From Context Awareness to Socially Aware Computing

by Paul Lukowicz, Alex "Sandy" Pentland, and Alois Ferscha

The notion of systems adapting their functionality to a user's activity and the situation in the environment is an essential part of Marc Weiser's vision. Over the years, this notion has led to the concept of context awareness. The early vision of context awareness included a proposal for mobile phones featuring acceleration and light sensors and offering the ability to recognize simple contexts — such as device position (on the table or in a pocket), modes of locomotion, and user location — and adapt their functionality accordingly. READ FULL ARTICLE (login required) »