Fields: Towards Socially Intelligent Spatial Computing

Abstract: In our everyday life, we intuitively use space to regulate our social interactions. When we want to talk to someone, we approach them; if someone joins the conversation, we adjust our bodies to make space for them. In contrast, devices are not as considerate: they interrupt us, require us to input commands, and compete for our attention. In this paper, we introduce Fields, a design framework for ubiquitous computing that informs the design of connected products with social grace. Inspired by interactionist theories on social interaction, Fields builds on the idea that the physical space we share with computers can be an interface to mediate interactions. It defines a generalized approach to spatial interactions, and a set of interaction patterns that can be adapted to different ubiquitous computing systems. We investigated its value by implementing it in a set of prototypes and evaluating it in a lab setting.