Moving on from Weiser's Vision of Calm Computing: engaging UbiComp experiences

A motivation behind much UbiComp research has been to make our lives convenient, comfortable and informed, following in the footsteps of Weiser's calm computing vision. Three themes that have dominated are context awareness, ambient intelligence and monitoring/tracking. While these avenues of research have been fruitful their accomplishments do not match up to anything like Weiser's world. This paper discusses why this is so and argues that is time for a change of direction in the field. An alternative agenda is outlined that focuses on engaging rather than calming people. Humans are very resourceful at exploiting their environments and extending their capabilities using existing strategies and tools. I describe how pervasive technologies can be added to the mix, outlining three areas of practice where there is much potential for professionals and laypeople alike to combine, adapt and use them in creative and constructive ways

Site interconnection and the exchange architecture

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Context-Aware Computing with Sound

We propose audio networking: using ubiquitously available sound hardware (i.e. speakers, sound-cards and microphones) for low-bandwidth, wireless networking. A variety of location- and context-aware applications that use audio networking are presented including a location system, a pick-and-drop interface and a framework for embedding digital attachments in voice notes or telephone conversations. Audi

Site interconnection the and exchange architecture

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Proactive Instructions for Furniture Assembly

Tennenhouse [1] coined the term proactive computing where humans get out of the interaction loop and may be serviced specifically according to their needs and current situation. In this paper we propose a framework for proactive assembly instructions which aims to overcome limitations of today's printed and computer based instructions. By attaching several computing devices and multiple sensors onto di#erent parts of the assembly the system can recognize the actions of the user and determine the current state of the assembly. Depending on the usage mode the system can suggest the next most appropriate action at any point in time. In an experimental case study with the IKEA PAX wardrobe we show the feasibility of the proposed approach. At the end important issues are discussed and future directions are outlined

Constraint-Based Configuration of Proxylets for Programmable Networks

Applications such as multimedia streaming for mobile users, or video conferencing, require support within the network for transcoding, compression etc. Proxylets running on servers within the network may be used to transform the media flows in order to meet application or QoS requirements. In this paper we examine the feasibility of performing constraint based configuration of the required proxylets. A set of constraints can be defined to select the required proxylets. A second stage is to define constraints relating to the placement of proxylets on nodes in the network. Eventually we will investigate the use of constraints for dynamic re-configuration to accommodate user mobility, or QoS variation. Some preliminary implementations of the architecture are presented and we discuss our approach to incorporate dynamic configuration to cater for load and QoS variations