Call for Papers: Designing for palpability Workshop at Pervasive 2007, 13-16 May 2007, Toronto

Workshop Website: http://www.ist-palcom.org/palpable_pervasive_2007

Conference Website: http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/conferences/pervasive2007/program_workshops.p...

Abstract
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Pervasive computing is becoming a reality, but people often find it hard to understand its potential, let alone appropriate it creatively. The word 'palpability' captures an important element of what is necessary to realise the possibilities of pervasive computing, especially in its meaning of 'plainly observable', 'noticeable, 'manifest, obvious, clear'. Palpability is not a property of the technology itself, but an effect of people's engagement with technologies, objects, and environments. For designers of pervasive computing, this means that they cannot design palpability /into/ technologies, but can design /for/ palpability, to support people in making computing palpable. Doing so challenges a number of concepts introduced with the vision for pervasive computing. For example, 'invisibility', 'ambient intelligence', 'autonomy', or'(de-)composition' turn out to require respecification with regard to people's practices of using technologies at work, and in everyday life nd play. Notions like inspection, experimentation, translation,emergent use, breakdown etc. become important. A number of people work on 'palpability' related issues. This is an opportunity to present and discuss ideas, prototypes and studies. Please join us!