Ubiquitous intelligent media

In many ways, Ubiquitous Computing is no longer a dream, but an all too ubiquitous reality where managing and controlling the multitude of information services, devices, and applications is becoming increasingly impossible. Fortunately, the problems Ubicomp has raised also provide the seeds of solutions. The proliferation of devices, sensors and services provides multiple points of interaction that can be recorded and mined for patterns to predict current and future user needs. Future services will become even more perceptive as they are fed by additional sources of information such as medical devices, on-body biometric monitors, vehicle telematics, user interaction with devices and services, social network services, etc. All of these information sources can be tapped to identify the relationships between people, objects and information, creating a personal semantic network to retrieve information that is more pertinent and actionable. In addition, sensors and cameras use increasingly sophisticated techniques of computer vision and perception to detect the state of the physical environment. Media applications can respond to the reactions of people seeing the media. Today's "Responsive Media" systems are simplistic and in need of deeper research in human-to-human conversation to construct systems that respond more naturally. We are only now beginning to understand the opportunities that a variety of such "intelligent" systems are creating. Human Computer Interaction researchers have the skills and insights needed to identify unaddressed problems that such systems can fill and to design proactive, semi-autonomous applications that act appropriately to the user's situation and preferences.