Daily Note: Meta-User Interfaces and Ambient Interactive Spaces

These notes are a summary of concepts presented in “Meta-User Interfaces for Ambient Spaces.”

Coutaz, J. (2007). Meta-User Interfaces for Ambient Spaces. In: Coninx, K., Luyten, K., Schneider, K.A. (eds) Task Models and Diagrams for Users Interface Design. TAMODIA 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4385. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70816-2_1

  1. Ambient Interactive Spaces
    • Dynamic integration of physical, computational, and communicational entities
    • Supports diverse human activities through interactive systems
  2. Meta-User Interfaces
    • A system enabling control, evaluation, and understanding of ambient spaces
      • Goes beyond domain-dependent services
      • Focuses on user control and evaluation
        • Not a language or abstract model but an operational user interface system
  3. Characteristics of Meta-User Interfaces
    • Functional coverage
      • Services and objects it controls
    • Interaction technique
      • Vocabulary for objects and functions
      • Syntax for user actions (selecting/designing)
  4. Integration level
    • Coexists with user interface of domain-dependent services
  5. Types of Objects in Meta-User Interfaces
    • Digital objects
      • Files, applications, windows, pointers, menus
    • Mixed-by-design objects
      • Predefined physical-digital couplings
    • Mixed-by-construction objects
      • End-user-created physical-digital integrations
  6. Key Processes in Meta-UI
    • Object discovery
      • Essential for building a mental model of ambient spaces
      • Identifies objects for potential coupling
    • Object coupling
      • Binding objects to provide new, synergistic functions
      • Dynamic resource allocation and role assignment
    • Object re-molding
      • Reshaping objects without distorting roles
      • Includes UI reconfiguration
        • Suppression, insertion, or reorganization of user interfaces components
        • Intra-modal, inter-modal, and multi-modal transformations
  7. Dynamic Nature of Ambient Computing
    • Platform as a cluster
      • Multiple interconnected devices as a dynamic cluster
      • Distributed user interfaces across the cluster’s interaction resources
    • User interface re-distribution
      • Adapts user interface components to new contexts or roles
  8. User Interaction in Meta-User Interfaces
    • Levels of control
      • Observability: Evaluate the current state
      • Traceability: Observe evolution over time
      • Controllability: Observe, trace, and intervene
  9. Interaction Methods
    • Direct via vocabulary elements
    • Indirect via instruments
  10. Integration with Domain-Dependent Services
    • Embedded user interface components
      • Mixed with domain-dependent service user interfaces
    • External user interface components
      • Operate independently from domain-dependent user interfaces
  11. Reconfiguration Constraints
    • Ambient space reconfiguration limited to predefined objects