Title:  Interfaces of the gestalt:  Dealing with computing everywhere

Speaker: Dan Russell, Director of USER Lab, IBM Almaden Research

Abstract: In the '00's, computing becomes pervasive, ubiquitous and universal.  The battleground for the experience of computing is the interface.  Yet for the most part, the UI community doesn't recognize the issues that need answers.  We need to understand what this new style means for the users.  What will the ubiquitously computational world become?  Is it possible to design it to be a place we want to inhabit?  To put it another way, what will the experience of truly ubiquitous computing be?

In this talk, I'll focus on how the ubicomp / pervasive visions will come to pass at the interface, pointing out that the interface is only the visible manifestation of deeper problems.  I'll explore potential pitfalls, and possible upsides to the new  face of computing.  And then ask ourselves the essential question:  How can we make this computing revolution be more sane, more useful and far more humane?  Current methods will be analyzed for insights, and approaches to solutions will be suggested.

Daniel Russell is the director of the User Sciences and Experience Research (USER) lab at IBM's Almaden Research Center (San José, CA).  He also participates in the "PlanetBlue" project at IBM, a large cross-lab effort  developing systems solutions and technology for the ubiquitous and pervasive support of knowledge workers.

Prior to his engagement at IBM, Dan managed the User Experience Research group at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.  Returning to PARC after a nearly 5 year stint at Apple, UER@PARC spent 9 months working on the design of a complete user experience for a new class of information appliance.  The group also designed and implemented Madcap, a highly interactive browser for large, rich, time-synced coordinated media collections.

Until September of 1997, Dan was the director of the Knowledge Management Technologies laboratory within Apple's Advanced Technology Group (ATG).  In this capacity, he coordinated the research efforts of five areas (Intelligent Systems, Spoken Language, User Experience, Interaction Design, and Information Technology) to provide an amalgamating, integrative direction to the research as a whole.   Before KMT, he managed Apple's  User Experience Research group (UER@Apple, yes, the same one that later went to PARC), which studied issues of sensemaking, cognitive modeling of analysis tasks, synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, shared awareness of individual state,  joint work coordination, and knowledge-based use of complex, heterogenous information.

Prior to joining  Apple in 1993, Dan was a Member of the Research Staff at Xerox PARC in the User Interface Research group studying uses of information visualization techniques and more broadly, in how people make sense of large information spaces.
 
Dan also teaches widely on topics of hypermedia, artificial intelligence and user interface design, with experience in both the graduate programs of Stanford and Santa Clara Universities, as well as conference tutorials.

Dr. Russell received his B.S. in Information and Computer Science from U.C. Irvine, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Rochester, New York.  While at Rochester, he worked on issues of planning in artificial intelligence, the neuropsychology of laterality and language, coordinated motor movements and computer vision.