1. Interoperability and multi-functionality of new generation cards
2. Integrated Applications Platforms
3. Ensuring User Acceptability of Applications and Services
4. Title: Mobility – the un-tethered citizen (version 27/5/98 - under revision)
5. Title: European Initiative on Dependability
6. Title: Embedded Networks Initiative
7. Title: Space Technologies and Applications
8. A European Geographical Information Infrastructure (EGII)
9. Converging Information Society Technologies and Applications in the Field of Networked Information and Digital Spaces
10. Personalisation using Information Society Technologies
11. Usability and User-Centred Design in Information Society Technologies
12. Building Virtual Places and Agent Worlds with Information Society Technologies
13. Non-RTD Issues
1. Introduction
This document, prepared from a wide range of inputs and discussions, represents a step in the process of defining and managing IST cross-programme activities. The work has focused on the rationale for these activities as well as on a set of tentative cross-programme action-lines. As this work was carried in parallel with the first elaboration of the key-actions and is not intended to be "self-standing", a further iteration step is needed to identify the precise links to the action-lines as now defined in the key-actions. This may lead to new cross-programme-action-lines and the further development or suppression of those herein proposed.
2. Rationale (Why)
The motivation for incorporating "Cross-Programme" activities in the formulation of the IST programme is that of underpinning key programme-level principles such as integration, flexibility, European value added, and support to EU policies. Moreover, such activities should enhance European competitiveness, promote innovation, the participation of all sizes of companies, the broad take-up of research results, and take a wider account of socio-economic dimensions. From the "user perspective", be it the public in general, the operator, the manufacturer or the service provider, this translates, in different degrees and with different meanings to an enriched programme providing greater levels of user-friendliness, interoperability, dependability and affordability.
Specifically for Cross-Programme activities, the "themes" must effectively contribute to co-ordination and integration of activities through a single work programme, and cut across the programme in a coherent manner in more than one activity, each concentrating on and contributing from its particular perspective. Clustering and Concertation tools will be used to focus, co-ordinate and integrate activities at Programme level. Although not mentioned in the Specific programme text (in the context of cross-programme references), cross-programme Dissemination activities will play an extremely important role. Similarly, accounting for a Socio-Economic dimension may in some cases be better dealt with from a broader cross-programme perspective.
Consequently, cross-programme activities aim to strengthen and improve the efficiency of programme execution in terms of :
Taking the above into consideration, the criteria for an set of activities to become a cross-programme "theme" should include, but are not limited to:
"Themes" might also be used to consolidate existing but fragmented work, targeted to boost an area of activity spanning more than one Key Action, and possibly even address issues that require a programme-level approach to achieve a critical mass, provided the above criteria are satisfied. In certain special cases, in absence of a natural fit with any Key Action, "themes" may be identified for which the "theme" will provide the programme "home-base" or focus. Under normal circumstances the involved Key Actions should remain the basis for all the projects associated with the "themes".
"Themes" should open the opportunity to forge new cross-industry and closer industry-academia links, thus creating new businesses opportunities (i.e., jobs in the long run), and by fostering broader multidisciplinary work promote innovation. Besides providing a mechanism for integrating common scope, "themes" should create links between upstream (Research in KA4 and FET) and downstream (Development in KA1-3) activities.
Although the concept of thematic activities is now an inherent part of programme planning, the precise nature, scope and number of themes is to remain flexible. Working from this document, a number of themes may be defined for the first set of programme calls, however, themes are expected to emerge from identified (political) needs, shared problems/interests, and will certainly evolve with time along with the Programme. In this respect the industry/academia advisory structure will play a key role as it is a programme level activity.
3. Implementation (How)
Cross-programme themes should be viewed as a dynamic set of activities that will be responsive to orientations and developments within the IST domain at both European and Global levels. They are not a substitute for key-action activities but are rather an extension of key-action scope into the programme level realm. Whilst this is seen a key contributor to generating added-value, it can only succeed if both internal and external participants in key-actions, "buy into" cross-programme themes and work together to identify common issues/problems, to propose common approaches and objectives, and to build the co-ordination of efforts to produce results.
3.1 Theme issues
Nature:
Cross-programme themes are seen as flexible mechanism tailored to suit identified needs. However, themes will have common characteristics and some of them are identified in the paragraphs below. All themes must have clear objectives that are distinct but compatible with those defined within individual key actions.
Mechanisms and Tools:
A range of mechanisms exists for co-ordination at cross-programme level. In terms of implementation of cross-programme activities, Concertation and Clustering are identified as essential mechanisms: they will be used to focus, co-ordinate and integrate activities. In the IST context, Clustering refers to the process of bringing together projects with common interests, while Concertation refers to the actual process of exchange of ideas and/or information, allowing projects to share experiences, keep abreast of relevant developments and launch common activities. The two mechanisms are intrinsically associated: Clustering does not make sense in abstract, solely for the purpose of facilitating Concertation.
A two-layered approach to Concertation has been successfully tried with concertation at domain (now Bullet) and programme (now Key Action) levels. As a complement to technology/application oriented domain level concertation, which one could classify as "vertical concertation", the concept of objective-driven Chain has been introduced to allow "horizontal concertation" amongst projects in different domains sharing interests and/or problems, both from similar and from complementary perspectives. The generalisation of this Chain concept for the IST programme will allow projects from different Bullets in the same or from different Key Actions, and even whole Bullets themselves from the same or different Key Actions to establish co-ordination links for mutual benefit. Note that projects derived from thematic calls will be natural candidate members of the thematic cluster but are also most likely to be members of Key Action clusters.
