| Key Properties in the Development of Smart Spaces | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 3-12 | |
| Sergey Balandin; Heikki Waris | |||
| This paper is targeted at improving and expanding the understanding of the
Smart Spaces concept of by the R&D community. Through the identification of
key properties based on an analysis of evolving trends in the mobile industry,
the developers are provided with recommendations that improve the adoption of
Smart Spaces. It is especially important to understand how Smart Spaces can
change the whole services ecosystem and the role that mobile devices will play.
The paper discusses some core technologies being developed in the industry that might play a dominant role in the future Smart Spaces. A special attention of the discussion is the latest trend towards a networked inter-device architecture for mobile devices and what new possibilities it opens. With that the discussion expands into general properties of Smart Spaces. The paper summarizes functional and non-functional properties. By understanding the properties and their implications to the development and adoption of Smart Spaces, the developers are better equipped to ensure that the needs of the various stakeholders are taken into account. For this purpose, the paper proposes a set of questions that can be used to estimate how well the planned Smart Space fares when compared against each of the properties. Keywords: Smart Spaces; Future Mobile Devices; Properties; Taxonomy | |||
| Design a Multi-Touch Table and Apply to Interior Furniture Allocation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 13-19 | |
| Chien-Hsu Chen; Ken-Hao Nien; Fong-Gong Wu | |||
| This is a study based on the integration of FTIR multi-touch technology with
Industrial Design to produce a multi-touch table. An multi-touch system
interface is also developed through this study. Furniture allocation is applied
as the content to provide users practical operating experience on the
multi-touch interface. The process includes FTIR structure related testing,
hardware technology and specifications; and the exterior design. The system
interface includes image recognition system and multi-touch application, and is
developed in FLASH. This study not only uses the easy-to-use characteristics of
the multi-touch technology but also integrates PV3D to link the 3D scene with
the user interface. This provides a real-time 3D simulation image that the user
can view the result of the furniture allocation while controlling the user
interface. Observation and interviews are made on the users to evaluate the
advantages and related problems of the multi-touch technology for future study
and development. Keywords: Multi-Touch; Interior Design | |||
| Implementation of a User Interface Model for Systems Control in Buildings | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 20-28 | |
| Szucheng Chien; Ardeshir Mahdavi | |||
| Occupant control actions in a building (i.e. user interactions with
environmental systems for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, etc.) can
significantly affect both indoor climate in and the environmental performance
of buildings. Nonetheless, relatively few systematic (long-term and
high-resolution) efforts have been made to observe and analyze the means and
patterns of such user-system interactions with building systems. Specifically,
the necessary requirements for the design and testing of hardware and software
systems for user-system interfaces have not been formulated in a rigorous and
reliable manner. This paper includes the prototyping of a new generation of
user interface model for building systems in sentient buildings. The outcome of
these efforts, when realized as a web-based user interface, would allow the
occupants to achieve desirable indoor climate conditions with higher levels of
connectivity between occupants and sentient environments. Keywords: sentient buildings; user interface; environmental controls | |||
| A Web-Based 3D System for Home Design | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 29-38 | |
| Anthony Chong; Ji-Hyun Lee; Jieun Park | |||
| Buying a home is a big investment and is one of the most important decisions
made in one's life. Home owners after purchasing the apartments are interested
in having their own home unique design identity. They often seek expert
interior designers to assist in designing the homes and bringing out the
uniqueness in them. In current interior design industry, designers have to meet
the owners often to discuss the designs and alter the housing layout design
accordingly to the owners' preferences. This process is often repeated many
times before a finalized housing design layout will be accepted by the owners.
In this paper, we propose a rule-based housing design system to generate many
sets of alternatives housing design layouts based on the initial designer's
housing design layout. Designers, therefore, are able to produce alternative
housing designs for the owners and also able to explore various alternatives
done by the rule-based design system that they have not encountered before. Keywords: Housing design; rule-based system; web-based system | |||
| Attitudinal and Intentional Acceptance of Domestic Robots by Younger and Older Adults | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 39-48 | |
| Neta Ezer; Arthur D. Fisk; Wendy A. Rogers | |||
| A study was conducted to examine the expectations that younger and older
individuals have about domestic robots and how these expectations relate to
robot acceptance. In a questionnaire participants were asked to imagine a robot
in their home and to indicate how much items representing technology, social
partner, and teammate acceptance matched their robot. There were additional
questions about how useful and easy to use they thought their robot would be.
The dependent variables were attitudinal and intentional acceptance. The
analysis of the responses of 117 older adults (aged 65-86) and 60 younger
adults (aged 18-25) indicated that individuals thought of robots foremost as
performance-directed machines, less so as social devices, and least as
unproductive entities. The robustness of the Technology Acceptance Model to
robot acceptance was supported. Technology experience accounted for the
variance in robot acceptance due to age. Keywords: Domestic Robots; Older Adults; Technology Acceptance | |||
| Natural Language Interface for Smart Homes | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 49-56 | |
| María Fernández; Juan Bautista Montalvá Colomer; Maria Fernanda Cabrera-Umpierrez; María Teresa Arredondo | |||
| The development of new ICT technologies, like Ambient Intelligence (AmI),
and smart homes technologies has been proven to be a key factor to allow people
with disabilities gain independency at their homes, vehicle or working
environments. The biggest problem that users with disabilities face at the
moment of using these technologies is the difficult use of their interfaces. In
this paper we present the methodology and implementation used for the
development of an interface with smart homes, based on natural language, which
provides an easier way, especially for people with physical disabilities and
the elderly, to perform the usual tasks at home without the need of a previous
learning and complex processes. Keywords: Smart Home; natural language; ambient intelligence | |||
| Development of Real-Time Face Detection Architecture for Household Robot Applications | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 57-66 | |
| Dongil Han; Hyunjong Cho; Jaekwang Song; Hyeonjoon Moon; Seong Joon Yoo | |||
| This paper describes the structure of real-time face detection hardware
architecture for household robot applications. The proposed architecture is
robust against illumination changes and operates at no less than 60 frames per
second. It uses Modified Census Transform to obtain face characteristics robust
against illumination changes. And the AdaBoost algorithm is adopted to learn
and generate the characteristics of the face data, and finally detected the
face using this data. This paper describes the hardware structure composed of
Memory Interface, Image Scaler, MCT Generator, Candidate Detector, Confidence
Mapper, Position Resizer, Data Grouper, and Overlay Processor, and then
verified it using Virtex5 LX330 FPGA of Xilinx. Verification using the images
from a camera showed that maximum 16 faces can be detected at the speed of
maximum 30. Keywords: multiple face detection; MCT (Modified Census Transform); real-time FPGA
implementation; hardware design | |||
| Appropriate Dynamic Lighting as a Possible Basis for a Smart Ambient Lighting | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 67-74 | |
| Lajos Izsó | |||
| The objectives of this empirical study were to contribute to the development
of an intelligent, adaptive home lighting system for the elderly. The basic
idea was that a carefully chosen dynamic lighting with seemingly
ever-increasing ("up") -- or ever-decreasing ("down") -- illuminance can be
used to increase (or decrease) the users' activation level as they wish, a
change that will be reflected in objective psychophysiological parameters, in
objective performance, and also in subjective feelings. The paper examines the
effects of two particular different forms of dynamic lighting -- having the
same average illuminance over time -- on the performance of the number
verification task (NVT) by older adults. As a group, the older adults showed no
difference between the two forms of dynamic lighting. However, by involving the
individual's sensation seeking needs it was shown that the kind of dynamism
influences both the subjective preferences and the objective visual
performance. These findings emphasize the importance and sensitivity of
individual characteristics of the elderly and have to be taken into
consideration for the design of adaptive lighting systems. Keywords: AAL (ambient assisted living); ambient lighting assistance; dynamic
lighting; sensation seeking needs | |||
| A New Approach for Accessible Interaction within Smart Homes through Virtual Reality | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 75-81 | |
| Viveca Jimenez-Mixco; Rafael de las Heras; Juan Luis Villalar; María Teresa Arredondo | |||
| This paper proposes an innovative Virtual-Reality-based interaction strategy
integrated with a real domotics platform as a testbed to evaluate user
experience of people with disabilities and their assistants. A living lab has
been arranged to analyze and extract those applications with better acceptance
for the users, making use of a multimodal approach to adapt the interaction
mechanisms to their needs, skills and preferences. A preliminary testing phase
validated the system in terms of performance, reliability and usability. A
complete evaluation trial is about to be configured for assessing the final
system with a wide range of target users. Keywords: virtual reality; domotics; accessibility; living lab; smart homes | |||
| A Design of Air-Condition Remote Control for Visually Impaired People | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 82-91 | |
| Cherng-Yee Leung; Yan-Ting Yao; Su-Chen Chuang | |||
| Air condition is operated by a remote control presented mainly with visual
cues. Individuals with visual impairment have difficult to use it. This
research aims to design an air condition remote control for them. Based on
investigation, literature review, and discussion among 4 experts, a set of
design principles emphasizing on consistency, discrimination, efficiency,
label, and feedback has been set up. 6 main functions each having 2~4
alternatives were modeled by ABS accordingly. 20 visually impaired people
volunteered in two experiments: within function and between function. By
Friedman test and LSD method, the 6 functions have been classified into three
groups: (power switch, temperature setting), (wind speed selection, wind
direction selection), and (sleeping mode, time setting) arranging form top to
bottom on a remote control. Through discussion, the braille labels have been
decided placed at the left side of the function buttons. The implications were
discussed in the conclusion. Keywords: Air Condition; Non-barrier environment; Remote Control; User Center Design;
Visually Impaired | |||
| Verb Processing in Spoken Commands for Household Security and Appliances | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 92-99 | |
| Ioanna Malagardi; Christina Alexandris | |||
| The present paper concerns the handling of verbs in the Speech Recognition
Module of an HCI system for the remote control of household security and the
operation of household appliances. The basic language used is Modern Greek, but
the system's design includes the basis of a multilingual extension for the use
of the system by native-speakers of other languages. The human-computer
communication must preferable to be accomplished in natural language. Some
methods of Artificial Intelligence can contribute to the solving of the natural
language processing problems. The target for a multilingual extension of the
system has imposed the restrictions that commands are kept simple and referring
expressions such as deictic noun phrases and pronouns as well as anaphoric
expressions are avoided. The interaction with the system is strictly based on
dialogs with restricted options in order to increase the feasibility of the
speech interface. Keywords: speech recognition; natural language processing; motion verbs; interlinguas | |||
| Thermal Protection of Residential Buildings in the Period of Energy Crisis and Its Influence on Comfort of Living | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 100-107 | |
