Socio-Technical Implementation: Socio-technical Systems in the Context of Ubiquitous Computing, Ambient Intelligence, Embodied Virtuality, and the Internet of Things

In which computer science world do we design and implement our socio-technical systems? About every five or ten years new computer and interaction paradigms are introduced. We had the mainframe computers, the various generations of computers, including the Japanese fifth generation computers, the role of artificial intelligence and the hype of expert systems. Moreover, we had the advent of personal computers, the first hobby and ‘garage’ computers, leading to companies such as Atari, Apple and Microsoft. Before that, there was already ARPANET (1969) leading to Internet and the TCP/IP protocol suite in the 1970s. Tim Berners-Lee introduction of the World Wide Web and the introduction of graphical web browsers in the early 1990s were other milestones. Moreover, we saw the development of telecommunications networks and the further rise of Internet and World Wide Web use, due to professional and, most of all, non-professional use and users. Embedding computer power in all kinds of appliances, including mobile and other wearable appliances, lead us away from desktop and keyboard and mouse applications. Global and local networks of such computing devices, using sensors (including microphones and cameras) and wireless network technology are an impetus to research on applications such as virtual educational and game communities, virtual workspaces, and virtual meeting facilities. Rather than this technology just allowing people to communicate with each other (in the context of these applications) we now have the possibility to make this mediated communication (more) natural, since the intelligent sensors that are now available allow the mediating of verbal and nonverbal social cues that are known to be important in human face-to-face or human multi-party interaction.