Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits and Atoms

This paper presents our vision of Human Computer Interaction (HCI): "Tangible Bits. " Tangible Bits allows users to "grasp & manipulate " bits in the center of users’ attention by coupling the bits with everyday physical objects and architectural surfaces. Tangible Bits also enables users to be aware of background bits at the periphery of human perception using ambient display media such as light, sound, airflow, and water movement in an augmented space. The goal of Tangible Bits is to bridge the gaps between both cyberspace and the physical environment, as well as the foreground and background of human activities. This paper describes three key concepts of Tangible Bits: interactive surfaces; the coupling of bits with graspable physical objects; and ambient media for background awareness. We illustrate these concepts with three prototype systems – the metaDESK, transBOARD and ambientROOM – to identify underlying research issues. Keywords tangible user interface, ambient media, graspable user interface, augmented reality, ubiquitous computing, center and periphery, foreground and backgroun