The Information Percolator: Ambient Information Display in a Decorative Object

Most current interface designs require that the user focus their attention on them in order to be of value. However, as the price of computation falls, and computational capabilities make their way into many everyday objects, the demand for attention from many different directions may begin to seriously reduce the usefulness of these computational objects. Ambient information displays are intended to fit in a part of the interface design space that does not have this property. They are designed to convey background or context information that the user may or may not wish to attend to at any given time. Ambient Displays are designed to work primarily in the periphery of a user’s awareness, moving to the center of attention only when appropriate and desirable. This paper describes a new ambient information display that is designed to give a rich medium of expression placed within an aesthetically pleasing decorative object. This display – the Information Percolator – is formed usi...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: UIST
• Authors: Jeremy M. Heiner, Scott E. Hudson, Kenichiro Tanaka
• Keywords: Ambient Information Display, Interface Design, Most Current Interface, Software Engineering, UIST 1999