Pervasive 2008

May 19-22, Sydney, Australia

Pervasive Tutorials 2008

• Date: Thursday 22 May
• Room: Grand Ballroom section

Pervasive 2008 will host a day of short tutorials highlighting fundamentals of pervasive computing. The instructors were invited based on their research experience and standing in the Pervasive community.

The tutorials are intended as a broad introduction for researchers and practitioners. The tutorials, which will be presented in sequence in a single track, are offered as an extra cost, single package for attendees of Pervasive 2008. Hard copies of the tutorial presentation materials will be available to all registered attendees at the tutorial session.

Registration for the tutorial session is separate from registration for the main conference.

Tutorials Schedule

Thursday, May 22

09:00 – 10:00	Pervasive Computing: How to Do Research in This Area
10:00 – 11:00	Fundamentals of User Studie

11:00 – 11:15

Tea/coffee break

11:15 – 12:15	Field Studies for Pervasive Computing
12:15 – 13:15	From Sensor to Context and Activity

13:15 – 14:00

Lunch

14:00 – 15:00

Context-Rich but Keyboard-Free Pervasive Computing: Pervasive Computing User Interfaces

15:00 – 15:15

Tea/coffee break

15:15 – 16:15	Privacy in Pervasive Computing
16:15 – 17:15	System Software for Pervasive Computing

Instructor		Topic
	Gregory Abowd, PhD Professor College of Computing Georgia Tech Atlanta, Georgia  USA	Pervasive Computing: How to Do Research in This Area
	A.J. Brush, PhD Researcher VIBE Group Microsoft Research Redmond, Washington USA	Field Studies for Pervasive Computing
	Ed Cutrell, PhD Researcher Adaptive Systems Interaction Focus Group Microsoft Research Redmond, Washington  USA	Fundamentals of User Studies
	Bob Kummerfeld, PhD Professor School of Information Technologies University of Sydney Sydney, Australia	System Software for Pervasive Computing
	Marc Langheinrich, PhD Researcher Institute for Pervasive Computing ETH Zurich Zurich, Switzerland	Privacy in Pervasive Computing
	Aaron J Quigley, PhD Academic Staff School of Computer Science & Informatics University College Dublin Dublin, Ireland	Context-Rich but Keyboard-Free Pervasive Computing: Pervasive Computing User Interfaces
	Albrecht Schmidt, PhD Professor Pervasive Computing and User Interface Engineering University Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany	From Sensor to Context and Activity

Tutorials Co-Chairs

Tom Pfeifer, PhD Principal Investigator Telecommunications Software & Systems Group Waterford Institute of Technology Waterford, Ireland

John Krumm, PhD Researcher Adaptive Systems & Interaction Group Microsoft Research Redmond, Washington  USA

Tutorials Abstracts

• Pervasive Computing: How to Do Research in This Area
  Gregory Abowd

  Before we spend the rest of the day learning about particular techniques and tools for doing research in pervasive computing, I think it is good for us to spend some time thinking about what we are trying to achieve as researchers in this area.  Pervasive computing is a broad research topic, which means we have the opportunity and the challenge to merge many perspectives on the problems we approach.  I will try to explain what I think it means to do research in pervasive computing and how this research topic is different from other fields that merge technology and people.

• Field Studies for Pervasive Computing
  A.J. Brush

  Field research can help you understand a domain or evaluate your prototypes in a realistic setting.  In this tutorial, I will discuss types of field research, methods for field research, and techniques for analyzing data collected during field research.  Drawing on examples, I will present “top ten field research mistakes to avoid” and highlight characteristics of successful field studies.

• Fundamentals of User Studies
  Ed Cutrell

  Unless you’re designing for our robot overlords, any kind of system you build or gadget you invent is created for people to use in some way or another. User studies are perhaps the best way to understand how your research affects these people and fits into their lives. In this tutorial I will provide an introduction into several different kinds of user studies ranging from ethnographic observations to summative laboratory studies. We’ll talk about what kinds of questions are best answered by different techniques; discuss practical matters in experimental planning, design and statistical analysis; and finally discuss how to summarize and report your findings.

• System Software for Pervasive Computing
  Bob Kummerfeld

  Research into Pervasive and Ubiquitous computing is now almost 20 years old.  During that time there have been many attempts to build general purpose middleware to manage the flow of information between sensors/actuators and applications. This tutorial will describe some of the major systems as well as general principles and approaches. The tutorial will also outline what makes a good paper that describes pervasive computing middleware.

• Privacy in Pervasive Computing
  Marc Langheinrich

  The issue of privacy quickly rears its ugly head once we start devising smart items and environments that continuously and often intimately monitor their users. Interestingly enough, the public at large seems strangely ambivalent about such trends: While novel ubicomp technology developments such as RFID or wearable computing are often accompanied by highly critical press coverage, consumers seem equally eager to disclose ever more parts of their lives in exchange for lower prices, better service, and more security. What are we, the researchers and system designers of such smart artifacts, to do? In this tutorial, I want to briefly explain not only the most common technical approaches and challenges to privacy protection in ubicomp, but also offer a view of the larger picture of privacy: the social values behind it, the public policy strategies surrounding it, and the legal realities governing our privacy today.

• Context-Rich but Keyboard-Free Pervasive Computing: Pervasive Computing User Interfaces
  Aaron J Quigley

  Clearly there are classes of computing application which will rely on the classical screen, keyboard and mouse interfaces for sometime to come. However, we are seeing the emergence of pervasive computing applications and scenarios which go beyond the traditional application design or even mobile computing application design.   Designing User Interfaces for the disappearing computer is difficult. By its very nature Pervasive Computing is trying to make the computer less of a focal point, making it, dare we say invisible! The challenge therefore becomes to provide simple, seamless, natural and context-aware interfaces to complex, subtle and oft invisible pervasive computing applications. Instead of overwhelming the user with a plethora of options, research as shown the need to develop personalized user interfaces that leverage past and group actions in user interface interaction. This tutorial will provide an overview of the approaches taken in the development of user interfaces for pervasive computing applications to date.

• From Sensor to Context and Activity
  Albrecht Schmidt

  Intelligent environments, sensor network and smart objects are inherently connected to building systems that sense phenomena in the real world and make the perceived information available to applications. In the first part of the tutorial an overview of sensors and sensor systems commonly used in pervasive computing application is given. Additionally to the sensor properties means for connecting sensors to systems (e.g. ADC, PWM, I2C, serial line) are explained. In the second part it is discussed how to create meaningful information in the application domain. Some basic features, calculated in the time and frequency domain, are introduced to provide basic means for processing and abstraction of raw sensor data. This part is complemented by a brief overview of mechanisms and methods for relating (abstracted) sensor information to context, activity and situations. Additionally general problems that are associated with sensing context and activity will be addressed in this tutorial.