Category Archives: publications

>Our Article one Phones as Components of Future Appliances is published in IEEE Pervasive Magazine

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In this paper we reflect the opportunities that arise from using consumer devices, such as phones and mp3 players, as components for future devices. With this article also a new department on Innovations in Ubicomp Products has been started. The article “Phones and MP3 Players as the Core Component in Future Appliances” [1] is also available openly in at ComputingNow.

The rational is
  • developing a custom embedded computer is expensive
  • specific devices are not economic for small quantities
  • phones are becoming cheap (in small quantities a phone may be cheaper than buying a touch screen component for an embedded device)
  • development on phones has become easy and many developers are around
  • IO capabilities can be added to these devices (e.g. Project HiJack)
The main question is: why not use the consumer device as a part (potentially partly hidden) as computing platforms in new devices? There are examples but also some difficulties… read the article to get a more in-depth discussion.


[1] Albrecht Schmidt and Dominik Bial. 2011. Phones and MP3 Players as the Core Component in Future Appliances. IEEE Pervasive Computing 10, 2 (April 2011), 8-11. DOI=10.1109/MPRV.2011.31 http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MPRV.2011.31 (also available in ComputingNow, download PDF)

Our Article one Phones as Components of Future Appliances is published in IEEE Pervasive Magazine

Posted on by
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In this paper we reflect the opportunities that arise from using consumer devices, such as phones and mp3 players, as components for future devices. With this article also a new department on Innovations in Ubicomp Products has been started. The article “Phones and MP3 Players as the Core Component in Future Appliances” [1] is also available openly in at ComputingNow.

The rational is
  • developing a custom embedded computer is expensive
  • specific devices are not economic for small quantities
  • phones are becoming cheap (in small quantities a phone may be cheaper than buying a touch screen component for an embedded device)
  • development on phones has become easy and many developers are around
  • IO capabilities can be added to these devices (e.g. Project HiJack)
The main question is: why not use the consumer device as a part (potentially partly hidden) as computing platforms in new devices? There are examples but also some difficulties… read the article to get a more in-depth discussion.


[1] Albrecht Schmidt and Dominik Bial. 2011. Phones and MP3 Players as the Core Component in Future Appliances. IEEE Pervasive Computing 10, 2 (April 2011), 8-11. DOI=10.1109/MPRV.2011.31 http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MPRV.2011.31 (also available in ComputingNow, download PDF)

How will computing change the world? Our view in Computing Now.

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Together with Marc Langheinrich and Kristian Kersting we wrote an article on how computing is going to change our world [1] and featured in Computing Now. We discuss how upcoming technologies will change the our perception. Besides others we make the bold statement “By the middle of this century, the boundaries between direct and remote perception will become blurred“.


We discuss how our perception is extended and augmented by technical means and how this will eventually lead to a new augmented sense of ubiquitous perception. We expect this will radically change the way we live and hence ethical considerations are central. We make the argument that ethics become a major design factor. We are looking forward to feedback on this vision – even if you disagree.

[1] Albrecht Schmidt, Marc Langheinrich, Kritian Kersting, “Perception beyond the Here and Now,” Computer, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 86-88, Feb. 2011, doi:10.1109/MC.2011.54 (PDF)

>How will computing change the world? Our view in Computing Now.

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>Together with Marc Langheinrich and Kristian Kersting we wrote an article on how computing is going to change our world [1] and featured in Computing Now. We discuss how upcoming technologies will change the our perception. Besides others we make the bold statement “By the middle of this century, the boundaries between direct and remote perception will become blurred“.


We discuss how our perception is extended and augmented by technical means and how this will eventually lead to a new augmented sense of ubiquitous perception. We expect this will radically change the way we live and hence ethical considerations are central. We make the argument that ethics become a major design factor. We are looking forward to feedback on this vision – even if you disagree.

