Intelligence, Mobility and Learning Dr. Russell Beale School of Computer Science University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT UK R.Beale@cs.bham.ac.uk Introduction We learn things all the time - whether we are reminding ourselves of something we once knew but have forgotten, are extending our knowledge of a familiar topic, or tackling something new, we undertake learning in a variety of places and settings. Learning is not restricted to classrooms and formal education - it can occur on an ad hoc basis, often 'just-in-time', and covers the spectrum of human experience, from science and language through culture and art to sport, gardening and DIY. We are now in a phase where modern technology allows us to provide electronic support for learning; technological advances have moved us on from the mobile computing paradigms of "anywhere, anytime" access to information and resources towards ubiquitous computing, which we can characterise as "everywhere, everytime". The list of technologies that power our progression is large, and still-growing (802.11a-g, bluetooth, 3G, GPRS, etc.), and is supported by a raft of software implementations (J2ME, J2SE, .net, …) and theories (OO programming, extreme programming, agent-based systems). These can be coupled with ever- decreasing sizes of portable device with increasing power, from the mobile phone to the handheld computer to the notebook to portable heads-up displays: all of these allow us to envisage, design and deliver systems to meet the needs of these technologically-aware users. However, we need to understand what these needs actually are, and identify the characteristics of systems that will effectively support such approaches. Key Characteristics for Supportive Systems Workflow studies to e-learning assessments, from sociology to management, provide guidance on the characteristics of systems that can support people effectively. We can identify some of the key characteristics as follows: • timely - providing the correct information just when the person needs it. In order to achieve this, it is necessary for the system to know what it is the user is doing, the wider context in which they are working, and their desires and preferences. • simple - the technology that supports these activities must be easy to use. Mobile telephony is hugely popular, because not only does it allow people to organise their lives in a much more fluid, personally convenient way, but it does so through a simple interface. Interacting with the technologies themselves should be hard. That is, they should be invisible, behind the scenes, acting much like magic to make things happen the way we want them to. • relevant - understanding what is important at a particular time requires a strong notion of context. Whereas timeliness looks at the temporal nature of information presentation, relevance works on a larger scale and brings in the multiplicity of tasks that may occupy someone, and can guide them through expanding threads of enquiry by helping them focus their activities. • information - there is a host of data available to the connected user, but information is a much more valuable resource. Information is a useful, structured, understandable presentation of data. We can class knowledge as a special form of information, though we have to recognise that users generate data, information and knowledge too - and that this happens both formally (e.g. creating an analysis and summary of field test data) or informally (e.g. in making notations that modify a recipe to enhance its flavour).