CONTEX(T)PLORER: A Mobile Inspector for Ubiquitous Environments

Abstract

The complex invisible interactions between components of ubiquitous environments present a challenge for end-users and thereby raise concerns of privacy and nontransparency. In this paper, we introduce CONTEX(T)PLORER, a mobile inspector system that aims at lowering the acceptance barrier of ambient intelligence and ubiquitous computing environments. The inspector actively involves end-users in an in-situ investigation process: users select, explore, and inspect components in a ubiquitous environment while interacting with them. Individual components are used as entry points to the process. We present a brief overview of the system’s concept and implementation, and discuss related work.