User-centered support to localized activities in ubiquitous computing environments

Abstract

The design of pervasive and ubiquitous computing systems must be centered on users’ activity in order to bring computing systems closer to people. The adoption of an activity-centered approach to the design of pervasive and ubiquitous computing systems should consider: a) how humans naturally accomplish an activity; and b) how computing artifacts from both the local and personal domains should contribute to the accomplishment of an activity. This work particularly focuses on localized activities performed by occasional visitors, i.e., activities having a strong association with a specific physical environment, which may be visited by people who are not accustomed to it. We are investigating how ubiquitous computing environments can provide user-centered support to localized activities, by exploring activity specification models and mechanisms allowing for the integration between local and personal environments.