| Przemyslaw Nowakowski | |||
| It has been noticed within a few years now that energy prices soared all
over the world. Apart from growing costs of vehicle fuels, prices of energy
used in flats have risen. They take a substantial share in domestic budgets. It
poses a problem mainly for residents in countries where the building industry
have been using less advanced technologies. The solutions applied there refer
both to conditions of the residential resources management and selection of
building and decor materials. A response to the need for reducing energy
consumption in residential buildings comprises successively corrected and
tightened legal rules and regulations concerning thermal protection of
buildings. Also, the users themselves undertake independent initiatives aimed
at reduction of exploitation costs. However, the issue of improving thermal
isolation of buildings is a costly venture, and profits from its implementation
are noticeable only after many years. The paper will discuss technical
tendencies of thermal protection of newly erected residential buildings
(passive buildings, among other things) as well as the older ones, subject to
so called thermal modernisation. What is more, the paper will concern the
influence the buildings have on the living comfort and possibilities of
counteracting negative consequences as far as influence of thermal isolation
technologies on people, natural environment and a technical condition of
buildings is concerned. Keywords: residential buildings; low energy consumption; living comfort | |||
| Design for All Approach with the Aim to Support Autonomous Living for Elderly People in Ordinary Residences -- An Implementation Strategy | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 108-116 | |
| Claes Tjäder | |||
| Most elderly want to remain in their ordinary home. There are products and
services available which make it possible to support an autonomous living with
a high quality of life. To finds ways how to implement DfA supportive
technology in co-operation with housing enterprises is dealt with in this
paper. Methods used at some workshops to single out measures from different
perspectives are described. Keywords: Elderly; autonomous living; implementation strategy; DfA technology support;
real estate and/or housing enterprises | |||
| Speech Input from Older Users in Smart Environments: Challenges and Perspectives | | BIBA | Full-Text | 117-126 | |
| Ravichander Vipperla; Maria Klara Wolters; Kallirroi Georgila; Steve Renals | |||
| Although older people are an important user group for smart environments, there has been relatively little work on adapting natural language interfaces to their requirements. In this paper, we focus on a particularly thorny problem: processing speech input from older users. Our experiments on the MATCH corpus show clearly that we need age-specific adaptation in order to recognize older users' speech reliably. Language models need to cover typical interaction patterns of older people, and acoustic models need to accommodate older voices. Further research is needed into intelligent adaptation techniques that will allow existing large, robust systems to be adapted with relatively small amounts of in-domain, age appropriate data. In addition, older users need to be supported with adequate strategies for handling speech recognition errors. | |||
| Sympathetic Devices: Communication Technologies for Inclusion Across Housing Options | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 127-136 | |
| Claudia Winegarden; Brian Jones | |||
| Encouraging wellness at home is a necessary step in alleviating the
healthcare system, but also a vehicle for promoting independence and quality of
life among older adults. Even though much healthcare research is focused on
autism, asthma, diabetes, to mention a few, depression caused by isolation is a
serious condition related to healthy aging and outcomes. Addressing
communication patterns across housing options might bring us closer to
understanding and preventing social isolation and loneliness among older
people. This paper discusses a research-based iterative process of applied
within subjects survey and action research studies for designing communication
technology devices for older adults. The relevance of this project is to
understand the role of design and technology for adoption, home care affecting
an independent healthy aging. Keywords: design; older adults; communication technologies; isolation | |||
| Design Framework for Ambient Assisted Living Platforms | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 139-142 | |
| Patricia Abril-Jiménez; Cecilia Vera-Muñoz; Maria Fernanda Cabrera-Umpierrez; María Teresa Arredondo; Juan-Carlos Naranjo | |||
| Nowadays the new technological advances offer the possibility to provide a
great number of different personalized services that cover the needs of diverse
categories of users. The application of the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) paradigm
and the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) concept makes possible the creation of
new applications that can significantly improve the quality of life of elderly
and dependant people. This paper presents an interaction framework that
provides a new generation of user interfaces for AAL services in the context of
an AmI-based platform. This solution aims to develop the technological context
where elderly and dependant citizens can increase their life independence. Keywords: Ambient Intelligence; Ambient Assisted Living; wireless sensor networks;
adaptative interfaces | |||
| Ambient Intelligence in Working Environments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 143-149 | |
| Christian Bühler | |||
| The concept of ambient intelligence (AmI) has recently been adopted related
to living scenarios and denoted as ambient assisted living (AAL). It has
received high attention related to the demographic shift and the positive
options of care and support for elderly people at home and on the move.
However, there exists an equally important field of application related to
work. In the context of labour high mobility and flexibility of people is
requested. The demand to work up to higher ages complements the situation.
People in the workforce develop growing expertise and different abilities over
time. They need tailored support systems at work keeping the efficiency and
effectiveness and elements of prevention or adjustment to changing abilities.
Indeed, environments in industry and at work provide already a high degree of
networking and computing infrastructure, much more than in the private sector
and can provide a basis for an advanced AmI infrastructure. The idea is
discussed within the framework of creating accessible workplaces for people
with disabilities. Here, so far a reactive strategy has been followed based on
the individual case. Only in case a concrete person with a disability is
included in the work force and only in that very moment a workplace adaptation
is considered. However, now this reactive strategy is outdated, because today
the complete infrastructure needs to be considered to make a workplace
accessible. Following an AmI strategy -- ambient assisted working (AAW)
provides a flexible approach towards workplace adaptation for all, including
people with disabilities and older people in the workforce. In order to use
AAW, the process has to start much earlier in a more inclusive way. Without
knowing the exact demands of a future worker, the system needs to be designed.
The flexible networking character of AmI provides the required flexibility. Keywords: Ambient Intelligence; Work; Ambient Assisted Working; Universal Design;
Accessibility; Information technologies; Higher Age | |||
| Towards a Framework for the Development of Adaptive Multimodal User Interfaces for Ambient Assisted Living Environments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 150-159 | |
| Marco Blumendorf; Sahin Albayrak | |||
| In this paper we analyse the requirements and challenges ambient assisted
living and smart environments pose on interactive systems. We present a
framework for the provisioning of user interfaces for such environments. The
framework incorporates model-based user interface development technologies to
create a runtime system that manages interaction resources and context
information to adapt interaction. This approach allows the creation of adaptive
and multimodal interactive ambient assisted living applications. Keywords: smart environments; multimodal interaction; model-based user interface
development; ambient assisted living; multi-access service platform | |||
| Workflow Mining Application to Ambient Intelligence Behavior Modeling | | BIBA | Full-Text | 160-167 | |
| Carlos Fernández; Juan Pablo Lázaro; José-Miguel Benedí | |||
| The handmade human behavior modeling requires too many human resources and for too long a time. In addition, the final result does probably not reflect the current status of the person due to the influence of time. The use on Workflow Mining techniques to infer human behavior models from past executions of actions can be a solution to this problem. In this paper, a Human Behavior modeling methodology based on Workflow Mining Techniques is proposed. | |||
| Middleware for Ambient Intelligence Environments: Reviewing Requirements and Communication Technologies | | BIBA | Full-Text | 168-177 | |
| Yannis Georgalis; Dimitris Grammenos; Constantine Stephanidis | |||
| Ambient Intelligence is an emerging research field that aims to make many of the everyday activities of people easier and more efficient. This new paradigm gives rise to opportunities for novel, more efficient interactions with computing systems. At a technical level, the vision of Ambient Intelligence is realized by the seamless confluence of diverse computing platforms. In this context, a software framework (middleware) is essential to enable heterogeneous computing systems to interoperate. In this paper we first consider the basic requirements of a middleware that can effectively support the construction of Ambient Intelligence environments. Subsequently, we present a brief survey of existing, general-purpose middleware systems and evaluate them in terms of their suitability for serving as the low-level communication platform of an Ambient Intelligence middleware. Finally, we argue that an Object-Oriented middleware such as the Common Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) is most suited for basing a middleware for Ambient Intelligence environments. | |||
| A Hybrid Approach for Recognizing ADLs and Care Activities Using Inertial Sensors and RFID | | BIBA | Full-Text | 178-188 | |
| Albert Hein; Thomas Kirste | |||
| In this paper we present a feasibility study regarding the recognition of high level daily living and care activities. We examine a hybrid discriminative and model based generative approach based on RFID and inertial sensor data. We show that the presented sensor configuration is able to deliver sensor readings and object sightings at a sufficient rate without forcing user compliance. We further evaluated the advantage of a model based approach over a static classifier, compared the individual contribution of each sensor type and could reach accuracy rates of 97% and 85%. | |||
| Towards Universal Access to Home Monitoring for Assisted Living Environment | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 189-198 | |
| Rezwan Islam; Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed; Chowdhury Sharif Hasan; Mohammad Tanviruzzaman | |||
| The improvement of the conditions of daily life at home and work, promoted
by the socio-economic progression, best quality private living environments and
the immense development in healthcare and biomedical technologies has extended
the average age of life beyond 70. According to recent surveys this "population
aging" phenomenon will contribute to reach the record number of 1 billion
people over 60 years on earth by the year 2020. Due to a variety of reasons
such as convenience or a need for security and privacy these elderly people
generally prefer to avail healthcare facilities at their home. This is time to
break through the physical boundaries of hospitals and bring healthcare
facilities to the homes. Wireless and internet-based healthcare devices can
play a vital role in this regard given that reliable, individualized systems
with user-friendly interfaces are developed to enable elderly people feel
comfortable with making use of novel technology. This paper presents a remote
home monitoring application called Living Assistant that could be utilized to
continuously monitor and control a wide range of electronic appliances and
ambient parameters. Basically it has been designed to function as a healthcare
aide for elderly patients suffering from restricted mobility or other chronic
diseases. The advanced ways of user interfaces presented in this paper are
simple, generic and universally applicable. With little customization the
application can be used to accommodate other user groups as well. Keywords: Universal access; Home monitoring; Smart home; Assisted living; Living
Assistant; Elderly people; Technology-enhanced learning; TinyOS | |||
| An Approach to and Evaluations of Assisted Living Systems Using Ambient Intelligence for Emergency Monitoring and Prevention | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 199-208 | |
| Thomas Kleinberger; Andreas Jedlitschka; Holger Storf; Silke Steinbach-Nordmann; Stephan Prueckner | |||
| Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is currently one of the important research and
development areas, where software engineering aspects play a significant role.
