Social learning scenario

Annette and Solomon

It is the plenary meeting of an environmental studies group in a local ‘Ambient for SocialLearning’. The group ranges from 10 to 75 years old. They share a common desire to understandthe environment and environmental management. It is led by a mentor whose role it is to guideand facilitate the group’s operation, but who is not necessarily very knowledgeable aboutenvironmental management. The plenary takes place in a room looking much like a hotel foyerwith comfortable furniture pleasantly arranged. The meeting is open from 7.00-23.00 hours. Mostparticipants are there for 4-6 hours. A large group arrives around 9.30 a.m. Some are scheduledto work together in real time and space and thus were requested to be present together (theambient accesses their agendas to do the scheduling).

A member is arriving: as she enters the room and finds herself a place to work, she hears afamiliar voice asking “Hello Annette, I got the assignment you did last night from home: are yousatisfied with the results?” Annette answers that she was happy with her strategy for managingforests provided that she had got the climatic model right: she was less sure of this. Annette is anactive and advanced student so the ambient says it might be useful if Annette spends some timetoday trying to pin down the problem with the model using enhanced interactive simulation andprojection facilities. It then asks if Annette would give a brief presentation to the group. Theambient goes briefly through its understanding of Annette’s availability and preferences for theday’s work. Finally, Annette agrees on her work programme for the day.

One particularly long conversation takes place with Solomon who has just moved to the area andjoined the group. The ambient establishes Solomon’s identity; asks Solomon for the name of anambient that ‘knows’ Solomon; gets permission from Solomon to acquire information aboutSolomon’s background and experience in Environmental Studies. The ambient then suggestsSolomon to join the meeting and to introduce himself to the group.

In these private conversations the mental states of the group are synchronised with the ambient,individual and collective work plans are agreed and in most cases checked with the mentorthrough the ambient. In some cases the assistance of the mentor is requested. A scheduledplenary meeting begins with those who are present. Solomon introduces himself. Annette gives a3-D presentation of her assignment. A group member asks questions about one of Annette’sdecisions and alternative visualisations are projected. During the presentation the mentor isfeeding observations and questions to the ambient, together with William, an expert who wasasked to join the meeting. William, although several thousand miles away, joins to make acomment and answer some questions. The session ends with a discussion of how Annette’s workcontributes to that of the others and the proposal of schedules for the remainder of the day. Theambient suggests a schedule involving both shared and individual sessions.

During the day individuals and sub-groups locate in appropriate spaces in the ambient to pursueappropriate learning experiences at a pace that suits them. The ambient negotiates its degree ofparticipation in these experiences with the aid of the mentor. During the day the mentor andambient converse frequently, establishing where the mentor might most usefully spend his time,and in some cases altering the schedule. The ambient and the mentor will spend some timenegotiating shared experiences with other ambients – for example mounting a single musicalconcert with players from two or more distant sites. They will also deal with requests forreferences / profiles of individuals. Time spent in the ambient ends by negotiating a homeworkassignment with each individual, but only after they have been informed about what the ambientexpects to happen for the rest of the day and making appointments for next day or next time.

ISTAG. Scenarios for Ambient Intelligence in 2010. EC - Community Research - IST 2001. Available from < https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262007900_Scenarios_for_ambient_intelligence_in_2010 >. access on 5 December 2019.

-- GregorioIvanoff - 06 Dec 2019
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