HIIT Update 2/2002

- FOREWORD
- HIIT SUBMITS THREE PROPOSALS FOR THE PROACTIVE COMPUTING PROGRAMME
- HIIT SUBMITS THREE PROPOSALS FOR THE "COUNTERSTREAM" CALL OF NETS
- HIIT SUBMITS THREE PROPOSALS TO ACADEMY OF FINLAND
- HIIT SUBMITS FIVE EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST TO CEC
- DR. PATRIK FLORÉEN APPOINTED AS THE RESEARCH COORDINATOR OF HIIT
- SENIOR PERSONNEL NEWS: DR. KEN RIMEY JOINS HIIT
- HIIT BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE WIRELESS WORLD RESEARCH FORUM
- HIIT COMMENCES THE PUBLICATION OF THREE REPORT SERIES
- FUTURE EVENTS

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FOREWORD

This issue of HIIT Update is very big in project proposals. There have been several opportunities open to HIIT researchers during the Spring, and they have not been idle. Even while we cannot expect all proposals to be successful - competition of research funding is fierce - HIIT has every reason to expect a rewarding future on the basis of the quality of the proposals, not to mention their sheer quantity.

We are especially pleased that many of the proposals combine skills and groups in novel and unexpected ways to study interesting and important issues from angles commonly ignored by research. The Expressions of Interest submitted to CEC also display a high profile, and should give us a good basis of commencing CEC-sponsored research in 2003.

The Finnish holiday season is now imminent, and also HIIT will be a much quieter place during the next 4 or 5 weeks. HIIT Update wishes a relaxing and rewarding holiday for all its readers!

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HIIT SUBMITS THREE PREPROPOSALS FOR THE PROACTIVE COMPUTING PROGRAMME

HIIT researchers submitted three preproposals to the Proactive Computing program of the Academy of Finland, April 29, 2002. All three proposals have been invited to submit a full proposal by August 8, 2002.

CONTEXT RECOGNITION BY USER SITUATION DATA ANALYSIS

The project will study modelling and analysis of information about user's context and its use in proactive adaptivity. The sample application to be studied is context-sensitive messaging between mobile users. The research problems are approached by qualitative end user studies, data analysis algorithm development, and empirical testing in a prototype environment. For more information, contact the joint proposers Prof. Martti Mäntylä, HIIT/ARU, Martti.Mantyla(a)hiit.fi, and Prof. Hannu Toivonen, UH and HIIT/BRU, Hannu.Toivonen(a)cs.helsinki.fi, or the Fuego program coordinator Mikko Mäkelä, Mikko.Makela(a)hiit.fi.

PROACTIVE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL BY ADAPTIVE MODELS OF USERS' ATTENTION AND INTEREST

The project builds probabilistic and neural models that learn from users’ actions to model their intentions and expectations, disambiguate vague commands, and anticipate actions. The actions and interests are monitored by measuring eye fixations and movements. The models will be implemented and tested for proactive information retrieval. The proposal is a joint effort of Dr. Petri Myllymäki, CoSCo, HIIT; Dr. Ilpo Kojo, CKIR, HeSBA; and Dr. Samuel Kaski, NNRC, HUT. For more information, please contact Dr. Petri Myllymäki, Petri.Myllymaki(a)hiit.fi.

NETWORKING AND ARCHITECTURE FOR PROACTIVE SYSTEMS

The proposal consists of a consortium of three projects to develop the fundamental networking and infrastructure techniques and architecture to address the requirements of proactive computing. The Architecture and Mobility project (Prof. Hannu Kari, HUT) will define a context aware management architecture and develop a proof-of-concept implementation. The Traffic Management project (Prof. Jorma Virtamo, HUT) will focus on optimal routing algorithms and capacity/robustness issues. The Algorithmics project (Prof. Patrik Floréen, UH/HIIT, and Prof. Pekka Orponen, HUT) will perform design and analysis of algorithms for key problems in proactive computing, using the methods and algorithms developed in the (theoretical) computer science community. For more information, please contact Dr. Patrik Floréen, Patrik.Floreen(a)hiit.fi.

Inquiries on the Proactive Computing Programme can be directed to the Programme Coordinator, Dr. Greger Lindén, greger.linden(a)cs.Helsinki.fi.

