Context: How it Will Really Change Everything - Contextual Intelligence, PARC's perspectives

• Bo Begole

Intel Developers Forum

13 September 2010 - 15 September 2010
San Francisco, California, USA

description

Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp) is an interaction paradigm for constructing information technologies embedded throughout our everyday work, home and school environments that are designed to fit into natural practices of humans. The vision was first described in 1988 by Mark Weiser, Manager of the Computer Science Laboratory at PARC (then known as Xerox PARC), where Ubicomp technologies and businesses continue to be created.

Today, we’re seeing these ideas achieve commercial success in the form of Location-Based Services for tracking assets like trucks, freight and hospital equipment; finding nearby restaurants, stores and other services; and also just for socializing by finding friends and location-based games. Research has moved beyond context “awareness” to what PARC is working on today and is calling “contextual intelligence.”

Contextually Intelligent systems can do better than just be triggered by current context. They can combine information from calendar, email, location about the current situation along with statistical models of behavior observed in the past to proactively predict future locations, accurately target information to personal preferences, interests and activities; that help people reach each other at convenient times to talk; conserve energy resources; remember meetings and other things we encounter in our lives; and coach us about healthy life choices.

media coverage

 

Future of Context-Aware Computing
15 September 2010 | PCMag.com

How Context-Aware Computing Will Make Gadgets Smarter
15 September 2010 | Wired