Another essential mechanism is Dissemination, not only in the context or as a tool of Concertation, but as a promoter of competitiveness, of innovation and of take-up of research results.
Theme Types:
Three major "types" of themes have been identified. The choice of type for a specific cross-programme "theme" will depend on the nature of the topics and the constituency of participants (e.g., users, suppliers, academic researchers, etc.) and on the degree to which the theme spans the programme.
A typical theme could result in both a set of co-ordinated R&D projects and a set of accompanying measures. Note that if the only measure is a "co-ordinated call" without any necessity of follow-up or cluster formation, then it is not a "cross-programme theme".
Theme co-ordination:
A more formal aspect of co-ordination, impinging on programme management, has to do with developing an "approach" to handle cross-programme-themes. In most cases, timely co-ordination will have to be implemented at the "call for proposals" and more appropriately at "follow-up" stages. This will enable :
These are seen as key factors that will drive and build added-value and promote cross-fertilisation, common approaches, dissemination of best-practices, etc. Moreover, added value can only be fostered, it cannot be forced and it must have real substance. There has, therefore to be a real commonality/complementarity of interests/objectives and with a "recognised" (e.g., industrial) need for co-operation and concertation amongst the theme projects.
The above does not exclude that in certain specific circumstances there is a case for establishing a theme with a programme wide exclusivity. Such a case may be built for calling and following projects developing (not just using/applying) "new generation multi-function (smart) cards". This would avoid "unnecessary" duplication of efforts or fragmented/dislocated activities, while at the same time building on (co-ordinating and concerting) the strengths already established during current Programmes.
Such an approach would provide a guarantee that all related work is co-ordinated under the "theme", and that all relevant projects are launched in parallel to maximise the Concertation opportunities (not entropy!) involved and really broaden its scope. However, granting "exclusive" competence to a "theme" needs to be carefully reasoned and properly balanced in respect of related activities in key-actions in so far as there would need to be co-ordination with key-action calls requesting application- or technology-oriented proposals in the same area.
Number of themes and their duration:
Whilst all preceding paragraphs have argued in one way or another for flexible thinking in respect of themes, an overuse of the theme mechanism will have a tendency to dilute their impact and question the "appropriateness" of the key-action structure. Consequently we have tried to emphasis the need for care when selecting and establishing themes in order to preserve their focus and usefulness. Consequently, at this stage of thematic development it was felt that 10 themes could be workable and practical number of active themes in so far as each would have a meaningful budget (in the order of 1% of the programme budget). However, such thought do not preclude that the programme and its themes could develop in a manner wherein a greater intensity of budget is effectively applied to cross-programme activities. Indeed, the mechanisms proposed could encourage such a development (along the lines of the Davignon report).
Like all "action lines" the active set of "themes" should be reviewed on an annual basis in conjunction with the overall work-programme revision. New themes can be established (arising out of unforeseen circumstances) and themes may be discontinued. This process may result in some themes becoming established for what in effect is the duration of the programme (an example might be "Integrated Applications Platforms"). Others may be relatively short-lived – say 2 or 3 calls (for example "Embedded Networks").
3.2 Management issues
Involvement:
With the aforementioned levels of thematic activity it can be reasoned that all key-actions and hence a reasonable proportion of staff will in one way or another have an involvement in the cross-programme-thematic activities. A indirect benefit of this should be that staff will operate on broader-horizons and inter-key-action cross-fertilisation will be encouraged. Such interaction can also help to avoid the formation of "isolated" islands of competence, capability and responsibility, which could be counterproductive in terms of achieving the headline programme objectives of convergence and integration.
Co-ordination:
It is clear that themes operating across the key-action and therefore the management structure will not happen by chance and will need to be facilitated. One approach to this could be to appoint for each theme "thematic co-ordinators" who normally have, depending on the intensity of the theme requirements, responsibilities within one of the key-actions and typically in an area closely related to the core theme objective. Such co-ordinators would facilitate activities to define and achieve theme objectives and co-ordinate the essential contributions from participating key-actions.
Such co-ordination, at the theme-level, could be tackled by a cross-key-action (horizontal) team looking as well into issue of relevance for the whole Programme:
Budget:
The Specific Programme adopted by the Commission prescribes a cross-programme theme activities of at least 10% of the IST programme budget (including about 2% for integrated application platforms). These activities could comprise both R&D and non-R&D activities and the 10% figure should be seen as minimum at both programme and key-action level.
This should be read in light of the much emphasised flexibility requirements. The 10% figure is an indicator for the level of "joint-work" expected and a clear message that, co-ordinated Cross-Programme activities are essential for the good management of the Programme. Integration involves, among other things, priorities, scope and completeness. For that purpose, it is clear that the budget targeted for Cross-Programme activities should be reserved for that exclusive purpose, and not to support internal (be it Bullet or Key Action) co-ordination/concertation activities.
The issue of how cross-programme resources could be "allocated" with the aim to generate a positive rather than obligation attitude was discussed at length. There are numerous possibilities and practical means will only emerge at a latter stage of programme planning. One means could be to measure the proportion of a key-action’s participation in the activated themes, both in terms of contribution to their definition, and to their execution (designated projects relating to the theme objective). However, if the "themes" which are ultimately activated generate consensus, then the issue of the 10% or X% will no longer an issue as the benefits will be felt at all levels. Hence the importance that must be attached to the identification and selection of themes and in particular their ability to succeed in terms of providing integration of the IST programme.
4. Thematic Action Lines (What)
This section contains an outline definition of an "open" cross-programme theme, plus a set of outlines (having consciously variable granularity) of a set of proposals considered as having potential to be developed into an initial set of cross programme themes. The final element of CQUAD consideration relates to cross-programme activities of a non-R&D nature, including Legal, Ethical, Socio-Economic and Standardisation-related. The distinct nature of these issues deserves a separate treatment and they are included as a single outline at this stage for completeness.
