A truly remarkable computing interface is one that is invisible. Even today, computer demand a focus of attention from users. Mark Weiser presents in his paper “The Computer for the 21st Century” a paradigm that pushes computers into the background of our daily physical environment. In the 90’s his team at the Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox) implemented a variety of computational devices including Tabs, Pads, and Boards and the infrastructure that allows these technologies to communicate with each other. These inch-scale tabs and paper-sized pads could be spread across the surface of a physical desktop, but they had the ability to store many more times the information than traditional Post-its and 8×11 paper. He envisioned dozens or hundreds of these interfaces embedded in our homes, cars, and offices, made invisible by our dependency on them to perform specific tasks and organize and present information in our daily routine.

In their paper “Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interactions Between People, Bits, and Atoms,” Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer  also strive to move beyond the dominant model of GUI strapped to computing via flat rectangular display, keyboard, and mouse. The main tenet of their research is that only tangible user interfaces (TUI) can make computing truly ubiquitous and invisible. Unlike Weiser’s model to embed new digital technology in our lives, this paper strives to enhance the physical objects in our current world (both analog and digital) through digital technology. For example, the Media Lab at MIT has enhanced the map-viewing experience through graspable map scaling and rotation devices.

I am part of a team that is using the Microsoft Surface to enhance museum learning and visitor experience at Wellesley College’s Davis Museum and Cultural Center. Through a natural set of gestural and token-based interactions with the surface, visitors can explore and generate interest in key pieces in the museum’s art collection and begin to think critically about the art and their awaited museum experience. At the end of their experience, they are invited to become part of a community of art explorers and interpreters by contributing their thoughts and interpretations to a dynamic “guestbook.” Our DavisTUI interface, to be placed at the center of seating clusters across the Davis Museum lobby, serves as a physical and metaphorical center for a naturally formed community of visitors. Seated in comfortable chairs around this enhanced “coffee table”, the visitors’ interactions with the surface will be candid and inspiring like the museum experience. We believe that DavisTUI has the potential to be a great contribution to the world of ubiquitous computing and novel HCI.

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