Mark Weiser’s seminal work on Ubiquitous Computation or UbiComp, discusses the potential improvements that ubiquitous computation could provide in our everyday lives. It focuses primarily on a size hierarchy of these computers in an office setting. Ranging from small “Tabs” to a larger “boards”, each of these sizes provides a wide amount of possibilities for application of computers’ services with each size supporting its own purposes. Weiser discusses the three technologies necessary to make these computation devices a reality in an office setting and beyond; Cheap, low-power computers that include equally convenient displays, software for ubiquitous applications and a network that ties them all together. Weiser goes on to describe the challenges in harnessing this technology. After expressing all of these technologies he almost discredits them by very candidly explaining that all that he has written is a prediction of what could come and although it may be necessary for a world of ubiquitous computing, it fails to “really give a sense of what it would be like to live in a world full of invisible widgets” (Weiser, 9). Weiser then creates a story for the reader, following a woman named Sal who seems to lead a normal life with the help of ubiquitous computers. He describes the obvious benefits of this technology but also goes into some potential hazards, namely privacy. Weiser goes on to conclude that he and his colleagues at PARC believe that ubiquitous computing will “gradually emerge as the dominant mode of computer access over the next 20 years” (Weiser, 10).
The first thing that I thought of when I saw the playfulness element of democratized practice was a kid’s watch. It makes the kid happy and allows them to have a flashy cartoon character watch while also giving them the opportunity to both learn how to tell time and determine the time once they have learned how to. I think that although watches were already developed at the time that Weiser came out with his vision of UbiComp, they do a good job of representing his vision. A watch is a super small device that sits on your arm and is essentially invisible to the wearer until it is necessary. Now, with things like an apple watch, we can link these time-telling devices to our phones and receive calls, send texts, and more.
This makes me think that the vision Weiser held for UbiComp is approaching fruition. It seems that we certainly have the technology to achieve what he was hoping for, but its more a question of determining what we want, how to develop them, and how to ensure that they do not lead to any ethical issues. In general, with the amount of technology that surrounds us, we certainly are in an age of ubiquitous computation even if our current reality does not fall directly in line with what Weiser predicted.
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