Abstract: In the late 1980’s, Mark Weiser defined ubiquitous computing as the third generation of computing, and much of his vision of computing technology has been realized. Nearly three decades later, it is appropriate to reflect on Weiser’s definition of the third generation and ask what the next generation of computing might be. Interestingly, a fourth generation of computing technologies has already arrived and has been with us for nearly a decade. This fourth generation of computing is marked by the emergence of three important technologies —the cloud, the crowd, and the shroud of devices that envelop the physical world and connect it to the digital world. This new era, which I currently refer to as "collective computing" represents a more seamless amalgamation of machine-run algorithms and the collective intelligence of humans. I will provide an example of an application of collective computing with the cloud/crowd/shroud technologies, and discuss some interesting remaining technology challenges. If time permits, I will speculate on a coming 5th generation of computing that recognizes the limitations of Moore’s Law thinking.
Bio: Gregory D. Abowd is a Regents’ Professor and J.Z. Liang Chair in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, where he has been on the faculty since 1994. His research interests concern how the advanced information technologies of ubiquitous computing (or ubicomp) impact our everyday lives when they are seamlessly integrated into our living spaces. Dr. Abowd's work has involved schools (Classroom 2000) and homes (The Aware Home), with a recent focus on health and particularly autism. Dr. Abowd received the degree of B.S. in Honors Mathematics in 1986 from the University of Notre Dame. He then attended the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom as a Rhodes Scholar, earning the degrees of M.Sc. (1987) and D.Phil. (1991) in Computation. From 1989-1992 he was a Research Associate/Postdoc with the Human-Computer Interaction Group in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York in England. From 1992-1994, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Software Engineering Institute and the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. He has graduated 26 PhD students who have gone on to a variety of successful careers in academia and industry He is an ACM Fellow, a member of the CHI Academy and recipient of the SIGCHI Social Impact Award and ACM Eugene Lawler Humanitarian Award. He is also the founding President of the Atlanta Autism Consortium, a non-profit dedicated to enhancing communication and understanding across the varied stakeholder communities connected to autism.
Abstract: The quest for realizing Smart Environments has taken place for the last 30 years. Diverse adaptations of the original UbiComp vision have been developed, each highlighting diverse aspects who have been considered critical to enable a wider and more acceptable adoption of Smart Environments. Notable examples of such interesting adaptations are Context-aware Computing, Sentient Computing, Ambient Intelligence, Ambient Assisted Living and Internet of Everything. Under those different umbrella terms, researchers have explored the three stage enabling equation for Smart Environments, i.e. “SENSE + PROCESS = ACT”, spaces where the environment is aware of the needs, profiles and preferences from the sensed users and accommodates its behavior to ease their daily interactions. Contributions around these different perspectives and applied to distinct environments, i.e. Smart Offices, Smart Homes, Smart Factories or Smart Cities, have been produced, all addressing the challenges posed by ever more complex systems of systems populated by multiple users. This talk will exemplify research results on how to accomplish these three core steps. Firstly, in the SENSE part, the importance of location sensing and the spread of low cost highly dense sensing environments (RFID, NFC or low range Bluetooth) will be described. Secondly, the PROCESS stage where ever more sophisticated analytics mechanisms to take into account historic and real-time data are considered, combining domain-driven (rules) and data-driven solutions, will be analysed. Thirdly, the ACT stage will be explored, considering the evolution from reactive to learning persuasive environments which aim to collaborate with their users. Thus, a middle ground fostering collaboration between smart things and people will be defended giving place to Smarter environments. The implications of the Smarter environments approach will be illustrated with use cases in the Open Government and Efficient Energy Management domains.
Bio: Dr. Diego López-de-Ipiña is an associate professor and principal researcher of “MORElab – Envisioning Future Internet” group and director of DeustoTech-INTERNET unit, associated to DeustoTech – Deusto Institute of Technology, University of Deusto in Bilbao, SPAIN. He is the director of the PhD program within the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, U.K in 2002 with a dissertation entitled “Visual Sensing and Middleware Support for Sentient Computing”.
He is responsible for the teaching modules “Software Process & Quality”, “Advanced Software Development” and “Internet Protocols, Technologies and Services” offered in the BSc and MSc in Computer Engineering degrees offered by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto.
His main research interests are pervasive computing, internet of things, semantic service middleware, open linked data, social data mining and mobile-mediated and tangible human-environment interaction. He is currently focusing his work on the role of citizens as active data contributors to the knowledge of a city modeled as Linked Data. He has been PhD supervisor in 15 dissertations. He has directed more than 100 final year and Master theses. He is taking and has taken part in several big consortium-based research european (SIMPATICO, CITY4AGE, GREENSOUL, WELIVE, MOVESMART, IES CITIES, MUGGES, SONOPA, CBDP, GO-LAB, LifeWear) and Spanish (THOFU, mIO!, ADAPTA, SABESS, PIRAmIDE, ACROSS) projects, mostly as principal researcher from the Deusto part, involving the adoption of mobile computing, semantic web, social data mining, linked open data, social robotics, smart cities, open government and Web 2.0 and beyond to novel AmI-related application areas such as urban computing, sustainable computing or AAL. He has more than 100 publications in relevant international conferences and journals on Ubiquitous Computing, Semantic Web, Middleware, Smart Cities and AmI, including more than 40 JCR-indexed journal articles.
Abstract: The UNICEF Ventures team, within the Office of Innovation, uses human dynamics, risk modeling, and research to better understand a complex and quickly changing world. This talk will explore trends that most impact children: climate change, war, automation ... and how applications of machine learning and systems analysis can help create global public goods. UNICEF Ventures has a particular focus on “information poverty” - and using probes, data collection, and qualitative research to optimize a child’s access to information and opportunity. More at www.unicefstories.org and @unicefinnovate.
Bio: Senior Advisor on Innovation to the Executive Director at UNICEF, Co-founder of UNICEF Innovation, Lead of UNICEF Ventures.
Hi. My name is Chris Fabian (@hichrisfabian). I work on finding solutions to big problems that face humanity. How do we teach kids the skills they need for the coming years? How do we fix the broken climate? How do we change systems that prevent children from getting vital medicines, restrict people with disabilities, or promote hate and harm?
Erica Kochi and I co-founded the UNICEF Innovation Unit - under the mentorship of Dr. Sharad Sapra - in 2007. The unit functions like a venture capital fund within the global structure of UNICEF by connecting the agility of tech startups to the access provided by the United Nations.
Our team helped build the largest mobile health system in the world in Nigeria (reporting more than 42M births by SMS) as well as U-Report, which enables over 2.6 million young people to be connected to decision makers via SMS and social media. We have used cell data to predict the spread of Ebola, smartphones to register children after a disaster, and tablet-based games to teach kids in Sudan.
Our technology is built on UNICEF’s Innovation principles, which we developed, and are used widely in the international development. Principles include being open source, building with local technologists, and being able to fail.
Before UNICEF, I founded and exited tech startups in Africa and the Middle East. I continue to advise startups, entrepreneurs, and funds on emerging business models and on how to make new things succeed despite the noise of voices saying they are impossible.