Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Starting from an analysis of how ubiquitous computing technologies have afforded the design of novel learning experiences in different domains, we consider how such technologies can support domestic learning, thus conceiving the family as a community of practice. We exemplify such a vision with the Living Cookbook appliance: This relies on the video capture and retrieval of family members’ cooking sessions, so as to enable the creation and sharing of personalized, multimedia cooking instructions. By augmenting the cooking activity with novel social and entertaining aspects, our goal is to motivate cooking and the learning thereof. We report on the implementation and evaluation of the appliance and in conclusion we discuss our results in light of their possible implications for the design of domestic technology.

Internet portals are gateways to the World Wide Web, which offer an amalgamation of services, like search engines, online shopping information, email, news, weather reports, stock quotes, community forums, maps, travel information, etc. Furthermore, with the arrival of the Mobile Web, they are also frequently used in Ambient Intelligence scenarios. This paper will discuss basic design considerations inspired by systems theory fundamental principles, where the portal as a whole and its components (known as ) are analyzed. This analysis also includes a set of user requirements for people with special needs gathered in previous user studies from the authors.

A growing interest is seen for designing intelligent environments that support personally meaningful, sociable and rich everyday experiences. In this paper we describe an intelligent, large screen display called that is aimed at supporting and enhancing social awareness within an academic work environment. Panorama is not intended to provide instrumental or other productivity related information. Rather, the goal of Panorama is to enhance social awareness by providing interpersonal and rich information related to co-workers and their everyday interactions in the department. A two-phase assessment of Panorama showed to promote curiosity and interest in exploring different activities in the environment.

Context-awareness becomes the key technology in the human computer interaction of ubiquitous computing. The paper discusses the characteristic, significance as well as function of the context, and the properties of the human computer interaction in the ubiquitous environments where the physical space fuses with the information space. These characteristics bring new requirements, that is, mobility, tractability, predictably and personality. To satisfy the demands, we present a method to realize context-awareness and the wireless interaction by using the pervasive RFID tags to track the context and using Bluetooth as the contact-less communication measure. We also construct a prototype system composed of RFID tags, BTEnableReaders and Bluetooth-enable mobile terminals. One case of application scenario is given and the experimental results show that the performance and robustness of the device are suitable for ubiquitous applications and the interaction is experienced more positively by users than the conventional method. The devices we design also can be extended to other application areas such as wearable computing, health care, disable help, and road navigation.

This paper reports the results of a study to evaluate accessibility and usability of services developed by the MAIS Designer, a new design tool that provides services suited to different mobile devices. The discussion is aimed at highlighting the methodology adopted, which is tailored to characteristics of mobile computing and the relative results obtained.

This paper describes the health emergency module (HEM) of ASK-IT, a European project, co-funded by the EC 6th Framework Program, within the e-Inclusion area. It identifies the functionalities and specifications of the HEM, as well as its scenarios of application, its requirements derived from the technical and legal analysis and how it interacts with other ASK-IT modules and the whole platform. Special emphasis is given to the User Interface designed, according to the specific user groups’ functional characteristics.

We investigated uni- and multimodal cueing of horizontally distributed threat directions in an experiment requiring each of twelve participants to turn a simulated combat vehicle towards the cued threat as quickly and accurate as possible, while identifying simultaneously presented radio call information. Four display conditions of cued threat directions were investigated; 2D visual, 3D audio, tactile, and combined cueing of 2D visual, 3D audio, and tactile. During the unimodal visual and tactile indications of threat directions an alerting mono sound also was presented. This alerting sound function was naturally present for the unimodal 3D audio and multimodal conditions, with the 3D audio simultaneously alerting for and cueing direction to the threat. The results show no differences between conditions in identification of radio call information. In contrast, the 3D audio generated greater errors in localization of threat direction compared to both 2D visual and multimodal cueing. Reaction times to threats were also slower with both the 3D audio and 2D visual compared to the tactile and the multimodal, respectively. In conclusion, the results might reflect some of the benefits in employing multimodal displays for certain operator environments and tasks.

The contemporary town planning and architecture abundantly create various public, private, production, recreation, and remembrance spaces, in order to comply with the material and spiritual needs of individuals and large communities alike. Remembrance places – necropolises - are important structural elements of cities that strongly affect the human psyche. Modern forms of spatial arrangement of necropolises search for solutions which will not only provide a rational (ergonomic, economic, ecological) material shape of the burial place, but also satisfy man’s mental needs connected with the burial, funeral, veneration of the dead, visits to the cemetery, irrespective of man’s age and physical fitness level.

Built over the centuries and still existing necropolises are a material and spiritual cultural heritage left to us by the past generations. Mostly built of symbolic stones - ”remembrance stones”, they make specific ”libraries” with ”stone books” for the present and future generations.

As the amount of good transportation on road is increasing the accidents involving heavy trucks and other road users are also increasing. To make the truck driver aware of other road users close to the truck is very important to avoid accidents. Present study tested different auditory icons that were representing different road users and presented in 3 dimensions in the truck cockpit to see if such design could improve the driver traffic awareness in trucks. A prototype system including four different type-of sound themes has been developed to present the road users such as pedestrian, cyclists, motorcycles and other vehicles. The setting was tested on subjects and integrated in a truck-simulation at Volvo Technology Corporation. An experiment was conducted to test whether these 3D sounds can improve the driver’s traffic situation awareness. The results suggest that natural or realistic sounds (auditory icon) are most suitable to this application due to their intuitiveness, distinguish ability and relatively low degree of disturbance.

LATERAL SAFE is a subproject of the PREVENT Integrated Project, co-funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme. LATERAL SAFE introduces a cluster of safety applications of the future vehicles, in order to prevent lateral/rear related accidents and assist the driver in adverse or low visibility conditions and blind spot areas. LATERAL SAFE applications include a lateral and rear monitoring system (LRM), a lane change assistant (LCA) and a lateral collision warning (LCW). An effective Human Machine Interface (HMI) is being developed, addressing each application, on the basis of the results emerged from mock-up tests realised in three sites (one in Greece and two in Sweden), aiming to determine which is the best HMI solution to be provided in each case. In the current paper, the final HMI principles, adopted and demonstrated for each application, are presented.