Proxy Lady: Mobile Support for Opportunistic Communication

Proxy Lady is a mobile system for informal, opportunistic face-to-face communication, running on a PDA equipped with a radio transceiver, "Opportunistic communication" is anticipated by one party but it only occurs when the parties happen to meet each other. Proxy Lady supports such communication by providing notifications about possible "candidates for interaction" in the environment. The user specifies "candidates for interaction" by associating "people" with an "information item" (currently an email or a task). When "candidates for interaction" enter the proximity ofthe user, ProxyLadynotifies and makes the "information item" accessible. According to our fieldwork, evaluation sessions, and a literature survey, "opportunistic communication" is an important type ofcommunication that has not been supported previously. This paper describes the interface and use ofProxy Lady and the results from an evaluation study.