Context-Aware Mobile Computing

The integration of ubiquitous mobile computing resources into physical spaces can potentially affect the development, maintenance, and transformation of communities and social interactions and relations within a particular context or location. Ubiquitous mobile computing allows users to engage in activities in diverse physical locations, to access resources specific to the location, and to communicate directly or indirectly with others. Mobile technologies can potentially enhance social interactions and users' experiences, extend both social and informational resources available in context, and greatly alter the nature and quality of our interactions. Activities using mobile devices in context generate complex systems of interactions, and the benefits of ubiquity and mobility can be easily lost if that complexity is not appreciated and understood. This monograph attempts to address issues of using and designing location-based computing systems and the use of these tools to enhance social awareness, navigate in spaces, extend interactions, and influence others. Table of Contents: Introduction / Space, Place, and Context / Creating a Sense of Presence and Awareness with Mobile Tools / Mobile Computing: A Tool for Social Influence to Change Behavior / Ethical Issues and Final Thoughts

Geri Gay is the Kenneth J. Bissett Professor and Chair of Communication at Cornell University and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow. She is also a member of the Faculty of Computer and Information Science and the director of the Human Computer Interaction Laboratory at Cornell University. Her research focuses on social and technical issues in the design of interactive communication technologies. Specifically, she is interested in social navigation, affective computing, social networking, mobile computing, and design theory. Prof. Gay has received funding for her research and design projects from NSF, NASA, the Mellon Foundation, Intel, Google, Microsoft, NIH, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AT&T Foundation, and several private donors. She teaches courses in interactive multimedia design and research, computer-mediated communication, human-computer interaction, and the social design of communication systems. Recently, she has published in IEEE, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Communication, CHI, HICCS, ACM Digital Libraries, SIGIR, JASIST, and CSCW.