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HIIT SUBMITS THREE PROPOSALS FOR THE "COUNTERSTREAM"CALL OF NETS

HIIT submitted the following proposals to the April 30, 2002 call of the NETS programme of TEKES. The call aimed to find "counterstream" projects that challenge mainstream approaches to next generation networking. While it turned out that the HIIT proposals could not be funded in the extremely competitive call, we describe them here for information and because HIIT considers the topics very worthwhile also for future matching calls.

ZENITH: HORIZONTAL SERVICE MANAGEMENT

The project will aimed at studying next-generation heterogeneous, distributed, multichannel digital service management. It will study the requirements for such service management, design a service architecture that addresses the requirements, develop open source prototype(s) of the architecture, and study the prototypes in service deployment cases. Inquiries on the project can be directed to Professor Martti Mäntylä, Martti.Mantyla(a)hiit.fi,or MC program coordinator Anton Puolakka, Anton.Puolakka(a)hiit.fi.

YDIN: OPEN SOURCE KERNEL FOR NEXT GENERATION SEARCH ENGINE

The proposal is motivated by the fact that all prime WWW search engines are American, and they are proprietary. Therefore, the project aims to develop a distributed search engine that applies advanced stochastic modelling methods for content indexing; provide the engine to community in open source format; develop a European search service that makes use of the engine. The YDIN project will develop the computational core of the system only; the work will be continued in a larger project to be defined. Inquiries on the project can be directed to Dr. Wray Buntine, Wray.Buntine(a)hiit.fi, or Dr. Petri Myllymäki, Petri.Myllymaki(a)hiit.fi.

OPEN CONTENT AND SOFTWARE PRODUCTION MODELS

The project will study the possibilities and risks of open source and open licensing techniques from the point of view of traditional development models and the general market structure of information products. Therefore, the aim is to find out relevant technical and economic issues and found a basis for larger scale research and development projects and research networks. Inquiries on the project can be directed to Dr. Pekka Nikander, Pekka.Nikander(a)hiit.fi, Mikko Välimäki, Mikko.Valimaki(a)hiit.fi, or Digital Economy program coordinator Olli Pitkänen, Olli.Pitkanen(a)hiit.fi.

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HIIT SUBMITS FOUR PROPOSALS TO ACADEMY OF FINLAND

HIIT researchers submitted three proposals to the general call of the Academy of Finland on May 15, 2002:

DRAMA: SCENARIO METHODS FOR USER CENTERED PRODUCT CONCEPT DESIGN

The project plans to exploit drama methods (theatre, movies) to develop and express use scenarios of innovative digital services, particularly mobile ubicomp –style services. The multidisciplinary project involves elements of dramaturgy, industrial design, cinematography, architecture, and technology. It is joint work of Anu Kankainen and Tomi Kankainen, HIIT; Vesa Kantola, HUT; Siri Kolu, Stadia. Inquiries can be directed to Anu Kankainen, Anu.Kankainen(a)hiit.fi, or program coordinator Mikko Mäkelä, Mikko.Makela(a)hiit.fi.

PROSE: SCALABLE PROBABILISTIC METHODS FOR NEXT GENERATION INTERNET SEARCH ENGINES

The project aims at providing the statistical computing techniques and their implementations needed to build a search engine kernel for next generation Internet search services. The focus is on novel methods such as multinomial Principal Component Analysis for very large sets (terabytes) of data. The resulting C/C++ software libraries will be published in Open Source. Inquiries can be directed to Prof. Henry Tirri, Henry.Tirri(a)hiit.fi, Dr. Wray Buntine, Wray.Buntine(a)hiit.fi, or Dr. Petri Myllymäki, Petri.Myllymaki(a)hiit.fi.

OPEN LICENSING

The project is aimed to study the impact of open licensing models to the global digital markets and theoretical foundations of intellectual property rights. Inquiries can be directed to Dr. Jukka Kemppinen, Jukka.Kemppinen(a)hiit.fi, or program coordinator Olli Pitkänen, Olli.Pitkanen(a)hiit.fi.

In addition, HIIT also submitted one proposal to the Life as Learning program call of the Academy of Finland:

OPEN SOURCE LEARNING

The project will study the theoretical and applied aspects of open source learning, i.e., collaborative computer network assisted construction of knowledge with public information sharing mechanisms. Develop tools to support the paradigm. The project involves joint work with Department of Education, University of Helsinki, the Research Centre for Vocational Education, University of Tampere, and the Berkeley Center for Information Society, University of California at Berkeley. Inquiries can be directed to Prof. Henry Tirri, Henry.Tirri(a)hiit.fi, or Dr. Petri Myllymäki, Petri.Myllymaki(a)hiit.fi.

