Project R-4204

Simultaneous Interaction Spaces (Research)

The disappearing computer concept dictates that a computer system merges with the natural environment of its user. The user interacts with the computer system through his environment. This ensures that the use of the system is transparent to the user and lets him believe his environment is intelligent. Although this vision seems to be generally accepted, numerous challenges remain to be solved. We investigate how to setup and interconnect intelligent environments supporting the execution of complex tasks. We will do this from two viewpoints: (1) that of end-users who want to have control over the environment, expect justification of certain actions by the environment and need fluent and rich access to information in the context in which they carry out their tasks. (2) We look at the challenge from the viewpoint of software developers who build these applications for multiple simultaneous users (a typical aspect of this kind of environments). We focus on supporting infrastructure, interaction techniques and protocols. We will build new tools enabling end-users to shape their interaction with the environment themselves and support developers in building rich, dynamic and collaborative interfaces for these intelligent environments.

01 January 2013 - 31 December 2015