Social Object Labels: supporting social object annotation with small pervasive displays

This position paper introduces and discusses Social Object Labels, small pervasive displays for ubiquitous social object annotation. Taking an HCI perspective, it relates user experience problems with ubiquitous annotation described in the literature to a lack of dynamic information available to users and argues that small pervasive displays can address these problems by providing dynamic situated information that supports users before, during and after interaction. The paper describes three potential application domains for ubiquitous social object annotation and presents related scenarios to illustrate possible uses and interactions in concrete terms. It defines the design space for Social Object Labels with reference to related display concepts such as ambient displays and interactive public displays, and structures the defined space by discussing salient design aspects. The paper concludes with a summary and outlook on future research.