The goal of AAL solutions is to apply ambient intelligence technologies to
enable people with specific needs to continue to live in their preferred
environments. This paper presents an approach and several evaluations for
emergency monitoring applications. Experiments in a laboratory setting were
performed to evaluate the accuracy of recognizing Activities of Daily Living
(ADL). The results show that it is possible to detect ADLs with an accuracy of
92% on average. Hence, we conclude that it is possible to support elderly
people in staying longer in their homes by autonomously detecting emergencies
on the basis of ADL recognition. Keywords: Ambient Assisted Living; Emergency Monitoring; Experiments | |||
| Anamorphosis Projection by Ubiquitous Display in Intelligent Space | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 209-217 | |
| Jeong-Eom Lee; Satoshi Miyashita; Kousuke Azuma; Joo-Ho Lee; Gwi-Tae Park | |||
| This paper describes a projection based information display system, which
can make a user see three-dimensional (3D) object with naked eyes. The proposed
system is based on Intelligent Space and a projector mounted mobile robot which
is called Ubiquitous Display. Human can perceive a 3D structure from 2D retinal
images by using diverse cues. As adopted psychological cues, the proposed
system makes that a user can perceive 3D object by seeing oblique anamorphosis
projected on where the user is facing. Through this, the user can get
information more realistically and experience augmented reality which the real
and virtual objects coexist without optical devices such as glasses,
head-mounted display. Moreover, by using Ubiquitous Display in Intelligent
Space, ultimately human centered active information display can be feasible. Keywords: Anamorphosis Projection; Active Information Display; Ubiquitous Display;
Intelligent Space | |||
| AAL in the Wild -- Lessons Learned | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 218-227 | |
| Edith Maier; Guido Kempter | |||
| In the EU-funded ALADIN project the prototype of an ambient assistive
lighting system was subjected to a three-month test in private households of
older people. Despite intensive usability testing in the development phase,
field trials pose special challenges including ethical issues such as obtaining
informed consent and the need for guidelines for interviewing old people.
Besides, real-life settings give rise to particular distortion effects which
have to be taken into account in the analysis of the results. Although the
findings indicate any overall slight increase in people's mental and physical
fitness, they also suggest how the prototype can be improved in several
respects. Above all it has been shown that packaging the technology with social
support measures is essential to achieve higher user acceptance. Besides, the
article discusses lessons learned related to the organization of user testing
in real-life settings. Keywords: AAL (ambient assisted living); ambient intelligence; lighting assistance;
adaptive algorithm; field trial | |||
| A Modelling Framework for Ambient Assisted Living Validation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 228-237 | |
| Juan-Carlos Naranjo; Carlos Fernandez-Llatas; Pilar Sala; Michael Hellenschmidt; Franco Mercalli | |||
| This paper describes a modeling framework that facilitates and streamlines
the process of creation, design, construction and deployment of technological
solutions in the context of AAL assuring that they are accessible and usable
for senior citizens. The framework supports the design of the Human Interaction
aspects of an AAL solution in all the stages of a user centered design
methodology, putting in practice the guidelines for the verification and
validation of the accessibility and usability facets. Two environments are
defined: The authoring environment allow the definition of the user,
environment and service models. The simulation environment is composed by
software and hardware components that constitute a physical ensemble that in
conjunction allow the ICT designer to implement actual Virtual Reality
scenarios of AAL. It will be used to verify interaction designs and validate
the accessibility of the AAL products by means of immersing the users in 3D
virtual spaces. Keywords: Modeling framework; AAL services; workflow technology; Ontology; Services
choreography | |||
| Methods for User Experience Design of AAL Services | | BIBA | Full-Text | 238-247 | |
| Pilar Sala; Juan-Pablo Lázaro; J. Artur Serrano; Katrin Müller; Juan-Carlos Naranjo | |||
| This paper presents the approach followed to design the Ambient Assisted Living Services considered for its implementation and validation during PERSONA project. A methodology based on Goal Oriented Design have been followed in iterative cycles to incorporate insights from different stakeholders to the selected services, enriching and refining them through the development of mock-ups and interview assessment. | |||
| Self Care System to Assess Cardiovascular Diseases at Home | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 248-257 | |
| Elena Villalba; Ignacio Peinado; María Teresa Arredondo | |||
| CUORE is a Heart Failure (HF) Disease Assessment System that uses
Information Technologies (IT) and portable monitoring devices, for to assess
and to manage the HF progression. The system valuates the cardiac condition
integrating patient data from different sources such as blood pressure cuff or
questionnaires. Rather than just evaluate the cardiovascular status, the system
also aims to motivate patients to have an active role in their health
management and to improve their cardiac condition through an active lifestyle.
This paper presents the CUORE validation with patients and professionals. Keywords: personal health systems; mobile applications; goal oriented design;
cardiovascular diseases | |||
| Ambient Intelligence and Knowledge Processing in Distributed Autonomous AAL-Components | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 258-266 | |
| Ralph Welge; Helmut Faasch; Eckhard C. Bollow | |||
| With the development of computers regarding integration, size and
performance we observe a quick increase of computational intelligence into all
areas of our daily life. It is shown how to build Ad-Hoc-networks with our
middleware to generate emergent intelligence in the behavior of the complete
networks. Our approach shows the application of AAL-components (components for
ambient assisted living (AAL)). Here we have as well the questions of
sustainable development: increasing consumption of resources and energy in the
production phase, reduced periods of use phases. Ambient computing and ambient
intelligence show a high potential to modify the society's treatment of
resources and energy. The interaction with "intelligent" things will change our
conception of production and consumption. Keywords: Autonomous Systems; AAL (Ambient Assisted Living); Knowledge Representation;
Services for Human-Computer-Interfaces; Ad-hoc Network; Semantic Method
Invocation | |||
| Configuration and Dynamic Adaptation of AAL Environments to Personal Requirements and Medical Conditions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 267-276 | |
| Reiner Wichert | |||
| AAL concepts have been shaping scientific and market-oriented research
landscapes for many years now [1]. Population development demands have made
residing and receiving care in one's own home a better alternative than
institutionalized inpatient care. This reality has been reflected in open calls
for proposals, as well as in numerous European and domestic projects, and has
resulted in a considerable number of applications and product concepts with AAL
ties. Unfortunately, it is already foreseeable that these project results will
not be implemented in a comprehensive fashion, as individual applications and
products can only be combined into a comprehensive solution with a great deal
of effort and potential cost. Through stereotypical projects and prototypes, as
well as concrete usage scenarios, this paper will extrapolate the added value
resulting from integrating individual products into coherent comprehensive
solutions within the framework of the complete supply and value chain. Business
and technological obstacles will be identified and pathways shown by which AAL
concepts and visions can lead to a better reality for all of those concerned,
from healthcare recipients to those bearing the costs. Keywords: Ambient Assisted Living; User Interfaces; Elderly People; End User
Configuration; AAL Platform | |||
| Designing Universally Accessible Networking Services for a Mobile Personal Assistant | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 279-288 | |
| Ioannis Basdekis; Panagiotis Karampelas; Voula Doulgeraki; Constantine Stephanidis | |||
| At present, a tendency towards smaller computer sizes and at the same time
increasingly inaccessible web content can be noted. Despite the worldwide
recognized importance of Web accessibility, the lack of accessibility of web
services has an increasingly negative impact on all users. In order to address
this issue, W3C has released a recommendation on Mobile Web Best Practices,
supplementary to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This paper presents
the design and prototype development of universally accessible networking
services that fully comply with those standards. Validation and expert
accessibility evaluation on the XHTML Basic prototypes present 100% compliance.
