Pervasive computing

Architectural Science Review, March, 2005

Digital Ground--Architecture, Pervasive Computing, and Environmental Knowing, by Malcolm McCullough. MIT Press, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA 02142-1493, 2004. 272 pp., ill., index. Price: $US 37.95.

The author is Associate Professor of Architecture and Design in the University of Michigan. In this book he offers an account of the intersections of architecture and interaction design, arguing that the ubiquitous technology does not obviate the human need for place. He introduces the concept of digital ground to express an alternative to 'anytime-anyplace' sameness in computing. He then endeavours to show that context not only shapes usability, but becomes the subject of interaction design. Thus environmental knowing becomes a process that technology may serve and not erode.

The book revolves around the concept of pervasive computing, This represents a major shift from building virtual worlds toward embedding information technology into the ambient social complexities of the physical world. This shift has the advantage of making technology more intuitive by embodiment, but it also has disadvantages from unwanted annoyances and surveillance.

The book is divided into three parts, following by a short epilogue which reviews the epochal changes that occur at present. Part 1, entitled Expectations, explores the technological predispositions, which arise from the embodiment in architectural settings. Part 2, entitled Technologies, discusses hardware, software and its applications, including embedded technology, and building technology genres around life situations. Part 3, entitled Practice, then argues for design as a liberal art, sees interactivity as a cultural, and not a technological challenge, and considers a practical notion of space as essential.

This is a thoughtful, and in places a provocative review of the changing relation between architecture and computing; but McCullough lacks the exceptional skill of William Mitchell [who recently retired from the deanship of MIT's architecture school] for explaining difficult concepts in language even a novice can understand, and this is a book for specialists.