Ambient Widget: An Ambient Information System Using Gesture-Based Interactions

Ambient Widget is proposed and developed to provide information to users in a public site through a situated display and a simple object that users can wear. Ambient Widget is a context-aware system that provides users with the same information in different formats and volumes depending on the zone. In a zone-based approach, users are provided with a various ranges of information, from ambient and graphics-based information to personal and text-based information depending on the zone the users are in. Users are given a subtle hint with abstract ambient information via messaging in an ambient public situation and are identified through an RFID on a tag inside the detection-zone. They can then read personal messages by actively manipulating the ID tag using gesture-based controls inside the interaction zone. To develop the Ambient Widget device, a tri-axis acceleration sensor was embedded into an ID tag, and seven different gesture interactions with the ID tag were classified to control events for message navigation. Ambient Widget was installed in the lobby area of an international conference so that the participants can communicate through AIS instead of the usual messaging boards. A user study was conducted to evaluate the usability of the components comprising Ambient Widget. 30 users participated in this assessment.