Keynote Presentations

Abstract

Introducing computer technology caused a shift away from real objects as sources of information towards desktop computers as the interfaces to information now (re)presented in a digital fashion. In my talk, I will argue for returning to the real world as the starting point for designing information and communication environments. Our approach is to design smart environments that exploit the affordances of real objects and at the same time use the potential of computer-based support. This is achieved by combining information technology with real objects resulting in smart artefacts. In this approach, the computer “disappears” and is almost “invisible” but its functionality is ubiquitously available and provides new forms of interacting with information. Combining the best of both worlds requires an integration of real and virtual worlds resulting in hybrid worlds.

As an illustration, I will first present our Roomware® concept and sample prototypes of how to design new forms of interaction and collaboration in future work environments. This is followed by presenting the EU-funded proactive initiative "The Disappearing Computer" (DC), a cluster of 17 related projects designing new people-friendly environments in which the "computer-as-we-know-it" has no role. Finally, a specific example of the DC-initiative is presented, the project "Ambient Agoras: Dynamic Information Clouds in a Hybrid World". It aims at transforming places into social marketplaces ('agoras') of ideas and information. This is achieved by developing combinations of ambient displays and mobile devices that require and provide new forms of natural and intuitive interaction.

BIO

Dr. Norbert Streitz (Ph. D. in physics and Ph.D. in psychology) is the head of the research division "AMBIENTE – Smart Environments of the Future" (http://www.ipsi.fhg.de/ambiente) at the Fraunhofer institute IPSI in Darmstadt, Germany, where he also teaches at the Department of Computer Science of the Technical University Darmstadt.  He was a post-doc fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and a visiting scholar at Xerox PARC and at the Intelligent Systems Lab of ETL-MITI, Tsukuba Science City, Japan. He is the Chair of the Steering Group of the EU-funded proactive initiative "The Disappearing Computer" and the co-chair of CONVIVIO: the EU-funded Network of Excellence on People-Centred Design of Interactive Systems. His research interests include Cognitive Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Hypertext/Hypermedia, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Interaction Design, Ambient/Pervasive/Ubiquitous Computing. He has published/edited 15 books and authored more than 90 technical papers. He serves regularly on the program committees of national and international conferences and on several editorial boards and is often invited to present keynote speeches to scientific as well as commercial events in Europe, USA, South America, and Japan.

Abstract

For many years a message is being perpetuated that software agents will become the next revolution in computer science. This change is to occur not only in the ways we construct software [1] but it is also to have a much broader impact on the field of human-computer interaction [2]. Unfortunately, as it is easy to see, the revolution that is prophesized since at least 1994 by the agent-believers does not materialize (regardless of the rapidly increasing number of conferences, publications, etc). Obviously, it is not the case that when we turn the computer on in the morning, we contact “our agent” to receive a personalized newscast, our day-plan and, on the basis of that plan as well as the weather forecast and knowledge of our dressing-preferences, an advice what to wear.

History of development of agent technology (with its visionaries and unfulfilled promises) is somewhat similar to that of AI: every now and then someone promises that the final answer is just around the corner, and only 10 years later we find out that we are almost as far from the “ultimate goal” as before. Moreover, these two histories are very much entwined as if software agents are to be intelligent, then what is needed is working artificial intelligence. Such intelligence could, for instance, be embodied in a classic expert system, but it is known that such systems work well in restricted domains and typically do not generalize beyond them. Thus, how are we going to build intelligent agent systems capable of acting in such a heterogeneous domain as the Internet?

Finally, it is also the case that development and implementation of effective agent systems, involves additional requirements. One of the most important ones is a move away from the theoretical ideals and toward a pragmatic approach to system development and implementation. In this way we have to respond to the challenges put forward in 1999 by Nwana and Ndumu in their extremely critical but also stimulating paper [3].

The aim of the presentation will be an attempt at responding to the questions: why so few agent systems have been actually implemented and what needs to happen for this situation to change. Pursuing this goal, an overview of the software agent technology (definitions, applications, advantages, problems, criticisms, etc.) will be presented first. We will proceed with introducing a positive program that needs to be followed for the agent revolution to materialize.

References

1. N. R. Jennings, An agent-based approach for building complex software systems,” Communications of the ACM, 44 (4), 2001, 35-41
2. P. Maes. "Agents that Reduce Work and Information Overload." Communications of the ACM, 37(7), 1994, 31-40
3. H. Nwana, D. Ndumu, A perspective on software agents research, The Knowledge Engineering Review, 14 (2), 1999, 1-18

BIO

Dr. Marcin Paprzycki is an assistant professor in the Computer
Science Department at Oklahoma State University. His research interests
include parallel computing and agent-based distributed systems. He received
his PhD from Southern Methodist University. Contact him at the Computer
Science Dept., Oklahoma State Univ., Tulsa, OK 74106, USA.