Context-aware Mobile Hypermedia: Concepts, Framework, and Applications

Author:

Frank Allan Hansen

Email:

fah-at-daimi.au.dk

Advisor:

Kaj Grønbæk

Award Date:

December 2006

Institution:

University of Aarhus

Institution Location:

Århus, Denmark

Web Location:

http://www.daimi.au.dk/~fah/papers/phdthesis-allanhansen-nopapers.pdf

Abstract:

Context-aware computing focuses on developing systems which through different kinds of sensory systems are able to collect information about the physical environment in order to, more or less automatically, adapt data and behavior to the user’s current context. The aim is to create systems that, rather than solely depend on explicit user input, can react to changes in the use-context and thereby be easier to use. Contextualization of information is also inherent to hypermedia. Through links and other structuring mechanisms hypermedia has striven to support users in accessing and understanding information in different contexts. Unfortunately, hypermedia has traditionally been confined to structuring digital material, and the associations which we as humans are able to maintain between (digital) information and physical entities, have therefore largely been unsupported. But as computational power moves beyond the desktop and into the physical environments we live and work in, it may be worthwhile to support these digital-physical relationships.

The thesis addresses the definition, design and requirements for context-aware mobile hypermedia systems. Context-aware hypermedia applies ubiquitous computing techniques to the classical concepts of open hypermedia in order to support linking of both digital and physical objects and to provide information adapted to the use-context. The results presented here originate from work performed within two research projects, ContextIT and the iSchool projects, and focus on support for fieldwork and project based education in Danish elementary schools and in particular, the process of collecting, producing and presenting information both in and out of the classroom. The main contribution of this work is the provision of a better understanding of how to meet the requirements for context aware mobile hypermedia, both theoretically and practically, and is realized by:

• A conceptual model for context-aware hypermedia,
• HyCon, a framework for context-aware mobile hypermedia,
• A range of hypermedia applications utilizing context-awareness to support mobile fieldwork.

The conceptual model divides the concerns of context-aware hypermedia into three sub-domains: the digital context, the physical context, and the user’s conceptual context and provides techniques for integrating these three conceptual domains. The model is experimentally evaluated through the development of a framework for context-aware hypermedia, HyCon, implementing general abstractions for acquiring context information and demonstrating how traditional anchor based hypermedia models can be extended to encompass both digital and physical entities. Several prototype applications built atop HyCon are also presented and illustrate how context-aware functionality can by applied to hypermedia in practice.