Mark Weiser

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Mark Weiser

Mark Weiser (July 23, 1952 - April 27, 1999) was a chief scientist of Xerox PARC and widely considered to be the father of Ubiquitous computing (also known as Ubicomp) and calm technology.

1 Biography
2 Ubiquitous computing and calm technology
3 Quote
4 Works
5 Companies

[edit] Biography

Weiser was born in Harvey, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He studied Computer and Communication Science at the University of Michigan, receiving an M.A. in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1979. He then spent 8 years teaching computer science at the University of Maryland, College Park.

While Weiser worked for a variety of computer related startups, his seminal work was in the field of ubiquitous computing while leading the computer science laboratory at PARC, which he joined in 1987. He became head of the computer science laboratory in 1988 and chief technology officer in 1996, simultaneously authoring more than 75 technical publications.

In addition to computer science, Weiser was also the drummer in the first band to perform live on the Internet, Severe Tire Damage.

Weiser's father was David W. Weiser (1921-1988). His mother was Audra H. Weiser (1919-2002). His younger sister, Mona Weiser Holmes (1953-1999) predeceased him by three weeks. His surviving sister is Ann Weiser Cornell (1949- ). His daughters are Nicole Reich-Weiser (1977- ) and Corinne Reich-Weiser (1981- ).

[edit] Ubiquitous computing and calm technology

During one of his talks, Weiser outlined a set of principles describing ubiquitous computing:

The purpose of a computer is to help you do something else.
The best computer is a quiet, invisible servant.
The more you can do by intuition the smarter you are; the computer should extend your unconscious.
Technology should create calm.

In Designing Calm Technology, Weiser and John Seeley Brown describe calm technology as "that which informs but doesn't demand our focus or attention".

[edit] Quote

"Ubiquitous computing names the third wave in computing, just now beginning. First were mainframes, each shared by lots of people. Now we are in the personal computing era, person and machine staring uneasily at each other across the desktop. Next comes ubiquitous computing, or the age of calm technology, when technology recedes into the background of our lives."