Presence and IntComm WG

[Ben Teitelbaum <>]

Jeremy,

Thanks for motivating this.  Writing down usage case is both a fun
exercise and an important piece of external communications.  

>   An executive wants to schedule a conference call with three colleagues
> whose schedules are rarely free at the same time.  He tells his location
> assistant to execute a �conference pounce� when all four of the
> necessary participants are 1) not in a meeting, 2) in their offices and
> 3) not already on the phone.  The location assistant checks everyone's
> on line calendars for possible times.  During those times it looks to
> see where the participants are.  When the time comes that all phones are
> unhook the location agent rings all phones and announces the conference.

"Conference Pounce" is a great example of an advanced presence-enabled
application, but it doesn't require location service.  The executive
(in your example) merely needs all the participants to be available
via the chosen medium (e.g. voice, IM, or video); he shouldn't care
whether or not they are in their offices.

>
>   A freshman is in the library desperately trying to decipher an
> assignment from her English professor.  She consults her location
> assistant and requests it find all students within 100 feet of her
> current location filtered by the attributes "freshman AND English101 AND
> Dr. Obscure".  She discovers a classmate two tables away.  After a brief
> instant message exchange the two freshman collaborate.  Note that even
> if together these two freshman do not resolve their problem, location
> services have rendered what is often a forbidding environment friendly.
>

This is a great usage case!

Here are two other usage cases (OK, but certainly not worth the
smiley-face deely-boppers!):

A scientist has just listened to an exciting talk at a professional
conference and has had a brainstorm for a piece of follow-on research.
To do this work, however, she needs to get started right away and
needs the expertise of two colleagues, who are attending the
conference from other institutions.  Coffee break has begun and the
conference facility hallways are teaming.  She pulls out her PDA,
locates her colleagues in the crowd, and pulls them aside to share her
brainstorm.  The three plan their approach and return to their
respective institutions.  Over the next few weeks, they work
feverishly.  Using presence-enabled communications tools, they quickly
bounce questions off each other at appropriate times and hold several
impromptu conferences.  The three jointly author a successful
conference paper summarizing their research.


Bob is a junior faculty member working very hard to build a strong
research track record and keep on top of his teaching load.  At the
end of his work day, he commutes 30-45 minutes back home.  Sometimes
work pressures keep him at the office late.  Sometimes traffic jams
delay his return home.  His wife used to call him to ask if he had
left the office yet or was stuck in traffic.  Being a good husband,
Bob would also try to remember to call her to give her an updated ETA.
This was distracting and, in the case of calls from the car,
dangerous.  Now Bob uses location services to publish his location to
an LCD map mounted on the refrigerator.  Now when Bob travels, his
wife also knows immediately when he has safely landed and turned on
his PDA.


-- ben