Call for Papers
Workshop on Multi-User and Ubiquitous User Interfaces (MU3I '07) 
at 
IUI 2007:  Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces

Andreas Butz (University of Munich)
Christian Kray (Newcastle University)
Tara Matthews (University of California at Berkeley) 
Stacey Scott (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Important Dates:

November 13, 2006: Workshop paper submission due.
December 4, 2006:    Notification of acceptance.
January 28, 2007:     Workshop date.
January 29-31, 2007: Main IUI 2007 conference.

Website:  http://www.mu3i.org

The Ubiquitous Computing paradigm has the potential of significantly changing the way 
in which users interact with computers by providing virtually ubiquitous access to 
services and applications through a large number of cooperating devices.  However, in 
order to make this vision come true in a usable way, several challenges must be 
addressed. Supporting multiple users with this technology poses a challenge to several 
aspects of ubiquitous computing, such as the unpredictability of group setups and task 
selection when using everyday objects or environments with embedded technology.  
Even if embedded technologies are integrated with established social protocols, they may 
challenge these protocols, e.g. by introducing new means to seizing control of a shared 
resource. The workshop aims to be a platform where these issues will be discussed.

The goal of this workshop is to bring people with relevant backgrounds (e.g. interface 
technology and artificial intelligence, CSCW, ubiquitous computing) together to discuss 
potential approaches for addressing the challenges of developing multi-user and 
ubiquitous technologies.  While we will accept interesting papers relating to any subject 
relevant to the workshop theme, our selections will reflect our focus on two main goals 
related to sharing ubiquitous resources: 

1.	identifying the existing task and social practices that can be successfully applied 
in ubiquitous settings; and
2.	investigating how particular aspects of ubiquitous computing (e.g. physicality, 
context awareness, ad hoc groups) impact task and social practices (both in 
negative and positive ways).

We invite contributions from researchers, practitioners, and students examining these, or 
related, research topics. Please refer to the workshop webpage for more details on 
submitting position papers. The workshop format will include brief presentations from 
each workshop attendee, brainstorming sessions, and small-group breakout sessions.

Prospective participants should submit position papers of up to two pages length, which 
outline one or more potential topics/solutions to discuss during the workshop. Papers 
should be formatted according to the ACM IUI format (see IUI website). Submissions 
should be sent to Chris Kray or Andreas Butz no later than November 13, 2006. They 
should include the name and address of the primary contact and the paper as a PDF file. 
Notification of acceptance will be mailed to the contact author by December 4, 2006.

All workshop participants will have to register for the main conference (IUI'07) in order 
to attend MU3I.

Workshop contact and electronic submission: 

Christian Kray (c.kray@ncl.ac.uk)
Andreas Butz (butz@ifi.lmu.de)