With the InterSmArt project, the AMBIENTE division participates in the Ladenburger Kolleg "Living in a Smart Environment - Implications Of Ubiquitous Computing” of the „Gottlieb Daimler- and Karl Benz Foundation“.

Goal
The goal of the InterSmArt project is to develop a better understanding of the useroriented design of new interaction forms for Smart Artefacts. This is achieved in two ways. On the one hand, based on psychological methodology, so called “affordances” are investigated that help users to intuitively realize the interaction capabilities and functionality of the artefacts, so that new but coherent interaction experiences can emerge. On the other hand, first prototypes of Smart Arte-facts can also be developed and evaluated.

Issues
Smart Environments result from the interaction of a multitude of Smart Artefacts, i.e. objects enhanced by IT-components offering computerbased functionality.
Living in such a Smart Environment is determined by new forms of interaction between single persons or groups of persons and new kinds of artefacts. To design Smart Environments that are suitable for humans and that promote communication and cooperation, it is necessary to analyse their constituents from a cognitive and social psychology perspective.

Approach
Based on previous work on cognition- and perception psychology about "affordances" as well as on our own research, the affordances for real and virtual worlds and their integration in “augmented” or “hybrid worlds” are specified in such a way that they can form a foundation for the realization of artefacts and their interaction design.
Based on our theoretical preparatory work, prototypical implementations of Smart Artefacts will be realized. For this realization, innovative interaction forms will be developed. Contextual information regarding the dependence on situation, location, and artefact are especially considered.
Depending on this context, different representations of information will be realized for different kinds of devices. Also, existing devices or Smart Artefacts will be evaluated in terms of their capabilities in providing suitable affordances. From this perspective, smartness relates to the intelligent adaptation of interaction to the properties of both the real world and of their counterpart in the virtual world.
Accordingly, a key focus of InterSmArt lies on the interaction between different artefacts and the associated interrelation of artefact-related affordances.
An example for this is the coupling of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and interactive walls. The affordances of both artefacts suggest an interaction design that associates anything related to input to the PDA with its advanced input capabilities, whereas the perception of information should take place on the large display of the interactive wall, because its size affords perceiving information there.

Dr. rer. nat. Dr. phil. Norbert A. Streitz (streitz@ipsi.fhg.de)
Dipl. Psych. Carsten Magerkurth (magerkur@ipsi.fhg.de)