Situated Software: Concepts, Motivation, Technology, and the Future

Situated software, a type of opportunistic software, is created by a small subset of users to fulfill a specific purpose. For example, business users have been creating situated software through mashups, which combine data from multiple sources on internal systems or the Internet. Situated software can change the way users access, perceive, and consume information, and can allow users to finally focus on what to do with information, rather than where to find it or how to get to it. However, situated software also has limitations. This article identifies situated software's role, provides examples of its use, traces the Internet's role in its rapid evolution, outlines areas where it is appropriate, describes its limitations, and presents enablers for adopting situated software in an enterprise.