ACCORD Toolkit

ACCORD has developed the Tangible Toolbox, based on a shared Data Space, that enables people to easily administer and re-configure services based on embedded devices around the home. This toolkit also enables devices to be integrated with each other through several different editors. The work is informed by ethnographic studies of the home and the common activities that occur within homes.

	Bubbles indicates traffic to the family web-site.		News displayed in the kitchen table and controlled with the ”shaker” objects.		The cupboard detects missing groceries.

The conceptual model of the developed Tangible Toolbox is services composed of components. These components are seen as three different kinds of transformers, two that either transform physical properties to digital data or vice versa and the third kind that takes some digital data and transforms into another form of digital data. These are the fundamental building blocks of the Tangible Toolbox.

	A transformer in detail		Connections between the physical and the digital

We have developed the underlying infrastructure of the toolbox based on the model and a set of editors addressing different user groups and needs.

The Graph Editor is directed to expert users such as programmers and displays all components in a graph. This editor gives a good overview of all existing components and how they are connected. The other editors are aimed at the inhabitants of households.

With the Linker Device users can explore what properties a physical device in the home expose and through the Linker Device link these with properties of other physical devices.

The Puzzle Editor is a graphical interface to compose services from components. This editor is based on a recreational puzzle metaphor. A user connects components through a series of left-to-right couplings of puzzle pieces.

The last editor, the Paper Puzzle Editor, utilizes paper based identification technology. This editor aims at creating an interface to the Tangible toolbox that is not perceived as computer interface. Each component is represented as a physical puzzle piece and in the same way as in the graphical Puzzle Editor; a service is created through connecting these pieces in a left-to-right order.

Download

The Accord toolkit is available for download. Yuo'll find the latest zip here.
Latest documentation available here.