Situation modelling. A domain analysis and user study

A systematic activity-based domain study is presented, analysing the context of multimedia presentation scenarios. The analysis was motivated by the aim of situation recognition and the realisation of environment control systems. Altogether information is collected for presentation scenarios in an activity-centred approach. During a first preliminary study seven major situations have been identified for the presentation process, including Setup, Welcome, Presentation, Explanation, Question&Answer, Discussion, and Conclusion. Additionally, following parameters have been defined: Activity, Location, Interaction, Media, Device, Environment and Audience states (e.g., light and noise setting, user movement, number of person, level of attention, interruptions). These parameters serve as distinguishing characteristics for mentioned situation at a high-level and do not depend on a specific sensor type or situation recognition technologies such as Hidden-Markov-Model based A/V indexing. In a second step, interview and observation techniques have been deployed to collect more detailed data characterizing those seven situations with previously defined parameters. By doing so, the user study quantifies the situations of a presentation scenario; it provides a statistical situation model.