ever, the field has been defined largely at a conceptual level, with the space of devices that might populate it little defined either analytically or by example. In order to better understand the range of information appli- ances that might evolve, we developed a large number of conceptual design proposals which we presented in a work- book produced for our partners. These speculations were intended to open a conversation with the group about the values that might characterise everyday technologies—val- ues seldom reflected in existing products. The goal of this paper is to describe the Alternatives work- book both in terms of the proposals it made for future information appliances and as a method for pursuing design. First, almost half the paper is devoted to the pre- sentation of reduced versions of the workbook pages, slightly modified to retain legibility, as a way of simulating their impact directly. Second, we discuss the ideas in terms of the cultural values they suggest for technologies meant to be integrated in everyday life. Finally, we describe the proposals as an example of research through design, describing how they were designed to balance concrete- ness, openness and multiplicity to allow the emergence of a design space that could be developed with our partners. ALTERNATIVE VALUES Suggestions for how digital technologies might be employed in everyday settings tend to represent a narrow ALTERNATIVES Exploring Information Appliances through Conceptual Design Proposals Bill Gaver and Heather Martin Royal College of Art, London Kensington Gore, SW7 2DEU w.gaver / h.martin@rca.ac.uk for submission to CHI’00 (Den Haag, The Netherlands) ABSTRACT As a way of mapping a design space for a project on infor- mation appliances, we produced a workbook describing about twenty conceptual design proposals. Here we describe them both in terms of content and process. On the one hand, they serve as suggestions that digital devices might embody values apart from those traditionally associ- ated with functionality and usefulness. On the other, they are examples of research through design, balancing con- creteness with openness to spur the imagination, and using multiplicity to allow the emergence of a new design space. Keywords: design research, information appliances, home, conceptual design INTRODUCTION As digital technologies migrate into our everyday lives, we expect their forms, functions, and values to expand beyond those embodied by the desktop PC. Recently we have joined in the formation of the Information Appliance Studio, a virtual organisation headed by the newly created Appliance Design Inc. which spans Hewlett-Packard, IDEO Product Development, and the Computer Related Design department at the Royal College of Art, to explore and shape new possibilities for everyday technologies. Information appliances, as described for instance by Norman (ok), are devices that perform a single function (or closely related cluster of functions) with simplicity and ele- gance. Networking, often assumed to be wireless, allows new synergies to form among them, recreating the complex possibilities of traditional computing while offering new affordances for interaction. Because specialised appliances can take a wide variety of forms, their benefits can be flu- idly integrated in peoples’ everyday lives, without requir- ing that they withdraw to a desktop computer. The notion of information appliances is inspiring but fuzzy, defined by a combination of abstract vision, technological infrastructure, and only occasional exemplars. For instance, the Hewlett Packard CapShare, a handheld scan- ner that allows images to be captured by passing the device over a page and wirelessly transmitted to a PC or printer, is a good example of an information appliance. The Palm Pilot, on the other hand, is usually held to perform too many functions to qualify. Other possibilities that have been sug- gested as “good” information appliances include digital cameras, cookbooks, or gardening appliances. So far, how- Multiple proposals allow a design space to be explored.