Configurability and dynamic augmentation of technology rich environments

The notion of usability has developed since the beginning of the HCI-field from human factors to a concept highly relative to specific use situations and including social aspects concerning communication and collaboration. What comprises usability in concepts based on augmentation technologies? Based on experiences from interaction design in technology rich environments we argue that the concept of augmentation may facilitate a shift in focus within the HCI community away from standardized interface formats and towards a new and diverse world of distributed and dynamic interaction design where the possibilities of configuring interaction for a specific use situation is an important aspect of usability.