Context-Aware Applications - Guide to Cloud Computing for Business and Technology Managers - page 498

We can also imagine an equivalent of the Global Positioning
System for calibrating the performance of enterprises. The coor-
dinates of longitude, latitude, and altitude might be replaced by
ones of resource used, process performed, and product pro-
duced. If we designed a GPS for an enterprise, we could measure its
performance (e.g., cost or quality) in the context of the resource used,
the process performed, and the product delivered as compared with its
own performance in the past (last month or one year back) or in par-
ticular cases that of another target organization. Such an approach
could help us specify our targets, communicate our performance, and
signal our strategy.
Most of the current context-aware systems have been built in an ad hoc
approach and are deeply influenced by the underlying technology infra-
structure utilized to capture the context. To ease the development of
context-aware ubicomp (ubiquitous computing) and mobile applications, it
is necessary to provide universal models and mechanisms to manage con-
text. Even though significant efforts have been devoted to research methods
and models for capturing, representing, interpreting, and exploiting con-
text information, we are still not close to enabling an implicit and intuitive
awareness of context nor efficient adaptation to behavior at the standards of
human communication practice.
Context information can be a decisive factor in mobile applications in
terms of selecting the appropriate interaction technique. Designing inter-
actions among users and devices, as well as among devices themselves, is
critical in mobile applications. Multiplicity of devices and services calls for
systems that can provide various interaction techniques and the ability to
switch to the most suitable one according to the user's needs and desires.
Current mobile systems are not efficiently adaptable to the user's needs. The
majority of ubicomp and mobile applications try to incorporate the users'
profile and desires into the system's infrastructure either manually or auto-
matically observing their habits and history. According to our perspective,
the key point is to give them the ability to create their own mobile applica-
tions instead of just customizing the ones provided.
Thus, mobile applications can be used not only for locating users and pro-
viding them with suitable information but also for
• Providing them with a tool necessary for composing and creating
their own mobile applications
• Supporting the system's selection of appropriate interaction
techniques