The proposals are based on an analysis of the specific programme text, the set of fiches that were received in response to the external consultation, and some interactions with key-action quads at the latter stages of their work. Clearly, further iterations are required to develop the intimate linkage between cross-programme and key-action activities that is a requirement. These outlines are therefore presented as a catalytic input to a second stage of this iterative process and all of them require careful further development.
In this second stage it will be important apply a methodology and to identify criteria. To a large extent these stem from points raised in the Rationale for cross-programme-themes presented earlier. In essence these are summarised briefly below:
This treatment as been applied as an example to the "Standardisation" part of the non-RTD theme outline included below.
4.1 Open call
Cross-programme aspects
Since the IST programme is comprehensive, it could be expected that intending proposers could identify themselves with at least one of the work-programme’s key-actions or cross-programme-themes. However, in a very dynamic R&D environment, new issues, new approaches and new ideas may emerge which do not "fit" to the current workprogramme and the current definition of action-lines. Moreover, there will undoubtedly be R&D ideas that cut across key-actions in a way not previously envisaged and which are not within the portfolio of current (at the time) cross-programme "themes". To avoid organisations tailoring their proposed R&D activities to "fit" into the programme structure, an "open" call is proposed to provide a channel for submission of such proposals.
This "open call" set in the context of cross-programme activities, can only accommodate truly cross-programme proposals. In contrast with the FET open calls, it will focus on the "near term".
Outline objectives
Proposals may be submitted to the Open Call if the are able to satisfy :
4.2 Outline cross-programme-thematic-action-lines
Table 1 below provides an overview of some of the potential "thematic action lines" considered thus far. An, and an indication of their "type" and is followed by the outlines themselves. Similar outlines on "security" and "statistics" (and others) will have to be considered in a second step.
TABLE 1.
| Thematic-Action-Line | RTD action |
Accomp. Measures |
Co-ordination (only) |
| 1. Interoperability and multi-functionality of new generation cards | ü (potentially
exclusive) |
ü | |
| 2. Integrated Application Platform (Digital sites) | ü | ü | |
| 3. Ensuring User Acceptability of Applications and Services | ü | ü | |
| 4. Mobility – the un-tethered citizen | ü | ü | |
| 5. European Initiative on Dependability | ü | ü | |
| 6. Embedded Networks Initiative | ü | ü | |
| 7. Space Technologies and Applications | ü | ü | ü |
| 8. A European Geographical Information Infrastructure | ü | ü | |
| 9. Converging Information Society Technologies and Applications in the field of Networked Information and Digital Spaces | ü | ü | |
| 10. Personalisation | ü | ü | |
| 11. Usability and User-Centred Design | ü | ü | |
| 12. Virtual Places and Agent Worlds | ü | ü | |
| 13. Non-RTD Issues | ü | ü |
RTD Objective(s): Provide users with functionally and technically interoperable new generation smart cards and card systems (including Java cards and contactless cards) in one or preferably more fields such as health, transport, telecommunications, banking, electronic commerce etc.
Sub-theme 1 Increase the performance of the card as secure portable device. Specify and develop the required services and infrastructure for positioning the cards ( or equivalent portable devices) in open information system as an active part of the data management chain within the system. Main aspects of development are in
Sub-theme 2 Develop and demonstrate the feasibility of interoperability and multifunctionality of cards and hypercards in one or preferably more sectors with possibilities of choosing appropriate readers and user interfaces by individual users.
Justification: Supporting interoperability of ( same technology) cards across different application domains, supporting wider use and affordability, One stop shop
Main Type of Action:
To achieve interoperability it is inevitable to find consensus on technical, structural, ethical, and legal standards.
Specific Evaluation Criteria:
choice of technology, number of functionalities and number of sectors addressed, potential impact on market and affordability of the product, user acceptance and possibility to select appropriate user interface (information can be placed on the card that can be used to choose appropriate interface by individual user)
Expected results
Links: KA1, KA 2, fiches:12, 248, 398, 616,
Some definitions
There are more than 10 types of cards: bar code, 3D, microfilm, magnetic strip, chip card (memory card), smart card, Java card, optical card, hypercard.
Some definitions:
Smart card is defined as a special chip card that incorporates a microprocessor into its chip.
Hypercard - combines several technologies such as chip, magnetic stripe and optical
Interoperability of the card systems is the ability of one card system to read, use and update the data on a card issued by another system.
RTD objective: To develop concepts and tools to realise coherent bundles of public and private services to European citizens and businesses in a way which is most relevant to their everyday lives
Also, validate and demonstrate systems to distribute such integrated services to European citizens and businesses, investigate the economical viability of different service packages and define their implementation conditions.
One stop shop vision: all possible information transaction and communication in urban or rural communities should addressable via simple user interface which can be implemented consistently on all kinds of terminals (PCs, kiosks, TV, mobile devices etc). The above is based on an open platform with enhanced middleware functions and services including data consistency, authentification, security, billing, electronic commerce, knowledge flow management, information logistics etc.
Rationale: All actors in a geographical community will have open and fair access to the new communication and information infrastructure. Interactive teleordering, telepayments, reservations etc., will become part of standard teleservice package. Integrated Applications platform thus takes a form of an integration layer (hardware and software) of applications and services.
Sub-theme 1 Define and assess concepts of coherent sets of services fitting citizens’ everyday lives. The output should deal with complementarities, commonalities and synergy of services in relation with use, content offering, distribution platform and organisation. Defining integrated services needs to take into account important parameters like local socio-economic conditions, cultural specificities, interrelations between services, organisational issues, financing issues, relations between services and infrastructure, etc. Such a know-how needs being formulated and distributed throughout Europe.
