Jingling Genies (Services in Context) 

Traditionally, while international collaboration has not been uncommon in research, closely integrated teamwork on a global scale is still fairly rare.

Further, the majority of present-day IT systems only allow users plain query-response based interaction, not utilising the great potential of knowing the context of the user and the various user devices.  Most of this interaction is visually oriented, which is impractical in many everyday scenarios, like walking in the traffic.

Research Objectives and Goals

A vision of the Jingling Genies project is to master globalized research, where tasks are consciously delegated to the location that adds most value, and where the interaction globally between project partners is given prime focus. The Jingling Genies project aims to grow knowledge and competencies at three levels: Interaction in globalized research, IT frameworks for context-sensitive services, and global supervision of PhD students. The object of the globalized research in the Jingling Genies project is the development of theories and implementation of a framework for context-sensitive services. This framework will consider the notion of context as a prime factor for providing trustworthy, useful and pervasive interaction with the user via mobile and generally pervasive units. This novel interaction is based on the concept of genies, disembodied conversational agents, that suggest and provide useful services, based on relevant context.

Research Activities

The research in the Jingling Genies project focuses on four points:

• Designing a flexible and extensible framework for deployment of context sensitive services in highly volatile, mobile environments, where services may rely on information provided by other, constantly changing services.
• Developing fundamental formal models and theories for context sensitive services in volatile environments, based on theories for process calculi, etc.
• The design of an innovative, primarily audio based user interface that can provide the user with service, based on the user's context.
• Evaluating framework, theories and user interface design through empirical studies of concrete examples of context sensitive services, often in collaboration with industry partners.

Relation to Global Interaction

The research is based on close yet global interaction between the project partners using global IT tools (teleconferencing, online document editors, global software repositories, etc.), as well as face-to-face meetings and extended visits. The outcome at this level is expected to be a deeper insight into models for globalized research, based on concrete experiences The PhD students of the Jingling Genie project are guided by global supervision in the sense that there is a stronger focus on exchange of Chinese and Danish PhD students, all within the same project, and for extended periods of up to one year. It is envisioned that these students will graduate with competencies particularly strong in global interaction. Additionally, the framework and user interface is envisioned to support interaction between users and service providers at a global scale, for instance allowing staff located in China to guide Chinese tourists in Denmark using information on their immediate context.