Designing intelligent pervasive spaces for living and working

This chapter introduces the area of intelligent pervasive space and considers the role of information and information technology. Semiotics, the theory that underpins the study of information and the effect of information on human users, is introduced, and semiotic techniques are discussed with regard to how they are used in the design and development of the pervasive spaces. A case study demonstrates how the addition of computational intelligence in building management systems can be used to adapt building activity around human-defined needs.

‘Informatics’ has many definitions, reflecting its long historical background and the varying domains in which the term has been used. In this chapter we focus, instead of on technical or structural dimensions, on the nature of information and on the interactions that exists between information and people. In the course of its lifetime, information may be created, managed and distributed using technology or conveyed by it. We therefore define informatics as the study of information over its lifetime; i.e. it relates to the creation, management, distribution and utilisation of information in scientific and economic activities. (This is the definition that was composed and is used by the Informatics Research Centre at the University of Reading.) Technology is used only to facilitate actors (i.e. an autonomous computational that is able, in context, to act and interact appropriately) with tools for interacting with the environment.