Sub-theme 2 Create, experiment and implement coherent sets of services fitting citizens’ everyday lives by re-use of applications and by linking services to provide users with intelligent choices, customised to their requirements. For example
Sub-theme 3 Evaluate the implications and the barriers to the provision of integrated applications based on periodic assessment of results achieved by demonstration projects.
Main type of action: Applied research (conceptual, technical and socio-economic demonstration, evaluation, validation, dissemination). Calls for projects from mixed consortia with public, private and 'third sector' participation for demonstration and validation of multiple service integration around the specific needs arising from the everyday life of specific geographic and/or social communities. Given the uneven level of development of services and infrastructure, projects will have to range from two to four years and include both development and testing projects and validation and dissemination projects.
Links: 2, 4, 76,189, 225, 284, 293, 304, 306, 313, 369, 375, 376, 468, 581, , 611, 678
Overall Objective: The overall objective of this Task is to ensure that technologies, applications and services developed in the context of the Information Society are accessible, usable and acceptable by all citizens.
1) RTD actions: Cross industry RTD activities
Objective: Cross industry RTD activities aim to facilitate RTD in new products and services that integrate / advance technologies from different sectors (e.g. information technology, telecommunications, consumer electronics, media).
Interaction quality attributes that are expected to be addressed include: software ergonomic criteria, such as ease of learning and understanding, ease of use, adaptability, error tolerance, suitability to the task, etc; performance criteria, such as effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, etc; and non-functional quality attributes, such as accessibility, scalability, reliability, reusability, portability, etc.
Expected results: industry will become more sensitive to, and will be facilitated in, addressing the issues of universal access and quality in use early in the development life-cycle of new interactive products and services.
Measurable indicators: Measurable aspects of interaction: speed, error rate, cognitive load, motor load, ease of use, learnability, efficiency, effectiveness, user satisfaction;
Sub-theme 1.1 Design processes, methods and tools to support new interaction paradigms - elaboration of existing and development of new design principles and guidelines; user interface design methods addressing globalisation, mobility, nomadic use, ubiquitous and wearable computing, information appliances; support for upward scalability of interactive software to new technologies; support for modality and medium-independence of design artefacts; integration into existing and future interactive environments of new input / output technologies that facilitate effective multimodal interaction; automated tools for design support; etc.
Expected results: transition from a computer-centric interaction paradigm to novel interaction environments, appropriate for inexperienced and "computer-illiterate" people; new methodologies for social interaction; computers as tools for access in the Information Society; evolution of intuitive and intelligent information interfaces.
Evaluation Criteria: holistic and multi-disciplinary approach; human-centred approaches; cross-industry focus; reciprocal commitment of the partners involved.
Measurable indicators: multi-disciplinary focus; platform independence; suitability for different application and service domains; degree of support for reusability; utilisation of multiple human sensory / motor channels; demonstrated applicability to multiple dimensions of the new interaction;
Sub-theme 1.2 Interface architectures Elaboration of new interactive system architectures addressing different user requirements, different application domains / tasks and different contexts of use; integration of new metaphoric representations in multi-metaphor environments; development of task-aware interfaces; demonstration of the application of novel user interface architectures in the development of commercial interactive systems; demonstration of novel interaction environments.
Expected results: increase the cost-effectiveness of developing new interactive commercial applications and services; development of interoperable/orthogonal software components; environments with support for multiple metaphors. To provide components that allow the development of integrated environments, which are adaptable, personalised, co-operative, easy to learn, error tolerant and responsive to a changing environment and context of use.
Evaluation Criteria: novelty in comparison with existing architectures and frameworks; backward compatibility (support for legacy systems); technical feasibility; market viability; support for adaptation to diverse end user groups and usage contexts; demonstration of results in real life applications and services; scalability of software to future interaction technologies.
Measurable indicators: accessibility- and usability-oriented facilities built into the architectures / frameworks; diversity in the end-user population addressed; diversity in the contexts of use addressed; interoperability with existing and forthcoming technologies;
2) Non-RTD activities
Objectives: Support measures should be targeted towards alleviating existing, or potential impediments in developing an Information Society for all citizens, as well as towards supporting and guaranteeing the take-up of new technological developments and research findings by mainstream industry.
Priorities: Priority should be given to:
Measurable indicators: awareness, adoption rates, patents, generation of innovative activity, type and level of synergistic activity, transfer capability
Sub-theme 2.1 Consolidation and dissemination of good practice and experience
Objective: To promote the consolidation of results in the area of design for all and provide mechanisms for their wider dissemination to different sectors of the industry so as to improve qualified universal design practice. Facilitate information / knowledge / experience sharing and exchange through intra- and inter-sectoral contacts.
Priorities: In this activity priority should be equally split to:
Expected results: guidelines on universal design practice; examples of best practice; promotion of existing and validated knowledge; design manuals and handbooks; input to standardisation work.
Evaluation Criteria: impact on universal design practice; range and scope of dissemination activities; relevance to sectors of the industry (i.e. sector-specific, or cross-sector results).
Measurable indicators: breadth and depth of developed guidelines and recommendations; diffusion and adoption rates of universal design practice.
Sub-theme 2.2 Identification of emerging user interaction and communication requirements in the context of the Information Society.
Objective: Development of a rigorous experimental science base pertaining to how diverse users interact with information artefacts. In order to provide a direct account of the range and implications of the combination of user abilities, constraints, skills, requirements, preferences, etc, it is necessary to involve diverse user groups in the early development phases of interactive products.
