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Context-Aware Systems in the Wild

Context-Aware Systems in the Wild. Dr. Anind K. Dey Assistant Professor Human-Computer Interaction Carnegie Melon University. Outline. Background Ubicomp and context-awareness Context-aware infrastructure Context-aware applications New area: Usability in context-awareness

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Context-Aware Systems in the Wild

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  1. Context-Aware Systems in the Wild Dr. Anind K. Dey Assistant ProfessorHuman-Computer InteractionCarnegie Melon University

  2. Outline • Background • Ubicomp and context-awareness • Context-aware infrastructure • Context-aware applications • New area: Usability in context-awareness • Change in approach • Change in infrastructure support and interface

  3. Overview of Ubicomp • Computing embedded into everyday objects and environments, enhancing everyday activity

  4. Context-Aware Computing • Context: situational elements relevant to interaction between user, application, environment • Context-awareness: situationally appropriate; apps adapting to context, increasing value to users • Using sensors and actuators to improve human-computer interaction and (computer-mediated) human-human and human-environment interaction • Examples: tour guide, reminders, diary retrieval

  5. Historical perspective • Weiser’s 1991 visionary Scientific American article: “Computer for the 21st century” • Sal’s alarm clock and coffeemaker • Windows: Electronic trails of neighbors, kids, weather • Rear view mirror: coffee shop • Search for details in meeting information • Amazing amounts of context • But how do you build?

  6. 10 years of context-aware computing research • Driven by a single problem • Reminder to buy milk • When to deliver: not time/location specific • How to deliver: appropriate modality

  7. Context Toolkit • 1997: difficult to build simple context-aware applications • No abstractions for acquiring and using context from sensors or controlling actuators • Context coming from a number of distributed sources • No principles for designing applications

  8. Design process Specification Acquisition Action • Specification • Acquisition • Delivery • Reception • Action

  9. Service Actuator Thesis: Context Toolkit • Context Toolkit to support programmers in building context-aware applications more easily Application Application Aggregator Interpreter Interpreter Widget Widget Discoverer Context Architecture Sensor Sensor

  10. Some Success • First of a series of toolkits that actually makes it easier to build context-aware applications • Toolkit in use by over 600 academic and corporate institutions • http://contexttoolikit.sourceforge.net • Lots of applications created • CHI 99, ISWC 99, UBICOMP 00, UBICOMP 01, UIST 02, CHI 03, HCI Journal 01, ToCHI 04

  11. Outline • Motivation and background • Ubicomp and context-awareness • Context-aware infrastructure • Context-aware applications • Usability in context-awareness

  12. Context-Aware Infrastructures • CTK: privacy, uncertainty, end-user support • Nexus: context modeling, representation, and spatiotemporal processing • JCAF: quality of context and context modeling • Context Fabric: privacy, and modeling of context entities • PersonisAD: context models of entities and links between them, support for scrutability • Context Spaces: context modeling, inferencing of situations and probabilistic reasoning

  13. Outline • Motivation and background • Ubicomp and context-awareness • Context-aware infrastructure • Context-aware applications • Usability in context-awareness

  14. Context-Aware Applications • What is a context-aware application? • App that uses context to perform some behavior/service for its user(s) • 3 types of behaviors: • Display context • Automatically execute/adapt services • Tag captured information for easier retrieval

  15. Directly displaying context

  16. Execute/Adapt Services • Select and perform a relevant service from multiple services • Change how a service behaves or is executed

  17. Tag Information • Use context to aid in context-based retrieval • May be easier to remember context than specific information

  18. So are We Done? • Can support building and executing of context-aware apps • Are building interesting apps • But, we still don’t have widespread deployment • Commercially available apps are really quite simple

  19. Back to the Milk Reminder • Just making it easier to build applications is only part of the problem • Once you know what context to capture and how to use it, easier to execute • But how do you figure this out? • Lots of problems to be addressed on the user side

  20. Outline • Motivation and background • Ubicomp and context-awareness • Context-aware infrastructure • Context-aware applications • Usability in context-awareness

