S. Olberding, Jürgen Steimle, Suranga Nanayakkara, Pattie Maes

Abstract

CloudDrops is a pervasive awareness platform that integrates virtual information from the Web more closely with the contextually rich physical spaces in which we live and work. CloudDrops consists of many interactive stampsized displays, each showing a tiny bit of digital information. The large number of displays and their small size allows the user to flexibly instrument, orchestrate and reconfigure her personal information environment. We show different form factors for stamp-sized displays, provide a device concept and a first implementation. We propose lightweight visualizations and interaction techniques that are tailored to the tiny device form factor. Moreover, we contribute techniques for associating these small displays with content that the user wants to stay aware of, including Web pages, contacts, and places. To demonstrate the capabilities of the platform, we present several application examples. A user study provides first insights into how CloudDrops enable users to create a personalized information environment by distributing stamp-sized displays over the entire architectural space.