| Editorial Preface | | BIB | PDF | 5-6 | |
| Ilkka Arminen | |||
| Is It Fun to Go to Sydney? Common-Sense Knowledge of Social Structures and WAP | | BIBAK | PHP | 7-31 | |
| Ilpo Koskinen | |||
| This paper investigated how people navigate through early Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP) sites using their common-sense knowledge of social
structures. The study is based on a close analysis of 9 videotaped test
sessions of WAP use situations taped in Helsinki, Finland between 2000-2004.
The data was transcribed using standard conventions of conversation analysis,
and analyzed in an inductive fashion to identify and describe the ways in which
subjects used their common-sense knowledge in navigating through WAP. The
analysis reveals how the structure of WAP makes it necessary for people to rely
on their common-sense knowledge in trying to decide what to do next when on a
particular WAP page, but also how common-sense knowledge leads them astray. The
analysis is qualitative. The conclusions point out the ambiguous role of
common-sense knowledge and relates WAP to previous technologies like the
pre-visual Internet of the early 1990s. Keywords: Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), conversation analysis,
ethnomethodology, common-sense knowledge of social structures, user experience. | |||
| Texters not Talkers: Phone Call Aversion among Mobile Phone Users | | BIBAK | PHP | 33-57 | |
| Ruth Rettie | |||
| This paper argues that there are two types of mobile phone user. The study
focused on the interactional experience of mobile phone calls and text
messages. The research involved 32 UK mobile phone users and included extended
interviews, 24-hour communication diaries, mobile phone bills and an analysis
of text messages. The sample was evenly divided between men and women, and
between two age bands, 21-34 years and over 35 years. In line with earlier work
by Reid and Reid (2005a), two different groups emerged from the research:
Talkers, who prefer talking on the phone, but use text messages as a convenient
complementary medium, and Texters, who are uncomfortable on the phone and
prefer to send text messages. The paper explains the distinction between the
two groups in terms of phone aversion, and relates this to difficulties in the
presentation of self. For those who are phone averse, SMS is a ground-breaking
technology, providing the remote social connection that they cannot enjoy in
phone calls. Keywords: mobile phone, cell phone, text messages, SMS, phone aversion. | |||
| Discourses on Mobility and Technological Mediation: The Texture of Ubiquitous Interaction | | BIBAK | PHP | 59-81 | |
| Giuseppina Pellegrino | |||
| Mobility is more and more mediated, supported and transformed by
technological artefacts and infrastructures. Especially technologies labelled
as mobile, pervasive, ubiquitous or nomadic, show an interesting shift in the
shaping of sociotechnical environments and mediated interaction. Starting from
some recent contributions on mobile and ubiquitous computing, the paper
attempts to draw connections between discourses and practices related to the
technological mediation of mobility. The assumption is that discourses
circulating in different public arenas shape core meanings attributed to
technologies, beliefs about them and also directions of development for
technological artefacts. The discursive practices examined concern
mobility-centred theories of globalization (academic discourse), the
relationship between the media and mobility (mass-media discourse), and the
designers' discourse, drawn from three settings of design and development in
mobile/ubiquitous computing. As a result, the concept of ubiquitous interaction
is presented as emergent pattern of mobile communication and theoretical
framework to propose questions for future research, considering how mobility
and its opposite (immobility) can bring the emergence of mobile techno-elites
entitled to travel both physically and virtually. Keywords: Ubiquity, mobility, discursive frames, mobile communication, mediated
interaction. | |||
| Mobile Fantasies on Film: Gathering Metaphoric Evidence of Mobile Symbiosis and the Mobile Imaginary | | BIBAK | PHP | 83-99 | |
| Kathleen M. Cumiskey | |||
| Mobile communication studies are often limited in their ability to capture
the entire domain of a mobile phone call. These limitations often require that
researchers separately study what is going on between the caller, the recipient
of the call and those with whom they are face-to-face. Two scenes from two
different American films were used as a means to document the ways in which
users imagine mobile phone use. The scenes were coded for evidence of
contextual seams, interpersonal seams, mobile symbiosis and the mobile
imaginary. Mobile communication provides new opportunities for sharing
experiences and tasks that could not exist without the mobile aspects of the
phone. Understanding how mobile phones serve as a medium onto which we project
our deeper psychological needs provides a glimpse into the fantasies and fears
around mobile phone use. Keywords: mobile phones, mobile communication, social consequences of mobile
communication, co-presence. | |||
| Extended Television: A Study of How Investigations of Use Can Inform Design Processes in Nursing Homes | | BIBAK | PHP | 105-132 | |
| Peter Abdelmassih Waller | |||
| This paper describes the shortcomings in the support that replaces the lost
distributed cognition in older people who move to nursing homes and how
artifacts can improve this by functioning as distributed cognition. The 30
older persons in the study were men and women of different backgrounds and ages
(between 60 and 100 years), all of whom had some kind of functional limitation.
