THE CONCEPT

Introducing ICE (Interactive Collaborative Environments)

What is it?

Edinburgh Napier’s Future Meeting Room, or ICE, is a cross disciplinary endeavor conceptualised to deliver a unique environment consisting of a cutting edge hardware and software infrastructure. It is conceived as a multi-user, multi-orientation, multi-screen, multi-touch environment using multiple platforms for development and research into novel interaction experiences, networking and emergent computing. The room benefits from bespoke, commissioned industrial strength hardware to ensure for a robust future proof technological platform on which to build a portfolio of cutting edge, world-class research and development projects.

What’s the Concept?

Removing the mediation of the traditional desktop computing paradigm frees our developers and designers to work towards the next generation of user interfaces. The ICE is intended to be a blank slate where the technology doesn’t drive the applications, rather the needs, wants and activities of the people using the space do. We feel collaborative environments must allow the free flow of ideas between people whilst maintaining a browsable history and formalisation of any process that takes place. Constraining people to one-at-a-time interactions in a crippled space has no place in the 21st century. Be it a door a wall or a tabletop, all aspects of an environment should help the people within it fulfill their activities and do so in pleasurable intuitive ways. The ICE uses cutting edge hardware to provide the infrastructure and platform for this aim.

The Future Meeting Room has been designed and developed by Dr Oli Mival, a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Interaction Design.