Task computing - The Semantic Web meets pervasive computing

Non-expert users have to accomplish non-trivial tasks in application and device-rich computing environments. The increasing complexity of such environments is detrimental to user productivity (and occasionally, sanity). We propose to reduce these difficulties by shifting focus to what users want to do (i.e., on the tasks at hand) rather than on the specific means for doing those tasks. We call this shift in focus "task computing"; we argue that "task computing" offers an incentive to device manufacturers to incorporate semantic web technologies into their devices in order to get the benefits of easier and more flexible use of their devices' features by end-users. To support task computing, we developed an environment called a "Task Computing Environment" (TCE), which we have implemented using standard Semantic Web (RDF, OWL, DAML-S), Web Services (SOAP, WSDL) and pervasive computing (UPnP) technologies, we describe and evaluate our TCE implementation, and we discuss how it has been used to realize various device-usage scenarios. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.