When we stage participatory prototyping, we arrange constraints and possibilities and envision a place of co-creation for designers and users. We argue that the activity of participatory prototyping can benefit from unfolding in imaginative places that are radically distant from the places of current practice. Our work with participatory prototyping indicates that a radicalisation towards an imaginative place of co-creation provides participants with an extended space for imagining future practices. Departing from the Scandinavian participatory prototyping heritage, our research is an inquiry into staging the places of participatory prototyping. Staging imaginative places is carried out by a careful selection and coordination of anchoring elements that maintain references to current practice and elements of transcendence that afford the imaginative place. As such, we supplement the qualities of the prototype and the process of prototyping with a concern for the place in which prototyping unfolds. We present two cases of participatory prototyping sessions that outline our work with staging imaginative places for participatory prototyping.

The field of child–computer interaction has received growing attention as a result of the penetration of IT into children’s everyday lives. Consequently, the involvement of children in the design of children’s technology has been widely discussed. So far, literature on children’s involvement in design has mainly treated design with children as a distinct design discipline regarding children as “cognitive incomplete” in comparison with adult users. With a point of departure in the framework of socio-cultural activity theory, this paper provides a new perspective on design with children, based on understanding children as participants in meaningful communities of practices. Thus, we argue that children could and should be involved in design on the same terms as adult users; children are treated as experts in their everyday lives and we cannot design future IT for children without involving these experts. The paper introduces the BRIDGE method including a palette of design techniques as a practice-based method for designing with children based on this perspective.

Motivation -- Ubiquitous computing places the user in dynamic configurations of technology. As a result, learning in use has new complexities. Research approach -- We develop concepts to understand and design for learning in ubiquitous settings based on empirical examples and a foundation in activity theory. Findings/Design -- Specifically, we point to core concepts: Quality of an action; functional organs ; and routines and strategies as being pivotal in analysing and designing for learning in ubiquitous settings. Research limitations/Implications -- The concepts will ultimately need to be evaluated in use by ourselves and others Originality/Value -- Our approach moves beyond understanding and designing one-off interfaces. Take away message -- We argue that by focusing on general, high-quality routines we can better support learning in dynamically changing webs of technology.

This paper approaches heterogeneity and heterogeneous technology as assets, rather than limitations, in the development of computer supported cooperative work. We demonstrate how heterogeneous technologies sustain teachers' and students' school work by presenting four different prototypes (the HyConExplorer, the eCell, the iGameFloor and the eBag) that complement one another because they offer different functionalities and are, at the same time, designed with the wholeness of school activities, particularly group-based ones, in mind. Thus, they provide teachers and students with a broad range of IT support to aid them in and outside of the classroom. We take the school domain as our point of departure, but argue that the focus on heterogeneous technologies is applicable for the general area of CSCW.

Imine Abdessamad Johan Aberg Gregory Abowd Johnny Accot Mark Ackerman Brian Amento Elske Ammenwerth Susan Anderson Mark Apperley Caroline Appert Shlomo Argamon Holly Arrow Chieko Asakawa Helen Ashman Daniel Avrahami Chris Baber Jeremy Bailenson Brian Bailey Ravin Balakrishnan Jakob Bardram Armando Baretto Len Bass Remi Bastide Patrick Baudisch Russell Beale Michel Beaudouin-Lafon Shirley Becker Benjamin Bederson James “Bo” Begole Genevieve Bell Victoria Bellotti Jan Benway Olav Bertelsen Tim Bickmore Mark Billinghurst Ann Bisantz Staffan Björk John Black Jeanette Blomberg Mark Blythe Susanne Bodker Cathy Bodine Jan Borchers Katy Borner Alan Borning Nathan Bos Paolo Bottoni Niels Bouvin Doug Bowman Michael Boyle Gary Bradski Morten Breinbjerg Harry Brignull Christina Brodersen Barry Brown A J Brush Margaret Burnett Andrew Burton-Jones Kirsten Butcher Markus Bylund Michael Byrne Xiang Cao Ole Caprani Sheelagh Carpendale Michelle Cart Justine Cassell Antonio Cerone Annmarie ChadwickDias Matthew Chalmers Alex Chaparro Neil Charness Fang Chen Ed Chi Andy Cockburn Gilbert Cockton Phil Cohen Stephane Conversy Jon Cook Steve Cornett Anna Cox Lorrie Cranor Martha Crosby Edward Cutrell Sara Czaja Mary Czerwinski Liwei Dai Antonella DeAngeli Andrew Dearden Clarisse De Souza Heather Desurvire Anind Dey Wayne Dick Chris DiGiano Ellen Yi-Luen Do Paul Dourish Nicolas Ducheneaut Andrew Duchowski Catherine Dwyer Keith Edwards Darin Ellis Pier Luigi Emiliani Ida Engholm Tom Erickson Eva Eriksson Peter Fairweather Daniel Fällman Weiguo Fan

