Workshops

We are proud to play host to a range of interesting workshops in the area of the Internet of Things. Below please find the titles, abstracts, and organizer names of the four workshops that will be held on Wednesday, March 26, 2008, in the Conference Hotel.

Please follow the individual links to the workshop homepages for detailed topics and program information.

Workshops are open to anyone! If you are interested in participating in a particular workshop, you can simply register for it when registering for the main conference (even if you haven't submitted a paper to this workshop)!

WS1: Producing Standards for the Internet of Things (PROSIT)

Imagine a network with literally billions of mobile nodes, without any pre-defined communication infrastructure, whose nodes are primarily sensors and actuators with limited processing capabilities. Such networks exhibit specific communication requirements between individual nodes, and between nodes and central access points that provide connectivity with the outside world. Many, if not most of these nodes are integrated into everyday devices; they will be found inside cars, at home, and in the shopping mall. The application areas based on such networks are varied and numerous, including, for example, intelligent homes, car safety, and item tracking. Many such applications will become part of our lives, and are prone to collect information that would be considered as private by many. For the average user, it will be next to impossible to establish who has access to these information, and for which purposes.

This unprecedented penetration of virtually everyone's life suggests the need for a close scrutiny of the various processes to be associated with the development of such a technology and its subsequent wide deployment. International standardisation of information and communication technologies (ICT) is among the most important of these processes. It is linked to both the technological development and the policy and legal frameworks within which the technology is to be developed and deployed. Accordingly, this Workshop aims to discuss the development of adequate standards setting processes for the Internet of Things. The analysis of the current situation in ICT standards setting, the current legal situation with respect to the role of standards, and the development of recommendations on how to adapt the processes to adequately serve the environment created by the IoT will be addressed through insights from various disciplines.

Organizers
Kai Jakobs, RWTH Aachen
Robin Williams, Univ. of Edinburgh

Submission Deadline: January 27, 2007 (see workshop homepage for details)
Workshop homepage: http://www.prosit-ws.org/

WS2: Sketchtools - Creative Tools for Prototyping Smart Devices

This workshop has been cancelled! For more information please contact the workshop organizers!

As an "Internet of Things" becomes a reality and everyday objects become enabled with information processing capabilities, we must carefully and considerately design the interaction between humans and these (not quite completely, but increasingly) ubiquitous digital devices. Designers should always have access to tools that allow them to prototype and/or sketch the product, object, system, or experience that they are responsible for. The design process is heavily dependent on cycles of prototype and revision - software developers go through numerous iterative cycles of production and updates to refine a product; industrial designers create sketch models out of foam, wood, fabric, etc. to model interaction; engineers use scale sketch models as proofs of concept or to explore new ideas.

However, prototyping ubiquitous computing devices is a difficult task. The broad range of technologies involved - wireless communications, RFID, sensors, localization devices, networking, processors, etc. - makes it difficult to have all of the expertise necessary to sketch human/digital interaction. Physical computing toolkits provide a way for designers to experiment with how the physical actions of the user translate into the digital response of the system, and vice versa. It is that translation that defines the interaction between the user and the digital object; the interaction between the human and the internet of things. The workshop aims at gathering a group of people invested in the physical computing field to discuss ideas, methods, challenges, innovations, and potentials of physical computing toolkits.

Organizers
Matt Cottam, Tellart
Jasper Speicher, Tellart
Katie Wray, Tellart

Submission Deadline: January 26, 2007 (see workshop homepage for details)
Workshop homepage: http://sketchtools.com/iot08/

WS3: 1st International Workshop on Interoperable Vehicles (IOV 2008)

Since a couple of years, some initial telematics services that inform the driver about current road and traffic conditions are already in the market. With new wireless communication capabilities available like WLAN, WiMAX or UMTS, many additional services become feasible. Therefore, one of the major automotive trends is keeping both the vehicle and the driver seamlessly connected with their environment, providing high-quality traffic related information, increasing active safety and offering passengers high-bandwidth internet connectivity. On the one hand, the vehicles require information from the environment in order to optimally support the driver. On the other hand, the local knowledge of vehicles which is based on a variety of on-board sensor systems can also contribute to support other (not necessarily automotive) services.

Enabling new opportunities of interaction between vehicles, passengers, (mobile) devices and services, there are a couple of topics that have to be thought of e.g. novel applications, network management and scalability, security and privacy, market introduction and roll-out strategies.

Organizers
Markus Strassberger, BMW Group Research and Technology
Robert Lasowski, Softlab Group

Submission Deadline: January 20, 2007 (see workshop homepage for details)
Workshop homepage: http://www.iov2008.org

WS4: Designing the Internet of Things for Workplace Realities: Social and Cultural Aspects in Design and Organisation (Social-IoT)

The rise of the Internet of Things has important socio-technical implications for organizations. While ubiquitous and wireless technologies are developed to enable new ways of working, to increase safety and to facilitate coordination, they may interfere with established work practices, undermine productivity and individuals satisfaction, and have an unforeseen impact on relations of power and control. These issues, however, are rarely addressed in development and research projects for the Internet of Things and in the public discourses surrounding it. This workshop has the goal to increase awareness of organizational issues of the Internet of Things and to provide a forum for discussion of design approaches to manage critical organisational issues. Furthermore we would like to build a bridge between the various research communities exploring organizational, social and cultural aspects of the Internet of Things and ubiquitous computing. We welcome contributions from practitioners, technologists, designers and social scientists in organizational studies, science and technology studies, anthropology and human computer interaction.

Organizers
Daniel Boos, ETH Zurich
Katharina Kinder, Lancaster University
Gerd Kortuem, Lancaster University

Submission Deadline: January 23, 2007 (see workshop homepage for details)
Workshop homepage: http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/workshops/social-iot2008/