The observations and analysis were carried out as a part of the iterative
design phase of TV functions for the older people, and the analysis was based
on distributed cognition theory and the FACE conceptual design tool. Poorly
designed artifacts resulted in the older person's loss of control, and hindered
the creation of distributed cognition. However, these aspects improved in the
older persons' TV watching when individually adapted assistive technology was
used. Keywords: Distributed cognition, older people, assistive devices, design, television. | |||
| Development and Evaluation of a Method Employed to Identify Internal State Utilizing Eye Movement Data | | BIBAK | PHP | 133-164 | |
| Noriyuki Aoyama; Tadahiko Fukuda | |||
| In the attempt to recognize and estimate human internal states, such as
varying emotions, psychological and conceptual conflicts pose interesting and
challenging issues. In this paper, we explore a pattern recognition technique
that can detect a state of confusion and can estimate human interest, each an
internal state of mind. In order to automatically detect a state of confusion
from the objective data made available to us, the technique we present relies
upon eye movement data. We have conducted three experiments in which subjects
are confronted with a task that includes a trap intentionally designed to
confuse them. We have recorded their eye movement data. We demonstrate that
approximately 89% of a state of confusion can be detected from eye movement
data by using a backpropagation algorithm. Moreover, for estimating human
interest, we present a technique that builds upon the foundation of our
confusion detection technique. As a result, we can demonstrate that
approximately 60% of human interest can also be estimated through eye movement
data. Keywords: Confusion, Interest, Eye Movement, Human-Computer Interaction, Neural
Networks. | |||
| A First-time Wireless Internet Connection: More Than Just Clicking on a Link | | BIBAK | PHP | 165-195 | |
| Dimitri Voilmy; Karine Lan Hing Ting | |||
| In the context of understanding the particular use made of nomad Internet
and mobile computing in its interactional dimension, this article examines the
detail of a first-time connection to the university's Wi-Fi network. Through
video ethnography, we analyse the collaborative talk as work between two
participants in a public place and finely examine their use of artefacts and
distributed information in the accomplishment of connection activities. Both
their speech and their actions have been transcribed using the conventions of
Conversation Analysis. We therefore follow the connection procedure step by
step and demonstrate how handling computerized artefacts is not transparent and
requires a certain degree of learning concerning this particular communicative
and working tool. Keywords: Video ethnography, situated action, human computer interactions, cooperative
activities, nomad Internet, ubiquitous computing. | |||
| Identifying the (Tele)Presence Literature | | BIBAK | PHP | 197-206 | |
| Matthew Lombard; Matthew T. Jones | |||
| This paper discusses the value of identifying the expanding
interdisciplinary scholarly literature on the topic of (tele)presence, proposes
a detailed procedure for doing so, and presents a list of 1,831 journal
articles, books and other publications that constitute the (tele)presence
literature as of May 2007. Keywords: Telepresence, Telepresence Literature, Telepresence Bibliography, Spatial
Presence, Social Presence. | |||
| Searching for Information on PDA in a Naturalistic Environment with or without Music | | BIBAK | PHP | 207-222 | |
| Andrea Zucchi; Luciano Gamberini | |||
| The present paper investigates the effects of different kinds of music on
information searching in a crowded cafeteria. Our experiment employs four texts
that differ in length only, not in content or syntactic complexity. Each text
is loaded on a web page and displayed on a PDA. We ask to participants 20
questions about each text and then compare their accuracy and performance time.
Participants carry out their task in three different background conditions:
normal environmental noise, earphones with classical symphonic music or
earphones with modern Italian songs. We assume that classical symphonic music
improves information searching by isolating the participant from the noise and
background chitchatting of the cafeteria, while modern Italian music
compromises performance, because processing the lyrics interferes with the
task. In line with our expectations, classical music significantly improves
information searching, but contrary to our hypotheses, Italian music improves
performance, although not in a significant way. We conclude that in a situation
with background noise, listening to classical music increases the speed of
information searching with respect to a condition without music. Keywords: PDA, Searching for information, Background music, Noise, Irrelevant speech,
Information processing, Arousal. | |||
| Psychological Implications of Domestic Assistive Technology for the Elderly | | BIBAK | PHP | 229-252 | |
| Amedeo Cesta; Gabriella Cortellessa; M. Vittoria Giuliani; Federico Pecora; Massimiliano Scopelliti; Lorenza Tiberio | |||
| The ROBOCARE Domestic Environment (RDE) is the result of a three-year
project aimed at developing cognitive support technology for elderly people.
