Smartwatch as a remote server monitoring device: Implementation and interaction design

Present day computer ecosystem offers advanced connectivity of numerous devices, systems and services, providing the basis for the Internet of Things paradigm implementation. What most people perceive of its structure often lacks acknowledgement of the smallest parts of it, albeit as of recently the most used ones, namely smartphones and smartwatches. Being recognized as a prominent member of the wearable/ubiquitous computing family, smartwatches have been gaining in popularity proving themselves valuable in various contexts, ranging from providing fitness applications and general health monitoring, to always-on assistive technology for people with special needs. This paper focuses on an alternative approach to using smartwatches, considering them monitoring tools for system and network administrators able to provide fast and readily available information on various network equipment and services. For this purpose a proof-of-concept application suite was built, used to provide the status of important services on a remote Linux-based server, as well as the status of the server system itself. We show how smartwatches can offer different, and some unique, previously considered impractical ways to convey information. Supporting HCI aspects are specifically discussed, with respect to the Pebble smartwatch basic I/O capabilities limited to four hardware buttons and 1.26" monochromatic display.