[1] Albrecht Schmidt, Marc Langheinrich, Kritian Kersting, “Perception beyond the Here and Now,” Computer, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 86-88, Feb. 2011, doi:10.1109/MC.2011.54 (PDF)

Random Links for Scientific Search in CS

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Scientific search sides:
http://scholar.google.de/
http://www.confsearch.org
http://academic.research.microsoft.com/
http://arnetminer.org/

Digital libraries:
http://acm.org/dl
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org
http://www.springerlink.com/

Listings of publications, co-authors, and relationships:
http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/index.html
http://dblp.mpi-inf.mpg.de/dblp/index.php

>Random Links for Scientific Search in CS

Posted on by
Reply
>Scientific search sides:
http://scholar.google.de/
http://www.confsearch.org
http://academic.research.microsoft.com/
http://arnetminer.org/

Digital libraries:
http://acm.org/dl
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org
http://www.springerlink.com/

Listings of publications, co-authors, and relationships:
http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/index.html
http://dblp.mpi-inf.mpg.de/dblp/index.php

Our Paper on Mobile Product Review Systems at Mobile HCI 2010

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Felix von Reischach investigated in his PhD mobile product review systems. The paper [1] he presented at mobile HCI 2010 in Lisbon compares different modalities for product reviews and recommendations. In particular we looked at the following modalities: discrete scale (stars), text, and video. In a study at the SAP retail lab we compared how easy it was for participants to create reviews in each of the modalities and how much they like creating these. Additionally we also compared which modalities are most liked by people in a buying situation and which type of review the trust. Interestingly a star rating scheme is most liked – for input and output.
Our general recommendation is to allow users to rate products on a scale (e.g. using stars) in different, potentially user defined categories. For a more detailed discussion see the paper [1].

The evening event of was at Palácio da Pena, Sintra – a castle close to Lisbon. The view and the food were magnificent – it felt like a real treat after the one hour walk up the steep hill.

[1] von Reischach, F., Dubach, E., Michahelles, F., and Schmidt, A. 2010. An evaluation of product review modalities for mobile phones. In Proceedings of the 12th international Conference on Human Computer interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (Lisbon, Portugal, September 07 – 10, 2010). MobileHCI ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 199-208. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1851600.1851635

Abstract:
Research has shown that product reviews on the Internet not only support consumers when shopping, but also lead to increased sales for retailers. Recent approaches successfully use smart phones to directly relate products (e.g. via barcode or RFID) to corresponding reviews, making these available to consumers on the go. However, it is unknown what modality (star ratings/text/video) users consider useful for creating reviews and using reviews on their mobile phone, and how the preferred modalities are different from those on the Web. To shed light on this we conduct two experiments, one of them in a quasi-realistic shopping environment. The results indicate that, in contrast to the known approaches, stars and pre-structured text blocks should be implemented on mobile phones rather than long texts and videos. Users prefer less and rather well-aggregated product information while on the go. This accounts both for entering and, surprisingly, also for using product reviews.

>Our Paper on Mobile Product Review Systems at Mobile HCI 2010

Posted on by
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>Felix von Reischach investigated in his PhD mobile product review systems. The paper [1] he presented at mobile HCI 2010 in Lisbon compares different modalities for product reviews and recommendations. In particular we looked at the following modalities: discrete scale (stars), text, and video. In a study at the SAP retail lab we compared how easy it was for participants to create reviews in each of the modalities and how much they like creating these. Additionally we also compared which modalities are most liked by people in a buying situation and which type of review the trust. Interestingly a star rating scheme is most liked – for input and output.
Our general recommendation is to allow users to rate products on a scale (e.g. using stars) in different, potentially user defined categories. For a more detailed discussion see the paper [1].

The evening event of was at Palácio da Pena, Sintra – a castle close to Lisbon. The view and the food were magnificent – it felt like a real treat after the one hour walk up the steep hill.

[1] von Reischach, F., Dubach, E., Michahelles, F., and Schmidt, A. 2010. An evaluation of product review modalities for mobile phones. In Proceedings of the 12th international Conference on Human Computer interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (Lisbon, Portugal, September 07 – 10, 2010). MobileHCI ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 199-208. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1851600.1851635

Abstract:
Research has shown that product reviews on the Internet not only support consumers when shopping, but also lead to increased sales for retailers. Recent approaches successfully use smart phones to directly relate products (e.g. via barcode or RFID) to corresponding reviews, making these available to consumers on the go. However, it is unknown what modality (star ratings/text/video) users consider useful for creating reviews and using reviews on their mobile phone, and how the preferred modalities are different from those on the Web. To shed light on this we conduct two experiments, one of them in a quasi-realistic shopping environment. The results indicate that, in contrast to the known approaches, stars and pre-structured text blocks should be implemented on mobile phones rather than long texts and videos. Users prefer less and rather well-aggregated product information while on the go. This accounts both for entering and, surprisingly, also for using product reviews.

Work in Progress at CHI 2010

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It seems we have a lot of work in progress :-) and CHI is a great place to get feedback an talk to people about it.