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HIIT SUBMITS FIVE EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST TO CEC

In preparation of the Sixth Framework Programme, the European Commission published in March, 2002 a call for Expressions of Interest from the European Research community (see http://www.cordis.lu/fp6/eoi-instruments/home.html). Jointly with its European partners, HIIT prepared and submitted the following EoI's:

Integrated Project in European Virtual Testbed for Location-Sensitive Ubiquitous Services

Main proposer: Martti Mäntylä

The European Virtual Testbed for Location-Sensitive Ubiquitous Services (EVIUS) is envisioned to consist of a network of European local test sites, each focusing on certain aspects of location-based services and applications, in particular the design, implementation, and provision of location-based services in 3G/4G/future mobile networks. Other issues include user experience design of service concepts; location technologies; user, device, and service profiles; adaptation and configuration of services; novel business models; legal aspects of location services. The IP is created on the basis of the existing NAVI network and its European contacts.

Network of Excellence in Understanding Trust and Trustworthiness in the Digital Environment

Main proposer: Pekka Nikander

The purpose of the proposed Network of Excellence is to bring together active researchers of trust and trustworthiness from the research communities within social sciences, jurisprudence, computer science, computer and communications security research, and economics research. This will lead to deepened and extended understanding of trust, trustworthiness, the value of trustworthy behaviour, and related phenomena, basically creating new, interdisciplinary research results. As a more practical goal, it is anticipated that this understanding will eventually lead to a way to representing human trust relationships and past experiences on trustworthy or untrustworthy behaviour in a digital and fully secured form. The main method to achieve this will be exchange of researchers, augmented with other activities such as arranging regular open or semi-open workshops, providing post-graduate level intensive seminars and special courses, and establishing and maintaining shared information repositories.

Open Source Economy Network of Excellence

Main proposer: Jukka Kemppinen

Open source software and content development; platform management; tools and techniques contributing to open source development; open source licenses; business models and practices contributing to or based on open source software and content; legal issues of open source software and content.

Integrated Project on European Search Engine

Main proposer: Wray Buntine

Develop a distributed search engine that applies advanced stochastic modelling methods for content indexing; provide the engine to community in open source format; develop a European search service that makes use of the engine.

Network of Excellence on Mobile Youth: Discovering New Use Scenarios

Main proposers: Martti Mäntylä and Anu Kankainen

Bring together active researchers of new mobile communication scenarios and young users within the fields of social sciences, human factors, interaction design, computer science, and telecommunications. Aim to accelerate information exchange between previously distinct fields of research by organizing user data analysis and scenario creation workshops.

In addition, HIIT joined also several proposals originated by other European partners:

NoE on Reconfigurable mobile communications and Adaptable services (NEREMCAS)

NoE on Mobile Multimedia Excellence Network (MOMENT)

IP in Self-Organising Networks (SON)

IP in Business Models for Electronic Publishing (B-MEP)

IP in Trust and Contract Management for Secure and Dynamically Evolving Virtual Organisations

NoE on IST Network of Excellence in Human-Artefact Integrated Affective Design (human-ARIADNeT)

IP on Use of IST in monitoring health related quality of life and its determinants (ISTQoL)

Inquiries on HIIT's planned activities in the CEC programmes can be directed to Research Coordinator, Dr. Patrik Floréen, Patrik.Floreen(a)hiit.fi (from August 1, 2002), or the various HIIT researchers mentioned above.

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DR. PATRIK FLORÉEN APPOINTED AS THE RESEARCH COORDINATOR OF HIIT

In its June 13 meeting, the Board of HIIT appointed Dr. Patrik Floréen as the Research Coordinator of HIIT for the 3-year period of August 1, 2002 through July 31, 2005. In addition to conducting independent research, his activities will mainly be targeted to coordinating international research, particularly EU-funded activities, covering both the Advanced Research and the Basic Research units of HIIT.

