Visible Past

A gWiki
technology for
ubiquitous
museums

Sorin Adam Matei

Visiblepast.net
Ideagora.us
Purdue University
The web 3.0 revolution
• Web 1.0
– push

• Web 2.0
– pull and network

• Web 3.0
– personal
• always with your
• always on
• networkable
– mobile:
• you don’t search for information
information searches for you
– contextual
• Social, spatial, temporal
– and it’s in 3D!
Web 3.0
Premises

Why the personal

computer should
die so that
computing could
be truly personal
The invisible computer
• Personal computing not
truly personal
• Not sufficiently
– Portable
– Adopted to our level of skill,
interest or to our immediate
goals
– Adaptable to specific places
and times of usage
– Over-reliance on a master-
slave paradigm (where the
slave is the user: “click
here!”)
From devices to infrastructures
•The Sears Electric Motor
Metaphor
•@ 1918 Sears Roebuck
sold individual electrical
engines with attachments,
for using it as a kitchen
mixer, vibrator, fan, etc.
•Electric engines became
truly useful after they
became invisible (NORMAN)

•We are in a situation similar to

that at the beginning of the 20th
century
•A new method of doing
things was discovered, but
is not integrated in an
adequate infrastructure
Principles for a future computing
environment
• Computing should be an
infrastructure, not a series of
independent devices

• No more computers, large or

small (including the dreaded
PDAs)

• Long Live Information

Appliances
– Tools that do one thing, but
well

• Long live infrastructures,

interoperability and open
standards
 Design principles for
Information Appliances
• Simplicity
– One click, point and shoot,
“tickle me here” device
• Versatility
– Should be able to work with a
variety of other services and
devices
• Pleasurability
– They should be a joy to use
• Sense of control
• Sense accomplishment
• Cool factor without being too
edgy
 Design principles for
future infrastructures
• Open standards
seamless
connectivity

• Open source
software/free
software

• Scalable
Cloud computing
The Multisphere
Several levels
– Personal
(PAN)
– Local (LAN)
– Wide (Wan)
Mixes the
personal with
the social and
the local with
the virtual
The era of location aware
applications
• What kind of
information is
available about this
location
• Overlaid in real-time
– What activities are
possible at this location
– What did this place look
like 10 years ago?
– What activities I have
completed at this
location and I have not
finished, yet?
The not so distant future
• Augmented reality
– What is the story behind this
building?
– Who lived in this apartment
before me?
– Who designed this car?
– Where is the wiring in this
room?
– Where is the leak in the
plumbing?
• Ambiental devices
– Signal through color, sound
– Color of desk ORB signals
stock prices
– Umbrella handle reminds
you to pick it up
– Wallpaper changes color
with indoor/outdoor
temperature
The present
• Can we design a
system that is based
on
– Open standards
– Free software
– Scalable
– Extensible
– Location Aware
– And that works?
– Can we learn from it
what does the future
have in store for us?
gWiki as a Web 3.0 platform
• A bet on the future
• Focuses on
designing and
understanding
applications rooted
in the Multisphere
• Social collaboration
and location aware
environment
• A portable
communication
environment
WHY?
• Taking the museum out of the
building
– Information seeded on the web
once becomes available
everywhere
• Turning the museum into an after
hours teaching tool
– Teaching scenario in reality when
the museum is closed

• Research tool for curators: net

centric unified exhibit
management that unites the
artifacts with their contexts
(social, spatial, temporal)

• Portable information environment

• Follows the user

 WHAT?
A gwiki – information
stored with x,y,z,t
metadata

A method to store and

access knowledge

A set of web and

mobile tools that
deliver knowledge on
the fly
How?
• Every bit of information is
connected to a geographic place
on Earth and is time stamped

• Knowledge can be browsed by

keywords, time, or geographic
location

• Users can both read and write

information into the system
(wikistyle)

• Social spatial networking tools

Usability questions
• What kind of
experiences best fit
specific tasks?
– Should we deliver
multitasking
information on the go?
– Right mix of audio,
video, text information?
– Right kind of
output/input
device/experience?
Matei, S. A., * Wheatley, D. and Faiola,
D. (2006, June). Multipurpose mobile – Importance of physical
devices, graphic user interfaces, and
physical affordances: A Case Study.
affordances
Paper presented at the Annual
Conference of the International
Communication Association, Dresden,
Germany.
Related Projects
• Alterpode.com –
educating America
(and the world) about
its right place in the
world

• ThoughtArk.com –
Saving ourselves from
the information deluge

• Ideagora.us – Media
solutions