*** Extended abstract submission deadline: March 1, 2013
*** Paper submission deadline (for accepted abstracts): July 15, 2012 UMUAI

SCOPE
As ubiquitous and pervasive computing becomes a reality, there is both the opportunity and need to create a solid foundation for personalization research in this area. Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) and Pervasive Computing are now synonymous for many, and represent a new model of computing in which computation is everywhere and computer functions are integrated into everything. For UbiComp, Weiser postulated that ``It will be built into the basic objects, environments, and the activities of our everyday lives in such a way that no one will notice its presence''. Such a model of computation will “weave itself into the fabric of our lives, until it is indistinguishable from it”. Everyday objects will be places for sensing, input, processing along with user output (Greenfield, 2006). In practice, this means the ubiquitous availability of many computing devices that are carried or embedded in our homes, cars, offices, in walls and tables, or worn as part of smart clothing. To realise this, we need to provide personalized services to users, individuals as well as groups, wherever they are and whenever they need it. Notably, UbiComp introduces the potential for context-aware personalisation. Context includes information from the person (physiological state), the sensed environment (environmental state), and computational environment (computational state) that can be provided to alter an applications behaviour.

Ubiquitous and Pervasive User Modelling (UPUM) has a key role to play in the visions for personalisation that are central to ubiquitous and pervasive computing. The large amounts of personal data that are increasingly being captured across each individual’s personal digital ecosystem have the potential to contribute to a user model, which, in turn, can drive personalised services. The multi-faceted challenges of achieving this have been recognised as critical for the progress towards ubiquity and pervasiveness. For example, Caceres and Friday, in reflecting on 20 years of research, point to the importance of dealing with issues such as pervasive ubiquitous data, support for users to control their own data and the personalisation based on it, particularly in terms of privacy, but also in ensuring people control their own smart environments.

Rapid technological changes, such as widespread smarter and cheaper devices providing personal sensing and services, has brought important progress in the field of UPUM. Many of these changes have occurred over the past seven years, since the previous UMUAI special issue on user modeling in UbiComp. It makes this a timely opportunity to call for an update of the state of the art in the field. Such updates can provide a critical review of what was central research then and is now on the periphery, or what new challenges and gaps have emerged or remained present. Overall, this issue will focus on the scientific challenges of ubiquitous user modelling in today’s dynamic environments.

This UMUAI special issue builds on recent activities in this area and is designed to solicit papers that report on recent significant advances, carry out innovative explorations, and establish foundations for further research. It interprets the notion of context broadly, as any additional conditions and circumstances beyond user profile and item content information that may affect user preferences for items. It is intended to reflect the changes in the domain in the past seven years (since the previous special issue) and therefore, a wide range of topics are included. Those topics include (but are not limited to):

● Infrastructure for Ubiquitous User Modelling
○ Information storage for easy access and reasoning
○ Information fusion from multiple sources
○ Standardization in user modeling
○ Privacy as an infrastructure component
○ Communicating user modeling data
■ Between user models and environments
■ Between applications
■ Back to the user model
○ User model architectures
■ Distributed, in the cloud
■ Local
■ Synchronization of user models (connected/disconnected modes)
● Lifelong Ubiquitous User Modelling
○ Storing personal information
-- Application domains for Lifelong Ubiquitous User Modelling
■ How to deal with current versus historical data
○ Reasoning and abstraction of personal information
○ Remembering and forgetting personal information
● Application domains for Lifelong Ubiquitous User Modelling
○ Cultural Heritage
○ Mobile recommenders
○ Mobile learning
○ Ubiquitous User Modelling with Situated Public Displays
○ Health and Wellness
● Privacy aspects of Ubiquitous User Modeling
○ Represen