WORKSHOP III: THE NEXT-GENERATION LIFESTYLE: UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING

Traditionally, paradigm shifts in human lifestyle have been brought about by the needs of the general public and the support from pertinent technologies. The innovation of electricity accompanied by the yearning for personal facilities gave rise to the development of electrical appliances that now thrive in every household, while the need for swift voyage and the technological enhancement in applied mechanics prompted the development of automobiles and airplanes. Yet, the public now craves for more. The development of a next-generation lifestyle, representing a faster, more intelligent and more comfortable environment, has recently received a heightened interest. This workshop will thus focus on the technological development and social impact of the promising fields that will lead to the next-generation lifestyle: Ubiquitous Computing.

The impact of the ubiquitous society that numerous scholars have proposed will be momentous for both the public and the industry. As can be easily foreseen, the ubiquitous atmosphere will revolutionize the pattern of one’s lifestyle. While house-keeping robots, interactive entertainment media, and intelligent rooms provide changes in the household, auto-drive automobiles, home-networking, and wearable computers will advance novel opportunities and excite the public. Moreover, the network of humans and non-human entities will also bring about unprecedented chances and challenges to the industry.

Yet, the advent of the ubiquitous society is confronted with unique challenges in both technological and social development. Although researchers have conducted extensive research on intelligent environments for the past half century, the technology and social perception on the matter are still in its infant stage. The miniaturization of integrated circuits, the maturity of artificial intelligence and the integration of robots into daily lives are some of the many problems to be resolved technologically, while philosophical and ethical considerations, privacy matters, and legal issues concerning the ubiquitous environment are still under heated discussion among scholars.

Through this workshop, ICISTS-KAIST 2005 aims to ponder both technological and social issues in the next-generation lifestyle from different perspectives. By gathering the opinions of experts from various realms of specialties and from different parts of the world, ICISTS-KAIST 2005 hopes to provide a broad picture of the technology and its impact on the future.



DAY 1 – July 20, 2005 (KAIST campus, Daejeon, Korea)

Session #1 – A Paradigm Shift in Computing: Past, Present, and Future
So far, people in the IT field have strived for faster transmission, larger capacity, smaller size, and better performance. This advancement really has resulted in a paradigm shift in computing: from computer-centered to human-centered. A key in human-centered computing is not on network connectivity transparency (that is, how to transparently provide a network connection to the service that the user wants regardless of the user’s location), but on service connectivity transparency (that is, how to transparently provide the service required by the user without the user’s intervention). For this, there need several technologies, such as sensing, context management, service discovery, and dynamic reconfiguration. In this talk, the speaker will present the evolution of computing and the present and future of ubiquitous computing.

Speaker:
Dongman Lee, Professor, Information and Communications University

Session #2 – Ubiquitous Sensor Network and Next Generation Communication
Sensor network has developed so far integrating a variety of networking schemes. Tomorrow's network will not be dominated by a single architecture but will combine various communication technologies such as the World Wide Web, mobile phones, and sensors in living environments. Theoretically, all objects in the ubiquitous world will be assigned an Internet Protocol and will communicate through radio frequency devices. In this session, the speakers will provide slight technical details of how the networking among each object is feasible wirelessly, and propose a number of problems related to sensor networking. In addition, the speakers will introduce various real-world applications utilizing sensor networking.

Speaker:
SeongHwan Cho, Assistant Professor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Jenq-Neng Hwang, Professor, University of Washington at Seattle

Session #3 – Student Discussion : What's the Next Big Thing?: Technology Paradigms in the 21st Century
Everyone's talking about Digital Convergence. Now your cell phone is not just a cell phone. It comes with an embedded camera that has a resolution of 2M pixels, an MP3 player that can store hundreds of songs, and a function to communicate with satellites in space to receive TV signals. Some of them have an embedded fingerprint recognition security system, or a medical monitoring system that can automatically send messages to the hospital. It seems like a ball of snow rolling down a hill. But is it really what consumers want?
Now people are talking about Ubiquitous computing. It's not a direct substitute of Digital convergence but a concept that supersets it - people claim Digital convergence will enable a Ubiquitous world. Reversing it, no success in digital convergence means no Ubiquitous world. Herein lies the point of this discussion. What is the driving force of this paradigm shift?
History tells that all “Big Things” in the past were pushed by technology and pulled by the market. Have we lost the “pull” from the market? Finding the “Next Big Thing” is the core of this discussion (which is not limited to Electrical Engineering).

Instructor:
Hyunwoo Noh, Graduate Student, Stanford University



DAY 2 – July 21, 2005 (KAIST campus, Daejeon, Korea)

Session #4 – In Preparation for a Ubiquitous Computing Society
The development of new technology always fosters new businesses. From mechanical to electronic systems, from vacuum tubes to semiconductor circuits and ICs, from candles to light bulbs, every transition of technology brought about extreme stir in industry and society. Thus it is important to recognize what constitutes ubiquitous computing technology. This session will provide viewpoints from the industry on ubiquitous computing technology and related changes in society.

