This invited talk starts out with a review of the previously developed Roomware® concept and sample prototypes as an approach for designing new forms of interaction and collaboration in future work environments. This is followed by presenting the EU-funded proactive initiative "The Disappearing Computer" (DC), a cluster of 17 related projects designing new people-friendly environments in which the "computer-as-we-know-it" has no role. Finally, a specific example of the DC-initiative is presented, the project "Ambient Agoras: Dynamic Information Clouds in a Hybrid World". It aims at transforming places into social marketplaces ('agoras') of ideas and information, providing situated services and feeling of the place ('genius loci') by creating new social architectural spaces. This is achieved by developing combinations of ambient displays and mobile devices that require and provide new forms of natural and intuitive interaction. 1 Roomwa...
Norbert A. Streitz