Developing a Context-Aware Application Using Existing Technology

A Prototype for Human-Centered ComputingDanyel Fisher

Fall, 1999

OverviewOn context (Activity, Ecologies)On existing context systemsOn the need for a context-aware systemA possible prototype

Implementation Demonstration Recommendation

On Existing ContextComputers require explicit invocation of

applications: “Start | Programs | MS Word; File | Open Document; My Documents \ Reports \ Current \ Latest Results.doc”

Most projects require far more than One document at a time One interaction at a time

The Problem“Ok, so I want to work on my Databases

project. I need to find that article, in PDF; I need to pull up that web page with the algorithm; I need to start Java and Matlab; I need to look over that email from Kris—not the one about the party, and not the one about the other class—and I—

Wait, I just got a note from one of my students. Where’s that gradebook gone?”

SolutionsMultiple desktop managers

UNIXish solution. Lots of explicit setupEMACS “Save desktop”

Lots of files to dig through Long load time

“Recent documents” in WindowsMicrosoft BinderWeb page histories

A Little Closer…Remembrance Agent

Watches what you, and people in your group, type. Stores and indexes old answers to questions. Search facility.

Insidious Big Brother Database (IBBDB) EMACS attachment. Indexes all files that

go through any buffer and continually recommends relevant entries in the database.

What’s Still Missing?Automatic, permanent associations.Manual associationsContext awareness

What am I doing right now? How do I usually interact with this artifact?

Scope of the Problem There is already some standing research on

tracking ideas through various logs. There are a few growing projects that try to

calculate context and make recommendations.

With a poor interface, these are Annoying (the Office Assistant) Useless

Information EcologiesCan accommodate many types of

interactionCan change evolutionarilyAllow careful observationFocus on people’s interaction with

information. (Davenport)

As the User Works…The system calculates current context,

suggests related artifactsAlternately, the user navigates—and

creates–a graph of related ideas.

Extra-Low-Fidelity Prototype Hand-recorded log of a day’s interactions

November 23, 1999 Day included three different projects, advisor

meeting, time in the lab with undergrads Event Log.doc

Hand-processed and labeled into contexts Placed into graphing software

The Goal of this DemoConceptual model of how information is

arranged A graph of contexts, perhaps

Not really user-visible in this way

Existing SoftwareThe BrainTamara Munzer’s hyperbolic trees on

spheresNot available: Xerox’s hyperbolic graphs

(pending patent dispute)

DEMO: The Brainwww.thebrain.com

Reflections: The BrainCan’t see anything more than one link

away, no sense of heaviness, weight, significance

Easy to move throughDisorienting transitions

DEMO: Hyperviewerhttp://graphics.stanford.edu/~munzner/h

3/

Reflections: HyperviewerGives weight imageHarder to move through

(Is this an inevitable tradeoff?)This implementation has a poor UI,

although that is not necessary.

Last Notes “Spanning tree plus shortcuts” structure is

great Would have preferred a system that could

deal with clouds, not specific nodes Conceptually reduce to a graph, with different

display

Is this an OS addition or a window manager replacement?

Future WorkStart collecting real-thing contextsUser studies to see examples of

transitions: Do non-research types switch topics, with

so many documents, this often?Start categorizing; apply research as it

comes out