Unusual Interface Collection: Toilet Tales from CHI 2003

"The Toilet Entertainment System" (TES), by Par Stenberg and Johan Thoresson of the IT-University of Goteborg, has been sitting on my desk since CHI 2003 waiting for a light moment in which to share the ingenious wall and toilet paper interface.

The researchers say that the toilet is 'a sheltered place for contemplation and reflection'. Into this they extend ubiquitous computing to provide the latest news to aid that process. Five choices of news category are displayed on tiles in the toilet and once one is chosen, a randomly selected article from that category is printed out on toilet paper. There is also the facility to receive messages sent by SMS or the TES website. In fact, choosing a category is the only way to get toilet paper.

The researchers say that the prototype was designed as a comment and a criticism of the current confidence in ubiquitous computing. I for one, however, see enormous value in getting headlines where I have a moment to reflect.

The Register has also picked up on this development, describing another interface as well that sounds altogether more humourous, though maybe that's just the reporting style...

See also UN story: Unusual Interface Collection: A Fly in the Urinal.

Associated Link: The Register: WCs meet PCs: converged tech toilets show promise

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