"What you Like is What you Get" - Engineering a Bridge between Privacy and Personalization

Abstract

Seamless and non-explicit man-machine interaction gains significance as technology evolves and mobile applications become smarter. Ultimate goal of novel "empathic" systems is to understand users' context and needs in order to function supportively, maximizing utilization, comfort and safety whilst minimizing explicit user intervention. Integration of such computer systems in real-life settings calls for new methods that support "interface" to human senses and contextual adaptation. "What you like is what you get" principle is dramatically changing the human-computer interaction landscape. Equipped with numerous sensor devices that observe users in a concrete setting, smart systems are able to derive users' emotional, cognitive and physical state as well as social context and adapt their functioning accordingly. However, processing of such highly personalized information calls for privacy protection.

This tutorial presents a systematic approach to develop control interfaces that can expand present systems with awareness-rich behaviour at one side and preserve loyalty to the user at another. The loyalty is here defined as a feature that guarantees the absolute user control over the extent of use of her/his personalized data. The major methods and principles of privacy preserving adaptive interaction are explained. The focus is on techniques used to structure the software into components and services that observe users and their surroundings, evaluate psycho-physiological users' constructs and influence both the user and the surrounding, taking into account the system's goals and protecting users' privacy. To illustrate the approach, a "mobile mood player" demonstration shows in a real-life setting how the boundaries between man and empathic systems are diminishing.

The tutorial is meant for wide audiences that want to gain a better understanding of new developments and future trends in pervasive adaptive systems. Crossing the discipline barriers, the tutorial brings different software engineering perspectives, at the same time tackling issues relevant to life-sciences.

Keywords: HCI, distributed mobile systems and middleware, reflective computing, privacy

Timing

Friday morning, from 10:15h till 12:30h
(60min + 15min break + 60min).

Presenter

Prof. Nikola Šerbedžija works at Fraunhofer FIRST where he is responsible for new research activities and innovative technology. His major research areas are: Pervasive Adaptation, Ubiquitous Computing, Middleware Architectures, and Internet Programming. The major application areas are empathic systems, ambient assistance, embedded systems, real-time systems and e-learning. As a principle designer he led the developments of a number of practical systems in vehicular, in- and out-door infrastructures, e-commerce and e-learning domain