The followed design process is presented in details, outlining general as well
as specific issues and related solutions that may be of interest to other
designers. The results will be further verified through user tests on
implemented services. Keywords: Web accessibility; mobile accessibility; user interface design; device
independence; prototyping | |||
| Activity Recognition for Everyday Life on Mobile Phones | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 289-296 | |
| Gerald Bieber; Jörg Voskamp; Bodo Urban | |||
| Mobile applications for activity monitoring are regarded as a high potential
field for efficient improvement of health care solutions. The measurement of
physical activity within every-day conditions should be as easy as using an
automatic weighing machine. Up to now physical activity monitoring required
special sensor devices and are not suitable for an every day usage. Movement
pattern recognition based on acceleration data enables the usage of standard
mobile phones for measurement of physical activity. Now, just by carrying a
standard phone in a pocket, the device provides information about the type,
intensity and duration of the performed activity. Within the project DiaTrace,
we developed the method and algorithm to detect activities like walking,
jumping, running, cycling or car driving. Based on activity measurement, this
application also calculates the consumed calories over the day, shares activity
progress with friends or family and might deliver details about different kinds
of transportation during a business trip. The DiaTrace application can easily
used today by standard phones which are already equipped with the required
sensors. Keywords: Physical Activity Monitoring; Sensor Location; Mobile Assistance;
Acceleration Sensor; Pattern Recognition; feature extraction; DiaTrace | |||
| Kinetic User Interface: Interaction through Motion for Pervasive Computing Systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 297-306 | |
| Pascal Bruegger; Béat Hirsbrunner | |||
| We present in this paper a semantic model for the conception of pervasive
computing systems based on object or user's motions. We describe a system made
of moving entities, observers and views. More specifically, we focus on the
tracking of implicit interaction between entities and their environment. We
integrate the user's motion as primary input modality as well as the contexts
in which the interaction takes place. We have combined the user activities with
contexts to create situations. We illustrate this new concept of
motion-awareness with examples of applications built on this model. Keywords: Pervasive computing; Ubiquitous computing; Motion-awareness; Kinetic User
Interface; HCI | |||
| On Efficiency of Adaptation Algorithms for Mobile Interfaces Navigation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 307-316 | |
| Vlado Glavinic; Sandi Ljubic; Mihael Kukec | |||
| Many ubiquitous computing systems and applications, including mobile
learning ones, can make use of personalization procedures in order to support
and improve universal usability. In our previous work, we have created a GUI
menu model for mobile device applications, where personalization capabilities
are primarily derived from the use of adaptable and adaptive techniques. In
this paper we analyze from a theoretical point of view the efficiency of the
two adaptation approaches and related algorithms. A task simulation framework
has been developed for comparison of static and automatically adapted menus in
the mobile application environment. Algorithm functionality is evaluated
according to adaptivity effects provided in various menu configurations and
within several classes of randomly generated navigation tasks. Simulation
results thus obtained support the usage of adaptivity, which provides a
valuable improvement in navigation efficiency within menu-based mobile
interfaces. Keywords: personalization; adaptation; algorithmics; m-devices; m-learning | |||
| Accessible User Interfaces in a Mobile Logistics System | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 317-326 | |
| Harald K. Jansson; Robert Bjærum; Riitta Hellman; Sverre Morka | |||
| In this paper, we focus on ICTs for young people attending occupational
rehabilitation and training. An important goal is to develop ICTs that decrease
the need for reading and writing dramatically. The UNIMOD-proto type
demonstrates how mobile phones can be used as the main and only ICT-device by
truck drivers who deliver mats from the laundry to a large number of companies
and public places. The mobile phone can be used in the truck for navigation
according to traffic situation and geography, and for handling the customer and
delivery information. The test sessions show that mobile phones of fer an
excellent point of departure for the development of simple and intuitive
services that support users with cognitive declines. Keywords: Accessibility; Cognitive disabilities; GIS; Mobile solutions | |||
| Multimodal Interaction for Mobile Learning | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 327-334 | |
| Irina Kondratova | |||
| This paper discusses issues associated with improving usability of user
interactions with mobile devices in mobile learning applications. The focus is
on using speech recognition and multimodal interaction in order to improve
usability of data entry and information management for mobile learners. To
assist users in managing mobile devices, user interface designers are starting
to combine the traditional keyboard or pen input with "hands free" speech
input, adding other modes of interaction such as speech-based interfaces that
are capable of interpreting voice commands. Several research studies on
multimodal mobile technology design and evaluations were carried out within our
state-of the art laboratories. Results demonstrate feasibility of incorporating
speech and multimodal interaction in designing applications for mobile devices.
However, there are some important contextual constrains that limit applications
with speech-only interfaces in mobile learning, including social and
environmental factors, as well as technology limitations. These factors are
discussed in detail. Keywords: Mobile usability; multimodal interaction; speech recognition; mobile
evaluation | |||
| Acceptance of Mobile Entertainment by Chinese Rural People | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 335-344 | |
| Jun Liu; Ying Liu; Hui Li; Dingjun Li; Pei-Luen Patrick Rau | |||
| This study explores and analyzes contributing factors of mobile
entertainment acceptance by Chinese rural people. First, 27 factors were drawn
from literatures. Then a new factor "cost" was found through interview. After
that, a survey was built based on the 28 factors. From the data collected in
Chinese rural area, seven factors were extracted through explorative factor
analysis: social influence, technology and service quality, entertainment
utility, simpleness and certainty, self-efficacy, perceived novelty, and cost.
Finally, a comprehensive model was provided involving the seven factors as well
as their importance rank. This research provides a comprehensive approach in
technology acceptance theory. It can also help practitioners to better
understand the rural user group and improve their products accordingly. Keywords: Technology acceptance; mobile entertainment; rural people | |||
| Universal Mobile Information Retrieval | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 345-354 | |
| David Machado; Tiago Barbosa; Sebastião Pais; Bruno Martins; Gaël Dias | |||
| The shift in human computer interaction from desktop computing to mobile
interaction highly influences the needs for new designed interfaces. In this
paper, we address the issue of searching for information on mobile devices, an
area also known as Mobile Information Retrieval. In particular, we propose to
summarize as much as possible the information retrieved by any search engine to
allow universal access to information. Keywords: Mobile Information Retrieval; Clustering of Web Page Results; Automatic
Summarization | |||
| ActionSpaces: Device Independent Places of Thought, Memory and Evolution | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 355-364 | |
| Rudolf Melcher; Martin Hitz; Gerhard Leitner | |||
| We propose an inherently three-dimensional interaction paradigm which allows
individuals to manage their personal digital artifact collections (PAC)
regardless of the specific devices and means they are using. The core of our
solution is to provide unified access to all user artifacts normally spread
across several repositories and devices. Not till then individuals may foster
and evolve persistent multi-hierarchical artifact structures (PAS) fitting
their cognitive needs. PAS subsets can be arranged and meaningfully related to
virtual habitats or even mapped to physical contexts and environments they are
frequenting to solve their tasks. Keywords: 3DUI; interaction paradigm; semantic desktop metaphor; ubiquitous computing;
distributed computing; distributed cognition; mixed realities; concept maps;
virtual file system; post-WIMP; post-desktop; digital artifacts; information
space | |||
| Face Recognition Technology for Ubiquitous Computing Environment | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 365-373 | |
| Kanghun Jeong; Seongrok Hong; Ilyang Joo; Jaehoon Lee; Hyeonjoon Moon | |||
| In this paper, we explore face detection and face recognition algorithms for
ubiquitous computing environment. We develop algorithms for application
programming interface (API) suitable for embedded system. The basic
requirements include appropriate data format and collection of feature data to
achieve efficiency of algorithm. Our experiment presents a face detection and
face recognition algorithm for handheld devices. The essential part for
proposed system includes; integer representation from floating point
calculation, optimization of memory management scheme and efficient face
detection performance on complex background scene. Keywords: ubiquitous computing environment; face recognition; face detection;
application programming interface; algorithm optimization | |||
| Location-Triggered Code Execution -- Dismissing Displays and Keypads for Mobile Interaction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 374-383 | |
| Wolfgang Narzt; Heinrich Schmitzberger | |||
| Spatially controlled electronic actions (e.g. opening gates, buying tickets,
starting or stopping engines, etc.) require human attentiveness by conventional
interaction metaphors via display and/or keystroke at the place of event.
However, attentiveness for pressing a button or glimpsing at a display may
occasionally be unavailable when the involved person must not be distracted
from performing a task or is handicapped through wearable limitations (e.g.
gloves, protective clothing) or disability. To automatically trigger those
actions just at spatial proximity of a person, i.e. dismissing displays and
keypads for launching the execution of electronic code in order to ease human
computer interaction by innovative mobile computing paradigms is the main
research focus of this paper. Keywords: Location-Triggered Code Execution; Natural Interaction Paradigms | |||
| Mobile Interaction: Automatically Adapting Audio Output to Users and Contexts on Communication and Media Control Scenarios | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 384-393 | |
| Tiago Reis; Luís Carriço; Carlos Duarte | |||
| This paper presents two prototypes designed in order to enable the automatic
adjustment of audio output on mobile devices. One is directed to communication
scenarios and the other to media control scenarios. The user centered
methodology employed on the design of these prototypes involved 26 users and is
also presented here. Once the prototypes were implemented, a usability study
was conducted. This study involved 6 users that included our prototypes on
their day-to-day lives during a two-week period. The results of the studies are
presented and discussed on this paper, providing guidelines for the development
of audio output adjustment algorithms and future manufacturing of mobile
devices. Keywords: Media Control; Communication; Automatic Volume Adjustments; Context
Awareness; Hand-held Devices; User Centered Design; Contextual Evaluation | |||
| Interactive Photo Viewing on Ubiquitous Displays | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 394-401 | |
| Han-Sol Ryu; Yeo-Jin Yoon; Seon-Min Rhee; Soo-Mi Choi | |||
| This paper presents a method of showing photos interactively based on a
user's movements using multiple displays. Each display can identify the user
and measure how far away he is using an RFID reader and ultrasonic sensors.
