PEN BOOK

In order for computational devices to become truly ubiquitous, their sense of preciousness to the owner must be diminished. This loss of preciousness is achieved when objects are viewed only as input/output devices with minimal functional computation.

We began by strictly looking at the tangible and digital affordances and how they play out in a model of ubiquitous computation that allows the computer to remain as the primary "smart object"—stripped away from any tangible input/output mechanism. This led to an interesting perspective on designing devices which are inert, uninteresting, and unprecious. We feel it's this design model that will lead to true ubiquity of computational affordance.

We used the Pen and Book as ideal examples for the execution of this perspective. Our Pen is as unsuspecting as any regular pen, but has the digital affordance of recording and transmitting to the network. The Book is a sequential screen interface that can upload any type of content with the characteristic of permanence from page to page. The ideal realization of these objects would be the same as an everyday pen and magazine.