The Ubiquitous Computing course has been designed as a space where students can reflect on the role and responsibilities of the interaction designer and how to interact with technology and the environment. The course aims to explore the design space of ubiquitous systems, that is, those interactive systems that go beyond the desktop computer and that are integrated into the fabric of our daily activities through a "embodied virtuality", with the aim to provide new possibilities for people to interact more meaningfully with their environment. The deeply multidisciplinary subject analyzes the historical journey on the development of human-computer interaction, highlighting the computer technologies and interaction techniques that make it possible for computing to "leave" the desktop computer to integrate into the physical world .
On the one hand, new devices, technologies and interaction paradigms for ubiquitous environments are addressed in a theoretical and practical way, such as API for distributed web systems, interfaces for large interactive screens and multi-touch, tangible and embodied interaction, so that students acquire knowledge about the evolution of computing and human-computer interaction from mainframes to ubiquitous computing.
On the other hand, the course wants to offer the substrate to understand the possibilities and problems that arise when designing distributed systems with new technologies and interaction techniques. Therefore, different cognitive theories, such as embodied cognition or distributed cognition, are emphasized, describing how their principles can be applied to the design of natural user interfaces. Likewise, the opportunities and technical limitations of distributed systems and computer networks to implement new interfaces and natural interactions are analyzed. Finally, new techniques for designing ubiquitous interaction systems are studied and practiced, such as rapid prototyping techniques.
Upon successful completion of this course, the student acquires the abilities to:
- Define the main ideas and concepts as well as the vocabulary of ubiquitous computing
- Describe the different interaction paradigms in ubiquitous computing
- Discuss the advantages (and disadvantages) of the different natural interaction techniques --- multitouch, tangible, embodied, etc.
- Apply different methods for the design of interfaces that integrate different devices and techniques of natural interaction
- Use the appropriate tools to create interactive systems that integrate different interaction devices and techniques
- Cooperate in a team and distribute the workload to face complex problems