A Framework for Tangible User Interfaces

This paper extends our understanding of tangible user interfaces (TUIs) by considering the different ways in which physical and digital objects can be computationally coupled. It proposes a framework based around the degree of coherence between physical and digital objects. Links between physical and digital objects are described in terms of a set of underlying properties (transformation, sensing, configurability, lifetime, autonomy, cardinality and link source). We use our framework to classify a representative selection of existing TUI systems. This classification raises key implications for the field of tangible computing. In particular our focus on enriching physical-digital links highlights the need to consider the asymmetry of these links, issues surrounding their configuration and the need to represent their nature to developers and users.