When he approaches to within a certain distance from the display, it shows a
photo that resides in his photo album and provides quasi-3D navigation using
the TIP (tour into the picture) method. In addition, he can manipulate photos
directly using a touch-screen or remotely using an air mouse. Moreover, a group
of photos can be represented as a 3D cube and can be transferred to PDA for a
continuous viewing on other displays. Keywords: photo viewing; distance-based interaction; multiple displays | |||
| Mobile Audio Navigation Interfaces for the Blind | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 402-411 | |
| Jaime Sánchez | |||
| In this paper we present a set of mobile, audio-based applications to assist
with the navigation of blind users through real environments. These
applications are used with handheld PocketPC devices and are developed for
different contexts such as the neighborhood, bus transportation, the Metro
network and the school. The interfaces were developed with the use of
verbalized and sound-based environments. The usability of the hardware and the
software was evaluated, obtaining a high degree of acceptance of the sound and
user control, as well as a high level of satisfaction and motivation expressed
by the blind users. Keywords: blind navigation; orientation and mobility; mobile audio interfaces | |||
| A Mobile Communication System Designed for the Hearing-Impaired | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 412-421 | |
| Ji-Won Song; Sung-Ho Yang | |||
| This is a case study of the design of a communication system and its
interfaces aimed at addressing the communication needs of the hearing-impaired.
The design work is based on an in-depth investigation of the problems
pertaining to mobile phone usage and general conversation difficulties of
Korean deaf people. It was determined from this investigation that the
technology-related issues of the hearing impaired are not limited to usability
or accessibility, but arise from hindered executive actions and differing
executive behaviors for achieving communication goals at varying levels of
ability. Therefore the design study has developed a new approach to the unique
communication needs of the hearing-impaired, as well as their behavioral
patterns, and presents possible overall improvements in face-to-face and
distance communication through mobile technology. Keywords: Hearing-impaired; Communication system; Behavior pattern | |||
| A Study on the Icon Feedback Types of Small Touch Screen for the Elderly | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 422-431 | |
| Wang-Chin Tsai; Chang-Franw Lee | |||
| Small touch screens are widely used in applications such as bank ATMs,
point-of-sale terminals, ticket vending machines, facsimiles, and home
automation in the daily life. It is intuition-oriented and easy to operate.
There are a lot of elements that affect the small screen touch performance. One
of the essential parts is icon feedback. However, to merely achieve beautiful
icon feedback appearance and create interesting interaction experience, many
interface designers ignore the real user needs. It is critical for them to
trade off the icon feedback type associated with the different users needs in
the touch interaction. This is especially important when the user capability is
very limited. This paper described a pilot study for identifying factors that
determine the icon feedback usability on small touch screen in four older adult
Cognitrone groups since current research aimed mostly at general icon
guidelines and recommendations and failed to consider and define the specific
needs of small touch screen interfaces for the elderly. In this paper, we
presented a concept from the focus on human necessity and use a cognitive
assessment tool, which is, Cognitrone test, to measure older adult's attention
and concentration capability and learn more about how to evaluate and design
suitable small screen icon feedback types. Forty-five elder participants were
participated. Each subject was asked to complete a battery of Cognitrone tests
and divided into 4 groups. Each subject was also requested to perform a set of
'continuous touch' usability tasks on small touch screen and comment on
open-ended questions. Results are discussed with respect to the perceptual and
cognitive factors that influence older adults in the use of icon feedback on
small touch screen. It showed significant associations between icon feedback
performance and factors of attention and concentration. However, this
interrelation was much stronger for the Group 2 and Group 4, especially for
Type B, Type C and Type G. Moreover, consistent with previous research, older
participants were less sensitive and required longer time to adapt to the
high-detailed icon feedback. These results are discussed in terms of icon
feedback design strategies for interface designers. Keywords: small touch screen; icon feedback; older adults; cognitrone style | |||
| Ubiquitous Accessibility: Building Access Features Directly into the Network to Allow Anyone, Anywhere Access to Ubiquitous Computing Environments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 432-437 | |
| Gregg C. Vanderheiden | |||
| Traditionally access to computers and electronic devices has relied
extensively on the strategy of adapting the devices that the person with a
disability needs to access or using a special version of the product. This was
especially true for people with more severe or multiple disabilities. As we
move to an environment where computers and information services are
incorporated into our environments, and where people must be able to access the
technologies they encounter throughout their day, we need to move to a
different model that might be called "ubiquitous accessibility". Ubiquitous
accessibility would involve building access features for all people directly
into the ICT systems in the environment so that access could be invoked
directly by the user when they needed it. This approach would need to involve a
combination of access features that were built in and features that could be
invoked on demand from the network. Keywords: Ubiquitous accessibility; universal design; access for all; ubiquitous
computing | |||
| Using Distributed Processing to Create More Powerful, Flexible and User Matched Accessibility Services | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 438-444 | |
| Gregg C. Vanderheiden | |||
| Accessibility today is characterized by individual devices, which have been
custom-built for people with disabilities (talking alarm clock, braille
watches, special communication devices, etc.) or mainstream devices such as
computers, which have been adapted with hardware or software to be usable by an
individual with disabilities. This model results in more isolated access
packages whose capabilities are limited by the particular devices on which they
are run. By moving to more distributed, network-based accessibility solutions,
we open up the potential for a much wider range of accessibility solutions
which can not only evolve over time, but vary by environment, task, etc. A
rainbow of on-demand services and capabilities can be available to them. It
also opens up the potential for individuals who cannot afford assistive
technologies to be able to tap into a pool of free public assistive services
that they can use on any device which they encounter. Keywords: Web accessibility; services on demand; virtual AT; ubiquitous accessibility | |||
| Spearcon Performance and Preference for Auditory Menus on a Mobile Phone | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 445-454 | |
| Bruce N. Walker; Anya Kogan | |||
| This study investigates the use of spearcons as an auditory cue. It looks
simultaneously at both performance and subjective preference of spearcons and
text-to-speech (TTS). The study replicated on a mobile phone a previous
PC-based study run by Palladino and Walker [1]. Performance results have been
very similar to those found in the previous study, supporting the
generalizability of spearcon performance from PCs to mobile phones. TTS and
spearcons both provided comparable performance improvements, suggesting that
spearcons do not negatively effect the design of visual and non-visual menus
and may, within the right context, lead to enhanced designs. Participants gave
positive performance scores to both TTS and spearcons when no visual cues were
provided. Higher rankings were provided for all audio cues when Spearcons were
included both in visual and non-visual conditions. Keywords: sonification; spearcons; auditory interfaces; auditory menus | |||
| Design and Evaluation of Innovative Chord Input for Mobile Phones | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 455-463 | |
| Fong-Gong Wu; Chia-Wei Chang; Chien-Hsu Chen | |||
| Text message is one of the most popular functions of mobile phones, apart
from talking through the phone. This study focuses on how chord input is being
used on mobile phones, as well as operating phones with chord input. We propose
two new mobile phones: Tri-joint key and Four-corner key, which combines with
the chord input and the natural finger localization. There were 14 male
participants and 6 female participants that participated in this research;
after 9 days of practice with the content of numerals, English characters and
English phrases. The result shows the performances of the participants have
increased, including the speed of completing tasks and accuracy. There is no
significant difference between these two new styles of phones and the ordinary
type concerning the user satisfaction chart. This also means users could accept
new kinds of input devices. Keywords: mobile phones; keyboard; chord input; input device; innovation | |||
| The Potential of the BCI for Accessible and Smart e-Learning | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 467-476 | |
| Ray Adams; Richard Comley; Mahbobeh Ghoreyshi | |||
| The brain computer interface (BCI) should be the accessibility solution "par
excellence" for interactive and e-learning systems. There is a substantial
tradition of research on the human electro encephalogram (EEG) and on BCI
systems that are based, interalia, on EEG measurement. We have not yet seen a
viable BCI for e-learning. For many users for a BCI based interface is their
first choice for good quality interaction, such as those with major psychomotor
or cognitive impairments. However, there are many more for whom the BCI would
be an attractive option given an acceptable learning overhead, including less
severe disabilities and safety critical conditions where cognitive overload or
limited responses are likely. Recent progress has been modest as there are many
technical and accessibility problems to overcome. We present these issues and
report a survey of fifty papers to capture the state-of-the-art in BCI and the
implications for e-learning. Keywords: brain-computer-interface; e-learning; accessibility; disability; artifacts | |||
| Visualizing Thermal Traces to Reveal Histories of Human-Object Interactions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 477-482 | |
| Tomohiro Amemiya | |||
| Traces of human-object interactions remain on objects in the form of thermal
information. This paper describes a human memory aid that exploits such traces
to create a thermal 'lifelog' of one's interactions with the environment,
without disrupting ongoing activities and without any special apparatus or
wires. The goal of the aid is to build a digitized surrogate memory to assist
in recalling personal experiences. A system with an infrared camera that
records the thermal traces left by human-object interactions was fabricated.
