As the trend towards ubiquitous computing technology gathers pace, and the potential benefits of the technology begin to emerge, there is a growing need to make configuration of pervasive environments accessible to non-technical users. If we are all to maintain a sense of being in control of the technology around us, and are to find pervasive computing enhancing, we need to be able to tailor the behaviour of our environments in a straightforward way in order that it suits our particular personal needs. This amounts to composing virtual services from the set of actual services that populate our environment. The ability to effectively configure a pervasive environment and compose virtual services is not just a matter of adding useful functionality: without such a capability, many people will find the technology so intrusive that they won't want anything to do with it.

Natural Habitat is an interdisciplinary research project that brings together researchers in the areas of distributed systems, natural language processing and human computer interaction, with the aim of exploring the extent to which an approach centred around the use of natural language processing technology can produce tools that support non-technical users in the task of configuring their pervasive environments. We have completed the development of a running prototype system, providing services such as printers, email and alerts in the context of a virtual notice board.