Making it pervasive: computing, healthcare and user innovation

Computing is undergoing fundamental changes as computation literally moves out of the box and begins to pervade our environment. Visions of (almost) almighty, intelligent agents taking care of our needs even before we know we have them are abundant. But current reality is somewhat different and just figuring out how to print or synchronize data on a mobile phone is often a problem. We will look at some of the challenges in developing useful applications, services and systems based on pervasive computing and illustrate these with examples from the healthcare area. What about physical/digital integration? What happens with interaction styles? What happens when systems cross organizational borders and integrate work and daily life? How may we organize innovative development processes? Answers are only beginning to emerge, but they point to a future where computing pervade our environment in useful, learnable and enjoyable ways.