TouchCounters: Designing Interactive Electronic Labels for Physical Containers

We present TouchCounters, an integrated system of electronic modules, physical storage containers, and shelving surfaces for the support of collaborative physical work. Through physical sensors and local displays, TouchCounters record and display usage history information upon physical storage containers, thus allowing access to this information during the performance of real-world tasks. A distributed communications network allows this data to be exchanged with a server, such that users can access this information from remote locations as well. Based upon prior work in ubiquitous computing and tangible interfaces, TouchCounters incorporate new techniques, including usage history tracking for physical objects and multi-display visualization. This paper describes the components, interactions, implementation, and conceptual approach of the TouchCounters system. Keywords Tangible interfaces, ubiquitous computing, distributed sensing, visualization

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Paul Yarin, Hiroshi Ishii
• Keywords: CHI 1999, Human Computer Interaction, Physical Storage Containers, Tangible Interfaces, Ubiquitous Computing