Florian Alt and others from the summer school in Haifa pushed one of the ideas the developed there further. It is about interactions and technologies to motivate a more thoughtful handling of trash in urban areas [1].

Tanja Döring and Bastian Pfleging developed with Chris Kray in Nottingham the idea of tangible devices that have a functional core and a passive shell [2]. By this we image that future tangible products can be created by designers and developers with no need for the production of electronics. As a side effect this approach could make consumer electronics more sustainable – even if you like often new gadgets.

Together with people from DFKI Saarbrücken we explored the potential of a multi-touch steering wheel [3]. What gestures would you do to switch on your radio? How to interact with the navigation system? Such questions are empirically explored and presented in this paper.

How many people have a phone? How many people have a PC? It very clear more people have a phone than a PC and in particular in the non-industrial part of the world for many people the only computing technology available is the phone. We think there are ways to efficiently develop software using a phone for the phone. In the paper we explored a paper and computer vision based approach for software development on the phone [4].

Elba did field studies in Panama to assess the access of phones as educational tool to children [5]. She compared different parts of the country and did interviews with teachers.

[1] Reif, I., Alt, F., Hincapié Ramos, J., Poteriaykina, K., and Wagner, J. 2010. Cleanly: trashducation urban system. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3511-3516. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1754010

[2] Doering, T., Pfleging, B., Kray, C., and Schmidt, A. 2010. Design by physical composition for complex tangible user interfaces. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3541-3546. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1754015

[3] Pfeiffer, M., Kern, D., Schöning, J., Döring, T., Krüger, A., and Schmidt, A. 2010. A multi-touch enabled steering wheel: exploring the design space. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3355-3360. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1753984

[4] Pfleging, B., Valderrama Bahamondez, E. d., Schmidt, A., Hermes, M., and Nolte, J. 2010. MobiDev: a mobile development kit for combined paper-based and in-situ programming on the mobile phone. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3733-3738. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1754047

[5] Valderrama Bahamóndez, E. d. and Schmidt, A. 2010. A survey to assess the potential of mobile phones as a learning platform for panama. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3667-3672. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1754036

>Work in Progress at CHI 2010

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>It seems we have a lot of work in progress :-) and CHI is a great place to get feedback an talk to people about it.

Florian Alt and others from the summer school in Haifa pushed one of the ideas the developed there further. It is about interactions and technologies to motivate a more thoughtful handling of trash in urban areas [1].

Tanja Döring and Bastian Pfleging developed with Chris Kray in Nottingham the idea of tangible devices that have a functional core and a passive shell [2]. By this we image that future tangible products can be created by designers and developers with no need for the production of electronics. As a side effect this approach could make consumer electronics more sustainable – even if you like often new gadgets.

Together with people from DFKI Saarbrücken we explored the potential of a multi-touch steering wheel [3]. What gestures would you do to switch on your radio? How to interact with the navigation system? Such questions are empirically explored and presented in this paper.

How many people have a phone? How many people have a PC? It very clear more people have a phone than a PC and in particular in the non-industrial part of the world for many people the only computing technology available is the phone. We think there are ways to efficiently develop software using a phone for the phone. In the paper we explored a paper and computer vision based approach for software development on the phone [4].

Elba did field studies in Panama to assess the access of phones as educational tool to children [5]. She compared different parts of the country and did interviews with teachers.

[1] Reif, I., Alt, F., Hincapié Ramos, J., Poteriaykina, K., and Wagner, J. 2010. Cleanly: trashducation urban system. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3511-3516. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1754010

[2] Doering, T., Pfleging, B., Kray, C., and Schmidt, A. 2010. Design by physical composition for complex tangible user interfaces. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3541-3546. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1754015

[3] Pfeiffer, M., Kern, D., Schöning, J., Döring, T., Krüger, A., and Schmidt, A. 2010. A multi-touch enabled steering wheel: exploring the design space. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3355-3360. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1753984

[4] Pfleging, B., Valderrama Bahamondez, E. d., Schmidt, A., Hermes, M., and Nolte, J. 2010. MobiDev: a mobile development kit for combined paper-based and in-situ programming on the mobile phone. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3733-3738. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1754047

[5] Valderrama Bahamóndez, E. d. and Schmidt, A. 2010. A survey to assess the potential of mobile phones as a learning platform for panama. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 – 15, 2010). CHI EA ’10. ACM, New York, NY, 3667-3672. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1754036