Computing Reviews
Today's Issue Hot Topics Search Browse Recommended My Account Log In
Review Help
Search
Enabling context-aware Web services : methods, architectures, and technologies
Sheng Q., Yu J., Dustdar S., Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL, 2010. 558 pp. Type: Book (978-1-439809-85-3)
Date Reviewed: Sep 30 2010

Context-aware computing focuses on understanding the end user in a more intimate, targeted, and relevant way. It is about considering not simply the declarative elements of an interaction, but also the relevant unspoken artifacts surrounding the end user, the interaction, and the receiving system. Unbound, the context model encompasses a vast amount of elements and relationships. Identifying relevant contextual information matches that vastness with complexity: consider too little and the impact of the context-aware computing is trivial; consider too much and the computing may never end.

Typical systems offer query/response style interactions, where an end user takes an action that results in a new experience. Over the last several years, dynamic content and advertising recommendations have taken this into consideration, and more recent dynamic location detection provides geographically localized content.

As computing becomes more context-aware, there will be waves of novelty. Initially, most of the book targets content or filtering datasets based on context--using context to make declarative queries. As this evolves, semantic Web approaches offer greater advances. Although people are hardly conscious of their context, they are delighted when it is taken into consideration, as part of their computing experience. Seeing that computing tends to be considered inhumane, small steps are rewarded handsomely. That said, people want to know what they do not already know, which means that discovery--what don’t I know that I should?--will play a pivotal role. How does one build such insightful systems?

Sheng, Yu, and Dustdar take on this timely topic by editing this new book. The domain can easily get lost in theoretical discussion, so the approach of focusing on Web services to support such computing is encouraging. The book is divided into three parts: “Methodology,” “Architecture,” and “Technology.” Interestingly enough, since most of the authors are European, the book lacks a North American perspective. This, in its own right, offers an interesting perspective on work that may not typically get equal play. While the overall content of the book is of good quality, Parts 2 and 3 stand out--specifically, chapters 9, 11 to 13, and 16. Other chapters contribute less, diving into approaches that might prove inspiring for readers with certain specific backgrounds.

Overall, the book is worth a discerning read, but, as with most edited compilations, refrain from taking it with you on vacation.

Reviewer:  Brian D. Goodman Review #: CR138425 (1107-0706)
Bookmark and Share
 
Web-Based Services (H.3.5 ... )
 
 
Software Architectures (D.2.11 )
 
 
Reference (A.2 )
 
Would you recommend this review?
yes
no
Other reviews under "Web-Based Services": Date
Bibliometric analysis of the impact of Internet use on scholarly productivity
Kaminer N., Braunstein Y. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 49(9): 720-730, 1998. Type: Article
Nov 1 1998
The design and implementation of the Gecko NFS Web proxy
Baker S., Hartman J. Software--Practice & Experience 31(7): 637-665, 2001. Type: Article
Jun 10 2002
Searching the Web
Arasu A., Cho J., Garcia-Molina H., Paepcke A., Raghavan S. ACM Transactions on Internet Technology 1(1): 2-43, 2001. Type: Article
Feb 1 2002
more...

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
Send Your Comments
Contact Us
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.   Copyright 1999-2024 ThinkLoud®
Terms of Use
| Privacy Policy