Information abundance and overload have turned attention into an increasingly scarce resource. Technologies such as the World Wide Web, corporate networks, and mobile devices attack our desktops with a barrage of information. As employees, consumers, and private individuals, we face the increasingly difficult task of allocating our attention efficiently and in a way that maximizes the utility of our everyday transactions. In many circumstances—such as encountering e-mail spam—individuals are becoming so frustrated that they begin to avoid various services. Advertising effectiveness has suffered dramatically. Important corporate notices (such as security warnings) go unnoticed.
Against this background, this research project endeavour investigates context-adaptive technology for the efficient allocation of human attention. The main objectives are to investigate (i) which type of context information should be considered by context-adaptive services to serve all market players’ needs alongside the value chain (e.g., suppliers, intermediaries such as advertising agencies, vendors, users), (ii) in which ways should systems ideally adapt to context, (iii) and what are sustainable business models for context-adaptive services. Research will particularly consider the whole picture of concerned parties since the advancement of context-adaptive technology and services is relevant for all market players of value chain.
My approach to serving these objectives is to work alongside three dimensions: technology, business, and users. The users’ dimension (such as “How do users perceive and accept context-adaptive services?”) serves as the basic dimension, which is treated from a technology and business perspective.