Mobile communication and interaction in context

Current mobile communication solutions leave out information about the context in which the communication takes place. Context is, however, a key factor for the success of interpersonal communication. The contextual communication system described in this paper enhances existing mobile multimedia communication systems by introducing a feedback loop to convey contextual information. This information can be used either by the communication system or the addressee to select the most appropriate communication media, or to adjust and optimize the interaction mechanisms. Our claim is that to make useful, functional and powerful new tools for supporting human-human communication and interaction at a distance, the context has to be considered in the design of communication and information solutions. INTRODUCTION There are two case studies that this research is grounded on. The first part of the empirical work was conducted at a large-scale international industrial company, where a communication system for 1500 mobile workers is implemented. The second part of the empirical research is from the Marathon Man project at the MIT Media lab. This case study is giving a picture of radically new ways of capturing and communicating contextual information, and at the same time clearly pointing in a direction where this contextual information will be of use. The first case study clearly illustrates that the context is perceived as important for users of mobile multimedia communication solutions, and that the varying contexts matter for mobile communication. The second case study is a proof of concept that contextual data may be fed back to the communication system. These two case studies are forming the basis and motivation for the framework that is outlined in this paper. GENERAL FRAMEWORK FOR CONTEXTUAL COMMUNICATION Below is a description of a framework for contextual communication. The framework is developed to enable building a platform, from where contextual communication solutions can be made. Figure 1. Contextual communication framework The framework suggested is to enable solutions for contextual communication. The framework is simple, yet illustrating the needed extension for enabling contextually aware communication solutions when utilizing cellular communication systems. The feedback communication link from the actual context is to give the services information about the preferred interaction modalities, and the preferred communication media. In addition to the contextually determined interaction modalities and communication media, there is a strong focus on direct user control. CONCLUSION Our claim is that to make useful, functional and powerful new services, tools and applications for supporting humanhuman communication and interaction at a distance, the context has to be considered into the design of communication and information solutions. An outline of a framework for enabling contextual aware mobile multimedia communication is described, Information about the context of which a user is situated is valuable to the user, so as to determine: . Interaction modalities (input: haptic and voice. Output: visual on screen, auditory at loudspeaker and buzzer). l Selection of communication media (audio, video, text, images).