This master thesis is done in collaboration with Space and Virtuality studio of
the Interactive Institute in Malmö. The project ActionBlocks, at the Space
studio, relate to the requirements concerning hardware for ubiquitous
computing. A system of intelligent building blocks is developed to be able to
build functional HiFi prototypes fast. The building blocks are distributed in
space and small, cheap web servers, called TINI, integrate the devices.
ActionBlocks may be regarded as physical interfaces. The intention is that
systems of different ActionBlocks (tag readers, digital cameras, loud-speakers,
lamps, buttons etc.) may easily be constructed to support interaction with
digital media in different projects. To be able to do this the ActionBlocks
need to be assembled by a flexible architecture that can change when the needs
alter. The goal with this thesis is to propose a concept for such an
architecture. Except for the concept the thesis also contains an investigation
of related architectures to explore what user aspect they have in the various
projects and an implementation of a minor prototype to discover if the concept
is valid in practice.
ActionBlocks consist of an intelligent (digital) part and a physical part and
it is possible to discern three different approaches towards the ActionBlocks.
There are:
· Physical - Action approach where the physical part and what happens in the
real world is what matters.
· Physical - Computational - Action approach where both parts are integrated on
equal terms.
· Computational approach where the intelligent part is most important and this
view makes it possible for an ActionBlock to only contain an intelligent part.
The approaches are entertained by three different user roles: the user, the
interaction designer and the programmer. The user only interacts with the
physical part of the ActionBlocks and is therefore only concerned about that
part. He designs in use of ActionBlocks. The interaction designer assembles the
ActionBlocks into a system. He configures the system and is concerned about the
performance and the appearance of the ActionBlocks. Therefore he focuses on
both the intelligent and the physical part. The interaction designer designs
the interaction with the ActionBlocks. The programmer is the one that controls
what can be done with an ActionBlock. He designs ActionBlocks. In development
only the computational part is of interest because it is the only thing the
programmer interacts with. The three ways to interact with ActionBlocks have an
internal relationship. Development is needed to alter the possibilities to do
configuration and use. The configuration forms a platform to use, because it
provides new possibilities to customize it. This leads to a division into three
aspects: Use, configuration and development. The partition makes it possible to
focus on one aspect at a time. The three aspects have it counterparts in three
different architectures: Pure Peer-to-Peer, Peer-to-Peer with distributed
service and client-server architecture. The result is that the concept for an
architecture for ActionBlocks is divided into three parts. One for each aspect.
The concepts suggests that when the user interacts with the system the
architecture is Peer-to-Peer and when the interaction designer interact with
the...
