User's issues in crossmedia applications
Proceedings of the 27th ACM international conference on Design of communication
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Information and Communication Technologies are critical toEurope's future. Half of the productivity gains in our economiesare explained by the impact of ICT on products, services andbusiness processes. ICT is the leading factor in boostinginnovation and creativity and in mastering change in value chainsacross industry and service sectors. ICT is essential to meet therise in demand for health and social care and to modernise servicesin domains of public interest such as education, learning,security, energy, transport and the environment.The escalating economic and societal demands, together with thecontinued mainstreaming of ICT in a networked economy, raises newchallenges which require the technology limits to be furtherpushed. At the same time user expectations are changing, withtechnology needing to be brought closer to people andorganisational needs. It is becoming imperative to hide technologycomplexity and reveal functionality on demand, making it verysimple to use, available and affordable, while providing solutionsand services that are trusted, reliable, and adaptable to theusers' context and preferences.Convergence and interoperability at network, device, service andmedia level are key requirements that must be met, so as to enablethe provision of end-to-end services at minimal operational andcapital expenditures. Service providers are increasingly beingcalled upon to develop innovative tools that enable radicallysimplified service creation and delivery. Well packaged, easy touse services that can be carried by the subscriber across multipleenvironments are key, with simplicity and value being the decisionpoints for subscribers and the critical success factors for revenuegrowth. Ensuring the management of converged services and networkswith the expected scale and scope will require radically newapproaches.This effective progressive shift from "convergence" to"user-centricity", changes the classical model from a view ofkiller applications delivered over a variety of independentinfrastructures to one that embraces the demand for a customizeduser experience across multiple devices, networks and applications.It is no longer about a few actors in the value chain but ratherabout entirely new value chains with novel actors and roles. It isalso no longer about "mobile services" but rather about seamlessservices that are delivered by an intelligent network that iscontext and device aware. Mobility has morphed into aninterconnected world where people seamlessly slip into theirpersonal and professional lives, with almost no borders. Allservices need to be equally seamless ... available everywhere andall the time.Information explosion and device proliferation will impose newapproaches to the design and management of an interconnectedinformation infrastructure where all devices communicate with andunderstand one another and where the right digital eco-system iscreated for the agile enterprise. Pervasive connectivity willhowever increase vulnerability and privacy concerns, requiringradically new software solutions, the establishment of "trusted"devices, servers and gateways so as to accommodate a dynamicnetwork infrastructure and provide end-to-end security, whilecontaining the damage caused to businesses by malware.Removing social, geographical, economic and capacity impedimentsthrough the provision of cost effective infrastructures, offeringcapacity on demand and allowing an "Always on" network existence,are key requirements. Beyond providing for the connectivity ofhumans, significant efforts must be devoted to the deep networkingof a myriad of small, inexpensive, low-powered tags, sensors andactuators, embedded into the physical environment, interacting andforming wired and wireless networks able to communicate, adapt,act, respond, and coordinate high-level tasks. Governance issues ofsuch deep networks will be at the center stage.In such a context, the multifaceted key mission of the EU fundedR&D in ICT, as it is being currently elaborated, is to ensuresmooth technological transitions, to anticipate the likelytechnological disruptions, to nurture technological development andinnovation, to create the right synergies between key stakeholders,to establish the conditions for new value chain actors to emerge,to set the right collaborative standards, to stimulate innovativeusages, in essence to shed light into the new world markets andcreate opportunities that will permit Europe its enterprises andcreators to shape and master the future ICT world landscape.