Enhancing communities by social interactions in mobile environments

Abstract

The progress in www-technologies and the trends toward ubiquitous computing have led to web-based user communities in recent years. Community members meet in virtual space and share information. Member interactions are mainly based on centralised services. This paper introduces Agent Assisted Communities, an approach to enhance member interactions and community forming in mobile environments. Based on domain-specific user-defined profiles held on mobile devices, mobile software agents can look for individuals in the vicinity, who have shared interests. If found, an initial contact can be established via the mobile devices in peer-to-peer mode and then used in real life.