Measurements obtained with this system can help us understand the nature of
thermal traces and be used to develop thermal models that can describe the heat
transfer process on object surfaces after contact. Keywords: thermal trace; lifelog; surrogate memory | |||
| Interacting with the Environment through Non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 483-492 | |
| Febo Cincotti; Lucia Rita Quitadamo; Fabio Aloise; Luigi Bianchi; Fabio Babiloni; Donatella Mattia | |||
| The brain computer interface (BCI) technology allows a direct connection
between brain and computer without any muscular activity required, and thus it
offers a unique opportunity to enhance and/or to restore communication and
actions into external word in people with severe motor disability. Here, we
present the framework of the current research progresses regarding non-invasive
EEG-based BCI applications specifically devoted to interact with the
environment. Despite of the technological advancement, the operability of a BCI
device in an out-laboratory setting (i.e. real-life condition) still remains
far from being settled. The BCI control is indeed, characterized by unusual
properties, when compared to more traditional inputs (long delays, noise with
varying structure, long-term drifts, event-related noise, and stress effects).
Current approaches to this are constituted by post hoc processing the BCI
signal in order to better conform to traditional control. A long-term approach
is to devise novel interaction modalities. In this regard, BCI can offer an
unusual and compelling testing ground for new interaction ideas in the Human
Computer Interaction field. Keywords: BCI; EEG; Applications; Functional Model; Standards | |||
| Movement and Recovery Analysis of a Mouse-Replacement Interface for Users with Severe Disabilities | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 493-502 | |
| Caitlin Connor; Emily Yu; John J. Magee; Esra Cansizoglu; Samuel Epstein; Margrit Betke | |||
| The Camera Mouse is a mouse-replacement interface for users with movement
impairments. It tracks a selected body feature, such as the nose, eyebrow or
finger, through a web camera and translates the user's movements to movements
of the mouse pointer. Occasionally, the Camera Mouse loses the feature being
tracked, when the user moves quickly or out of frame, or when the feature is
occluded from view of the web camera. A new system has been developed to
recognize when the tracked feature has been lost and to locate and resume
tracking of the originally selected feature. In order to better understand the
directions of movement which are most and least comfortable for users with
disabilities, a game interface was developed to test the accuracy and speed of
users across different trajectories. The experiments revealed that trajectories
most comfortable for a user with severe cerebral palsy were along diagonal
axes. Keywords: HCI; Assistive Technology; Camera Mouse; Video-based Interface | |||
| Sonification System of Maps for Blind -- Alternative View | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 503-508 | |
| Gintautas Daunys; Vidas Lauruska | |||
| An inexpensive sonification system of maps and charts for visually impaired
is described. A digitiser (tablet) is used as systems input device, which helps
to investigate the map. The maps are presented using xml technology -- mainly
svg language tags. Then the maps from svg are converted to RGB bitmap A system
software is based on Microsoft .NET technology. Free Microsoft development
systems as Visual C# 2008 Express Edition and Direct Sound are used to
implement sonification system. Keywords: Blind; sonification; map; svg language | |||
| Scanning-Based Human-Computer Interaction Using Intentional Muscle Contractions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 509-518 | |
| Torsten Felzer; Rainer Nordmann; Stephan Rinderknecht | |||
| It has already been shown in the past that it is possible to leverage tiny
muscular contractions produced at will (e.g., by frowning) in order to give
someone complete control over a PC [1]. The underlying interaction technique is
ideal for persons with severe motor impairments who are in need for an
alternative, non-standard way to operate a computer. This paper deals with a
scanning-based computer application of that approach to enable its user to
control the immediate environment, e.g., by making a phone call, toggling the
lights, or sending particular Infra-Red (IR) remote signals. Although the
software is primarily targeted at people with disabilities, it is ready -- and
(in certain situations) even expected -- to be used by able-bodied individuals
as well. A user study evaluating the remote control module of the system has
been conducted with twelve non-impaired subjects, and the results are discussed
herein. Keywords: Human-computer interaction; bio-signal interfaces; scanning; hands-free
access; universal remote control; Speech API (SAPI) | |||
| Utilizing an Accelerometric Bracelet for Ubiquitous Gesture-Based Interaction | | BIBA | Full-Text | 519-527 | |
| Albert Hein; André Hoffmeyer; Thomas Kirste | |||
| In this paper we present an approach for recognizing free-handed gestures using an embedded wireless accelerometric bracelet. We developed a very low complexity algorithm which can be directly implemented on the device and operate in real-time. New gestures can be easily added through supervised learning. An evaluation shows the feasibility of our approach. Simple gestures are detected and recognized at a very high rate (>97%) while more complex ones were misclassified more often (48%-95%). | |||
| A Proposal of New Interface Based on Natural Phenomena and So on (2) | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 528-534 | |
| Ichiro Hirata; Toshiki Yamaoka; Akio Fujiwara; Sachie Yamamoto; Daijirou Yamaguchi; Mayuko Yoshida; Rie Tutui | |||
| The purpose of this research is "realization of the user interface that is
kind to person". We live together with nature. Therefore, it is effective to
use natural phenomena for the user-interface. To explore the new user-interface
based on natural phenomena and so on, the data of three categories ("Accustomed
manners friendly", "natural phenomenon", "Movement, behavior of plants and
animals") were gathered by field survey. The gathered data were classified and
structured. New user-interface that combines many user-interfaces (picture
scroll interface, water lily interface, fish shoal interface, and so on) was
constructed. This paper presents the example of four user-interfaces that are
selected from collected data. Keywords: user-interface; natural phenomena; manners; behavior | |||
| Timing and Accuracy of Individuals with and without Motor Control Disabilities Completing a Touch Screen Task | | BIBA | Full-Text | 535-536 | |
| Curt B. Irwin; Mary E. Sesto | |||
| As touch screen technology improves in functionality and decreases in price, these input devices are becoming much more prevalent. People are increasingly required to interact with touch screens at places ranging from their local grocery stores to airport check-in kiosks. Since it is becoming necessary for people to use touch screens in order to access needed products or services, we conducted an experiment to examine how individuals with varying motor control disabilities perform on a simple number entry task. We feel this research is important because, to date, most of the usability research related to touch screens has only included young, healthy subjects. | |||
| Gaze and Gesture Activity in Communication | | BIBA | Full-Text | 537-546 | |
| Kristiina Jokinen | |||
| Non-verbal communication is important in order to maintain fluency of communication. Gestures, facial expressions and eye-gazing function as non-verbal means to convey feedback and provide subtle cues to control and organise conversations. In this paper, verbal and non-verbal feedback are discussed from the point of view of how they contribute to the communicative activity in conversations, especially the type of strategies that the speakers deploy when they aim to construct shared understanding of the tasks and duties in interaction in general. The study concerns conversational data, collected for the purposes of designing and developing more natural interactive systems. | |||
| Augmenting Sticky Notes as an I/O Interface | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 547-556 | |
| Pranav Mistry; Pattie Maes | |||
| The design and implementation of systems that combine both the utilities of
the digital world as well as intrinsic affordances of traditional artifacts are
challenging. In this paper, we present 'Quickies', an attempt to bring one of
the most useful inventions of the 20th century into the digital age: the
ubiquitous sticky notes. 'Quickies' enriches the experience of using
stickynotes by linking hand-written sticky-notes to the mobile phone, digital
calendars, task-lists, e-mail and instant messaging clients. By augmenting the
familiar and ubiquitous physical sticky-note, 'Quickies' leverages existing
patterns of behavior, merging paper-based sticky-note usage with the user's
informational experience. The project explores how the use of Artificial
Intelligence (AI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), RFID, and ink recognition
technologies can make it possible to create intelligent sticky notes that can
be searched, located, can send reminders and messages, and more broadly, can
act as an I/O interface to the digital information world. Keywords: Sticky notes; paper as an I/O interface; connecting the physical and
information world; intelligent user interface | |||
| Sonification of Spatial Information: Audio-Tactile Exploration Strategies by Normal and Blind Subjects | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 557-563 | |
| Marta Olivetti Belardinelli; Stefano Federici; Franco Delogu; Massimiliano Palmiero | |||
| On the basis of a meta-analysis of existing literature about sonification
technologies, new experimental results on audio-tactile exploration strategies
of georeferenced sonificated data by sighted and blind subjects are presented,
discussing: technology suitability, subjects' performances, accessibility and
usability in the user/technology interaction. Keywords: sonification; blindness; mental mapping; audio-tactile exploration
strategies | |||
| What You Feel Is What You Get: Mapping GUIs on Planar Tactile Displays | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 564-573 | |
| Maria Schiewe; Wiebke Köhlmann; Oliver Nadig; Gerhard Weber | |||
| Exploiting the advantages of planar tactile displays, we aim for efficient
and effective information retrieval for blind users. To facilitate orientation,
we define four regions segmenting the available space: header, body, structure,
and detail region. Furthermore, we suggest four views -- layout, outline,
symbol and operating view -- that define how detailed and in which manner
information from window-based applications is displayed on tactile displays. Keywords: Tactile user interface; tactile interaction; visually impaired; tactile
