Abstract. This paper explores the formal specification of the physical behaviour of devices 'unplugged' from their digital effects. By doing this we seek to better understand the nature of physical interaction and the way this can be exploited to improve the design of hybrid devices with both physical and digital features. We use modified state transition networks of the physical behaviour, which we call physiograms, and link these to parallel diagrams of the digital state. These are used to describe a number of features of physical interaction exposed by previous work and relevant properties expressed using a formal semantics of the diagrams. As well as being an analytic tool, the physigrams have been used in a case study where product designers used and adapted them as part of the design process.

Both the nature of many products and their process of creation are becoming increasingly digitally mediated. However, our bodies and minds are naturally conceived to interact with the physical, so crucial design information can be elicited by constructing meaningful prototypes. This paper examines how physical materials impact early design through a study that explores how groups with very different materials tackle a common design challenge. The inherent physical properties of the materials and the ways in which designers interpret and manipulate them give rise to subtle patterns of behaviour. These include the ways in which groups move between abstract and concrete discussions, the way groups comply with or resist the materials they are given, and the complex interactions between the physicality of materials and the group dynamics. This understanding is contributing to our research in explicating the fundamental role of physicality in the design of hybrid physical and digital artefacts.

STEVE GILL is a product designer with 15 years experience in industry and academia. He is a Principal Lecturer at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff and Director of the Programme for Advanced Interactive Prototype Research (PAIPR) within The National Centre for Product Design & Development Research (PDR). He has designed or product managed around 50 products to market and has published 20 academic journal and conference papers. Steve has a range of research interests related to product design and development including the rapid design development of information appliances, the role of physicality in the design process and the role of Cradle to Cradle theories in product design & development.He works closely with academic partners, particularly Lancaster University and those in blue chip industry such as SonyEricsson and Samsung. He is currently engaged in a major project with partners at Lancaster University investigating the nature of physical interaction and its effects on design with the help of an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant. Darren Walker

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In this paper we describe briefly three systems: onCue a desktop internet-access toolbar, Snip!t a web-based bookmarking application and ontoPIM an ontology-based personal task-management system. These embody context issues to differing degrees, and we use them to exemplify more general issues concerning the use of contextual information in 'intelligent' interfaces. We look at issues relating to interaction and 'appropriate intelligence', at different types of context that arise and at architectural lessons we have learnt. We also highlight outstanding problems, in particular the need to computationally describe and communicate context where reasoning and inference is distributed.