Reading the tea leaves in an intelligent Coffee Corner: Challenges for understanding behavior

This article discusses the challenges for methodological innovation on the basis of experiences in an experimental Living Lab setting: a context-aware Coffee Corner in a research institute. A context-aware infrastructure collects sensory information on users while they move and interact. People getting coffee can use a variety of services offered in the intelligent environment at the Coffee Corner’s site; for example, a colleague-radar application allows users to see the current positions of their colleagues in the building. At the same time, it identifies and authenticates users using proximity-aware and context-aware security features. Apart from proximity and context awareness, the analysis of contextual data allows the construction of a behavioral model of users that can be used to customize the services offered at the Coffee Corner. We explain how the Living Lab allows us to measure behavior in context in an unobtrusive and trustworthy way (e.g., by respecting a user’s right to privacy).