Dr. Floréen received his PhD in computer science from the University of Helsinki in 1992 and was appointed docent at the same university in 1995. He worked as teacher and researcher mainly at the same university, but also at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and the Helsinki University of Technology during 1986-1994. In 1995 he was appointed the first Secretary General of the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering at the Academy of Finland. He continued his career in science policy and administration on the European level, when he was appointed Scientific Officer at the European Commission, DG Research, in 1997. In the summer of 2001 he returned to Finland, acting as professor of computer science at the University of Helsinki. Dr. Floréen's research has mainly been directed towards theoretical computer science, neural networks and genetic algorithms. His more recent research interests are data mining and proactive computing. Further information can be obtained from his homepage http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/floreen.

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SENIOR PERSONNEL NEWS: DR. KEN RIMEY JOINS HIIT

Dr. Ken Rimey received his MA in Physics in 1983 and his PhD in Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989. In 1989-1991 he worked as Acting Associate Professor at the Helsinki University of Technology, where he taught computer graphics, operating systems, and compiler construction (with an extensive course project), as well as seminars on computer algebra and advanced topics in programming language implementation. He also initiated the Kaava project investigating the design of user-extensible direct-manipulation computer algebra systems and supervised research in parallel ray tracing and radiosity. In 1992-1994 he worked as Senior Software Engineer and Project Manager with Unda Oy where he developed a new software engine for use in interactive Macintosh and Unix applications for retouching of colour images for offset printing and advanced techniques for multiresolution editing of very large images and fast screen display of CMYK data. In 1995-1998 Dr. Rimey was R&D Manager at the Nokia Research Center where he led a hands-on research group investigating new software platforms for network equipment, software architectures for IP routers, and techniques for achieving high availability in distributed systems. From late 1998 to mid 2000 he was R&D Manager with Perceptual Robotics, Inc., Chicago, USA, where he saw the company grow from 8 employees to 35. At Perceptual Robotics, Dr. Rimey designed and implemented new interfaces for interacting with pan-tilt-zoom web cameras using any Java-enabled browser and managed camera deployments in e-commerce and Internet-based marketing for several Fortune 500 companies.

Dr. Rimey joined HIIT in May 2002, initially to participate in the Fuego Core (http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/starkoma/fc/fc.html) project. His present research interests include distributed, open application architectures; network-enabling the entertainment, PIM and communication devices at home and on the move; and generally making advanced application software development easier. For more information, see http://www.iki.fi/rimey/ or contact Dr. Rimey at his permanent e-mail address rimey(a)rimey.com.

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HIIT BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE WIRELESS WORLD RESEARCH FORUM

The aim of the Wireless World Research Forum (http://www.wireless-world-research.org/) is formulate visions on strategic future research directions in the wireless field, among industry and academia, and to generate, identify, and promote research areas and technical trends for mobile and wireless system technologies. It is intended to constructively contribute to the work done within the UMTS Forum, ETSI, 3GPP, IETF, ITU, and other relevant bodies regarding commercial and standardisation issues derived from the research work. The WWRF was established in August, 2001.

The aims of WWRF are consistent with HIIT's objectives, particularly its Fuego programme. Therefore, HIIT submitted its application to become a member of WWRF in May, 2002, and was accepted as a full member in the WWRF Steering Board meeting of 14th June. HIIT looks forward to active participation in WWRF activities and to contributing to its aims.

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HIIT COMMENCES THE PUBLICATION OF THREE REPORT SERIES

HIIT has decided to commence the publication of three report series:

- HIIT Publications (printed), ISSN 1458-1951

- HIIT Publications (electronic), ISSN 1458-946X

- HIIT Technical Reports, ISSN 1458-????

In its two forms, HIIT Publications is intended for longer research reports originating from HIIT authors; conference and workshop proceedings held in connection with HIIT activities; project documentation; and other material as may be deemed appropriate. The printed version will appear in B5 form and the electronic version as PDF through the page www.hiit.fi/publications/publications.

The HIIT Technical Reports series is intended for rapid dissemination of articles and papers by HIIT authors submitted for publication elsewhere. It is provided only in electronic form as PDF through the page www.hiit.fi/publications/reports.

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FUTURE EVENTS

19.-23.8.2002: The 13th European Conference on Machine Learning (ECML'02) and the 6th European Conference on Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (PKDD'02) will be simultaneously held at the Main Building of the University of Helsinki. See http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/events/ecmlpkdd/ for further information on the conferences.