Seamful and Seamless Design in Ubiquitous Computing

In this paper, we question the assumption that seamless integration of computer system components is necessarily a design requirement for ubiquitous computing. We explore Mark Weiser’s notions of seamlessness and ‘seamfulness’, and apply them in discussing system design and use. The physical nature of ubicomp systems reveals itself in, for example, uncertainty in sensing and ambiguity of representations. These ‘seams’ may be inevitable, and users perceive and appropriate them for their own uses. Users can benefit from them, and new opportunities for seamful design arise if we take fuller account of them. We offer some examples of seams and initial suggestions for seamful designs, drawing from previous work in ubiquitous computing, mixed reality systems and media spaces, but focusing on our own system that lets a visitor using a PDA in a museum exhibition co-visit with people using virtual reality and web versions of the same exhibition.

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