Rethinking Smart Objects: The International Workshop on Interacting with Smart Objects in Interactive Spaces

Martin Schmitz, Sebastian Günther, Karola Marky, Florian Müller, Andrii Matviienko, Alexandra Voit, Roberts Marky, Max Mühlhäuser, Thomas Kosch

ISS 2022

Companion Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces

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TL;DR

What we did: We conducted the Rethinking Smart Objects workshop, focusing on the interaction paradigms and societal implications of smart objects in interactive spaces.

What we found: We found that while significant technical challenges in implementing smart objects have been overcome, there remains a need for further research on user interaction techniques and ethical considerations.

Takeaway: We aim to foster a collaborative environment that encourages researchers and practitioners to explore novel design methods for smart objects, ultimately leading to more user-friendly and intuitive interactions.

Abstract

The increasing proliferation of smart objects in everyday life has changed how we interact with computers. Instead of concentrating computational capabilities and interaction into one device, everyday objects have naturally integrated parts of interactive features. Although this has led to many practical applications, the possibilities for explicit or implicit interaction with such objects are still limited in interaction spaces. We still often rely on smartphones as interactive hubs for controlling smart objects, hence not fulfilling the vision of truly smart objects. The workshop Rethinking Smart Objects invites practitioners and researchers from both academia and industry to discuss novel interaction paradigms and the integration and societal implications of using smart objects in interactive space. This workshop will include an action plan with leading questions, aiming to move the research field forward.