Welcome
The fuse group focuses on the following issues:

• Designing architectures and infrastructures for ubiquitous computing environments
• Develop and test prototypes of interactive services that support distributed work as well as local activities
• Use of wearable computers and context-sensitive equipment and use of ad-hoc environments and wireless networks
• HMI design issues for small and heterogeneous artefacts, intelligent interfaces, multi-modal transparency for messages, adaptability as well as mixed human actors/software agents systems.

These areas can be further divided into:

Active Services
Autonomous and proactive services are one approach to design software for supporting users in future computer environments. This approach not only raises HMI issues but also software engineering issues. What methods should be used for building such services?

Security
How to implement client authentication and access control in a dynamic ad-hoc environment.

Ad Hoc Functionality
How to detect and appropriately serve the demand for service, software and environment response.

Usability
Future ubiquitous service environments generates a number of new human-computer related problems. These include issues of privacy, personalisation, and interaction transparency.

Work Organization and Environment
In ubiquitous computing environments, computer services are to a high degree transparent, enabling people to engage themselves in each other and the workflow with less intrusion from technology. This is a major change to the work process and might induce a greater sense of flow and work satisfaction.

Design of Distributed Software
The problem of creating and maintaining a set of heterogeneous clients and services in a dynamic infrastructure consisting of multiple hosts and computer system architectures.

Artifacts
For many interactive services there could be advantages to fit the interaction for the specific purpose. In a future the interaction with computer systems could make more use of intelligent adapted artifacts to improve the human-computer/-environment interaction. The work on the artifacts is to support tangible interfaces, local and personal context awareness.