Supporting Persistent Social Groups Using Context-Aware Ephemeral Device Group Service
Bin Wang, John Bodily, Sandeep Kumar Gupta · 2005
In this paper, we analyze the role of the social group in a Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp) environment as a source of contextual information. A model is presented to address the social group member’s perceptions of how devices in a Ubicomp environment should aid them in collaboration. A goal of the model is to minimize user distraction while ensuring that the user has the final control over all the major decisions, such as group session continuity and formation of new groups. Based on the model a distributed context-aware group membership management scheme, called CAEG, is developed. CAEG has been prototyped as a middleware service on a platform consisting of wireless personal digital assistants and laptops. A sample application, group chat, was implemented which uses CAEG middleware service. This application was a part of Smart Classroom application suite. Usability and experimental tests were performed in the context of Smart Classroom. Lessons learned from these tests were used to enhance the model and establish the feasibility of the proposed approach.