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* SPECIAL THEME:

Applications and Service Platforms for the Mobile User

Coordinated by John Krogstie, IDI, NTNU and SINTEF, Norway
(John.Krogstie@sintef.no)

In the modern society, people become more and more dependent on computers and electronic communication to carry out their everyday tasks. The most recent wave in this development is the introduction of networked palmtop computers. Palmtops and other hand-held terminals will provide wireless access to a large set of information and communication services assisting the users in whatever they have to do, also when moving around. Because of the mobility of users and the characteristics of wireless communication, the operating environment for these services will be much more dynamic than what is typical for traditional distributed systems. In order to retain usability under such circumstances, services and applications need to make the most of their surroundings and adapt themselves to overcome any limitations temporarily posed by the current user and network context, and likewise exploit any opportunities for improvement offered. Contributions are welcome describing ongoing or accomplished research related to applications and service platforms for the mobile user at your institution. This includes notably, but not exclusively:

• Understanding and modeling the mobile users requirements for new services
• Novel approaches for the development and evolution of applications on and across different mobile platforms.
• The integration of technologies into a wide range of innovative mobile and multimodal applications and services
• Intelligent, adaptive and self-configuring services that enable automatic context-sensitivity, user profiling and personalisation in a trusted and secure environment as well as multi-lingual and multi-cultural presentation, and multiple modes of interaction
• Novel workplace designs and methods of work organisation that enable collaboration of multi-location and mobile workers.
• Addressing the major hurdles for the deployment of applications and services for the mobile user
• Interoperability of services and roaming across heterogeneous networks, and service environments including e.g. working, billing, payment, ticketing and accounting services, as well as seamless access to corporate and government resources.

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