Priorities: elaboration of requirements introduced by new interaction metaphors involving multiple human sensory channels; development of an experimental science base pertaining to how diverse human characteristics affect the way in which users interact and communicate;
Expected results: specification of suitable metaphors to support the new virtualities; new methods for eliciting user requirements; facilitation for the transition from user requirements to novel service architectures.
Evaluation Criteria: capability to capture and accommodate radically different user requirements; protocols for translating requirements into design and development practice; experimental grounds.
Measurable indicators: multi-disciplinary focus; novel contributions to requirements engineering.
Links:
KA1: Special attention to Interactive, acceptable, and usable services to citizens ( fields – health, disabled and elderly, transport)
KA2: Human-centred work methods -
KA3: New levels of interaction and control, natural interactivity, first-user actions, best-practice initiatives
KA4: Interfaces making use of the various senses
Fiches:
19, 70, 125, 163, 168, 198, 199, 204, 221, 250, 281, 284, 286,291, 324, 371,379, 411, 412, 413, 416, 436, 440, 447, 546, 554, 598, 672, 676
Rationale
It is important that universal access and quality in use are considered as prerequisites for an Information Society where all citizens have equal opportunities for everyday-life activities, education, employment, entertainment, etc.
The emergence of the Information Society is associated with radical changes in both the demand and supply of new computer-based, information-oriented products and services. The changing pattern in demand is due to a number of characteristics of the much broadened customer base, including: (i) increasing number of computer users characterised by diverse abilities, skills, requirements, preferences, cultural backgrounds, ages, (ii) product specialisation to cope with the increasingly knowledge-based nature of tasks, and (iii) increasingly diverse contexts of use (mobility, nomadic use, ubiquitous computing).
Trends in the supply of new products and services that address the changing pattern in demand can be summarised as follows: (a) emergence of novel interaction paradigms (e.g. virtual and augmented realities); (b) shift towards group-centred, communication-, collaboration-, and cooperation-intensive computing; and, (c) increased scope of information content and services (life-long learning, public information systems, terminal and information appliances, transaction services, electronic commerce, social services for the citizen)
An appropriate vehicle to drive RTD efforts in these directions is the concept of "Design for All". The term Design for All in the context of the Information Society signifies the conscious and systematic effort to proactively apply principles, methods and tools, in order to develop products and services which are inherently accessible, usable and acceptable by all citizens.
An important requirement to be observed is that of cross-industry collaborative research and development, which, in turn, involves reciprocal investment decisions and joint R&D efforts towards fusion-type innovations. Design for All should serve as the driving force in addressing these issues, integrating results across application domains, scientific disciplines and industry sectors into a "unified" framework.
Key Definitions
Interactivity is the fundamental element of the paradigm shift of computer usage in the information age, where computer-mediated activities will become increasingly characterised by the enhancement in the exchange and collaboration between human and machine. The interactive component of applications and services already accounts for well over 50% of the total costs in the development life-cycle and this trend will continue. Successful user interaction will be the single most important factor towards acceptability of the interactive products and services in the emerging Information Society. True interactivity should provide the user with full control over the functionality of the application / service / information appliance, but without increasing complexity of user interaction. Furthermore, traditional request- / command-oriented communication between the user and the computer should progressively shift towards interactive paradigms where the computer will perceive and act upon non-explicit user needs and requirements.
The user interface is the part of the system with which the user comes into contact physically, perceptually and cognitively. It constitutes an input language for the user, an output language for the machine, and a protocol for the communication between them. The user interface is more than what the person can see, touch or hear; it includes the concepts the user needs to know about the computer system and how it can be used to carry out different tasks.
Universal access in the Information Society signifies the right of all citizens to obtain equitable access to, and maintain effective interaction with, a community-wide pool of information resources and artefacts, through the user interface of interactive applications and services. Universal access implies more than direct access or access through add-on technologies, since it emphasises the principle that accessibility should be a design concern, as opposed to an afterthought. In other words, it is claimed that universal access entails the development of systems which can be used effectively, efficiently and enjoyably by all users. To this end, it is important that the needs of the broadest possible end-user population are taken into account in the early design phases of new products and services.
Usability is a measure of the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specified users ("who") achieve specified goals ("what") in particular environments ("where"). It comprises a set of attributes of software which bear on the effort needed for use, and on the individual assessment of such use, by a stated or implied set of users. Such attributes include: learnability, (the system should be easy to learn); efficiency (the system should be efficient to use); memorability (it should be easy to remember how to use the system); error proneness (the system should have low error rate, catastrophic errors must not occur); satisfaction (the system should be pleasant to use); etc.
Along the same lines, in the context of the Information Society, quality in use is the high level design objective for a system to meet the real world needs of its intended users and entails the consideration of a broad range of functional and non-functional attributes, which characterise the use of information artefacts by humans, in their various problem-solving, information seeking and communication-intensive computer-mediated activities. This notion of quality goes beyond the "traditional" concept of usability (i.e. ease of use and learnability, etc), to include aspects (such as usefulness, suitability for the task, tailorability, etc) which are not easily measurable by current approaches based on performance criteria, such as effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, etc.
Cross-programme aspects
Mobile access to, and interaction with, information systems and services is a key capability that will increasingly permeate the day-to-day lives of citizens working and living in an information society. Applications that support a more nomadic lifestyle will further empower people by creating increased temporal and spatial freedom. The IST programme places considerable emphasis mobility related R&D activities both in terms of enhancements to performance and integration of wireless access to information networks, and to activities that take-up and integrate this capability in leading edge mobile applications and services. As a consequence, the topic of "mobility" in its various forms can and will be addressed throughout the key-actions of the IST programme, whether in the form of enabling mobility in medical, touristic or transport environments or in a more general sense to support dynamic collaborative working practices.