Ubiquitous interaction places the user in the centre of dynamic configurations of technology, where work not necessarily is performed through a single personal computer, but supported by a multiplicity of technologies and physical devices. This paper presents an activity-theoretically based framework for analyzing ubiquitous substitution, i.e. a set of mediators that are or can be continuously substituted with the purpose of highlighting expected and indented uses, and the conflicts encountered when attempting substitution between them. The paper develops a four-leveled analysis of such mediators, and point towards a minimalist approach to design of ubiquitous interaction.

We present a study comparing the handling of three kinds of maps, each on a physical device: a paper map, a tablet-PC based map, and a cellular phone based one. Six groups of users were asked to locate eight landmarks, looking out a window, and using a particular map. We have begun analyzing video recordings of the situations, and this paper will give examples of the handling of the three kinds of physical devices.

Project based education is growing in importance in elementary schools though it is still quite poorly technologically supported, particularly with respect to actively taking advantage of contextual information. Based on an empirical study of teaching and in particular project based education in Danish elementary schools, we present the HyConExplorer, a geospatial hypermedia system supporting project based education and learning outside of the classroom through contextualization of information. More specifically, the HyCon-Explorer provides means for: browsing with your feet, annotating the world, and overview at a glance.

In this paper we present the eCell; a temporary, collaborative niche for group work in school environments. The eCell consists of a private inner display and a public outer display located in unused public spaces e.g. in corridors and libraries throughout the school premises. The inner display is a large touch-sensitive screen connected to a standard computer. The outer display consists of a projection on a large semitransparent surface. Combined, the two displays comprise an IT-supported, collaborative environment especially suited for project based education. Through three iterations of design, we describe the technological, the spatial and the educational aspects of the eCell and outline its potential for supporting collaborative activities in a temporary niche, in which the architecture of the school itself reflects ongoing work. Thus, the eCell stimulates knowledge sharing, awareness and social interaction among pupils and teachers who are part of the school community.

This paper describes the eBag infrastructure, which is a generic infrastructure inspired from work with school children who could benefit from a electronic schoolbag for collaborative handling of their digital material. The eBag infrastructure is utilizing the Context-aware HyCon framework and collaborative web services based on WebDAV. A ubiquitous login and logout mechanism has been built based on BlueTooth sensor networks. The eBag infrastructure has been tried out in field tests with school kids. In this paper we discuss experiences and design issues for ubiquitous Web integration in interactive school environments with multiple interactive whiteboards and workstations. This includes proposals for specialized and adaptive XLink structures for organizing school materials as well as issues in login/logout based on proximity of different display surfaces.

In this paper, we describe the eBag, the individual pupil’s repository for digital material as a supplement to the physical school bag. The eBag is a flexible software infrastructure in which children can access their digital material with a seamless login.

In this paper we discuss recent developments in interaction design principles for ubiquitous computing environments, specifically implications related to situated and mobile aspects of work. We present 'Interaction through Negotiation' as a general Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) paradigm, aimed at ubiquitous/pervasive technology and environments, with focus on facilitating negotiation in and between webs of different artifacts, humans and places. This approach is concerned with the way technology presents itself to us, both as physical entities and as conceptual entities, as well as the relations between these presentations, as we move between different work settings and tasks. It incorporates a much-needed focus on availability, interpretability and connectivity as fundamental for understanding and supporting HCI in relation to single devices as well as complex constellations of them. Based on several extensive empirical case studies, as well as co-operative design-sessions, we present a reflective analysis providing insights into results of the "Interaction through Negotiation" design approach in action. A very promising area of application is exception handling in pervasive computing environments.

This paper describes the eBag infrastructure, which is a generic infrastructure inspired from work with school children who need an electronic schoolbag for collaborative handling of their digital material. The eBag infrastructure is written on top of the Context-aware HyCon framework and collaborative web services based on WebDAV. A ubiquitous login mechanism has been built based on BlueTooth sensor networks The eBag infrastructure has been tried out in field tests with school kids. The paper discuss experiences and design issues for ubiquitous web integration in interactive school environments with multiple interactive whiteboards and workstations. This includes specialized Xlink structures for organizing school materials as well as issues in login/logout based on proximity within the aura of different display surfaces.

In this paper we present the eCell; a temporary collaborative learning environment designed for the elementary school. The eCell incorporates a spatial as well as an IT design dimension supporting pupils engaged in project work. The eCell may be situated in the corridors, libraries or in other shared spaces of school environments.