A review of the book Digital Ground: Architecture, Pervasive Computing, and Environmental Knowing.
“McCullough introduces a set of typologies for pervasive computing products. Types are “generative design abstractions”, which “unite periphery, passivity, phenomenology, adaptability, affordance, facility, appropriateness, and scale.” Although that sounds overwhelming, consider a simple urban architectural type: the sidewalk cafe, which probably suggests to you not just some formal requirements, but some social patterns, behavioral etiquette, and may trigger some memories of experiences. This is embodiment at work. In the middle section of the book, McCullough explores a set of “situated types” for pervasive computing at length, along with ten technological “functions” that form pervasive computing systems (such as “sensors detect action”). The types read something like a cross between Alexander’s architectural design patterns and interaction design scenarios, and are the most exciting section of the book. It would be a productive exercise to use the ten functions to brainstorm ideas for pervasive computing within the types.”
Link: Review of Malcolm McCullough’s ‘Digital Ground’ (hoytowell.com)
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