Modeling user preferences and norms in context-aware systems

Abstract: The aim of this thesis has been to theoretically investigate how a context- aware system for mobile applications should behave when a phone call is received while driving in a general setting, while the system considers user preferences and norms. By norm, we mean a sort of rule that a user has to follow in a given environment, e.q. traffic. The investigation has lead to an approach on how a general setting could be implemented; in particular, by general setting we mean that the user is a car driver and the environment is the public roads. A given system (e.q. an app) supports the interaction between the user and the environment. A use case has been used as a basis for the investigation, that involves forwarding calls while considering user preferences and norms while driving in front of a school. The first steps, in this thesis, have been to model the user profile and the environment profile, and to find activation and deactivation conditions of both user preferences and norms. An algorithm in pseudocode has been provided that manages how a context-aware system will handle the context-aware decision making process. The decision making process has then been evaluated, and the evaluation has been done while considering real mobile applications on the market. The results of this thesis can be used, for example, as a basis for implementing context-aware mobile applications, e.q. applications handling calls.