Time: 4pm, Tuesday, Oct 12
Place: 110 South Hall

                          Tacit Interaction
          Elin Ronby Pedersen, Tomas Sokoler and Les Nelson


We notice a disquieting resemblance between the user of current
computer technology and the unfortunate person trapped in the medieval
pillory. We suggest this is symptomatic for a design tradition that
looks at people as soft blobs augmenting our "magnificent
machines," rather than recognizing and utilizing the amazing
capability we humans have qua our embodied intellect and intelligence.
FXPAL has over the last few years developed a framework for
interaction design which combines (1) technology for the entire human
body and mind (i.e., efforts in engaging more of the human capacity)
with (2) tangible computing (i.e., efforts of re-physicalizing,
re-naturalizing the human-computer interface). We call this framework
"tacit interaction"; for a particular task that the user engages
in we look at the role of technology relative to the task. We
emphasize two major element of the interaction: the degree of
explicitness, pre-meditation, and intent with which the user deal with
the computer, and the attention required to perform the current task.
In this talk we will explain the framework. We will locate traditional
computer applications in the model of our framework, and we will
present and position some of our own prototypes: AROMA, Palette,
TactGuide, and the most recent: Paper Buttons. Tacit Interaction is
one of several approaches to turn the concept of ubiquitous computing
into practical designs and design criteria.

References 1 Elin Ronby Pedersen & Tomas Sokoler: AROMA - abstract
representation of presence for the purpose of mutual
awareness. Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems (CHI-97, Atlanta), ACM Press, April 1997.

2 Les Nelson, Lia Adams, Satoshi Ichimura, and Elin Rønby Pedersen:
Palette: A Paper Interface for Giving Presentations. To appear in the
Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(CHI-99, Pittsburgh), ACM Press, May 1999.

3 Elin Ronby Pedersen, Tomas Sokoler, Satoshi Ichimura, Les Nelson:
Putting Buttons on Paper. FXPAL technical report, 1999.

Biography 
Elin Ronby Pedersen has been a member of the research staff at FX Palo
Alto Laboratory (a Fuji Xerox company) since 1997, working on
designing the human-computer interaction such that computers will be
easier to use, less intellectually demanding, more immediately
available "at hand", and thereby -- more useful. She has worked
on similar issues for quite some time, starting in her PhD thesis
which explores the kind of knowledge and know-how we have before we
are able to use stricktly defined means of expression, leading to
design work on the Xerox Liveboard and the Tivoli whiteboard, and more
recently to design of technology for feeding our peripheral
awareness. She holds degrees in Nordic Literature and Languages (BA,
Aarhus) and Computer Science (MS, PhD, Copenhagen). Till now she
divided her working career evenly between industrial research (Danish
Datamatic Center, Xerox PARC, Interval Research Corporation, and now
FXPAL) and academic research and teaching (Copenhagen University,
Copenhagen Business School, Roskilde University).