Introduction to the thematic issue on Human-centric computing and intelligent environments

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) and Intelligent environments (IEs) are characterized by information and communication technologies embedded so seamlessly into our physical environments and in various everyday objects that computer-enabled features will become a natural part of our living and working environments [6]. According to Cook and Das [4], the most critical feature that separates intelligent environments from environments that are merely user-controllable is their ability to model inhabitant behaviour. They determine that an intelligent environment is able to acquire and apply knowledge about the environment and its inhabitants in order to improve the inhabitants’ experience in that environment. The environment is thus willing to serve spontaneously and proactively, i.e. the environment senses the person’s needs and circumstances, and responds accordingly. In general, in the visions promoted by AmI and IEs, people are surrounded by intuitive interfaces and user-adaptive technologies; and the environments are capable of recognizing and proactively responding to the presence of different individuals in a seamless, unobtrusive and invisible way. Although these visions clearly place humans in the centre of their technology-mediated environments, the human-centred perspective of computer-based systems is still often neglected. Technologists – including computer scientists and engineers – frequently design and construct systems which perform efficiently, but may not provide their users with straightforward modes