Specifically, the domestic environment is equipped with sensors, intelligent
software components and devices which cooperate to provide cognitive support to
the assisted person. The ROBOCARE interaction capabilities have been
concentrated in a robotic mediator who acts as the main communication channel
between the users and the intelligent domestic environment. This paper presents
an evaluation of elderly people's perception of assistive robots and smart
domotic environments. Results show how the acceptability of robotic devices in
home setting does not depend only on the practical benefits they can provide,
but also on complex relationships between the cognitive, affective and
emotional components of people's images of robot. Specially, we analyzes a
number of evaluation criteria related to the robot's aspect, the way in which
it communicates with the user, and the perceived usefulness of its support
services. Among these criteria, the paper proposes and reports an evaluation of
how perceived frailty, with reference to both health in general and fear of
cognitive weakening, more specifically, can influence the evaluation of a
potential aid in everyday life, namely the robotic assistant. The paper also
provides a discussion which can be useful for the design of future assistive
agents and socially interactive robotic. Keywords: socially assistive robots, intelligent sensorised environments, evaluation
of human-robot interactions, acceptability, perceived health. | |||
| Simple, Fast, Cheap: Success Factors for Interactive Multimedia Tools | | BIBAK | PHP | 253-269 | |
| Davide Bolchini; Nicoletta Di Blas; Franca Garzotto; Paolo Paolini; Aldo Torrebruno | |||
| This paper discusses key factors contributing to the "success" of
interactive multimedia development tools in non ICT professional contexts. We
define "success" in terms of acceptability and large scale usage by entities
and institutions who may need to build interactive multimedia artifacts but do
not have technical competences "in-house" and must cope with very limited
financial resources. Schools or museums, for example, may want to exploit
interactive multimedia for communication or educational purposes, but are bound
to many resource-related constraints. In this perspective, we argue that
simplicity, low-cost, and ultra short "time-to-market" are key requirements for
interactive multimedia development tools to be accepted and widely adopted by
non ICT professionals. To support his claim, we illustrate an exemplary tool
that meets these requirements and was developed at our lab within the
Policultura Project. The tool was successfully used by cultural heritage
experts in Italian small museums and by over 1300 students of 55 schools in
Italy, and brought important educational and social benefits to all
stakeholders involved. Keywords: Interactive multimedia, Storytelling, Hyperstory, Design Pattern,
Simplicity, Learning. | |||
| On Line Collaboration for Building a Teacher Professional Identity | | BIBAK | PHP | 271-284 | |
| Valentina Grion; Bianca Maria Varisco | |||
| In this paper it is our intention to discuss a Teacher Education proposal
that uses an on line asynchronous learning environment to develop collaborative
practices and to enhance a professional identity. Using an integrated
multi-method approach for analysing the on line discussions of 47
student-teachers, a research group of the University of Padua has explored: a)
how different groups of student-teachers build and modify their professional
profile pre-post a case-work on line activity; b) the nature of the interactive
processes activated during case-work on line activity; c) the styles of case
solutions. The findings show that the collaborative learning context supported
pre-service and in-service groups of students differently in their professional
development and in professional identity changes. Some implications for future
research on teacher education are discussed. Keywords: e-learning, teacher education, professional identity, collaboration,
case-based pedagogy. | |||
| Risk Management Persuasive Technologies: The case of a Technologically Advanced High-Risk Chemical Plant | | BIBAK | PHP | 285-297 | |
| Fabiana Vernero; Roberto Montanari | |||
| Our study focuses on applications of persuasive technologies (Fogg, 2002) as
a means to manage risks in technologically advanced industrial sites. An
analysis of the production processes of a chemical plant allowed us to identify
two risk scenarios where human factors are particularly relevant: in chemicals
identification and in the use of personal protective equipment. Possible
solutions based on persuasive technologies and aimed at minimizing the
occurrence of human errors were prototyped. Qualitative evaluation of the
proposed solutions, which involved 7 potential users, both operators and safety
engineers (the population consisting of 29 people), allowed us to have a first
confirmation of their acceptability and persuasion effectiveness. Keywords: Persuasive technologies, risk management, automation, chemical plant,
tunneling, reduction, simulation, cause-and-effect relationship, chemicals,
personal protective equipment (PPE). | |||
| Market Relations, Non-Market Relations and Free Software | | BIBAK | PHP | 299-309 | |
| Andres Baravalle; Sarah Chambers | |||
| Free Software is sometimes considered solely a technical option, but that is
a quite limited point of view: we suggest, indeed, that Free Software is not
merely a technical option, but it is, in fact a different working paradigm for
the software development community and a different model for acquiring (and
sharing) resources in the Information Society. This paper will discuss this
working paradigm and analyse the market and non-market relations that are
implied by it. Keywords: free software, open source, business models, hacker ethics, software
engineering. | |||