Exiting the Cleanroom: On Ecological Validity and Ubiquitous Computing

Over the past decade and a half, corporations and academies have invested considerable time and money in the realization of ubiquitous computing. Yet design approaches that yield ecologically valid understandings of ubiquitous computing systems, which can help designers make design decisions based on how Scott Carter is a research scientist at FX Palo Alto Laboratory; his work focuses on tool support for early-stage experimentation with ubiquitous computing applications. Jennifer Mankoff is an Assistant Professor in the Human–Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University; her research interests are in tools and techniques for developing iterative prototypes of ubiquitous computing applications, accessible technology, and Internet-scale prototyping and evaluation. Scott Klemmer is an Assistant Professor of computer science at Stanford University; his research passion is enabling designers and other innovators to create interactive media that integrates the physical and digital worlds. Tara Matthews is a computer scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center, with interests in peripheral