New magazine presents IT-design concept of the future

As more and more technologies enter our lives it is crucial that an increasing number of devices are able to function and communicate interactively and that users are able to understand and control the systems surrounding them. A newly distributed 48-pages magazine from the research project PalCom introduces a concept for IT-design that takes up to this challenge.

The EU-funded project PalCom aims to research and develop a new perspective on pervasive computing called ‘palpable computing’. Palpable means that systems are capable of being noticed and apprehended. Palpable systems support people in understanding what is going on at the level they choose and they support control and choice by people.



explains Professor Morten Kyng from the University of Aarhus who is coordinator of the project.




The PalCom magazine introduces the development tools and design principles of palpable computing. Readers can expect a wide range of concrete examples regarding challenges to fight and potential solutions when digging into the visions of making computing palpable.

The magazine features stories on how to understand palpable computing, a software architecture for palpable computing, and the operational prototypes that have been build to challenge and evaluate the visions of the PalCom project. These include, for example, ICT-support for response to major incidents, monitoring of premature babies, rehabilitation of handicapped children, and visualizations of landscapes and construction sites.




A PDF-version of the PalCom magazine is available for download at www.ist-palcom.org/magazine. Hard-copies can be ordered by contacting Marlene Nybro Thomsen ([e-mail]) from the University of Aarhus.




The future belongs to palpable computing
A wider scope for ad-hoc networking
Field-work is one of PalCom’s keys to success
Digital reminders for hand-surgery patients
Major incidents prototypes pump life into palpability
Pleasant pregnancies with palpable IT
Combining and recombining whilst on the move




PalCom is a four-year research project that is funded by the European Union started in 2004. The project is a part of “Future and Emerging Technologies” and thus operates with a long-term research perspective with a total funding of about 9 million Euros. Over a hundred researchers and professional developers take part in PalCom. They come from universities and IT companies all over Europe. The project develops software architecture and prototypes, where the latter to a large extent focus on healthcare, emergency services and landscape architecture. Read more at www.ist-palcom.org

Countries

Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom