by forcing users to negotiate their way through shared areas at appropriate speeds and with due consideration for the other users of the space.

This approach, which was pioneered and promoted by Hans Monderman,[1] is based on the observation that individuals' behaviour in traffic is more positively affected by the built environment of the public space than it is by conventional traffic control devices and regulations.[2]

The term 'shared space' was coined by Ben Hamilton-Baillie in 2003.[2]

Shared Space is also the name of a European project (part of the Interreg IIIB-North Sea programme) which develops new policies and methods for the design of public spaces with streets. Hans Monderman was the head of the project's "expert team" prior to his death in 2008

Visual thinking

Picture thinking, visual thinking , visual/spatial learning or right brained learning is the common phenomenon of thinking through visual processing using the part of the brain that is emotional and creative to organize information in an intuitive and simultaneous way.

Thinking in pictures, is one of a number of other recognized forms of non-verbal thought such as kinesthetic, musical and mathematical thinking. Multiple thinking and learning styles, including visual, kinesthetic, musical, mathematical and verbal thinking styles are a common part of many current teacher training courses.

While visual thinking and visual learners are not synonymous, those who think in pictures have generally claimed to be best at visual learning. Also, while preferred learning and thinking styles may differ from person to person, precluding perceptual or neurological damage or deficits diminishing the use of some types of thinking, most people (visual thinkers included) will usually employ some range of diverse thinking and learning styles whether they are conscious of the differences or not.

To read more in wiki

Spatial-temporal reasoning

Spatial-temporal reasoning is the ability to visualize spatial patterns and mentally manipulate them over a time-ordered sequence of spatial transformations.

This ability is important for generating and conceptualizing solutions to multi-step problems that arise in areas such as architecture, engineering, science, mathematics, art, games, and everyday life.

While some visual thinkers (who account for around 60% of the general population)^[1] also have good spatial-temporal reasoning this does not make spatial-temporal reasoning exclusive to those who "think in pictures".

Spatial-temporal reasoning can have as much or more to do with one of the other 5 main modes of thought: the logical (mathematical/systems) style of thought^[1].

Kinesthetic learners (physical learners who learn through body mapping and physical patterning) are highly developed in spatial awareness^[2] and may also visualize spatial patterns and movement direction without being predominantly those who 'think in pictures'^[1]. The same is true of logical thinkers (mathematical/systems thinking) who think in patterns and relationships and may work diagrammatically^[1] without this being pictorially and, as such, may have excellent spatial-temporal reasoning yet not necessarily be strong visual thinkers at all.

To read more- wikipedia

The poetics of augmented space

Lev Manovich

University of California, San Diego, lev@manovich.net

This article discusses how people experience spatial forms when they are filled in with dynamic and rich multimedia information; spaces such as shopping or entertainment areas or other spaces where various information can be accessed wirelessly. The author calls such spaces ‘augmented space’: the physical space overlaid with dynamically changing information, multimedia in form and localized for each user. The article asks whether this form becomes irrelevant and ‘invisible’ or if people end up with a new experience in which the spatial and information layers are equally important. The author also discusses the general dynamic between spatial form and information and how this might function differently in today’s computer culture. Throughout the article, augmentation is reconceptualized as an idea and cultural and aesthetic practice rather than as technology. Various practices in professional and vernacular architecture and built environments, cinema, 20th-century art and media art are discussed in terms of augmentation.

Key Words: augmentation • information • space • technology

Flexible Battery Power

ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2007) —
A paper-like, polymer based rechargeable battery has been made by Japanese scientists.

With recent advances in the technology of portable electronic devices, there is a demand for flexible batteries to power them.

Drs Hiroyuki Nishide, Hiroaki Konishi and Takeo Suga at Waseda University have designed the battery - which consists of a redox-active organic polymer film around 200 nanometres thick. Nitroxide radical groups are attached, which act as charge carriers.

The battery has a high charge/discharge capacity because of its high radical density.

Dr Nishide said: "This is just one of many advantages the 'organic radical' battery has over other organic based materials which are limited by the amount of doping.

"The power rate performance is strikingly high - it only takes one minute to fully charge the battery. And it has a long cycle life, often exceeding 1,000 cycles."

A paper-like polymer based rechargeable battery. (Credit: Image courtesy of Waseda University)

What is Mobile Spatial Interaction?

Helping organize the Mobile Spatial Interaction (MSI) workshop at CHI 2007 has made me very sensitive to the usage of the term MSI. Most people see Mobile and Spatial attached to Interaction and immediately start talking about location aware applications and services. However as someone who has spent the last few years working on location-aware applications, I have always felt that MSI and location-aware apps are two slightly different classes of research. As a result I've been spending some time thinking about how to define MSI as well as understanding how it differs (if it differs at all) from the current of location aware applications. My definition of location aware will of course be highly biased by projects like FireEagle, ZoneTag and Zurfer)

Location
I define location aware systems as systems that know the users absolute position. The accuracy of the location will of course change as will the source input (IP, Cell tower, GPS, user sumitted), used but by definition all location-aware systems can locate the user down to some arbitrary level of accuracy. The available accuracy may vary widely from country to city to zipcode to lat/long, and typically the best possible accuracy comes from GPS receiver which has an average error rate of about 30 feet.

MSI on the other hand requires not only the users physical location but also their spatial orientation (heading at a minimum but possibly including information like tilt, height, etc…). Typically MSI also requires a greater level of location accuracy – most spatially aware systems cannot do much with city level location and generally require at least GPS level location accuracy. In many ways you can consider the MSI grade location (and orientation) to be the logical conclusion of ever improving location aware technologies.

Interaction
To me the greatest difference between location aware and MSI applications is in terms of the interactions that they can enable. A location aware application has more of a 「smart」 interaction where the app tailors the content based on your location. ZoneTag is an excellent example of a location aware app that suggests tags based on your current location. To the user it appears to be a smart application that just knows what the user probably wants.

MSI interaction on the other hand can go much deeper than just smart apps. Sure it would be awesome to have a version of ZoneTag that showed the tags for the object you just took a picture of but that's the obvious and (relatively) easy part. To me the real killer app for MSI is in enabling the creation of tangible* intuitive user interfaces. Interfaces that actually interact with their physical surroundings will not only have greater adoption (due to easy learnability) but peoples innate curiosity and playfulness will make the interaction more pleasurable (if you've ever seen a group of tenured professors act like children at a SmartSkin table you know what I mean :)).

Magic
Ubicomp researchers have been trying to make these intuitive interfaces for years but have been hampered by the artificial nature of the sensing technology. With mobile phones becoming more powerful and increasingly including things like GPS, digital compasses, accelerometers, tilt sensors, etc… it isn't going to be too long before every person is walking around with an MSI/Ubicomp enabling device in their pocket. If MSI researchers have their way people will no longer have to squint at tiny screens, explicit interfaces will disappear and users will directly query and interact with their real world environment. We still have a long way to go before we get there but projects like Air Messages, Point and Find, relateGateways, etc… are beginning to show how users can interact with the real world. They are opening a while new set of research questions about how people will react to such technology – I don't know what the killer app will be but I'm pretty sure the interaction will be indistinguishable from magic.

* I am using the word tangible since even gestural MSI is situated in the physical environment.

[tags]MSI, Mobile spatial interaction, location-aware, lbs, research[/tags]

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