Hummingbirds (1999-2000)
Proximity-sensing mobile awareness devices
Proximity-sensing mobile awareness devices
The Hummingbird is a portable device that supports awareness of presence between group members frequenting the same physical space. It is fitted with a radio transceiver capable of detecting other Hummingbirds, allowing the carriers to be alerted to and become aware of each others presence. It is noteworthy that this device was built before Bluetooth chips were available off-the-shelf.
The objective of the project was, in addition to building the Hummingbirds themselves, to study how they affect groups and in which situations they would support or disrupt group dynamics. We took inspiration from related research fields such as calm technology (Weiser and Brown, 1996) that explores how technology can be both informative and encalming while also enhancing our lives and making tasks easier without adding to the noise and information overload.
“Calm technology engages both the center and the periphery of our
attention, and in fact moves back and forth between the two. We use
“periphery” to name what we are attuned to without attending to
explicitly.” (Weiser & Brown, 1996)
Bill Buxton refers to foreground and background modes of communication (Buxton, 1995), incorporating ideas similar to those of calm technology. Foreground activities take place in the center of human consciousness and are intentional activities, such as talking on the telephone or typing on a keyboard. Background activities take place in the periphery of attention and include for example being aware of someone in the corridor, or an unusual
sound coming from the engine of the car you are driving. This illustrates the distinction between being tuned in to an activity, and being attuned to it.
We used a iterative prototyping process, and created three generations of hardware and software to improve the reliability, the intuitiveness of the interface, and portability. The generation depicted here is the third generation.
We evaluated the prototypes in various settings, such as a formal office location and at the Roskilde music festival (90.000 visitors). The Hummingbird project was widely published at academic conferences and journals.
In the core team were also Lars Erik Holmquist and Joakim Wigström.
1. Holmquist, Lars Erik, Falk, Jennica and Wigström, Joakim (1999): Supporting Group Collaboration with Interpersonal Awareness Devices. In Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 3 (1).
The objective of the project was, in addition to building the Hummingbirds themselves, to study how they affect groups and in which situations they would support or disrupt group dynamics. We took inspiration from related research fields such as calm technology (Weiser and Brown, 1996) that explores how technology can be both informative and encalming while also enhancing our lives and making tasks easier without adding to the noise and information overload.
“Calm technology engages both the center and the periphery of our
attention, and in fact moves back and forth between the two. We use
“periphery” to name what we are attuned to without attending to
explicitly.” (Weiser & Brown, 1996)
Bill Buxton refers to foreground and background modes of communication (Buxton, 1995), incorporating ideas similar to those of calm technology. Foreground activities take place in the center of human consciousness and are intentional activities, such as talking on the telephone or typing on a keyboard. Background activities take place in the periphery of attention and include for example being aware of someone in the corridor, or an unusual
sound coming from the engine of the car you are driving. This illustrates the distinction between being tuned in to an activity, and being attuned to it.
We used a iterative prototyping process, and created three generations of hardware and software to improve the reliability, the intuitiveness of the interface, and portability. The generation depicted here is the third generation.
We evaluated the prototypes in various settings, such as a formal office location and at the Roskilde music festival (90.000 visitors). The Hummingbird project was widely published at academic conferences and journals.
In the core team were also Lars Erik Holmquist and Joakim Wigström.
1. Holmquist, Lars Erik, Falk, Jennica and Wigström, Joakim (1999): Supporting Group Collaboration with Interpersonal Awareness Devices. In Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 3 (1).
Hummingbirds generation 1
A Hummingbird in an intended usage situation.
