Conceptual Abstraction in Modelling With Physical and Informational Material

Abstract

In the vision of ubiquitous (Weiser, 1991) and pervasive (Various, 1999) computing, informational and physical materials are converging to create new types of artefact. These artefacts exist like the physical artefacts that we are used to, but also comprise an additional dimension, one where they can store and compute information. We refer to these objects as tangible objects, for we believe that these artefacts will become more real, richer and satisfying in our interaction with them — more tangible, as it were. The understanding and discussion of tangible objects forms the subject of our research project, TangO (May et al., 2001a, b; Andersen and Nowack, 2002; Hallenborg and Kristensen, 2002). In Chapter 7, “Habitats for the Digitally Pervasive World”, we discussed the TangO project and some underlying background and motivation. That chapter also discusses the notion of habitats, the construct we use for characterizing the environments and spaces in which tangible objects are located. This chapter takes a perspective on tangible objects themselves.