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1. Supriya: A stimulating conference
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I found the SITCRC conference stimulating. It was unlike other such conferences, for the papers went beyond showcasing intentions to reporting what was being done. The presentations also were based on different degrees of collaboration across programs. From the UCD perspective, it was particularly heartening, for we no longer had to ask “Who are the users?” The issue now is how to design technologies keeping users at the centre through all stages of design.

I found the discussion on the architecture particularly important. The idea of the architecture of the Smart Internet had been discussed at earlier conferences, but this was the first time we got some interpretations of what it could look like. Considering the architecture brought into focus the reasons why we are designing smart Internet technologies. Is the focus a smarter Internet? Or is the emphasis to be on a more caring society that technology will facilitate? The difference is enormous. If we are to ensure that some of the horror stories of Isaac Asimov relating to machine learning and Ray Bradbury regarding the intelligent environment do not come true, our technologies should be able to connect people while taking differences into account.

Supriya

Assoc Prof Supriya Singh,
Project Leader
supriya.singh@rmit.edu.au

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2. SITCRC Annual Conference Wrap
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The annual Smart Internet CRC Annual Conference, "Towards Smart Internet 2010" was held at Australian Technology Park in Everleigh, Sydney, on September 18-19, 2003. Over 120 participants from across the CRC attended the event. It was a great opportunity for the CRC's industry partners, researchers, and PhD students to meet and discuss new and existing projects and engage in cross-linking activities. For newer members of the group, it was a chance to meet colleagues face-to-face for the first time.

The conference included presentations from more than 35 project participants from across all five SITCRC programs, showcasing the breadth of research that is being conducted by the CRC. For researchers from the UCD Project, it was encouraging to see growing emphasis being given to the user perspective across several of the technology projects.

Another highlight for the UCD Project in particular was Christine Satchell's presentation titled "Translating User Studies - The Case of The Swarm." The paper looked at how a UCD approach can translate user needs through the use of scenarios that take the form of a 'narrative prototype'. The paper was extremely well received and won Christine the prize for best student paper. Congratulations Christine from everyone in the SITCRC!

All papers presented at the SITCRC 2003 Annual Conference will be published in a conference monograph. For further information on the conference monograph, please contact Lisette Cochineas on lisette.cochineas@smartinternet.com.au.

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3. Gunela Astbrink Presents at AAATE
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Gunela Astbrink, Senior Research Fellow with the UCD Project and project leader of the Amivox Project (http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/projects.html), attended the 7th European Conference for the Advancement of Assistive Technology, in Dublin, Ireland on August 31 – September 3 2003. Some 400 researchers involved in the field of assistive technologies attended the conference, which was opened by the Prime Minister of Ireland. Conference themes included, New Technologies, User Centred Approach, Interdisciplinary Approaches, and Guidelines and Standards.

Gunela presented a paper co-authored by her and Waleed Kadous, Senior Research Fellow with the Natural Adaptive User Interface Program and technical leader of the Amivox project, under the theme “User Centred Approach” to an interested audience of some 40 researchers, academics and product manufacturers. The paper, titled “Using disability scenarios for user-centred product design,” discusses how the building of a disability persona and scenario helped to clarify functional user needs for a wireless communication and information device both for people with disabilities and for the wider population. Commenting on the experience, Gunela said that the paper was very well received. In particular, there was interest from researchers working on related projects in the US and Europe, with potential opportunities for future collaboration.

To view the paper, “Using disability scenarios for user-centred product design,” by Gunela Astbrink and Waleed Kadous, please visit: http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/Docs/AAATE%20paper.pdf?file=ISD03BeeketalPub.pdf

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4. Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers
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* CUU 2003

The second ACM Conference on Universal Usability will be held in Vancouver Canada from November 10 - 11 2003.

The CUU conference is focused on understanding and guiding those elements of human-computer interface design that affect the ability of a universal collection of people to effectively use and gain benefit from computer applications. Papers thus aim to address the challenges arising from system complexity, incompatible software versions and file formats, confusing interfaces, and inadequate attention to diverse users which often lead to confusion, frustration, and failure.

For further information, please visit: http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigchi/cuu2003/

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5. Useful Links and References
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* Fabio Paternò (2003). “Understanding interaction with mobile devices,” Interacting with Computers 15:4, pp 473-478

This editorial paper introduces an emerging and important area for human–computer interaction research, which concerns interaction with mobile devices. The design of interactive mobile applications should differ from that of traditional desktop applications. The paper discusses some concepts and models that help to understand the new challenges as well as recently introduced techniques that can be useful for exploiting the characteristics of these devices. Lastly, tool support for the design of nomadic applications is considered, taking into account the potential contexts of use, with particular attention to the platform features.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0953-5438(03)00041-9
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* Derek Powazek (2001). Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places. New Riders.

This book will appeal to researchers interested in online social networks, individual and collective behaviours in virtual spaces, computer-supported cooperative work and design. Powazek is concerned with designing and implementing web communities, and focuses on audience, content, architectural and visual design, and more explicit social concerns such as online policies, and moderating and policing community interactions. Cultivating online community is also presented in terms of creating intimacy, eliminating barriers to entry, keeping channels of communication open, and the notion that all communities eventually dissolve. "Lessons learned" by online community designers are particularly interesting, as they offer an opportunity to explore real challenges to online community design.

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