Outline objectives
The objectives of this thematic action line are to support a common approach to R&D in aspects of mobility that can be applied to a multiplicity of end-user and hence programme spanning applications and to foster the convergence of fixed and mobile applications.
The scope includes
Sources
All key actions contain elements and references to mobility, whether explicit or implied. Some 11% of the externally provided fiches address aspects of mobility ranging from technology through to a multiplicity of application-driven activities.
Modalities: R&D, demonstration, concertation and clusters
Cross-programme aspects
The reliance on electronic systems and services and their underpinning hardware and software platforms is fundamental is forever increasing in the transformation of commerce and society to and information age. Almost every aspect of daily life will depend on interactions and information gleaned from electronic sources. Dependability, embracing reliability and trust is therefore a key factor which must be addressed in all parts of the IST programme and dependability aware culture must be fostered amongst creative engineers and scientists as well as amongst information society citizens.
The European Initiative on Dependability (EID) would contribute to the realisation of suitable EU-wide environment that enables industry to take full advantage of electronic business and to generate wealth, leveraging on dependability technologies for enhancing systems and service quality and their competitive advantage. This would be pursued by relying and exploiting the business opportunities arising from new applications with high impact (e.g. electronic commerce), addressing industrially relevant dependability problems and by leveraging on the EU’s R&D strengths in dependability technologies.
Outline objectives
To foster a dependability-aware culture in developing, managing and operating the whole life-cycle of technical and business components, systems, networks and infrastructures, by:
Fundamental research on dependability technical challenges would benefit from a European co-ordinated approach that would start from and leverage on the specific application contexts in which these challenges are to me met. These challenges would include:
Applied research and piloting shall take into account industrial needs and develop workable and cost-effective solutions by:
International collaboration would be promoted in specific areas (e.g. survivability of information and services infrastructures, or disaster recovery policy, etc.) where joint R&D is required, and where objectives should be jointly pursued.
Best practice would be promoted, in areas such as risk management, in all germane industrial/service domains. R&D results and resources are promoted within relevant fields, taking advantage of Europe’s strong research strengths in the Dependability area in academia as well as in industry.
International co-operation and discussion on international standards and practices on issues that stretch beyond national and European boundaries.
Modalities
Economic and societal benefits
The European Initiative on Dependability would ultimately provide better technology and systems to protect EU Society and its citizens from the risks that accompany the benefits of information and communication technologies. Progress in these technologies would change the way we live, the way we do business and the world we live in and would imply changes that are complex and inter-related. It would increase knowledge and awareness on real threats and to secure affordable dependability solutions based on risk management.
Sources
Background workshop papers and "fiches" 218, 254, 259, 280, 497, 549, 584, 585,
Cross-programme aspects
The embedded internet is a term covering a convergence of network technologies to ensure total and seamless interoperability with a spectrum of protocols and standards as presently employed in consumer electronics, home appliances, transport and control equipment appliances and devices. The initiative will bring together actors from a wide range of user and supplier sectors ranging from microelectronic components, and related software through to end user application sectors. The subject is not specifically addressed in any IST key-action although it will clearly bring together contributions from all key-actions :
Outline objectives and scope
The objective of this theme is to develop the infrastructure and systems technologies that allow the interconnection of intelligent and dumb, embedded systems to the internet. These dedicated devices are already extensively used to control complex systems such as automobile, personal communication and information systems, security systems, home and office appliances, network computers, dedicated 3D devices etc. They manage significant data that could be exchanged remotely via internet, enriching the office, computer-based web information already available.
Work will focus on :
Modalities
R&D, demonstration, concertation, clustering, dissemination
Cross-programme aspects
Space technologies are being integrated in a broad range of information society applications and services, consequently R&D work related to both the development and integration of technologies and services will span the activities of the IST programme. In this context it is proposed to establish a cross-programme thematic-action-line as a means of focusing both proposals and follow-up actions.
Three sub-themes are initially outlined below and these can be further elaborated and augmented when the content of the key-actions is assembled.
Sub-theme 1. Combined Navigation and Communications systems
The objective of this sub-theme is to develop, integrate, demonstrate and validate technologies required for combined satellite-based navigation and broadband communication system. The scope includes :
New services combining communications and navigation/positioning are developing and will be widely used in the future, with potentially huge markets. European industry is well placed in some sectors, but not present at all on some others (like GPS receivers). This initiative would be part of a European-wide effort to increase the competitivity of European industry on these market segments.
Modalities : Thematic call, involving fundamental and applied industrial research, system experiments and trials, system validations, standardisation actions, international collaboration, and possibly co-ordinated calls with ESA.
Sub-theme 2. Satellite – Terrestrial Communications Network
The main objectives of this sub-theme are :
The satellite communications networks are becoming access networks that are likely to be connected with broadband terrestrial backbones with a manner that is transparent to the user. Europe has developed technologies and capabilities for terrestrial networks, but this work has to be expanded to the integrated satellite/terrestrial environment.
Modalities : Thematic call, involving fundamental and applied industrial research, system experiments and trials, system validations, standardisation actions, international collaboration, and possibly co-ordinated calls with the ESA (ARTES 3).
Sub-theme 3. Ground Communications User Terminals
The main objectives of this sub-theme are to develop and test technologies for multi-mode satellite terminals for mobile and fixed uses:
The market for mobile and fixed satellite terminals for communications (S-PCS and MM broadband), navigation and positioning, and combined services for personal and commercial uses is greatly expanding, and will be a true mass market. This initiative will help the European industry to capture a share of this emerging market.