devices; pin-matrix devices | |||
| Multitouch Haptic Interaction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 574-582 | |
| Michael Schmidt; Gerhard Weber | |||
| Gestural user interfaces designed for planar touch-sensitive tactile
displays require an appropriate concept for teaching gestures and other haptic
interaction to blind users. We consider proportions of hands and demonstrate
gestures by tactile only methods without the need for Braille skills or
verbalization. A user test was performed to confirm blind users may learn
gestures autonomously. Keywords: haptic interaction; assistive technology; gestures | |||
| Free-form Sketching with Ball B-Splines | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 583-592 | |
| Rongqing Song; Zhongke Wu; Mingquan Zhou; Xuefeng Ao | |||
| Quickly and conveniently generating a 3D freeform model is a challenging
problem in computer graphics field. This paper proposes a new approach for
rapid building 3D freeform shapes through sketching based on ball B-splines. Keywords: Sketch; Ball B-Spline; Free-form Shapes | |||
| BC(eye): Combining Eye-Gaze Input with Brain-Computer Interaction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 593-602 | |
| Roman Vilimek; Thorsten O. Zander | |||
| Gaze-based interfaces gained increasing importance in multimodal
human-computer interaction research with the improvement of tracking
technologies over the last few years. The activation of selected objects in
most eye-controlled applications is based on dwell times. This interaction
technique can easily lead to errors if the users do not pay very close
attention to where they are looking. We developed a multimodal interface
involving eye movements to determine the object of interest and a
Brain-Computer Interface to simulate the mouse click. Experimental results
show, that although a combined BCI/eye-gaze interface is somewhat slower it
reliably leads to less errors in comparison to standard dwell time eye-gaze
interfaces. Keywords: Brain-Computer Interaction; BCI; multimodal; eye tracking; eye-controlled
applications Note: Best Paper Award | |||
| Colorimetric and Photometric Compensation for Optical See-Through Displays | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 603-612 | |
| Christian Weiland; Anne-Kathrin Braun; Wolfgang Heiden | |||
| Optical see-through displays are an established technology within augmented
reality. Wearing such a display the users eyes automatically adapt to the
luminance of the real world environment, while the virtual part is displayed
using a steady brightness. This often results in clear differences between real
and virtual elements. This paper shows a technique for colorimetric
compensation which avoids this effect. Furthermore algorithms for photometric
compensation will be demonstrated. The appearance of background shapes and
colours arise from the combination of the luminance of the background and the
projected luminance of the object. These "ghosts" are photometrically
compensated. Keywords: augmented reality; see-through display; colorimetry; photometry;
compensation | |||
| A Proposal of New Interface Based on Natural Phenomena and so on (1) | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 613-620 | |
| Toshiki Yamaoka; Ichiro Hirata; Akio Fujiwara; Sachie Yamamoto; Daijirou Yamaguchi; Mayuko Yoshida; Rie Tutui | |||
| This study aimed at creating new user-interfaces based on natural phenomena,
objects, accustomed manners and so on. At first, literature and script survey
was conducted to get framework of the study. Next, 33 places like famous
garden, castle, temple and so on in Japan were surveyed to get clue of creating
new user-interfaces. New user-interfaces were created based on a lot of
collected data. The three selected user-interface design were visualized to
evaluate from the viewpoint of usability and emotion and so on. These
user-interfaces were evaluated highly. Keywords: user-interface; natural phenomena; manners; behavior; observation | |||
| Managing Intelligent Services for People with Disabilities and Elderly People | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 623-630 | |
| Julio Abascal; Borja Bonail; Luis Gardeazabal; Alberto Lafuente; Zigor Salvador | |||
| Ambient Supported Living systems for people with physical, sensory or
cognitive restrictions have to guarantee that the environment is safe, fault
tolerant and universally accessible. In addition it is necessary to overcome
technological challenges, common to ubiquitous computing, such as the design of
a middleware layer that ensures the interoperability of multiple wired and
wireless networks and performs discovery actions. On top of that the system has
to provide efficient support to the intelligent applications designed to assist
people living there. In this paper we present the AmbienNet architecture
designed to allow structured context information to be shared among the
intelligent applications that support people with disabilities or elderly
people living alone. Keywords: Supportive Ambient Intelligence; Users with disabilities; Elderly people;
Ambient Assisted Living | |||
| A Parameter-Based Model for Generating Culturally Adaptive Nonverbal Behaviors in Embodied Conversational Agents | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 631-640 | |
| Afia Akhter Lipi; Yukiko I. Nakano; Matthias Rehm | |||
| The goal of this paper is to integrate culture as a computational term in
embodied conversational agents by employing an empirical data-driven approach
as well as a theoretical model-driven approach. We propose a parameter-based
model that predicts nonverbal expressions appropriate for specific cultures.
First, we introduce the Hofstede theory to describe socio-cultural
characteristics of each country. Then, based on the previous studies in
cultural differences of nonverbal behaviors, we propose expressive parameters
to characterize nonverbal behaviors. Finally, by integrating socio-cultural
characteristics and nonverbal expressive characteristics, we establish a
Bayesian network model that predicts posture expressiveness from a country
name, and vice versa. Keywords: conversational agents; enculturate; nonverbal behaviors; Bayesian network | |||
| Intelligence on the Web and e-Inclusion | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 641-649 | |
| Laura Burzagli; Francesco Gabbanini | |||
| Within the context of Web, the word intelligence is often connected with the
visions of Semantic Web and Web 2.0. One of the main characteristic of Semantic
Web lies in the fact that information is annotated with metadata and this gives
the opportunity of organizing knowledge, extracting new knowledge and
performing some basic operations like query answering or inference reasoning.
Following this argument, the advent of the Semantic Web is often claimed to
bring about substantial progress in Web accessibility (which is part of the
e-Inclusion concept). Web 2.0 sites, favoring massive information sharing,
could as well be of great importance for e-Inclusion, enabling new forms of
social interaction, collective intelligence and new patterns of interpersonal
communication. Benefits could be substantial also for people with activity
limitations. The paper tries to highlight the possible roles and convergence of
Web 2.0 and Semantic Web in favoring e-Inclusion. It highlights the fact that
examples of applications of these concepts to the e-Inclusion domain are few
and limited to the e-Accessibility field. Keywords: e-Inclusion; Web 2.0; Semantic Web | |||
| Accelerated Algorithm for Silhouette Fur Generation Based on GPU | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 650-657 | |
| Gang Yang; Xin-yuan Huang | |||
| In the method that represents fur with multi-layer textured slices,
representing silhouette fur is a time consuming work, which requires
silhouette-edge detection and fin slices generation. In the paper, we present
an accelerated method for representing silhouette fur by taking advantage of
the programmable ability of Graphic Process Units (GPU). In the method, by
appending edge info on each vertex, the silhouette-edge detection can be
implemented in GPU; and by storing fin slices data in video memory in
preprocessing, the time spent on fin slices generation and on data transmission
from CPU to GPU can be saved. Experimental results show that our method
accelerates silhouette fur representation greatly, and hence improves the
performance of rendering furry objects. Keywords: fur rendering; GPU; silhouette fur; multi-layer textured slices | |||
| An Ortho-Rectification Method for Space-Borne SAR Image with Imaging Equation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 658-666 | |
| Xufei Gao; Xinyu Chen; Ping Guo | |||
| An ortho-rectification scheme for space-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
image is investigated in this paper. It was usually achieved by indirect
mapping between real SAR image pixels and the Digital Evaluation Model (DEM)
grids. However, the precise orbit data cannot be easily obtained and using the
Newton algorithm needs more calculation. In order to reduce the time consumed
during iteration and further improving the accuracy of the SAR image, we
propose a new ortho-rectification method with imaging equation. It removes the
coordinate conversion by uniformly using the World Geodetic System 1984
(WGS-84). Moreover, the initial time of each DEM grid can be set according to
the iteration result of its adjacent point. Compared to other methods, such as
Collinearity Equation method, it costs less time and makes the SAR image more
accurate. It is also much easier to be implemented in practice. Keywords: Ortho-rectification; Synthetic Aperture Radar; Digital Elevation Model;
Imaging Equation | |||
| Robust Active Appearance Model Based Upon Multi-linear Analysis against Illumination Variation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 667-673 | |
| Gyeong-Sic Jo; Hyeonjoon Moon; Yong-Guk Kim | |||
| Independent Active Appearance Model (AAM) has been widely used in face
recognition, facial expression recognition, and iris recognition because of its
good performance. It can also be used in real-time system application since its
fitting speed is very fast. When the difference between the input image and the
base appearance of AAM is small, the fitting is smooth. However, when the
difference can be large because of illumination and/or pose variation in the
input image, the fitting result is unsatisfactory. In this paper, we propose a
robust AAM using multi-linear analysis, which can make an Eigen-mode within the
tensor algebra framework. The Eigen-mode can represent the principal axes of
variation across the order of tensor and it can apply to AAM for increasing
robustness. In order to construct both of original AAM and the present AAM, we
employ YALE data base, which consists of 10 subjects, 9 poses, and 64
Illumination variations. The advantage of YALE data base is that we can use the
coordinate of landmarks, which are marked for train-set, with ground truth.
