Social Networks and Ubiquitous Interactions

Dear Colleagues,

The social nature of the Web 2.0 and the recent developments in ubiquitous technologies have resulted in rich sources of information provided by users, pervasive sensors, devices, or services. As a result, new opportunities emerge both to use the rich information in social networks to adapt and personalize the interaction in ubiquitous scenarios and to use the rich information of ubiquitous data sources to improve the interactivity and services provided to users in social networks. In this regard, the increasing presence of Internet-connected objects in our daily environments is also enabling novel interaction and collaboration opportunities among people and things to achieve common goals, such as healthier life or better energy management, often mediated though social network channels.

Addressing the interplay between social networks, ubiquitous systems, Internet of Things, and interactions in these environments raises several research challenges. First, what ubiquitously-sensed information are users and devices helping users willing to share in social networks and how it makes social networks more engaging and interactive for users. Second, how interaction in ubiquitous scenarios may benefit from context information gathered on social networks. Third, what are the potential risks of sharing massive data obtained in pervasive social contexts. Finally, what will the new required technologies be to support many-to-many interactions with ever-changing configurations of distributed devices, applications, users, and interfaces.

In this Special Issue, we seek contributions to advance our knowledge about the interplay between social networks and ubiquitous interactions among people and smart environments populated by devices with increasing interaction and built-in intelligence capabilities. We welcome highly original contributions including application, methodological, technological, and review papers that improve our understanding of the potential benefits and risks that result from the intersection of these two active research fields.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• adaptive ubiquitous interfaces
• sensing ubiquitous social information
• ubiquitous interaction techniques
• pervasive social networks
• Big Data
• persuasive computing
• behaviour change
• Internet of Things
• social data mining and crowdsourcing management.