ETH Zurich : Computer Science : Pervasive Computing : Distributed Systems : Education : DS FS2012

Distributed Systems Seminar FS2012

Human Sensing Through Mobile Phones and Everyday Objects
Tuesdays, 11:00 - 13:00, Room CAB G 59

Topic: Human Sensing Through Mobile Phones and Everyday Objects

Recent progress in systems research has enabled the embedding of sensing, computation and communication into artifacts that people engage with everyday. The amount of data available from mobile phones, for example, that requires no explicit interaction by their owners, is staggering: location, motion, light, heat, calls, charging status, etc. As another example, think about fixed objects that people interact with everyday: their office door, their refrigerator, their medicine or vitamin pillbox. From all of these interactions, we can better understand the behavior of the people interacting with these artifacts. In particular, we can extract routines and detect anomalies for behaviors. These very human-centric and personal characteristics can then be used as resources for designing novel applications.

This seminar will provide an overview on the state-of-the-art and the open research questions around human sensing with everyday objects. The first part of the seminar will investigate how human sensing can be performed by augmenting everyday objects or using off-the-shelf objects. The second part of the seminar will focus on techniques and algorithms for detecting routines and anomalies. The last part of the seminar will focus on how to leverage these in novel applications, including reducing energy use, epidemiology, and detecting stolen objects.

Organization

The seminar will interleave lectures given by the instructor and talks given by seminar attendees on selected topics. A tentative schedule (still subject to changes) is provided below. A maximum of 20 students will be admitted to the seminar.

Seminar attendees are assigned an article on a specific topic within the broader context of current human sensing research and are required to prepare an oral presentation on their topic. Additional complementary readings are provided below or may be assigned by the instructor. Each student will be required to read and provide a written review on the papers assigned to other seminar attendees. The quality of this review will be evaluated and considered for the final grade.

The seminar will be held in English. Presentations and reviews must be in English.

Requirements presentations and reviews

Oral presentations must last no longer than 30 minutes. Each presentation will be followed by a technical discussion as well as a short feedback session on the quality/style of the presentation. All attendees are required to participate in all sessions.

Essay reviews must be entered using the EasyChair conference system. Details about this process will be provided during the first lecture.

Goal

Grading

Contact

For further information please contact Anind K. Dey.

EasyChair

Schedule

Reading list

OVERVIEWS

FRAMEWORKS

ROUTINES

APPS

Privacy work: