‘Aware of What?’ A Formal Model of Awareness Systems That Extends the Focus-Nimbus Model

Abstract

Abstract. We present a formal-model of awareness-systems founded upon the focus and nimbus model of Benford et al [2] and of Rodden [19]. The model aims to provide a conceptual tool for reasoning about this class of systems. Our model introduces the notions of aspects, attributes and resources in order to expose the communicational aspects of awareness-systems. We show how the model enables reasoning about issues such as deception and plausible deniability, which arguably are crucial for enabling users to protect their privacy and to manage how they present themselves to their social network.

Amelie: A Recombinant Computing Framework for Ambient Awareness

“…We have presented Amelie, a framework for developing Awareness Systems based on the FN-AAR model [11] and the notion of recombinant computing [5]. Amelie leaves enough space for exploratory technologies both though its openness regarding ontology engines, and through its openness through the recombinant approach.…”

“…The FN-AAR model [11] is a model of awareness systems that extends the Focus/Nimbus model [2,13] that models (the magnitude of) awareness in terms of the overlap between the focus of one entity upon another and the information that other entity is prepared to share with the first -which is termed the 'nimbus' of this latter entity. Where the focus-nimbus model describes how much aware two entities are about each-other in a particular space, FN-AAR describes of what are the entities aware in a particular situation in relation to each other, and illustrates [11,12] how this departure is instrumental for modelling concisely awareness systems, and the social aspects pertaining to their use.…”

“…Where the focus-nimbus model describes how much aware two entities are about each-other in a particular space, FN-AAR describes of what are the entities aware in a particular situation in relation to each other, and illustrates [11,12] how this departure is instrumental for modelling concisely awareness systems, and the social aspects pertaining to their use.…”

“…This paper introduces Amelie, a recombinant computing framework designed to meet this challenge. First related work is summarized and the theoretical foundations of Amelie are introduced: the Focus-Nimbus Aspects Attributes and Resources (FN-AAR) model [11], and the concept of recombinant computing [5]; then Amelie is described and the paper concludes with an illustration the advantages it offers for implementing ambient awareness systems.…”

To Be or Not to Be Aware: Reducing Interruptions in Pervasive Awareness Systems

“…In its simplest form, the awareness measure is the length of the path between two users. Metaxas and Markopoulos have later presented a formal model which concentrates on the communication aspects of the focus-nimbus model [18]. Their model addresses issues of privacy by allowing for plausible deniability and deception.…”