HIIT Update 1/2003

Headlines in this issue:

- FOREWORD
- HIIT LAUNCHES THREE PROJECTS IN THE PROACTIVE COMPUTING PROGRAM OF THE ACADEMY OF FINLAND
- NEXT GENERATION INTERNET SEARCH ENGINE PROJECT STARTED
- PERSONAL DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION STORAGE PROJECT STARTED
- THE BERKELEY CENTER FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY COMMENCES OPERATION
- HIIT TO START CO-OPERATION WITH TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY, BEIJING, CHINA
- SENIOR PERSONNEL NEWS: DR. MARKO TURPEINEN JOINS HIIT
- DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS BY HIIT PERSONNEL: JAN BLOM AND ANU KANKAINEN
- PROF. MANUEL CASTELLS RECEIVES A HONORARY DOCTORATE FROM HUT
- HIIT RETREAT TO BE HELD ON MAY 26-28
- NEW TELEPHONE NUMBERS
- FUTURE EVENTS

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FOREWORD

More than half a year has passed since the publication of the previous issue of HIIT Update, and a lot has happened since.

This issue is rich with news on new projects starting, new co-operation arrangements bearing fruit or being planned, and new people joining our work or progressing with their scientific career with us. Many - if not all - of the leads reported in the previous issue have been successful, and the work along their lines has now started.

The year 2003 will provide many further opportunities for challenging and interesting work, and HIIT is well positioned to make use of them - even in the cruel economic climate of today. This makes me confident that we can inform you of good news also in the next issue of HIIT Update - which I hope will reach you a bit sooner than the present one.

Martti Mäntylä

Director of HIIT, Advanced Research Unit

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HIIT LAUNCHES THREE PROJECTS IN THE PROACTIVE COMPUTING PROGRAM OF THE ACADEMY OF FINLAND

The Academy of Finland awarded on October 14, 2002 funding for three projects with HIIT research groups in the Proactive Computing program. The funding was awarded for three years commencing on January 1, 2003.

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The project "Context Recognition by User Situation Data Analysis" (CONTEXT) studies characterization and analysis of information about the user's context and its use in proactive adaptivity. The project adopts a multidisciplinary approach and focuses on the utilization of user context: What is the user's understanding of her current context? How are automatic inferences made about the context? How is context characterized to users and how is user interaction about context designed? These questions are considered in the framework of an example application: instant mobile messaging, a representative ubiquitous application whose usability greatly depends on how context-sensitively messages are handled and filtered.

For more information, please contact Professor Hannu Toivonen, University of Helsinki, Hannu.Toivonen(a)cs.helsinki.fi, Professor Martti Mäntylä, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT), Martti.Mantyla(a)hiit.fi, or peek into the WWW pages of the project at http://www.hiit.fi/context/.

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The project "Proactive Information Retrieval by Adaptive Models of Users' Attention and Interests" (PRIMA)is a joint effort by Academy Research Fellow Petri Myllymäki of HIIT/ARU jointly with Professor Samuel Kaski of HUT and Dr. Ilpo Kojo of Helsinki School of Economics. The goal of the project is to build probabilistic and neural computing based models that learn from the actions of people to model their intentions and expectations, and use the models for disambiguating the user's vague commands and anticipate their expectations. The actions and interests are monitored by measuring eye fixations and movements that exhibit both voluntary and involuntary signs of both the cognitive state of the user and his intentions. The models will be implemented and incorporated into a software tool offering a platform for applications in a prototype area, proactive information retrieval.

For more information, please contact Academy Research Fellow, Dr. Petri Myllymäki, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Petri.Myllymaki(a)hiit.fi.

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The consortium of the project "Networking and Architecture for Proactive Systems" (NAPS) includes docent, research coordinator Patrik Floréen, Professor Pekka Orponen from the Laboratory for Theoretical Computer Science at HUT, and Professor Jorma Virtamo of the Networking Laboratory of HUT. NAPS studies dynamically organized wireless ad hoc networks. Problems related to the infrastructure of proactive systems will be addressed from the point of view of modern algorithmics. Some of the topics are network clustering, network management as a multiobjective optimization problem and variational routing constraints. Other problems studied in the project are the new challenges of energy constrained routing, the decreasing goodput per node as the number of nodes increases, and the robustness requirements that may require redundant connectivity from the network.

For more information, please contact Research Coodinator, Doc. Patrik Floréen, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT), Patrik.Floreen(a)hiit.fi, or refer to the project's WWW page at http://www.hiit.fi/naps.

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NEXT GENERATION INTERNET SEARCH ENGINE PROJECT STARTED

The Academy of Finland awarded in November, 2002 4-year funding for the project "Scalable Probabilistic Methods for Next Generation Internet Search Engines" (PROSE) by professor Henry Tirri of the University of Helsinki and HIIT.

The project forms the core technical and methodological activity of a larger research effort aimed at creating a next-generation distributed Internet search engine that provides greatly enhanced service in comparison with the present state-of-the-art. Further projects presently being planned include a national project "Search-ina-Box" focusing on topic-specific search engines for intranets, and a CEC project "European Search Engine" aiming at a distributed, Europe-wide search service making use of grid computing facilities.

