Momento: Support for Situated Ubicomp Experimentation

We present the iterative design of Momento, a tool that provides integrated support for situated evaluation of ubiquitous computing applications. We derived requirements for Momento from a user-centered design process that included interviews, observations and field studies of early versions of the tool. Motivated by our findings, Momento supports remote testing of ubicomp applications, helps with participant adoption and retention by minimizing the need for new hardware, and supports mid-to-long term studies to address infrequently occurring data. Also, Momento can gather log data, experience sampling, diary, and other qualitative data

Presiding Over Accidents: System Direction of Human Action," presented at

“[...] the terrible burden of the director is [...] to select from what happens during the day which movement shall be a disaster and which a gala night. His job is to preside over accidents.” Orson Welles As human-computer interaction becomes more closely modeled on human-human interaction, new techniques and strategies for human-computer interaction are required. In response to the inevitable shortcomings of recognition technologies, researchers have studied mediation: interaction techniques by which users can resolve system ambiguity and error. In this paper we approach the humancomputer dialogue from the other side, examining systeminitiated direction and mediation of human action. We conducted contextual interviews with a variety of experts in fields involving human-human direction, including a film director, photographer, golf instructor, and 911 operator. Informed by these interviews and a review of prior work, we present strategies for directing physical human action and an associated design space for systems that perform such direction. We illustrate these concepts with excerpts from our interviews and with our implemented system for automated media capture or “Active Capture, ” in which an unaided computer system uses techniques identified in our design space to act as a photographer, film director, and cinematographer. Author Keywords direction, recognition, error, mediation, active capture

Presiding Over Accidents: System Direction of Human Action

As human-computer interaction becomes more closely modeled on human-human interaction, new techniques and strategies for human-computer interaction are required. In response to the inevitable shortcomings of recognition technologies, researchers have studied mediation: interaction techniques by which users can resolve system ambiguity and error. In this paper we approach the human-computer dialogue from the other side, examining system-initiated direction and mediation of human action. We conducted contextual interviews with a variety of experts in fields involving human-human direction, including a film director, photographer, golf instructor, and 911 operator. Informed by these interviews and a review of prior work, we present strategies for directing physical human action and an associated design space for systems that perform such direction. We illustrate these concepts with excerpts from our interviews and with our implemented system for automated media capture or “Active Capture,” in which an unaided computer system uses techniques identified in our design space to act as a photographer, film director, and cinematographer

Russian patronage over Abkhazia and South Ossetia: implications for conflict resolution

This article applies the concepts of linkage and leverage as developed by Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way and elaborated by Gwendolyn Sasse in the introduction to this special issue of East European Politics to Russia’s involvement with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two quasi-independent states in the South Caucasus. Through this re-conceptualisation of the developments in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, combined with new empirical insights, the article aims to increase our understanding of the conflicts in the region, of the involvement of the Russian Federation in particular, and consequently of the prospects of international conflict resolution. Compared to other political entities in the former Soviet Union, Abkhazia and South Ossetia represent an extreme case of Russian linkage and leverage. This article focuses on the period after the Russian–Georgian war in 2008, when Russia recognised the regions’ independence and effectively turned them into Russian protectorates. The economic, intergovernmental, technocratic and social linkages between Russia and the two regions are extraordinarily deep, and they directly undermine the autonomy of the regions. The post-war delegation of Russian cadres and institutional and legislative diffusion creates additional linkages underpinning Russian leverage.History and International Relation