Hippie: A Nomadic Information System Reinhard Oppermann, Marcus Specht and Igor Jaceniak GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology Institute for Applied Information Technology (FIT-PIC) D-53754 Sankt Augustin {reinhard.oppermann, marcus.specht, igor.jaceniak}@gmd.de http://fit.gmd.de/hci/projects/hips 1. Introduction Hippie [1] is an internet-based guide offering added value to current information facilities by sup- porting the multiplicity of activities during the preparation, the execution and the evaluation of a museum/fair visit 1 . The process orientation is made possible by the nomadic characteristic [2] of the system that allows the user to have access to his or her personal information space from all places independently from specific devices. The context takes into account the current position and direction of the user, his personal characteristics like knowledge and interests and the envi- ronmental conditions like physical arrangements and technical tools. Table 1. Process oriented scenario Visit-Process Visitor Activities System Support Preperation (at home) • Browsing exhibit database • Print summary information • Check pricing and opening hours • Accessing meta information • Setting up a tour or hotspots • Accessing the system via WWW from Home • Presenting text, graphic and ani- mation output Execution (in exhibition) • Searching exhibits • Looking at exhibits • Overlaying the real artwork with explanations • Entering own annotations • Contacting people • Appointments and discussions • Accessing the System via any mobile device via WLAN • Audio presentation (head- phones), text, graphics and an- imations • Adaptive Maps • Chat rooms, mailing facilities • Visitor tracking • Communication with real and virtual visitors Evaluation (at home) • Call to mind received informa- tion and annotations • Searching additional information • Access to full information space and to seen objects • Address book automatically updated Before a visit a user can browse all exhibits, prepare tours, and mark individual hotspots. The information selected and presented is adapted to the interests, the knowledge and the presentation preferences of the user [3]. During the actual visit augmented reality components for artwork in- terpretation and mainly audio output complement the visual modality preoccupied by the physical environment. Furthermore position tracking and location systems in the exhibition place allow for the adaptation of hippie to the current visitor position (at home or in front of a certain exhibit). The system automatically identifies the relevant objects close to the visitor and multi-modal in- 1 The prototype Hippie was developed by GMD in the context of the project “Hyperinteraction within Physical spaces” (HIPS), an EU-supported LTR project in ESPRIT I 3 . The partners of the consortium are University of Siena (co-ordinating partner), University of Edinburgh, University College Dublin, ITC, SINTEF and GMD, CB&J, and Alcatel.