Social aspects
Vina introduces a "box system", which seamlessly integrates digital media into physical environments, whereby humans interface with "architectural spaces". He envisions it as a visual language to create wireless connected physical objects for communities, who want to exchange information within shared spaces. The platform is open, expandable and adapts the principles of software architecture to tangible artefacts.
The model is based on the concept of Distributed Constructionism, a theory that describes the efficiency of collaborative approaches for knowledge-building communities.
Designing such systems depends on exploration, since the final implication to information networks can not be foreseen.
“As computation becomes more ubiquitous and available in small, low power, networked and distributed form factors, computers are entering our shared social space.” [@Jeremijenko, 2000].
Implementation
The way how the box model is implemented was inspired by:
Ubiquitous Computing
The term ubiquitous computing arose from a hypothesis by Weiser in 1980 and says that "computers have to be sensitive to where they are located, who is using them and similar issues related to context," if we want them to become a "part of the environment".
Information Appliances
Information Appliances by Norman in 2000 also suggests, that "universal computers" need to be extended by specialized objects, to enhance usability in many use cases. Although these objects are very restricted to their given functionality, they can be combined to enable more advanced functionality.
Aesthetics
Since physical objects are a part of every day life, beside usability aspects also social and aesthetic attributes need to be considered.
The Model
Vina defines the box system as a "flexible, modular architecture" of units that can be connected to achieve a representation of dynamic information networks.
Elements
The box model consists of:
- Objects, that handle...
- ... Data like strings or multi media content
- and Channels which connect Objects with each another.
The Physical Presence
The main challenge is to design physical objects as digital and information containing objects. Unlike standard screen interfaces, physical objects are a concrete representation of data and depending on their properties they are even capable to enhance the meaning of data. Furthermore physical objects are persistent and remain at the same place when they are not used. The box size is optimized to portable use. An scalable antenna indicates that the objects are connected.
Technology
From a technological perspective, boxes consist of a micro controller, a communication module and a specific interface. Each of them are assigned an unique ID, data is sent and received from a central hub and a protocol manages the communication.
Examples
To concrete his notion, the author brings up a few examples on how the box model could be applied. For instance:
- Several motion detecting boxes positioned around a building indicate and transmit activity data
- Email subjects of teams are printed on on a small ticker-tape printer to create a diary for its members
- A voice recording and transmitting box that can be taken by a team member to playfully enable communication among people
Disadvantages
Since eventually the boxes are connected to a hub which is connected to a single computer, the overall architecture is in fact less decentralized than the physical objects itself. However the author emphasizes, that the purpose of this paper is not the technological implementation, but the social aspects and semantic of the box system.