Please see the Next Generation Search page at http://cosco.hiit.fi/search/ for more information, or contact Prof. Henry Tirri, Henry.Tirri(a)hiit.fi.

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PERSONAL DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION STORAGE PROJECT STARTED

On Feb. 6, 2003, TEKES has awarded first-year funding for the project "Personal Distributed Information Storage". The project studies a synchronization-based peer-to-peer infrastructure for storage of lightweight structured data such as calendar entries and other PIM data. It forms a part of the Fuego research theme at HIIT.

The open source research prototype to be constructed in PDIS will provide a testbed for studying algorithms for synchronization of multiple data replicas. Several of these replicas might be strongly connected to the network, while others might be weakly connected (e.g., occasionally connected via a high-latency wireless link). We require that the user experience when connected to the network be that of on-line access. We also require that the user be able to continue to access and modify personal information when disconnected. Synchronization upon reconnection will be transparent and nondisruptive.

Dr. Ken Rimey leads the project; the partners are Nokia, Hewlett-Packard, Innofactor and Creanor. For more information, please contact Dr. Ken Rimey, Ken.Rimey(a)hiit.fi or peek into http://www.rimey.com/hiit/pdis/.

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THE BERKELEY CENTER FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY COMMENCES OPERATION

The Berkeley Center for the Information Society (BCIS) is a research center focused on the social impact of the information technology revolution. It is organised as a independent unit at the International Computer Science Institute http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/ closely affiliated with the University of California at Berkeley.

The center is directed by Dr. Pekka Himanen of HIIT, and its Research Board is chaired by Prof. Manuel Castells of UCB. Key research areas include: (1) challenges of the global information society and different models of responding to it; (2) the use of IT in social movements; and (3) enhancing equal social opportunities with IT. Among the current projects in the above areas are (1) HIIT's project "The Welfare of Nations" by Dr. Himanen, Prof. Castells and their group comparing the Silicon Valley, Finnish, and Singapore information society models; (2) research on the application of the open-source model to social movements by Prof. Jerry Feldman, Prof. Jeff Juris and others; and (3) the digital opportunities program called "Berkeley Foundation for Opportunities in information Technology" (BFOIT), led by Orpheus Crutchfield.

The center was opened formally on Sept. 29, 2002. The opening ceremony was held at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California, hosted by Prof. Nelson Morgan, Director of ICSI and Dr. Pekka Himanen, Director of the Center. To honour the occasion, Jukka Valtasaari, the Finnish Ambassador to the US, decorated Prof. Manuel Castells.

While BCIS is an independent organisation, its research interests align closely with the Digital Economy theme of HIIT. This and the happy arrangement that Dr. Himanen also continues as a Senior Research Scientist at HIIT will provide ample opportunities for co-operation beyond the existing project.

For more information on BCIS, please refer to http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/BCIS/, or contact Dr. Pekka Himanen, phimanen(a)icsi.berkeley.edu.

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HIIT TO START CO-OPERATION WITH TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY, BEIJING, CHINA

Launching some form of close co-operation with a major research university in the Far East has been a part of HIIT's long-term plans ever since its beginning. Now that HIIT has grown and matured, the time to realize these plans is drawing closer. Especially China has become a prominent developer of new technologies, not to mention its booming economy and growing importance as a market.

In October, 2002, HIIT submitted a brief co-operation proposal to the Department of Computer Science and Technology of the Tsingua University, Beijing, China. After brief negotiation with Professor Zhou Lizhu, Department Head, the plan was submitted to the Tenth Joint Session under the Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Finland held in Beijing on November 5, 2002 between representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Commerce. The HIIT-Tsinghua proposal was not only accepted in the co-operation programme, but also placed on so-called "priority list".

The core of the proposal is to establish co-operation on a similar basis as between HIIT and University of California at Berkeley. The work will be performed in joint or closely aligned projects, and will focus in bilateral researcher exchange mainly on postgraduate and post-doc levels. The first topics are likely to include open source software development, user-centric service design, and topics in digital economy.

To plan the co-operation further, and to facilitate its launch late 2003 or early 2004, HIIT Director, Prof. Martti Mäntylä and Digital Economy Research Group leader, Dr. Jukka Kemppinen will visit Beijing on March 15-25, 2003. In addition to Tsinghua University, they will also visit other sites of interest.

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SENIOR PERSONNEL NEWS: DR. MARKO TURPEINEN JOINS HIIT

Dr. Marko Turpeinen, Vice President of Research and Technology at Alma Media Interactive, has joined HIIT as a part-time Senior Research Scientist from December 1, 2002. He will be sharing his time between Alma Media and HIIT on a 50-50 basis.

