IM software and mobile phones currently allow users to prevent unwanted communication in a variety of ways, for example, via away messages. Substantial research has focused on automating the negotation of communication and enriching it with contextual information. However, little has been done to try to lower the barriers to interaction by encouraging wanted calls. Open Door is a system that gives users access to the context of friends and colleagues. We are currently investigating what types of context accomplish this goal. Meanwhile, we must respect users' privacy and avoid the pitfall of "telling users how to be social." We plan to implement and test this system on mobile phones using WAP and WML, improving upon previous work such as Calls.calm and Dodgeball.

Asset and people tracking had long been a problem in office environment. There are existing systems on objects and people tracking in an office environment. However, we feel that current systems do not provide an efficient way for user to get to the location of things they are tracking, especially when they are in a huge setting. We proposed an interface that, using RFID, works like an indoor GPS; it provides directional instructions for user while tracking things. The interface also provides dynamic instructions while things being track are moving. Our system will provide a more efficient interface for tracking both static and dynamic things in a large setting. We will validate our claims by conducting comparative study between users who uses current tracking systems, and users that use our system. We will compare the time require for them to locate moving and static things in a large setting.

With the increasing ubiquity of mobile phones, people are spending more and more time interacting with their phones while away from their computers. People want to stay up to date on the world's information, ranging from news outlets to their favorite weblogs. Reading text longer than a short SMS can become tedious using traditional reading - there simply isn't enough room on a phone's screen to fit enough words to maintain a smooth flow of reading. Using a unique form of reading, Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP), one word at a time is flashed on the screen in a large font, enabling users to quickly read long documents with minimal eye strain. Reading this way is fast and fun, and has the potential to revolutionize the way text is read on mobile phones. We propose to develop a mobile application that users RSVP to read weblogs. Many blogs are frequently updated and a typical blog reader may read several blogs. Staying up to date on all of these blogs is not always an easy task, and we seek to allow users to read their favorite blogs while away from the computer.

By attaching accelerometers and magnetic sensors to a mobile device, developers can have access to multi-axis tilt data to construct interactive user interfaces based on the orientation of the mobile device. For example, tilting a device to scroll a document, or automatically north-orienting a map display. Research in this project includes construction of the hardware components, building the software APIs, and developing a range of sample applications to test the usefulness of such interfaces.

If the eyes are windows to the soul, then photos are windows to the world. We situate ourselves at a specific location in space-time when taking a photo. Current technologies mostly ignore this rich spatio-temporal media connection. Research projects have focused on providing georeferenced tags to photos; others provide visualizations of the same on desktop PCs. The niche of viewing and navigating spatio-temporal tagged photos on mobile, location-aware handheld devices remains untapped. GeoFoto takes advantage of this duality, augmenting contextual user experience with a selection of photos from a pool of similarity. Our audiences have the choice of viewing what their peers did historically, temporally, seasonally, and geographically. GeoFoto introduces a dynamic into the user experience by becoming the experience itself; our audiences create their journeys overlaid on previous travellers, building a community of users where each experience contributes to the overall paradigm, and yet, no single experience dominates.

This project is a mobile social software application that explores the intersection of three areas: location-aware mobile applications and the growing number of hardware platforms that support them in the US; social networking services, such as Friendster, Tribes, Dodgeball, and the Facebook, that promote discovery and interaction with both friends and strangers; and the nearly non-existent dating culture at Stanford University. We see an opportunity to couple mobile devices with the existing database of student information contained within the Facebook to produce a location-aware application that Stanford students can use to increase social contact with friends, and to facilitate first contact with prospective romantic interests whenever either comes into proximity.

Mobile technologies are currently used to a very limited extent by shoppers, ignoring their wide possibilities for facilitating the consumer experience. We see the potential of mobile technologies to be used as a portable tool to carry out online shopping, particularly using eBay, while in an environment away from a desktop computer. We aim to develop an application for cell-phones which will allow users to browse available products on eBay and carry out price comparisons while out shopping in a store. We plan to design, implement and test a system that will provide users with the information required to make purchasing decisions on eBay while they are away from their computer. It is our intention that the users will have the ability to see and test a product in a store, while simultaneously having access to current identical product listings on eBay. We are currently carrying out an Ethnographic Research Project for eBay investigating the most essential information that is required by eBay buyers, as well as the role that mobile technology could play in the use of eBay.

In this project, we will focus on using cell phones, especially via SMS/MMS to create a market place where sellers can send product information and buyers can search for the lowest price with a reasonable quality. After finding the proper product information with the seller’s contact information, buyers and sellers can meet each other and finish the transaction. This service focused on cell phone users with much computer experience in developing countries, for example China. Our research focuses on how to let user send information effectively using cell phone keyboard or other input methods, and browse large structured information on cell phone screen.

Tourists and sightseers frequently run into a problem of not knowing enough about their location – not in terms of address, but rather in terms if interesting historical, cultural and geographic facts. While such data is readily available for famous landmarks, those who prefer less traveled areas have virtually no information sources at their disposal. Building up such a database with a centralized group of editors is an extremely inefficient method of doing it, since it is impossible to send guide editors to such a large number of locations; in addition, many characteristics of various locations frequently change (new buildings, new statues, changing landscapes, etc.), and keeping such a widespread guide updated would become a very complex process. I thus propose to create a spatial wiki, aka Hitchhiker’s Guide to Earth: a location guide that would be directly and immediately editable by its very users. Accessible from smartphones, or Wi-Fi / Wi-Max enabled PDAs, the HHG2E would use the GPS location data to provide user with the relevant information about their location. The key point is that the user will be able to immediately edit and append this information, and create new pieces of data if none is provided. If the device has a camera, the user will have an additional option of adding photos to the wiki entry. The wiki will be also accessible as a web portal, allowing stationary Internet users to browse what essentially amounts to annotated maps.

We are currently developing FieldTools, a suite of software tools that enable field biology researchers to capture, organize, and share information. Biologists currently use paper notebooks as a central organizing tool for their research. We extend current practices by allowing biologists to digitize handwritten notes with Anoto digital pens, and then manage their notes, sensor data, photographs, audio/video, and GPS logs in an interface centered on the digitized notebook. As further advances in technology allow us to capture more and more data, there will be an increased need for such tools, which enable us to search through and manage our data more effectively. The poster will describe our studies of the work practices of biologists, some recent work in data entry techniques, and provide glimpses of what is to come.