Modalities : Thematic call, involving fundamental and applied industrial research, system experiments and trials, system validations, standardisation actions, international collaboration, and possibly co-ordinated calls with the ESA.
RTD Objective(s):
Establish a large-scale, distributed European Geographical Information Infrastructure (EGII) made up of heterogeneous repositories and collections of geo-spatial data and services.
Offer a new level accessibility to those using geo-spatial information, and provide a new level of user friendliness for new and novice users. Test new interface paradigms based upon the geographic metaphor.
Address future technological problems by focusing on a wide range of complimentary pan-European applications.
The focus is on providing leadership on developments in:
The scope would be expected to cover:
Specific target areas could include:
Main Type of Action:
Large-scale, multi-year, projects (in terms of size of user communities, number of objects, and number of repositories) integrating both research and demonstration actions. The focus would be on large test-beds with many partners (combining basic research, advanced development and applications, and academic/industrial linkage).
Specific accompanying actions (e.g. take-up, best practice, etc.) would be developed to encourage technology transfer of the new developments. The work would be expected to contribute to and co-ordinate work on relevant standards. Studies on the effectiveness, use and socio-economic value of such systems would be performed regularly.
It is to be expected that:
Key Words: geographic information systems, GIS, GI, spatial information, geo-spatial, maps
Links:
Key Actions 1, 2, 3, and 4
Fiche: 083, 087, 088, 122, 259, 272, 445, 472, 494, 495, 588, 603, 636, 669, 670, 671, 672, 673, 674
RTD Objective(s):
Provide users with access to large-scale, distributed, heterogeneous repositories and collections of thematic-based multimedia information and services.
Offer a new level of transparent, user-driven, concept-based search across these repositories and collections (handling different existing protocols, media types, data structures and formats).
Address future technological problems by focusing on a wide range of complimentary pan-European applications.
The focus is on providing leadership on developments in:
The scope would be expected to cover:
Specific target areas could include:
Main Type of Action:
Large-scale, multi-year, projects (in terms of size of user communities, number of objects, and number of repositories) integrating both research and demonstration actions. The focus would be on large test-beds with many partners (combining basic research, advanced development and applications, and academic/industrial linkage).
Specific accompanying actions (e.g. take-up, best practice, etc.) would be developed to encourage technology transfer of the new developments. The work would be expected to contribute to and co-ordinate work on relevant standards. Studies on the effectiveness, use and socio-economic value of such systems would be performed regularly.
It is to be expected that:
Key Words: networked information, digital collections, repositories, warehouses, multimedia information, access, databases, digital spaces, multimedia search, interaction
Links:
Key Actions 1, 2, 3, 4, and research networks
Fiche: 014, 015, 054, 063, 088, 122, 127, 128, 144, 158, 171, 201, 215, 229, 236, 248, 249, 263, 265, 267, 271, 272, 289, 291, 292, 293, 298, 302, 303, 327, 346, 445, 454, 464, 499, 546, 551, 578, 587, 588, 590, 598, 607, 619, 626, 651, 669, 681
RTD Objective(s):
The creation, design, and implementation of personalised medium for the next century. The creation of services tailored on the needs of single users, and possibly leading to a mass creation of personalised services.
Increase the focus on individual satisfaction and on product uniqueness and friendliness, i.e. in engaging individual user needs in order to provide added value in design.
Federate contributions in the areas of new software technologies, nomadic networked services, software agent technologies, personalisation, payment technologies, information push, directory services, location information (e.g., GPS), distributed and networked content and advanced database techniques.
The focus is on providing leadership on developments in:
The scope would be expected to cover:
Specific target areas could include:
Main Type of Action:
Large-scale, multi-year, projects (in terms of size of user communities, types of underlying infrastructures used, types and natures of the profiles employed) integrating both research and demonstration actions. The focus would be on large test-beds with many partners (combining basic research, advanced development and applications, and academic/industrial linkage).
Specific accompanying actions (e.g. take-up, best practice, etc.) would be developed to encourage technology transfer of the new developments. The work would be expected to contribute to and co-ordinate work on relevant standards. Studies on the effectiveness, use and socio-economic value of such systems would be performed regularly.
It is to be expected that:
Key Words: personalisation, privacy, profiling, customisation, tailoring, filtering
Links:
Key Actions 1, 2, 3 and 4
Fiche: 002, 005, 051 061, 073, 084, 086, 122, 127, 131, 132, 143, 147, 191, 192, 199, 206, 220, 226, 236, 248, 265, 266, 270, 292, 294, 329, 331, 335, 347, 354, 357, 375, 393, 415, 440, 441, 444, 445, 507, 537
RTD Objective(s):
IST developments need to be complemented by an initiative on usability, covering such issues as user requirement analysis, user centred design, "design for all" principles, user testing methodologies, and ergonomics, etc.
Ensure that existing usability approaches and test methods are better understood and that IST actors take proper account of them.
Demonstrate the impact of using user centred design principles and usability testing.
Foster specific solutions where existing usability and ergonomic frameworks are deemed insufficient.
Extend knowledge concerning usability approaches and test methods, and their impact on IST practices.
Promote awareness and understanding of user-centred design, usability approaches and test methods across the programme and in the wider IST community.
The scope would be expected to cover:
Specific target areas could include:
Main Type of Action:
Numerous small-scale, short-term, projects (generally only 2-3 partners over 12-18 months) oriented to demonstrating the practical benefits of user centred design and usability testing, and including the extension to "design for all" principles. Essentially take-up style actions.