Dr. Turpeinen has a Ph. D. degree in Computer Science from Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) and a S. M. Degree in Media Arts and Sciences from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At HUT, he was the project manager in OtaOnline (1994-95), which was a pioneer in Finland in Web-based electronic publishing. The topic of his doctoral dissertation at HUT (2000) was media content customization. At MIT Media Lab (1996-2000) he worked in the Electronic Publishing Group on community publishing and collaborative storytelling through digital media, especially concentrating in the needs of the senior citizens. His work at Alma Media (1996-) has dealt extensively with issues related to multi-channel publishing, media customization, dynamic customer profiling, privacy, and intellectual property rights. His current research interest is in computer-mediated communities. Dr. Turpeinen can be contacted at marko.turpeinen(a)hiit.fi.

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DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS BY HIIT PERSONNEL: JAN BLOM AND ANU KANKAINEN

Jan Blom, HIIT researcher in the Between project, defended succesfully on November 29, 2002 his doctoral thesis "Psychological Implications of Personalised User Interfaces" at the Department of Psychology, University of York, under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Monk. Dr. Blom plans to continue to work at HIIT as a Research Scientist in a new project corrently under preparation.

Anu Kankainen, HIIT researcher in the Between project, defended successfully her doctoral thesis "Thinking Model and Tools for Understanding User Experience Related to Information Appliance Product Concepts" in a public defence at the Helsinki University of Technology on Dec 9, 2003. The opponent was prof. Kari-Jouko Räihä from the University of Tampere and the custos Dr. Martti Mäntylä of HIIT. The full thesis is available in http://lib.hut.fi/Diss/2002/isbn9512263076/. Dr. Kankainen's doctorate is the first earned from work largely conducted at HIIT. She continues to work at HIIT as a Research Scientist in the CONTEXT project.

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PROF. MANUEL CASTELLS RECEIVES A HONORARY DOCTORATE FROM HUT

Professor Manuel Castells from the University of California at Berkeley will receive a Doctor of Science (Engineering) degree honoris causa from the Helsinki University of Technology in the formal promotion event to be held on May 16 at HUT. HIIT is closely affiliated with Prof. Castells' work through the Welfare of Nations project, where Prof. Castells serves as the chairman of the Scientific Board, and through the Berkeley Center for the Information Society (BCIS) where he has a similar position.

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HIIT RETREAT TO BE HELD ON MAY 26-28

Building on the experience of the successful Fuego Retreat event held in Spring 2002, HIIT plans to organise the HIIT Retreat event on May 26.-28., 2003 in the Sjökulla Education Centre (http://www.hut.fi/Yksikot/Tila/sjokulla.html).

The objective of the retreat is to offer an opportunity for representatives from industry to interact with HIIT senior researchers and to get a comprehensive view of HIIT's research and its future plans. Thereby, the retreat provides a significant contribution to the strategy process of HIIT.

Tentatively, the event will commence in the late afternoon of May 26 with a plenary session and evening program, continue the full day of May 27, and end by lunchtime May 28. The program will include both prepared presentations and group work.

Attendance will be through invitation only. For more information and queries, please contact HIIT Director, Prof. Martti Mäntylä, Martti.Mantyla(a)hiit.fi.

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NEW TELEPHONE NUMBERS

The cityphone service will be discontinued on March 1, 2003. Therefore, the cityphone numbers of HIIT personnel (09 850x xxxx) have been replaced with regular GSM service.

Please refer to http://www.hiit.fi/people for the new numbers of HIIT personnel. We are sorry for the possible inconvenience.

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FUTURE EVENTS

25.3.2003 at 13.00-16.30: XML browsing technology seminar at HIIT (Ruoholahti, 6th floor). Professor Vuorimaa and his group represent results of the XML Devices project.

28.3.2003 at 14.00-15.30: Friday coffee seminar at HIIT (Ruoholahti, 6th floor). Complex System Computation group provides the program.

8.-9.4.2003: The Digital Economy Research Group organises an invitation-based workshop on Digital Divide and Digital Commons in Sjökulla, Kirkkonummi. For more information, please contact workshop coordinator Mika Rantakokko, Mika.Rantakokko(a)hiit.fi or Digital Economy Research Group leader, Dr. Jukka Kemppinen, Jukka.Kemppinen(a)hiit.fi.

25.4.2003 at 14.00-15.30: Friday coffee seminar at HIIT (Ruoholahti, 6th floor). Program TBD.

23.5.2003 at 14.00-15.30: Friday coffee seminar at HIIT (Ruoholahti, 6th floor). Program TBD.

26.-28.5.2003: HIIT Retreat at Sjökulla, Kirkkonummi. For more information, HIIT Director, Dr. Martti Mäntylä, Martti.Mantyla(a)hiit.fi.

9.-11.6.2003: The 3rd HIIT-Berkeley Summer School on Telecommunications Software Architectures organized by HIIT and the University of California at Berkeley will take place in Berkeley, California. Main organisers of the Summer School are Professor Kimmo Raatikainen and Professor Randy Katz. Attendance by invitation only; applictions MUST be sent to Prof. Martti Mäntylä (martti.mantyla(a)hiit.fi) and Prof. Kimmo Raatikainen (kimmo.raatikainen(a)hiit.fi) by April 1, 2003.