Society and Ubiquitous Computing

Only a few years ago did computers start to arrive in society. People once made calculations by hand and spoke face to face. Now, people just send emails or text messages to communicate with each other. Why have computers become significant to society, one might wonder? Why do computers exist just about everywhere nowadays? Of the many computer systems, Virtual reality has made an appearance in video game technology. Also, Augmented reality made its appearance, as an article mentioned the guardian angel helper program [2]. Computers run our lives now, and although virtual reality and augmented reality have made some appearances into society, ubiquitous computing has already, by far, integrated itself into society and will continue to do so.

Ever since people realized computers would help them in their daily lives, computers have taken over society's way of life. Mark Weiser addressed ubiquitous computing and said computers essentially put people in the dark, away from others, making computers impersonal [6]. You can find computers everywhere - embedded in cell phones, palm pilots, ATMs, cash registers etc. Airports use computers to keep track of flights, you might use a computer to send emails to a friend, and others might use a computer device to help compensate for their disabilities. Abowd noted, "Continuous interaction moves computing from a localized tool to a constant companion [1]." People rely quite heavily on computers, generating quite a downfall to ubiquitous computing. The problem is quite simple, when people rely too much on technology, they forget simple information, or lose information. For example, one might retain phone numbers of family members in a handheld computer device, when the battery might suddenly die and then all stored information is lost. Even though ubiquitous computing has its downside, ubiquitous computing has a vastly superior upside. In the past, if a person became ill with say breast cancer, they would slowly die, but with the influence of computers integrated into society, many people may seek help where they will have treatments involving the use of some computer system, which can save their life or at least add a few years.

Manufacturers have attempted to integrate virtual reality systems into society. Virtual reality is a "technological extension to computer graphics [5]." Virtual reality provides a different medium, sight, for interaction with computers. In the video game industry, you may have seen "goggles" before, where a person wears some type of headgear to play a virtual reality video game. The headgear attempts to immerse an individual into the game. A major attribute to virtual reality is better video gaming. When one becomes part of a game, one feels more involved - the game becomes a part of reality or, better said, part of "virtual reality."

Sadly, the realm of virtual reality has several flaws. For example, to understand how to use such devices can become quite troublesome. Virtual reality systems do not have the same "point and click" interface as a computer. Therefore, people need time to adjust to the new system and learn how to interact and get desirable results. Another flaw includes trying to interpret the different elements and scenes within these virtual worlds. Artists and technologists in particular struggle with understanding how to design virtual worlds [5]. Unfortunately, blind people present the greatest flaw to virtual reality. If a person can't see the interface, then don't believe the user can usefully interact with the interface. Ubiquitous computing can suffice needs of the disabled by using sound, for example, to suit the blind's needs.

Augmented reality, similar to virtual reality, attempts to distort reality. However, augmented reality doesn't immerse an individual into a virtual scene. Augmented reality simply takes a person, in real life, and modifies what they see in the real world. An article in particular discussed the guardian angel program [2]. The guardian angel program, a special type of interface, would allow a computer to generate a visible image of a being who would walk around and assist a user with various tasks [2]. Although I doubt the ghostly image will physically pick up objects to assist people, the guardian angel communicates with people verbally, or points out where to find given items within a room [2]. The guardian angel technology may help disabled people with cognitive disabilities for example. Having an extra "person" to remind a forgetful person of what they need to do may serve quite useful. Augmented reality can aid disabled people, which should motivate computer scientists to further develop such technologies.

Augmented reality, again, like virtual reality, relies on sight. An interface should not only rely on one human sense. A better system should have the ability to help disabled individuals, and average users by providing the option of multiple interfaces. Computers should allow people to interact with them in different ways because people have different needs. Another problem with augmented reality includes the age of the technology. Because the technology is new, most computer scientists still have much research to do in order to get moving on integrating augmented reality into society. Also, people who have severe mental disabilities may inadvertently accept augmented reality as reality. Who knows what harm they may cause. One article noted, "Augmented places are not virtual copies of a physical place [4]." Creating augmented reality is also extremely difficult to design because designers must essentially create new spaces [4]. An article discussed the designing and implementing of an augmented reality system and discovered a flaw in the augmented reality scheme [4]. Evidently, the augmented reality, tested in a laboratory situation, accidentally managed to isolate people and inadvertently kept people from sharing ideas, where in a science lab, people need to readily share information with each other [4].

The primary reason why ubiquitous computing will integrate itself in society far more than the other technologies is because computers have many different uses whereas augmented reality and virtual reality have limited use. Also, computers don't cost much, they run fast, fairly easy to use, but take time to get used to. Ubiquitous computing offers multiple ways of interacting with computers and not just one method like augmented reality and virtual reality. For example, with a computer system, assuming the sound is turned on, a computer can make certain noises signaling some problematic occurrence. Cell phones, a type of handheld computer system, allows a person to know they have an incoming call by also making noise, or even vibrating. Cell phones also have a familiar looking number layout as most keyboards. Familiarity also presents another great advantage to ubiquitous computing. Other uses of ubiquitous computing help the cognitively disabled people, of which 20 million people suffer from [3]. Weiser noted, "Like the personal computer, ubiquitous computing will produce nothing fundamentally new, but by making everything faster and easier to do with less strain [6]."

Works Cited

[1] Abowd, Gregory. Mynatt, Elizabeth. Charting, Present, and Future Research in Ubiquitous Computing. ACM Press. New York, NY, USA. 2000. 29-58.

[2] Broll, Wolfgang. Schafer, Leonie. Hollerer, Tobias. Bowman, Doug. Interface with Angels: The Future of VR and AR Interfaces. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. November 2001. 2-5.

[3] Carmien, Stefan. Goman, Andrew. DePaula, Rogerio. Kintsch, Anja. Increasing Workplace Independence for People with Cognitive Disabilities by Leveraging Distributed Cognition Among Caregivers and Clients. 2003. Paper presented at the ACM 2003 International Conference on Supporting Group Work, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA.

[4] Michelis, Giorgio. Paoli, Flavio. Pluchinotta, Costanza. Susani, Marco. Weakly Augmented Reality: Observing and Designing the Work-Place of Creative Designers. ACM Press. New York, NY, USA. 2000. 81-91.

[5] Sherman, William. Craig, Alan. Literacy in Virtual Reality: a New Medium. ACM Press. New York, NY, USA. 1995. 37-42.

[6] Weiser, Mark. The Computer for the 21^st Century. Scientific American. September 1991. 66-75.