The CASCO Project (GR/R54200/01): Investigating Context Aware Support for Cooperative Applications in Ubiquitous Computing Environments Final Report Keith Cheverst and Alan Dix Computing Department, InfoLab21 Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4WA. Supporting Web Site: www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/staff/kc/CASCO/SupportingResources.htm 1. Introduction This document presents the final report for the CASCO Project (Investigating Context Aware Support for Cooperative Applications in Ubiquitous Computing Environments, GR/R54200/01). The project ran from 1st October 2001 to 30th September 2004, received funding of £66,000, and was the principal investigator’s ‘fast stream’ grant. The overall aim of the CASCO project was to investigate the provision of context- aware/ubiquitous computing technologies to support CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) type applications. The project was, we believe, a major success with the following significant results: a) Two deployed systems (Hermes and SPAM) that have both been used and evaluated for periods of over two years thus enabling a prolonged study into how situated displays can support cooperation and an exploration of the design space. b) A set of validated requirements for infrastructure to support a highly scalable situated ‘office door’ display system. c) The creation of an internationally significant test-bed for research into situated display systems. d) An understanding of issues related to the sharing of context, including issues such as privacy and space. e) An understanding of the methodological importance of systems such as Hermes and SPAM to function as technology probes - logging the actions of users with a view to understanding evolving patterns of use and appropriation. Both the Hermes and SPAM systems have been disseminated widely through both standard academic channels, including an EPSRC research highlight and, more unusually for a research project, through local newspaper articles and the award of a Lancaster University ‘Community Prize’. This report is structured as follows. Section 2 discusses our overall approach, section 3 presents the technology deployments conducted through the CASCO project, section 4 presents the key design and methodological understanding that arose from the deployments, section 5 discusses the dissemination of work and results from CASCO to both the research community and members of the general public. This section also discusses CASCO’s beneficiaries. Section 6 describes staffing and resource issues, focusing on the academic and research development of the project’s PhD student. Following this Section 7 presents opportunities for future work while Section 8 presents our concluding remarks. 2. Approach/Methodology Our overall approach followed three main phases (as proposed in the project proposal). 2.1 Phase 1 The first phase was concerned with identifying gaps in the design space of context- aware computing and collaborative awareness. During this phase we identified that one significant gap in the space was that of context- sharing/cooperative situated display applications. The potential utility of ‘situated displays’ is articulated by O’Hara et al. (2002) “In recent years, more and more information is being presented on dedicated digital displays situated at particular locations within our environment. At their most basic, digital display technologies allow information to be more easily updated dynamically and remotely. However, these new kinds of interaction technologies also allow people to use these situated displays in novel ways both as for the individual’s purposes and in the support of group work.”