WAHM 2016: Workshop on Ubiquitous Technologies for Augmenting the Human Mind
12.09.2016, UbiComp 2016, Heidelberg, Germany.
Abstract. The past years have seen a growing interest in augmenting human cognition – attention, engagement, memory, learning, etc – through ubiquitous technologies. With the ongoing research and development of near-constant capture devices, unlimited storage, and algorithms for processing and retrieving captured recordings, the resulting personal “lifelogs” have opened the door to a vast range of applications. In the third rendition of this workshop series, we focus on technologies and applications of capturing and integrating personal experiences into everyday use cases. With the question What constitutes a modern lifelog?, we would like to invite researchers, designers, and practitioners to envision and exchange ideas on how ubiquitous technologies and applications can help enhance human cognition in everyday life. For example, search requests may no longer purely retrieve information from online archives, but take into account personal experiences. In this one-day workshop, we would like to formulate visions and concrete application scenarios for making use of ubiquitous technologies in order to push personal data to an application layer where it is used to support and augment human cognition and the human mind.
Detailed information about this workshop can be found here: recall-fet.eu/wahm16/
ICT 2015: Augmenting Human Cognition – ICT to support capture, reflection and recall
21.10.2015, ICT 2015, Lisbon, Portugal.
Technology has always had a direct impact on how and what humans remember. Technology radically changes the nature and scale of the cues that we can preserve outside our own memory in order to trigger recall. In recent years three separate strands of technology have developed to the extent that collectively they open up entirely new ways of augmenting human memory:
(i) capture – technologies such as the Narrative Clip, social networks and interaction logs enable near-continuous collection of memory cues
(ii) storage – advances in data storage and processing enable widespread mining of individual and collective cues for proactive presentation
(iii) presentation – the presence of ubiquitous displays (both in the environment and via personal devices such as Google Glass) provides many new opportunities for displaying memory cues to trigger recall.
The time is ripe to attempt the creation of memory augmentation technology that provides the user with the experience of an extended and enhanced memory, but which is based on improvements in the collection, mining, and presentation of appropriate information to facilitate cued memory recall.
In this multi-disciplinary networking session, we will discuss the advances necessary to lay the scientific foundations for a new technology eco-system that can transform the way humans remember in order to measurably and significantly improve functional capabilities while maintaining individual control.
Detailed information about this networking session can be found at europe.eu and in this blog post.
Workshop on Mobile Cognition: Using Mobile Devices to Enhance Human Cognition
24.08.2015, MobileHCI 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract. With the mobile phone turning into a lifelogging device alongside with the prevalence of wearables, people are able to record, store, and make sense of their daily activities. Using such insights, applications can help monitor physiological data, motivate behavior change, but also create new ways to aid human memory: mobile devices not only allow us to create records of information, but also present us with proactive reminders and instant access to information relevant to the current situation and context serving as cognition support and for retrospection. This workshop brings together practitioners, designers and researchers with the goal of exploring the requirements, challenges and possibilities of mobile cognition, i.e. how to track activities beyond the physical realm, make sense of that data and feed it back to the user in meaningful ways to augment human cognition.
Detailed information about this workshop can be found here: recall-fet.eu/wmc2015/
WAHM 2014: Workshop on Ubiquitous Technologies for Augmenting the Human Mind
14.09.2014, UbiComp 2014, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Abstract. The Workshop on Ubiquitous Technologies for Augmenting the Human Mind (WAHM) was conducted on September 14th at Ubicomp in Seattle. WAHM brought together researchers and practitioners at the intersection of technology and cognitive psychology to explore current research and future visions for the augmentation of human memory and cognition. Over the course of the day a total of 9 research and position papers were presented, and a series of discussions explored key aspects of the research agenda. Here we summarize the workshop objectives and list the position papers.
Detailed information about the WAHM 2014 workshop can be found here: recall-fet.eu/wahm2014/
Announcing a Dagstuhl Seminar on Augmenting Human Memory – Capture and Recall in the Era of Lifelogging
01.09.2014 – 05.09.2014, Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany
Summary
This seminar aims to bring together researchers interested in exploring how technology can fundamentally change the way we interact with human memory. Recent developments in capture technology and information retrieval allow for continuous and automated recordings and playback of many aspects of our everyday lives. By combining this with basic research in memory psychology, today’s memory augmentation technologies may soon be elevated from a clinical niche application to a mainstream technology, initiating a major change in the way we use technology to remember and to externalize memory. Future capture technologies and corresponding control mechanisms will allow us to automate the acquisition of personal memories and subsequently trigger feedback of such memories through ambient large displays and personal mobile or wearable devices in order to aid personal memory acquisition, retention, and attenuation.
The emergence of this new breed of memory psychology-inspired capture and recall technology offers the possibility of a radical transformation in the way we understand and manage human memory acquisition and recall. Future research in this area may fundamentally change our understanding of human memory and have a transformational impact on all spheres of life – the workplace, family life, education, and psychological well-being – by improving the acquisition of new knowledge, the retention of existing knowledge, and the loss of unwanted knowledge.
The seminar will bring together researchers from a wide range of computing disciplines, such as mobile and pervasive computing, privacy and security, social computing and ethnography, usability, and systems research, as well as related disciplines such as psychology and economics, in order to discuss how these trends are changing our existing research on capture and playback technologies, privacy and society, and existing theories of memory. In particular, the seminar will focus on three core aspects of memory capture and recall technology:
- Collection: What is the best mix of technologies for capturing relevant human experiences to improve human memory? How can we create a novel class of capture systems that specifically support human memory functions while offering a fine-grained level of control over their recording and fully respecting personal privacy?
- Presentation: What are appropriate tools and methods for integrating, correlating, and visualizing captured sensor data and other information sources into a coherent “memory prosthetics” streams? Such streams will be based on theoretical principles of human memory organization, in order to positively influence the acquisition, retention and attenuation of knowledge from personal experiences.
- Theory: How can we use these new systems to validate psychological theories of human memory, in particular with respect to the feasibility of targeted attenuation of unwanted memories?
In this seminar we hope to explore the scientific foundations for a new technology eco-system that can transform the way humans remember in order to measurably and significantly improve functional capabilities while maintaining individual control.
Attendance at this seminar is by invitation only. Please contact us for further information.