End-user Customisation of Intelligent Environments

One of the striking aspects of world-wide-web is how it has empowered ordinary non-technical people to participate in a digital revolution by transforming the way services such as shopping, education and entertainment are offered and consumed. The proliferation of networked appliances, sensors and actuators, such as those found in digital homes heralds a similar ‘sea change’ in the capabilities of ordinary people to customise and utilise the electronic spaces they inhabit. By coordinating the actions of networked devices or services, it is possible for the environment to behave in a holistic and reactive manner to satisfy the occupants needs; creating an intelligent environment. Further, by deconstructing traditional home appliances into sets of more elemental network accessible services, it is possible to reconstruct either the original appliance or to create new user defined appliances by combining basic network services in novel ways; creating a so called virtual appliance. This principle can be extended to decompose and re-compose software applications allowing users to create their own bespoke applications. Collectively, such user created entities are referred to as Meta – appliances or – applications, more generally abbreviated to MAps. Deconstruction and user customized MAps raise exciting possibilities for occupants of future intelligent environments, and sets significant research challenges [14]. For example, how can MAps be constructed and managed by ordinary nonexpert home occupants? At one extreme it is possible to use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and equipment, such as autonomous intelligent agents. These mon-