Research ·  My broad research interests are in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp). I design, build, and evaluate new approaches to help mobile users address their information needs. My research approach explores the problems and challenges users face in the adoption of mobile computing technologies, which enables me to build technology to address these problems and study its use in real situations. My past work includes developing a GSM infrastructure for localization, building context-aware mobile applications, and exploring mobile interfaces for information streams. Most recently, I have been investigating the support of cross-device interaction, helping people continue tasks between their personal devices. My curriculum vitae gives more details about my work.

Bio · Tim is currently a Software Engineer at Google working on mobile apps. Previously, he was a Research Engineer in Emerging Technologies at Lab126 and a Senior Research Scientist at Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto on the IDEA team. He completed his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2003 at the University of California, Berkeley. Tim earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science in 2005 and 2008 respectively from the University of California, San Diego.

Selected Papers
2011
Myngle: Unifying and Filtering Web Content for Unplanned Access Between Multiple Personal Devices
Timothy Sohn, Frank Chun Yat Li, Agathe Battestini, Vidya Setlur, Koichi Mori, Hiroshi Horii
Ubicomp 2011: ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing
Opportunities Exist: Supporting the Development of Spatial Knowledge with Continuous Place Discovery for Activities
David Dearman, Timothy Sohn, Khai N. Truong
CHI 2011: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Planning, Apps, and the High-end Smartphone: Exploring the landscape of modern cross-device reaccess
Elizabeth Bales, Timothy Sohn, Vidya Setlur
Pervasive 2011: International Conference on Pervasive Computing
2010
Supporting Unplanned Activities Through Cross-Device Interaction
Timothy Sohn, Agathe Battestini, Hiroshi Horii, Elizabeth Bales, Vidya Setlur, Koichi Mori
Automotive UI 2010: International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications
The Design and Evaluation of a Task-Centered Battery Interface
Khai N. Truong, Julie Kientz, Timothy Sohn, Alyssa C. Rosenzweig, Amanda Fonville, Tim Smith
Ubicomp 2010: ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing
Addressing Mobile Information Overload in the Universal Inbox through Lenses
Timothy Sohn, Vidya Setlur, Koichi Mori, Jofish Kaye, Hiroshi Horii, Agathe Battestini, Rafael Ballagas, Christopher Paretti, Mirjana Spasojevic
MobileHCI 2010: International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services
A Large Scale Study of Text Messaging Use
Agathe Battestini, Vidya Setlur, Timothy Sohn
MobileHCI 2010: International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services
Enabling Cross-Device Interaction With Web History
Timothy Sohn, Koichi Mori, Vidya Setlur
CHI 2010: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Work In Progress)
Using Gestures on Mobile Phones to Create SMS Comics
Vidya Setlur, Agathe Battestini, Timothy Sohn, Hiroshi Horii
TEI 2010: ACM Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction
2009
Auditory Priming for Upcoming Events
Timothy Sohn, Leila Takayama, Dean Eckles, Rafael Ballagas
CHI 2009: ACM International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Work In Progress)
At Your Service: Using Butlers as a Model to Overcome the Mobile Attention Deficit
Timothy Sohn, Rafael Ballagas, Leila Takayama
CHI 2009: ACM International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Work In Progress)
2008
PeopleTones: A System for Delivering Buddy Proximity Cues on Mobile Phones
Kevin A. Li, Timothy Sohn, Stephen Huang, William G. Griswold
Mobisys 2008: International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services
A Diary Study of Mobile Information Needs
Timothy Sohn, Kevin A. Li, William G. Griswold, James D. Hollan
CHI 2008: ACM International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2007
Usability and Feasibility of PmEB: A Mobile Phone Application for Monitoring Real Time Caloric Balance
Christopher C. Tsai, Gunny Lee, Fred Raab, Gregory J. Norman, Timothy Sohn, William G. Griswold, Kevin Patrick
Pervasive Health 2007: International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare
2006
Mobility Detection Using Everyday GSM Traces
Timothy Sohn, Alex Varshavsky, Anthony LaMarca, Mike Y. Chen, Tanzeem Choudhury, Ian Smith, Sunny Consolvo, Jeffrey Hightower, William G. Griswold, Eyal de Lara
Ubicomp 2006: ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing
Practical Metropolitan-Scale Positioning for GSM Phones
Mike Y. Chen, Timothy Sohn, Dmitri Chmelev, Dirk Haehnel, Jeffrey Hightower, Jeff Hughes, Anthony LaMarca, Fred Potter, Ian Smith, Alex Varshavsky
Ubicomp 2006: ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing
Experiences with Place Lab: An Open Source Toolkit for Location-Aware Computing
Timothy Sohn, William G. Griswold, James Scott, Anthony LaMarca, Yatin Chawathe, Ian Smith, Mike Y. Chen
ICSE 2006: ACM International Conference on Software Engineering
iCAP: Interactive Prototyping of Context-Aware Applications
Anind K. Dey, Timothy Sohn, Sara Streng, Justin Kodama
Pervasive 2006: International Conference on Pervasive Computing
2005
Place-Its: A Study of Location-Based Reminders on Mobile Phones
Timothy Sohn, Kevin A. Li, Gunny Lee, Ian Smith, James Scott, William G. Griswold
Ubicomp 2005: ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing
Control, Deception, and Communication: Evaluating the Deployment of a Location-Enhanced Messaging Service
Giovanni Iachello, Ian Smith, Sunny Consolvo, Gregory D. Abowd, Jeff Hughes, James Howard, Fred Potter, James Scott, Timothy Sohn, Jeffrey Hightower, Anthony LaMarca
Ubicomp 2005: ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing
Social Disclosure of Place: From Location Technology to Communication Practice
Ian Smith, Sunny Consolvo, Anthony LaMarca, Jeffrey Hightower, James Scott, Timothy Sohn, Jeff Hughes, Giovanni Iachello, Gregory D. Abowd
Pervasive 2005: International Conference on Pervasive Computing
Place Lab: Device Positioning Using Radio Beacons in the Wild
Anthony LaMarca, Yatin Chawathe, Sunny Consolvo, Jeffrey Hightower, Ian Smith, James Scott, Timothy Sohn, James Howard, Jeff Hughes, Fred Potter, Jason Tabert, Polly Powledge, Gaetano Boriello, Bill Schilit
Pervasive 2005: International Conference on Pervasive Computing
More Papers

What's New
July 15, 2011
Paper on Myngle was accepted to Ubicomp 2011
May 16, 2011
Started at Lab126 in the Emerging Technologies team
Feb 13, 2011
Got a new website up and running!
Dec 13, 2010
Paper on Opportunities Exist was accepted to CHI 2011.
Dec 11, 2010
Paper on cross-device interaction was accepted to Pervasive 2011.
Nov 24, 2010
Our work on a universal inbox was in the MIT Technology Review.
Nov 17, 2010
Panelist at the CTO Forum on the future of mobile computing.
Nov 12, 2010
Presented our Myngle interface at Automotive UI 2010.
Sep 29, 2010
Presented our work on a task-centered battery interface at Ubicomp 2010.
Sep 9, 2010
Presented our work on a Lenses (universal inbox) at MobileHCI 2010.
Interns
Frank Li (Fall 2010)
Elizabeth Bales (Spring 2010)