A small number of research networks designed to both develop new methods and techniques, and to provide support and services in user centred design and usability.
A set of specific accompanying measures (e.g. fora, best practice, awareness, etc). This action would be expected to contribute to and co-ordinate works on user-centred design, usability approaches and test methods.
It is to be expected that:
Key Words: usability, user-centred design, requirement analysis, user requirements, user testing, usability engineering, ergonomics
Links:
Key Actions 1, 2, 3 and 4
Fiche: 019, 039, 070, 076, 140, 150, 198, 199, 202, 235, 284, 286, 291, 292, 294, 347, 354, 358, 373, 374, 379, 606, 608, 625
RTD Objective(s):
Design, implementation and management of large-scale on-line communities, with a particular emphasis on persistent presence, cross-cultural and social aspects. Demonstrate the impact on both virtual communities and network-enhanced real communities that span national languages and cultures.
Providing real benefits for the citizen as consumers, civic members and students through practical applications of existing and emerging advances in intelligent agents and related technologies.
Federate contributions in the areas of multi-user environments, distributed and networked content, visualisation, spatial analysis, electronic surrogates of fragile or inaccessible physical objects (virtual reality), advanced database techniques.
The focus is on providing leadership on developments in:
The scope would be expected to cover:
Specific target areas could include:
Main Type of Action:
Large-scale, multi-year, projects (in terms of size of user communities, number of virtual objects, agents, and worlds) integrating both research and demonstration actions. The focus would be on large test-beds with many partners (combining basic research, advanced development and applications, and academic/industrial linkage).
Specific accompanying actions (e.g. take-up, best practice, etc.) would be developed to encourage technology transfer of the new developments. The work would be expected to contribute to and co-ordinate work on relevant standards. Studies on the effectiveness, use and socio-economic value of such systems would be performed regularly.
It is to be expected that:
Key Words: virtual places, virtual presence, virtual environments, agent worlds, avatar technology, telepresence
Links:
Key Actions 1, 2, 3 and 4
Fiche: 007, 020, 058, 061, 088, 122, 140, 142, 143, 145, 146, 153, 154, 157, 160, 163, 205, 206, 216, 224, 248, 270, 272, 281, 287, 292, 312, 329, 330, 331, 374, 421, 457, 467, 468, 546, 593, 596, 622, 647, 652, 655, 667
Sub-theme 1: Standardisation
Objective
Use Standardisation as a means to promote European competitiveness and in support of EU policy from a global, converging perspective
Why NOT cross-programme:
There might be some reasons…
Why cross-programme?
Spans Programme European Value-Added Policy support
What is to remain specific to the involved Key Actions?
What is done elsewhere?
What is to be done at cross-programme level?
Promoting standards awareness: it facilitates take-up of research results, and, even if indirectly, promotes European competitiveness.
What is NOT to be done?
Generic support to standardisation does not make a priori much sense since all relevant projects will have to take standardisation (in its broadest sense) into account in their planning. Surgical interventions might become necessary, but this is more reactive than pro-active (the necessary monitoring of standardisation bodies fits into standards awareness).
Specific implementation mechanisms to be used
Links
All Key Actions
Other Framework Programmes
Other EU Programmes
National initiatives
European and Global Standardisation Bodies
Industry fora
Regulators
Sources
Standardisation is the keyword most mentioned in the fiches (more than 130). It is also the major concern of industry, be it conventional (e.g., ETSI, CENELEC) or de facto standardisation (e.g., IETF, ATM Forum).
Sub-theme 2: Legal And Regulatory Issues (6)
Objective(s):
IST developments need to be complemented by an initiative on legal and regulatory issues such as data protection, intellectual property rights, privacy, cybercrime, etc.
The scope would be expected to cover:
Specific target areas could include:
Main type of action:
The focus would be on a set of specific accompanying measures (e.g. fora, best practice, awareness, etc).
This action would be expected to contribute to and co-ordinate work on relevant legal and regulatory issues. Actions would include a programme of linked studies of the different policy and regulatory approaches across Europe.
It is to be expected that:
Key Words: legal, regulatory, data protection, intellectual property rights, privacy, copyright, Third Party services
Links:
Key Actions 1, 2 and 3
Fiche: 071, 075, 161, 210, 262, 280, 329, 357, 370, 433, 462, 555, 580, 582, 583, 590, 610, 611, 669, 671, 674
Sub-theme 3: InfoEthics
Objectives: To ensure safe use of IST applications and services, i.e. balancing individual freedom of communication with moral decency through
Types of actions:
Possibly internal action that could come up with a "clause" or guidelines to be adopted by the future projects
Relevant Key issues:
(1) These projects are not the only ones likely to be funded in the field of geo-spatial information, however the intention here is to create a focus for the development of a European infrastructure. The different Key Actions will perform projects using existing geo-spatial data, techniques and tools.
(2) These projects are not the only ones likely to be funded in the field of networked information systems, neither are they aimed directly at the practical issues of actually building specific commercial large-scale information systems
(3) A number of specific RTD projects relating to, software technologies, mobile and networked services, agents, profilin, payment, push, directory services, location information, distributed and networked content and advanced database techniques, etc. will be undertaken as generic developments at Key Action level.
(4) A number of specific RTD projects relating to, for example, user-centred design, usability and ergonomics, etc. will be undertaken for specific user communities at Key Action level.
(5) A number of specific RTD projects relating to, for example multi-user environments, distributed and networked content, visualisation, spatial analysis, virtual reality, advanced database techniques, etc. will be undertaken for specific user communities at Key Action level.
(6) A number of specific RTD projects relating to, for example, intellectual property rights, security, digital signatures, etc. will be undertaken at Key Action level.
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