Personalisation in a System Combining Pervasiveness and Social Networking

One of the key objectives of a pervasive computing system is to provide appropriate support to enable the user to manage the increasingly complex environment surrounding her. This includes managing the ever-increasing number of devices which can be accessed wirelessly as well as the vast range of services at her disposal. The aim of the Persist project was to develop a pervasive system that would bridge the gap between fixed smart spaces (e.g. smart homes) and systems created for mobile users. Using the concept of Personal Smart Spaces the Persist project has built a prototype system to demonstrate some of the capabilities that this can provide. The Societies project is currently building on these ideas to develop a new type of system that combines pervasive with social networking functionality. Personalisation is an essential feature of any pervasive system and plays a key role in the prototype implemented in Persist. This will also play a key role in the new platform being developed in the Societies project. This paper describes how personalisation is handled within the Persist system and some ideas for the new platform.