Present Research
Present research is focused on the area of Task-Based Computing and the automatic generation of Task-Based User Models to support Knoweldge Workers (KW) in managing complex tasks, both on their desktop and during collaborative work.
While performing knowledge work, KWs preform multi-tasking by switching between different task-contexts. This is anologous to the operating-system's task-management mechanism. In the case of the KW multi-tasking however involves the use of several computer applications and these may not be discrete tasks, in the sense that a KW may have multiple e-mail messages opened, representing several tasks, together with several word processing documents opened for editing, some of which may be related to some of the e-mail messages. She may also have several web browser windows, each containing several tabs, where each window represents a different task.
We are motivated to find a solution to task management at the conceptual level, by representing each KW's task as a Task-Based User Model (TBUM). When a KW's task is interrupted or suspended the TBUM can be used to efficiently and effectively restore the task-space whenever the task is resumed. The benefit of this approach is that the TBUM can be seen by the KW as a dynamic and persistent mental model of the resources that she is using to perform a task; activities such as search can be restricted to a task-context; TBUMs can be shared between collaborating KWs, or collaborative TBUMs can represent a shared task undertaken by collaborating KWs.
Past Research
M.Sc. thesis: Personalised Service Discovery and Composition based on CCBR
PreDiCtS: Personalised Discovery and Composition of Services [homepage]
