EMIC - Information Overload and Crisis of Choice

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We are drowning in a sea of information overload.  Every day, television channels, email, books and music assault our senses with far too much content.  The volume of content on the internet and generated by applications is literally exploding.  Not only traditional media but millions of individual users are putting their own content on the web.  The massive popularity of YouTube is just one example of this phenomenon.  In this flood, how do you distinguish between content that matters to you from all the rest?  How can you easily discover information, multimedia content and entertainment that matches your interests or preferences?  How do you deal with this crisis of choice?

Well, Software Engineers at the European Microsoft Innovation Center (EMIC) are working on a project that allows for the quick creation of prototype solutions that help people solve this crisis of choice.

In this video, Ron Mevissen, Lead Developer of the EMIC Home team, gives an introduction to the topic of information overload and the project that he and colleagues are working on.  He also demonstrates the Media Center recommender prototype that helps you find interesting TV programs.  After that, Stefan Hirtbach shows a recommender for Outlook that helps you decide the importance of email - which email should I read now, which one can wait.  Rich Hanbidge shows a recommender for Xbox Live that helps you find interesting items such as downloadable videos, games, etc. offered by Xbox Live.  Rene Hülswitt demos the Virtual Earth recommender that helps find interesting POI (points of interests) such as restaurants or tourist attractions near you.

The EMIC in Aachen, Germany was founded in 2003 and is a Microsoft Research & Development facility.  The German lab is unique to Microsoft in its focus on collaborative applied research in Europe.  EMIC works in the context of development programs sponsored by the European Commission and the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Its research is focused on enterprise, mobility, home, security, software verification and embedded systems.

For more information on EMIC research, projects and partners, visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/EMIC

To find out more about projects at EMIC, check out these videos over on Channel 9…
EMIC - Specialized Workflow Foundation Activity
http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Lori/EMIC-Specialized-Workflow-Foundation-Activity/
EMIC - Delegation Framework
http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Lori/EMIC-Delegation-Framework/