I’m delighted to announce MEX and Qualcomm are working on a new Pathway, #14, on context aware user experience. MEX Pathways are independent, open and ongoing community initiatives to create ideas for future digital experiences.

The Pathway explores how systems responsive to behaviour patterns and sensor data enable new experiences better suited to individual user needs. It aims to solve specific design challenges around the self learning process, balancing dynamic and consistent interface elements, approaches to privacy management and making it easy for users to correct contextual mistakes.

1. In which scenarios do real-time sensor data and behavioural patterns combine most effectively to reveal user context?
2. What is the right balance between dynamic, contextually responsive elements and consistency in the user interface?
3. How can contextually responsive experiences respect privacy yet learn user behaviour quickly enough to deliver benefit?
4. How do graceful failure techniques allow users to correct inaccurate contextual guesses and reassure the system is learning from mistakes?

The exploration of these themes has already begun in an earlier essay entitled ‘Context‘.

Today’s publication of initial provocations is an invitation for anyone interested in this field to get involved in the discussion. There are opportunities to share your views through the MEX newsletter and propose speaker sessions for in-depth exploration at the MEX event on 19th – 20th September.

I’d love to hear from as broad a range of viewpoints as possible. Get in touch direct at mp@pmn.co.uk or +44 7767 622957.

In addition to supporting MEX as a Pathway sponsor, Qualcomm is contributing results from its ongoing research into context aware computing.