Mark D. Weiser (July 23, 1952 – April 27, 1999) was an American computer scientist and chief technology officer (CTO) at Xerox PARC. Weiser is widely considered to be the father of ubiquitous computing, a term he coined in 1988. The Mark D. Weiser Excellence in Computing Scholarship Fund at the University of California, Berkeley was also established in Weiser's memory.
Personal life
In addition to his work in the field of computer science, Weiser was also the drummer for the avant-garde/experimental rock band, Severe Tire Damage, which was the first band to broadcast live over the Internet. 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 Seely Brown describe calm technology as "that which informs but doesn't demand our focus or attention."
Low-powered portable computing
Weiser advocated to look at performance in non traditional ways. Instead of measuring computational performance in MIPS, he focused on increasing the instructions per joule of energy, pushing the computer industry toward low-powered portable computing.