- Chapter 5
- Human-centred Ambient Intelligence:
Human-computer Relationships for the Knowledge Era
- Paul T Kidd
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- Introduction
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- This chapter deals with the
topic of a different type of compute-based technology, different
that is, to the one that people have become familiar with. The
envisioned computer-based technology can be described as human-centred,
that is to say, as opposed to the technology-centred technology
that has become so ubiquitous in the early part of the 21st century.
The road to achieving such a human-centred technology is lined
with many obstacles. But first, what is the starting point? Where
does the journey begin?
Information and communication technologies are in the process
of becoming a taken-for-granted part of everyday life. Steadily,
digital technologies are being incorporated into the fabric of
society: medical services, banking, retailing, manufacturing,
transport, entertainment, education, and many other activities,
have all become highly dependent on information and communication
technologies. Without digital technologies, society would be
unable to function in the way that people have become use to.
The technologies have provided the means by which people have
been able to increase their participation in many social activities.
Moreover, businesses operate in ways that are only made possible
through the use of information and communication technologies.
In addition, professionals in all disciplines use computers as
an integral part of their everyday activities. And most importantly,
innovation in this field, and continued take-up of new technology,
is a driver for economic growth and improvements in productivity:
failure to ensure that this innovation and technology take-up
is sustained will be very damaging for the economies of both
the industrialised and the developing nations.
This diffusion of information and communication technologies
into everyday objects is sometimes referred to as pervasive computing.
The view of the computer as boxes on desks or in computer rooms
is now very much outdated and misleading. Computers can be found
just about everywhere, but their presence is not noticed, because
the technologies are often embedded within items. And the information
and communication technology content of many products, for example,
cars, is continuing to increase. Thus, information and communication
technologies have already started to move out from boxes, and
are becoming an aspect of the built environment: they are part
of products, services, and artefacts, and are adding intelligence
to the surroundings, thus leading to the beginnings of so-called
ambient intelligence.
Ambient intelligence is a European vision that places human beings
at the centre of future development of the knowledge-based society
and information and communication technologies. Computing devices
will be embedded in many everyday objects, many of which will
be networked together, and these technologies will be almost
invisible to those who use them, and interfaces will be easy
and natural to use. Ambient intelligence also demands contextual
understanding on the part of computers, as they must in some
way understand the user and the circumstances that apply at a
particular point of interaction.
Ambient intelligence is a European perspective on how the trend
towards pervasive computing can be shaped to Europe's advantage,
and to the benefit of its businesses and citizens. It is a vision
of what lies beyond the computer as boxes on desks or in computer
rooms.
However the vision of ambient intelligence poses a number of
concerns. Some are obvious and have already become important
worries with the advent of the internet age: protection of privacy,
creating trust, ensuring security, preventing the hijacking of
the technologies for criminal purposes. Yet there is one matter
that is perhaps less obvious, but which may prove to be a major
roadblock.
A belief has been expressed [1] that ambient intelligence will
not be widely accepted and used, unless users are deeply involved
in the shaping of these technologies. Developers, it is proposed,
need to do more than just bring new technologies to users to
ask them what they think. A novel two-way relationship needs
to be established between those that develop new technologies
and those that use them. Users should be integrated into the
processes of research and development, and new product creation
and introduction. Users should be part of the innovation process,
a source of ideas, and not just a resource to evaluate ideas
generated by professionals. In effect what is being proposed
is the development of a new approach to research and technology
development, and the later activity of developing and introducing
new commercial ambient intelligence products and services.
This new way of undertaking these activities can be summarised
as design, by, with and for users. But is this enough to ensure
acceptance? Possibly not! For no matter how much users are involved,
a key issue is that, technologists bring to their work a set
of values, and those values tend to devalue human roles and contributions,
and emphasise the importance of technology as being in someway
superior to humans. Put succinctly, computers are better than
people are, and if people are involved in someway, then they
represent a weakness in the design.
The above, of course, is an age old issue, but it is not one
that has gone away. Over the years it has surfaced from time
to time, and then slipped from view. But it is nevertheless still
very important, and not a matter that has ever been satisfactorily
resolved. The topic has been formalised with the Human Factors
community under the name of allocation of functions (between
man and machine). But this approach has been subject to significant
criticism. The critique can be summarised by stating that allocation
of functions does not correspond with much of the reality of
technology systems design, and most importantly, ignores the
central role of values in design. And it is in values, in the
relationship between computers and people, where the solutions
to the problems lie.
The knowledge era is heralded as a new age for humankind, implying
some sort of transition from the past, to a new and different
future, one based on the value of information and knowledge.
The age that is being left behind, the industrial era, was, to
a large extent, based on subjugation of human skills, knowledge,
expertise, and purpose to the demands of a resource-intensive
system of mass production. This led to a relationship between
people and machines, where the needs of machines were predominant,
and technology was designed, as far as possible, to eliminate
the need for human intelligence, or to move this need to a select
group of people within organisations, such as engineers and managers.
To move forward into the knowledge era, involves leaving behind
the baggage of the industrial age. But how can this be done?
What concepts are important and what fundamental principles apply?
Contextual understanding on the part of computers is probably
the key to the creation of an ambient intelligence that serves
people, rather than one that places people in a position of subservience
to machines. But to achieve contextual understanding in a broad
sense, allowing room for specific human characteristics such
as a desire to play or to experiment, requires a new vision of
the relationships between people and computers, one that could
be termed an intelligent human-computer relationship, leading
to a human-centred ambient intelligence. And the remainder of
the chapter charts the way forward, starting with the topic called
allocation of functions. -
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