In todays product management life-cycle data play a growing role. Fixed product data, sensor readings and external events form continuously growing data collections, the digital object memory. To create a surplus value, this data is exploited in applications, e.g. by asking queries to such memories (e.g. "get unexpected observations"). The necessary logic to answer such questions may vary with time as different entities come in contact with different types of objects. This raises the challenge how to decouple questions from the corresponding logic, how to modify the logic, how to deploy such logic to the memory and how to execute the logic on the memory itself. This article describes work in progress concerning extending an existing memory framework to support analysis, processing and communication behavior of so called Active Digital Object Memories.

The Internet of Things connects digital information sources with physical objects - which transforms an artifact from being a passive object into a 'thing' that may link to data, store data and even offer data to users. Digital Object Memories (DOMe) comprise hardware and software components, which together provide an open and universal platform for capturing, associating, and interacting with the digital information of connected objects - including storage, documentation and provision of information concerning actions an object is or might be involved in. The goal of this continuation of an established workshop series (predecessor events include DIPSO 2007-09 in conjunction with Ubicomp 2007-09, DOMe in conjunction with Intelligent Environment 2009, DOMe-IoT 2010 in conjunction with Ubicomp 2010, and NOMe-IoT in conjunction with Ubicomp 2011) is to twofold: 1.) initiate a conversation concerning the potential for objects to develop agency; and 2.) explore how data that is associated with an object may leverage real-world actions. Here, DOMe 2012 provides a hybrid interdisciplinary workshop format that will combine traditional presentations and discussion with practice-based experimentation.

Digital Object Memories (DOMes) comprise hardware and software components, which together provide an open and universal platform for capturing and interacting with the digital information of connected objects - including storage, documentation and provision of information concerning actions an object is or might be involved in. We envisage that connected objects equipped with DOMes will be enabled to make suggestions and propositions to human users - which implies that an object may have a level of agency. The latter concept is a striking possibility that may change the way that we perceive, interact, and relate to objects. The goal of this established workshop series is to twofold: 1.) initiate a conversation concerning the potential for objects to develop agency; and 2.) explore how data that is associated with an object may leverage real-world actions. DOMe-IoT 2012 provides a hybrid interdisciplinary workshop format that will combine traditional presentations and discussion with practice-based experimentation.

The Internet of Things enables authors to use physical objects for communicating digital content that may influence human decision making. Human experts may employ this novel information channel to deliver instructions concerning an object right where it is needed -- at the object. Eventually, the user of such an object may perceive the object as an expert information source. However, since real-world actions are usually performed in contexts difficult to predict by the author of such instructions, a follower will have to adapt these before application. This article proposes to link knowledge concerning such adaptation with the object as well, and thus to create a two-way communication between expert author and instruction follower.

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In this paper we describe a demonstration as it was presented to a wide audience at the Hannover Messe Industrie 2010. The demonstration shows a future production scenario spanning several linked stages ranging from individual ordering over assembly, filling, and shipping to individual support and comprises in total 5 demonstrators from 5 partners. Visitors could order and configure their own product and how to ship. Products which were produced in this scenario were equipped with a so-called digital product memory. Via this digital product memory data is collected along the product life cycle from individual ordering, assembling, filling to shipping. At home the user could browse the digital product memory and benefit from individual services which build up on the digital product memory.

In this paper, we report the results of a field trial of a Ubicomp system called CAM that is aimed at supporting and enhancing collaboration in a design studio environment. CAM uses a mobile-tagging application which allows designers to collaboratively store relevant information onto their physical design objects in the form of messages, annotations and external web links. The purpose of our field trial was to explore the role of augmented objects in supporting and enhancing creative work. Our results show that CAM was used not only to support participants' mutual awareness and coordination but also to facilitate designers in appropriating their augmented design objects to be explorative, extendable and playful, supporting creative aspects of design work. In general, our results show how CAM transformed static design objects into 'remarkable' objects that made the creative and playful side of cooperative design visible.

The carbon footprint is an environment indicator, which is of special interest not only for assessing and optimizing production and logistic processes, but also for addressing a growing interest of customers in the ecologic characteristics of a product. Its computation and processing are tightly bound to research challenges, such as the capturing and exploration of item-level data, and the aggregation of item-level process instances. In this article, we report about a demonstration system, which aims at illustrating visitors of a technology fair how these challenges can be addressed by means of item-level records created from input obtained via smart labels. In a scenario spanning several steps of a product's lifecycle, the system enables the creation and exploitation of these records. During each stage, the system combines item-level data with more general information related, e.g., to the product class and the underlying process model - with the ultimate goal not only to support the assessment of an item's carbon footprint, but also its reduction for future products of the same class.

Smart labels enable novel item-centric ways of communication along a product's lifecycle. With respect to the open nature of a scenario ranging from manufacturer to consumer, the expectations to such "smart items" are diverse. In this article, we discuss the perspective of potential users and system architects on selected aspects of so-called digital product memories. Our report aligns information we acquired from 332 visitors of a complex prototype system presented at a public IT fair, an internal questionnaire where 14 members of the project SemProM reported about their vision of this concept from an application and technology point of view, and the ongoing implementation works within that project. Our observations address to a large extent research issues related to smart items in general and thus do not only provide an insight to the research development process in this particular project, but also can be exploited for design decisions in other projects in this field.

Physical design objects such as sketches, drawings, collages, storyboards and models play an important role in supporting communication and coordination in design studios. CAM (Cooperative Artefact Memory) is a mobile-tagging based messaging system that allows designers to collaboratively store relevant information onto their design objects in the form of messages, annotations and external web links. We studied the use of CAM in a Product Design studio over three weeks, involving three different design teams. In this paper, we briefly describe CAM and show how it serves as 'object memory'.

Selecting relevant people is crucial for collaborative systems exploiting other users' experiences. With the new developments of the Web and ubiquitous technologies, various user data may support people selection. Given the wide range of user data sources, the question is now how to select appropriate users meeting the information seeker's goal. We propose recommendations for the design of people search interfaces, providing an overview of the user data and tools of relevance and two examples of how such recommendations can be met in one single interface, ensuring the selection of appropriate and reachable people. We also show applications of people search interfaces in different scenarios.

A promising approach to customize the delivery of multimedia content is based on methods for compiling content packages from repositories of existing media assets, such as text paragraphs and images. Since the authors of media assets may have specified layout preferences for their assets neither knowing in which package these assets eventually will occur, nor knowing the personal layout preferences of all potential customers, layout conflicts, such as incompatible style attributes, are preprogrammed when packages are compiled on the fly by an automated system. In this contribution we present a constraint-based approach for resolving layout conflicts in automatically compiled content packages. Depending on the number and nature of the layout constraints to be considered, many eligible layout styles may exist. In fact, the exploration of a style solution space creates a problem on its own. Therefore, we are also investigating clustering and visualization techniques to assist a system administrator in the exploration of the solution space. The work has been conducted in the context of the EU funded project IMAGEN which aims at the development of an integrated set of tools for the customized publication and distribution of multimedia content.