Speaker:
Joonki Kim, Senior Vice President & Chief Research Officer, Digital Research Center, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology

Session #5 – Student Discussion: Do Technological Advancements Indicate Enhancement in Living Standards?
While human society has experienced great revolutions since its establishment, its revolutions have always been accompanied by technological advancements. Thanks to such technological progress, living conditions have improved globally: people can refresh themselves with an air conditioner when hot, drive a car to travel, or gather information from the Internet at speed unthinkable in the past. Yet, the technological advancements also resulted in numerous drawbacks, such as overwork and a greater cleft between the rich and the poor. Then, could we assert that technological advancements always imply better standard of living? What traits of technology have resulted in impediments, and how could we eliminate such crisis? Throughout the discussion, we are to introduce and ponder upon a number of problems and its solutions related to the connection of society and technology.

Instructor:
Taeg Sang Cho, Workshop Leader, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Ubiquitous Panel Discussion Session – Vision and Developing Strategies of the IT Complex

With the maturation of IT technologies, various schemes to enhance IT research environments have been proposed. Among them, developing an IT complex has been considered the most feasible option, and South Korea has designated Daeduk Valley, with KAIST at its center, as an IT complex. Thus, through this panel discussion, we’d like to ponder upon various impacts that the IT complex could bring about and propose a number of suggestions in enhancing the research environment in an IT complex

Some of the questions that we will consider are the following:
1. What is necessary for an IT complex to be successful?
2. How should we balance the various interests from the academia, the local government, and the industry? How can we improve the probability of companies moving into the IT complex being successful?
3. How to get resources? How to get connected? What can the government/universities/private sectors do? Is it possible to develop high-tech companies without regional industrial complexes?

Panels, each from different sectors of occupations, will give us their distinct and cutting-edge insights from very different points of view on both domestic and global problems.

Panel Chair:
Sung-Deok Cha, Associate Professor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Panels:
Lak Kyoung Song, CEO, KTB Incubating
Stephen McDowell, Associate Professor, Florida State University
Sun Geun Kim, Professor, Daejeon University



DAY 3 – July 22, 2005 (KAIST campus, Seoul, Korea)

Session #6 – Ubiquitous Computing and Image Processing and Analysis
Both visibly and invisibly, image processing technology has intruded into our lives through numerous diverse applications. For example, computer assisted-diagnosis methods are evolving to help physicians review data from medical imaging devices. The increase in image data resulting from recent technology advances in medical imaging exceeds the capabilities of conventional manual techniques. Computer vision methods are now being used in a wide range of areas including, business, manufacturing, science, agriculture, security, and medical practice. In the presentation the evolution of computer vision methods, present applications and future expectations for realizing the ubiquitous world will be discussed.

Speaker:
Anthony. P. Reeves, Associate Professor, Cornell University

Session #7 – A Downside to Ubiquitous Society
This session will present an argument for why wireless technology will be the key enabler for a truly ubiquitous computing environment, and why we are also only at the beginning phase of realizing a completely networked society. Obstacles to implementing this vision will also be explored. As technologists, for example, we often don't consider the societal consequences of our own designs. Like a coin, every technology has two sides. For example, a large-scale sensor network may have invaluable environmental and security applications, but this may come at great cost to personal privacy. This session is intended both to broaden participants’ interest in the networked world and to acknowledge both beneficial and detrimental aspects of ubiquitous computing technology. It will also give a few suggestions that might be valuable in surmounting such problems.

Speaker:
Patrick Frantz, Executive & Technical Director, Rice University

Session #8 – Toward a Critical Technical Practice
By the end of the 20th Century, with the Kyoto Protocol hanging, nuclear proliferation a reality, and wars being fought over oil, it was clear that as remarkable as Science and Engineering have been, they cause as many problems as they solve. It's no longer possible for positivist notions of progress to be spoken, except by salesmen or lobbyists. Yet technical education continues to espouse a naive view of progress, and to separate technical problems from problems that are seen as social, environmental, political, and cultural ones. This leads not only to unanticipated side-effects of technologies, but also to poorly designed or conceived systems. What is needed is a radical re-theorization of technology, leading to a resulting reformulation of technical education. Phil Agre pointed to one possible refiguring of technical work, through a technique he called 'critical technical practice'. Several contemporary practitioners are adopting and modifying elements of CTP, all sharing the common technique of keeping 'one foot planted in the craft work of design and the other foot planted in the reflexive work of critique'.
This talk will introduce several approaches to CTP and demonstrate technical systems built through it.

Panels:
Chris Csikszentmihlyi, Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology



DAY 4 – July 23, 2005 (KAIST campus, Seoul, Korea)

Presentation – Business Plan of Ubiquitous Computing Items
We have learned many technologies exploited in Ubiquitous Computing and various real world applications leading our lives to a more comfortable and enjoyable condition. Now, it is time for you to be the creator of the ubiquitous world. Participants will be divided into several teams, each representing a company. You must invent and design any goods or services for the Ubiquitous Computing environment making the best use of your knowledge. In addition, come up with a 5-year business plan for your product. Creativity is the key to the product that will receive the award. Good luck!