  21. What are the Impediments? • Cost and difficulty in deploying infrastructure • Applications are of limited value • Not modeling the right tasks • Applications lacking in usability • Apps lacking in support for end-user control • Apps lacking in intelligibility

  22. Control in Ubicomp • Performed two studies on how people respond to context-aware applications • Each study: ~20 people, diary, interviews • Presented variety of applications, different levels of interactivity and elicited responses • Serious issues with lack of control and privacy • Despite these, wanted to use these applications • UBICOMP 03, INTERACT 03

  23. Usability is Key • Dourish, Abowd and Mynatt, Bellotti and others: lack of control in these environments • Information collected, synthesized and used implicitly • How do I know what’s going on? (intellgibility) • How do I change what’s going on? (control) • Who gets this information? (privacy) • Is this another way to SPAM me? (overload) Rich Gold “Dancing Toaster”

  24. Research Focus: Usability

  25. Research Focus: Feeling in Control • End-User Intelligibility and Control: decide what actions an environment should take and understand environment state • CHI 04, Pervasive 06, Ubicomp 06, CHI 07, Ubicomp 07

  26. Research Focus: Usability • Privacy: decide what information to release when • CHI 03, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing Journal 04

  27. Research Focus: Usability • Peripheral Displays: present information without overwhelming • CHI 03, CHI 04, Pervasive 04, UIST 04, UIST 05, CHI 06

  28. User-Centered Approach: • Improved modeling is required: real situations, real users, real problems --> real benefits • Ethnography • Need finding • Sense user behavior of interest • Create models of user behavior • Present information or execute services based on models • Study impact: • Domain impact • Impact on infrastructure design • Mental models • Interactive techniques, tools for control, feedback, modeling, evaluation…

  29. Challenges • Leveraging real human context and realizing that you’re not really getting at human intention • Star Trek doors • Anyone remember the original Star Trek series? • Japanese doors • Wash doors?

  30. Challenges • Leveraging real human context and realizing that you’re not really getting at human intention • Clippy

  31. End User Control and Intelligibility • Control: real situations are dynamic and cannot always be planned for a priori • Need to allow constant adaptation • Home: new people, new organization, new roles • Programmer can’t possibly hope to cover these situations • Must support end-users in maintaining control • Need support for this

  32. Control of Smart Homes

  33. End User Control and Intelligibility • Intelligibility: users will reject systems they do not understand, particularly when these systems make mistakes • Amazon recommender, Clippy • Complex systems need to describe their behavior to some degree

  34. Study of Mental Models • One group received up to 3 features that best explain current prediction • CHI 07

  35. Research Problem Disconnect: what should smart homes do and how

  36. Research Problem Support what families value: time, activities, relationships

  37. Focus on Dual-income Families • Largest segment of US population and growing • Live logistically complex lives that drive aggressive and experimental use of communication technology

  38. Why Families Feel Out of Control Swamped with responsibilities from kids activities and jobs

  39. Findings: Master “Busyness” Parents want to master managing numerous activities

  40. Challenge: “Wicked Problem” of Activity Management

  41. Soccer Example GAME OR PRACTICE? HOME OR AWAY? WHAT TIME?

  42. Soccer Example WHO PICKS UP? WHO DROPS OFF? WHERE?

  43. Soccer Example SHIN GUARDS, KNEE PADS. CLEATS OR FLATS?

  44. Soccer Example PRACTICE UNIFORM? HOME OR AWAY UNIFORM?

  45. Soccer Example CLEAN CLOTHES THE NIGHT BEFORE

  46. Soccer Example JUICE BEFORE OR AFTER? ORANGES AT HALFTIME?

  47. Breakdowns LOST ON THE CALENDAR

  48. Breakdowns LAST MINUTE CARPOOL DECISIONS

  49. Breakdowns MOM’S OUT OF TOWN SO DAD’S IN CHARGE

  50. Breakdowns MOM’S OUT OF TOWN SO DAD’S IN CHARGE

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