Because when the subject and the pose were same, the location of face is also
same. We present how we construct the AAM and results show that the proposed
AAM outperforms the original AAM. Keywords: AAM; YALE data base; Multi-linear Analysis; Eigen-mode; Tensor | |||
| Modeling and Simulation of Human Interaction Based on Mutual Beliefs | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 674-683 | |
| Taro Kanno; Atsushi Watanabe; Kazuo Furuta | |||
| This paper presents the modeling and simulation of human-human interaction
based on a concept of mutual beliefs, aiming to describe and investigate the
cognitive mechanism behind human interactions that is a crucial factor for
system design and assessment. The proposed model captures four important
aspects of human interactions: beliefs structure, mental states and cognitive
components, cognitive and belief inference processes, and metacognitive
manipulations. This model was implemented with a Bayesian belief network and
some test simulations were carried out. Results showed that some basic
qualitative characteristics of human interactions as well as the effectiveness
of mutual beliefs could be well simulated. The paper concludes by discussing
the possibility of the application of this model and simulation to universal
access and HCI design and assessment. Keywords: Human Modeling; Team Cognition; Interaction; Sharedness; Mutual Beliefs;
Agent Simulation; Design and Assessment | |||
| Development of Open Platform Based Adaptive HCI Concepts for Elderly Users | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 684-693 | |
| Jan-Paul Leuteritz; Harald Widlroither; Alexandros Mourouzis; Maria Panou; Margherita Antona; Asterios Leonidis | |||
| This paper describes the framework and development process of adaptive user
interfaces within the OASIS project. After presenting a rationale for user
interface adaptation to address the needs and requirements of older users, the
paper presents and discusses the architecture and functionality of the OASIS
adaptation framework, focussing in particular on an advanced library of
adaptive widgets, as well as on the process of elaborating the adaptation
rules. The results of the adopted approach are discussed and hints to future
developments are provided. Keywords: Automatic user interface adaptation; Unified User Interface Design; adaptive
widgets; adaptation decision-making | |||
| User Individual Differences in Intelligent Interaction: Do They Matter? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 694-703 | |
| Jelena Nakic; Andrina Granic | |||
| Designing an intelligent system, as confirmed by research, must address
relevant individual characteristics of users. This paper offers a brief review
of individual differences literature in the HCI field in general and e-learning
area in particular. Research suggests that using adaptive e-learning systems
may improve user learning performance and increase her/his learning outcome. An
empirical study presented in this paper encompasses a comprehensive user
analysis regarding a web-based learning application. Statistically significant
correlations were found between user intelligence, experience and motivation
for e-learning with her/his learning outcome accomplished in an e-learning
session. These results contribute to the knowledge base of user individual
differences and will be considered in an estimation of possible benefits from
enabling the system adaptivity. Keywords: individual differences; user analysis; adaptive systems; e-learning;
empirical study | |||
| Intelligent Interface for Elderly Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 704-710 | |
| Changhoon Park | |||
| This paper proposes an intelligent interface to improve the game
accessibility for the elderly based on the multimodal interface and dynamic
load balancing. This approach aims to control the fidelity of feedback and the
level of difficulty dynamically when the elderly become bored or frustrated
with the game. By applying the proposed intelligent interface, we will present
the implementation of a rhythm game for the elderly with a specialized game
controller like a drum. Keywords: Game Accessibility; Multimodal Interface; Dynamic Game Balancing; Rhythm
Game | |||
| User Interface Adaptation of Web-Based Services on the Semantic Web | | BIBA | Full-Text | 711-719 | |
| Nikolaos Partarakis; Constantina Doulgeraki; Asterios Leonidis; Margherita Antona; Constantine Stephanidis | |||
| The Web is constantly evolving into an unprecedented and continuously growing source of knowledge, information and services, potentially accessed at by anyone anytime, and anywhere. Yet, the current uptake rates of the Web have not really reached their full potential, mainly due to the design of modern Web-based interfaces, which fail to satisfy the individual interaction needs of target users with different characteristics. A common practice in contemporary Web development is to deliver a single user interface design that meets the requirements of an "average" user. However, this "average" user is in fact an imaginary user. Often, the profiles of a large portion of the population, and especially people with disability, elderly people, novice users and users on the move, differ radically. Although much work has been done in the direction of providing the means for the development of inclusive Web-based interfaces that are capable to adapt to multiple and significantly different user profiles, the current evolution towards the semantic web poses several new requirements and challenges for supporting user and context awareness. Building upon existing research in the field of semantics-based user modeling, this paper aims to offer potential new directions for supporting User Interface Adaptation on the Semantic Web. In this context, the benefits gained from supporting semantically enabled ontology based profiling are highlighted, focusing on the potential impact of such an approach to existing UI adaptation frameworks. | |||
| Measuring Psychophysiological Signals in Every-Day Situations | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 720-728 | |
| Walter Ritter | |||
| Psychophysiological signals enable computer systems to monitor the emotional
state of a user. Such a system could adapt its behavior to reduce stress, give
assistance, or suggest well-being tips. All of this should lead to a technology
that is more user-friendly and more accessible to older people. Measuring
physiological signals in research labs has been done for many years. In such a
controlled environment the quality of signals is very high because of the
optimal placement of electrodes by research staff. Analysis techniques can
therefore rely on high quality data. Measuring physiological signals in
real-life settings without the assistance of well-trained staff, is much more
challenging because of artifacts and signal distortions.
In this paper we discuss the approach taken in the Aladin project to cope with the inferior and unreliable quality of physiological signal measurements. We discuss a sensor design intended for every-day use and present the variance of skin conductance we experienced within measurements, between different measurements of the same individual as well as between different persons. Finally, we suggest using trends instead of absolute values as a basis for physiology-enhanced human-computer interaction "in the wild". Keywords: psychophysiology; skin conductance; heart rate; sensor technology; real-life
settings; artifacts | |||
| Why Here and Now | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 729-737 | |
| Antonio Rizzo; Elisa Rubegni; Maurizio Caporali | |||
| The paper presents our vision in the process of creating new objects and
things, based on reducing the estrangement of Internet content consumption by
conceiving interaction modalities suitable for social activities occurring in
the here-and-now, in real-time and real-place. These aspects should be
incorporated in interactive artefacts not only for the contents consumption but
also for editing and manipulating information. We present some projects and
concepts that go in this direction, and among them we show the design solutions
developed in our laboratory that aim to enhance the role of the physical
location, social and cultural environment in affecting the contents and the way
to interact with them. Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction; Interaction design; Situated Editing; Design for
all; Tangible User Interface; Ubiquitous computing; Internet of Things | |||
| A Framework for Service Convergence via Device Cooperation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 738-747 | |
| Seungchul Shin; Do-Yoon Kim; Sungyoung Yoon | |||
| Device convergence is one of the most significant trends in current
intelligence technology (IT). It is incorporating various kinds of existing
services into one device that enables users to provide converged services.
However, device convergence is not the whole counterplan that in some fields,
costumers prefer divergent application-specific device. In addition, service is
always hardware dependent that if a new service appears device convergence will
be helpless in case of the hardware not supporting the service. In this
situation to use the new service, we have to purchase the whole new device.
Therefore, we propose a framework for service convergence via device
cooperation supported by the wireless network to overcome the constraint of
device convergence. Our framework shows a guideline that enables a device to
provide a service by cooperating with other devices despite it lacks the
hardware support or only provides one or two specialized services. Keywords: service convergence; device cooperation; device convergence; mobile
computing | |||
| Enhancements to Online Help: Adaptivity and Embodied Conversational Agents | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 748-757 | |
| Jérôme Simonin; Noëlle Carbonell | |||
| We present and discuss the results of two empirical studies that aim at
assessing the contributions, to the effectiveness and efficiency of online help
of: adaptive-proactive user support (APH), multimodal (speech and graphics)
messages (MH), and embodied conversational agents (ECAs). These three
enhancements to online help were implemented using the Wizard of Oz technique.
The first study (E1) compares MH with APH, while the second study (E2) compares
MH with embodied help (EH). Half of the participants in E1 (8) used MH, and the
other half used APH. Most participants who used MH, resp. APH, preferred MH,
resp. APH, to standard help systems which implement text and graphics messages
(like APH). In particular, proactive assistance was much appreciated. However,
higher performances were achieved with MH. A majority of the 22 participants in
E2 preferred EH to MH, and were of the opinion that the presence of an ECA, a
talking head in this particular case, has the potential to improve help
effectiveness and efficiency by increasing novice users' self confidence.
However, performances with the two systems were similar, save for help
consultation rate which was higher with EH. Longitudinal (usage) studies are
needed to confirm the effects of these three enhancements on novice users'
judgments and performances. Keywords: Adaptive user interfaces; Embodied conversational agents; Talking heads;
Online help; Speech and graphics; Multimodal interaction; Eye tracking | |||
| Adaptive User Interfaces: Benefit or Impediment for Lower-Literacy Users? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 758-765 | |
| Ivar Solheim | |||
| This paper addresses web accessibility and usability for lower-literacy
users with limited ICT skills. Although adaptive and adaptable user interfaces
have been studied and discussed at least since the 80s, the potential of
adaptive user interfaces is still far from realization. A main conclusion drawn
in this paper is that simple, straightforward and intuitive adaptivity
mechanisms may work well, but more complex and pervasive ones don't, and may
even be counterproductive. A potential pitfall may be simplistic and
"cognitivist" user and task modelling that fails to take the user's experience,
competence and socio-psychological context -- in short, the user's actual, real
perspective and environment -- into account. Keywords: adaptive interfaces; personalisation; multimodality; user modelling;
universal design | |||
| Adaptative User Interfaces to Promote Independent Ageing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 766-770 | |
| Cecilia Vera-Muñoz; Mercedes Fernández-Rodríguez; Patricia Abril-Jiménez; Maria Fernanda Cabrera-Umpierrez; María Teresa Arredondo; Sergio Guillén | |||
| During the last years, the EU population is experiencing an increasing aging
process. This tendency is motivating the emergence of new needs and the
appearance of diverse services and applications oriented improve the quality of
life of senior citizens. The creation of such services requires the use of
technological advances and design techniques specifically focused on addressing
elderly requirements. This paper presents the adaptative user interfaces that
have been developed in the context of an EU funded project, PERSONA, aiming to
provide different services to promote independent aging. Keywords: adaptative user interfaces; ambient assisted living; services for elderly;
independent aging | |||