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computers will be embedded into human bodies, furniture, walls, buildings, surrounding environ-
ments, neighbourhoods and cities, thus forming a nearly seamless digital habitat (Kuniavsky, 2010).
Ubicomp is heralding a new age that is full of smart mobs and sentient objects via the Internet of
Things (Rheingold, 2002; Hersent et al., 2012). Indeed, the world predicted in David Brin's (1990)
science fiction novel Earth , in which everybody is connected with everybody and everything else,
has arrived much sooner than anticipated.
Although the computer as we know it has not completely vanished as Weiser (1991) predicted,
recent advances in ubicomp have accelerated the pace towards the disappearance of computers,
as more and more embedded computers are found inside our bodies (such as cardiac pacemakers) as
well as in our surroundings (e.g. ranging from homes, offices and shops, to streets, neighbourhoods
and cities). With ubicomp so widespread throughout the health-care industry (Orwat et al., 2008),
computer chips of various kinds are increasingly implanted into human bodies, leading Clark (2003)
to argue that we are all now naturally born cyborgs. Furthermore, with the accelerated development
of worldwide sensor networks (such as IBM's smart planet project and HP/Cisco's CeNSE project)
and the Internet of Things (Tuters and Varnelis, 2006), ubicomp is changing human-computer
interaction in many fundamental ways. The goal of developing ubicomp is 'to put computing back
in its place, to reposition it into the environmental background, to concentrate on human-to-human
interfaces and less on human-to-computer ones' (Weiser et al., 1999: p. 694).
Weiser (1991) envisioned three basic forms for ubiquitous system devices: tabs (wearable
centimetre-sized devices), pads (handheld decimetre-sized devices) and boards (metre-sized inter-
active display devices). These three forms proposed by Weiser are characterised by having a pla-
nar shape and incorporating visual output displays. However, recent developments in smart devices
have expanded this range into a much more diverse and potentially more useful array of ubicomp
devices. Three additional types for ubiquitous systems have been reported (wikipedia.com): (1) dust
(miniaturised devices without visual output displays, for example, microelectromechanical systems
[MEMS], ranging from nanometres through micrometres to millimetres, such as the so-called smart
dust); (2) skin (fabrics based on light-emitting and conductive polymers - organic computer devices -
can be formed into more flexible non-planar display surfaces and products such as clothes and cur-
tains) and (3) clay (ensembles of MEMS can be formed into arbitrary 3D shapes such as artefacts
resembling many different kinds of physical object, forming tangible interfaces) (Poslad, 2009).
These embedded computers, though invisible to users, are fast approaching the power and com-
plexity of desktop PCs (National Research Council, 2001, 2003). According to an estimate by Bill
Gates (2003), a typical middle-class American has already interacted with about 150 embedded
systems every day at the outset of the twenty-first century, most of the time without knowing it.
As ubicomp reaches maturity, these embedded computers - which use up to 90% of the micro-
processors produced today - will inevitably perform more PC-like functions. More importantly,
advances in wireless networks will make these embedded computers communicate seamlessly with
their traditional PC counterparts. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (http://
www.semiconductors.org/industry_statistics/industry_statistics), the world microchip industry is
currently producing approximately one billion transistors per person per year. Computing is becom-
ing ubiquitous, at least in an increasing number of places in the developed world.
Ubicomp was made possible by the convergence of new advances in distributed and mobile
computer systems, wireless communication devices and new visualisation technologies (Krumm,
2009; Yang et al., 2012). With the disappearance of computers, we have witnessed the emergence of
a new kind of AI (ambient intelligence) in recent years. AI refers to electronic environments that are
sensitive and responsive to the presence of people (Friedewald et al., 2005). Its aim is to improve the
standard of living by creating the desired environment and functionality via intelligent, personalised
and interconnected systems and services. In an ideal ambient intelligent environment, the user is
surrounded by a multitude of interconnected, invisibly embedded computer systems. AI is capable
of recognising users, adapting to their preferences and offering natural means of interaction. The
prototype project Ambient Agoras (http://www.ambient-agoras.org) has already demonstrated that
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