On and Offline Tangible Interaction: Studying the Secret Lives of Augmented Objects

The smart, augmented objects that appear in systems that support tangible interaction have a dual life. While they can exhibit complex digital behaviors in the technological context they are designed for, they are also static, standard physical objects in other situations: while stacked on the side of a table, placed in a pocket or held in a user's hand. This paper argues that to design truly effective tangible systems, we need consider both these situations - both the online and the offline. To illustrate this point, it briefly describes two studies into the offline use of tangible objects, highlighting lessons learnt for the design of future systems.