We are now entering the era of pervasive computing, an era where people will access information and services anywhere, anytime, and from a wide variety of devices. The challenge for researchers and practitioners is how to support the design of user interfaces that will empower people to engage in these interactions easily and efficiently. Our work has been in creating design tools that support the best practices of user-centered design. Such practices include the informal techniques used during the early stages of design, such as sketching and "faking" interactions using Wizard of Oz techniques to test early designs. In this talk we will show how these practices are supported in tools for designing information architectures and web sites, speech-based user interfaces, and eventually anytime, anywhere user interfaces that take advantage of a variety of modes of input and output on a range of devices.

James A. Landay Assistant Professor, Group for User Interface Research UC Berkeley landay@cs.berkeley.edu

Landay has also contributed to a number of important user interface systems, including the Garnet and RUSE user interface management systems at CMU, and the ROCKIT constraint specification tool at Digital's Paris Research Laboratory. He also explored the problems in scaling user interfaces to large display surfaces at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Laboratory (PARC).In addition, he developed the user interface for Software Publishing Corp's database product, PFS: Professional File 2.0. He has also worked at several well-known Silicon Valley start-ups, including GO Corporation and Ardent Computer. Most recently, Landay co-founded the NetRaker Corporation, helping companies make their web sites more effective using NetRaker's suite of on-line usability, market research, and performance monitoring tools.