Projects of the Disappearing Computer Initiative started when the European IST programme, "Future and Emerging Technology" (FET) launched the proactive initiative "The Disappearing Computer" (DC). After a careful review and selection process, 16 projects were finally accepted for funding. An overview of the projects can be found on the Projects pages

The projects started on January 1, 2001, with durations usually between 2 and 3 years. There are 37 institutions from academia as well as industry in 13 countries involved. The total effort of all projects will be close to 300 person years, 50% of it being funded by the European Commission.

The DC-initiative started their networking activities by electing a steering group (SG) of four people: Norbert Streitz (chair) (GMD-IPSI, Darmstadt, Germany), Lorna Goulden (Philips Design, Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Spyros Lalis (ICS-FORTH, Heraklion, Greece) Paddy Nixon (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK). There was also a kick-off meeting of all DC-projects on January 31 in Darmstadt starting to form the DC community, discussing and initiating their first set of joint activities.

The DC-SG started also to set up a website which will soon become the prime place of information and communication for this community: http://www.disappearing-computer.net

The objectives of the "Disappearing Computer" initiative are:

To explore how everyday life can be supported and enhanced through the use of collections of interacting artefacts. Together, these artefacts will form new people-friendly environments in which the computer-as-we-know-it has no role. The aim is to arrive at new concepts and techniques out of which future applications can be developed. Specifically, the projects of the initiative will focus on three inter-linked objectives:

• Developing new tools and methods for the embedding of computation in everyday objects so as to create artefacts.
• Research on how new functionality and new use can emerge from collections of interacting artefacts.
• Ensuring that people's experience of these environments is both coherent and engaging in space and time.