Out-of-the-Lab Pervasive Computing

The articles in this special section focus on out-of-the-laboratory pervasive computing. The radical societal changes we are witnessing as a result of COVID-19 are giving rise to not only new challenges but also new opportunities for pervasive computing and its researchers. As social distancing measures are making it harder to conduct lab-based user studies and in-person observations, researchers are now faced with the challenge of designing and conducting studies remotely. Many examples of out-of-the-lab research exist from the time before COVID-19, in particular, leveraging pervasive technologies, such as mobile phones2 and smartphones,3 public displays4 , smart watches,7 smart glasses,1 and VR glasses,5 to just name a few examples.