Multi-Sensory Interaction for Blind and Visually Impaired People

This book conveyed the visual elements of artwork to the visually impaired through various sensory elements to open a new perspective for appreciating visual artwork. In addition, the technique of expressing a color code by integrating patterns, temperatures, scents, music, and vibrations was explored, and future research topics were presented. A holistic experience using multi-sensory interaction acquired by people with visual impairment was provided to convey the meaning and contents of the work through rich multi-sensory appreciation. A method that allows people with visual impairments to engage in artwork using a variety of senses, including touch, temperature, tactile pattern, and sound, helps them to appreciate artwork at a deeper level than can be achieved with hearing or touch alone. The development of such art appreciation aids for the visually impaired will ultimately improve their cultural enjoyment and strengthen their access to culture and the arts. The development of this new concept aids ultimately expands opportunities for the non-visually impaired as well as the visually impaired to enjoy works of art and breaks down the boundaries between the disabled and the non-disabled in the field of culture and arts through continuous efforts to enhance accessibility. In addition, the developed multi-sensory expression and delivery tool can be used as an educational tool to increase product and artwork accessibility and usability through multi-modal interaction. Training the multi-sensory experiences introduced in this book may lead to more vivid visual imageries or seeing with the mind’s eye

Ahmed’as Ibn Fadlan’as ir Bayard’as Taylor’as – kelionių literatūros kūrėjai ar vertėjai?

In this article, two works of travel writing, Resala (922) by Ahmed Ibn Fadlan and Travels in Arabia (1889) by Bayard Taylor, are explored to show how the genre as a whole serves as one way of translating culture in order to better understand and discover it. It examines how ideology affects cultural translation in travel writing and how this leads to othering. We begin with close readings of the texts for major content themes, including religion, sex, traditions, etc. These are analyzed for instantiations of inaccurate cultural translation, ideology, and othering. The use of pronouns, nouns, and adjectives is looked at to explore their othering effect. The results show that inaccurate cultural translations are sometimes influenced by ideology and usually lead to othering. The analyzed samples of travel writing rather reveal the predominant mindsets and leanings of their authors and cultures of their origin than those they attempt to introduce to their readers.Straipsnyje, pasitelkiant du kelionių literatūros tekstus – Ahmed’o Ibn Fadlan’o knygą apie jo kelionę su misija į Rusiją Resala (922) bei Bayard’o Taylor’o kelionių po arabų šalis užrašus Travels in Arabia (1889), – gilinamasi į tai, kaip kelionių literatūros žanras funkcionuoja kaip tam tikras kultūros vertimas siekiant tą kultūrą geriau suprasti ir pristatyti skaitytojams. Keliamas tikslas išsiaiškinti, kaip kultūrinį vertimą kelionių literatūroje veikia ideologija ir kaip dėl šio poveikio pristatomoji kultūra sukitinama. Pirma tekstai atidžiai skaitomi siekiant išskirti pagrindines atsikartojančias temas: religiją, seksą, tradicijas ir kitas. Analizuojant šių temų raišką, išrenkami netikslaus kultūrinio vertimo, ideologijos raiškos ir sukitinimo pavyzdžiai. Tiriama, kokį sukitinamąjį poveikį turi įvardžių, daiktavardžių ir būdvardžių vartosena. Tyrimas rodo, kad abiejuose tekstuose klaidingą kultūrinį vertimą kai kuriais atvejais lemia autorių ideologija – toks vertimas įtvirtina pristatomos kultūros kaip „Kito“ kultūros įvaizdį. Šie analizuojami kelionių literatūros pavyzdžiai labiau atskleidžia pačių autorių bei jų kilmės kultūrų, o ne skaitytojams pristatomų kultūrų nuostatas ir pažiūras

Earth as Interface: Exploring chemical senses with Multisensory HCI Design for Environmental Health Communication

As environmental problems intensify, the chemical senses -that is smell and taste, are the most relevantsenses to evidence them.As such, environmental exposure vectors that can reach human beings comprise air,food, soil and water[1].Within this context, understanding the link between environmental exposures andhealth[2]is crucial to make informed choices, protect the environment and adapt to new environmentalconditions[3].Smell and taste lead therefore to multi-sensorial experiences which convey multi-layered information aboutlocal and global events[4]. However, these senses are usually absent when those problems are represented indigital systems. The multisensory HCIdesign framework investigateschemical sense inclusion withdigital systems[5]. Ongoing efforts tackledigitalization of smell and taste for digital delivery, transmission or substitution [6]. Despite experimentsproved technological feasibility, its dissemination depends on relevant applicationdevelopment[7].This thesis aims to fillthose gaps by demonstratinghow chemical senses provide the means to link environment and health based on scientific andgeolocation narratives [8], [9],[10]. We present a Multisensory HCI design process which accomplished symbolicdisplaying smell and taste and led us to a new multi-sensorial interaction system presented herein. We describe the conceptualization, design and evaluation of Earthsensum, an exploratory case study project.Earthsensumoffered to 16 participants in the study, environmental smell and taste experiences about real geolocations to participants of the study. These experiences were represented digitally using mobilevirtual reality (MVR) and mobile augmented reality (MAR). Its technologies bridge the real and digital Worlds through digital representations where we can reproduce the multi-sensorial experiences. Our study findings showed that the purposed interaction system is intuitive and can lead not only to a betterunderstanding of smell and taste perception as also of environmental problems. Participants comprehensionabout the link between environmental exposures and health was successful and they would recommend thissystem as education tools. Our conceptual design approach was validated and further developments wereencouraged.In this thesis,we demonstratehow to applyMultisensory HCI methodology to design with chemical senses. Weconclude that the presented symbolic representation model of smell and taste allows communicatingtheseexperiences on digital platforms. Due to its context-dependency, MVR and MAR platforms are adequatetechnologies to be applied for this purpose.Future developments intend to explore further the conceptual approach. These developments are centredon the use of the system to induce hopefully behaviourchange. Thisthesisopens up new application possibilities of digital chemical sense communication,Multisensory HCI Design and environmental health communication.À medida que os problemas ambientais se intensificam, os sentidos químicos -isto é, o cheiroe sabor, são os sentidos mais relevantes para evidenciá-los. Como tais, os vetores de exposição ambiental que podem atingir os seres humanos compreendem o ar, alimentos, solo e água [1]. Neste contexto, compreender a ligação entre as exposições ambientais e a saúde [2] é crucial para exercerescolhas informadas, proteger o meio ambiente e adaptar a novas condições ambientais [3]. O cheiroe o saborconduzemassima experiências multissensoriais que transmitem informações de múltiplas camadas sobre eventos locais e globais [4]. No entanto, esses sentidos geralmente estão ausentes quando esses problemas são representados em sistemas digitais. A disciplina do design de Interação Humano-Computador(HCI)multissensorial investiga a inclusão dossentidos químicos em sistemas digitais [9]. O seu foco atual residena digitalização de cheirose sabores para o envio, transmissão ou substituiçãode sentidos[10]. Apesar dasexperimentaçõescomprovarem a viabilidade tecnológica, a sua disseminação está dependentedo desenvolvimento de aplicações relevantes [11]. Estatese pretendepreencher estas lacunas ao demonstrar como os sentidos químicos explicitama interconexãoentre o meio ambiente e a saúde, recorrendo a narrativas científicas econtextualizadasgeograficamente[12], [13], [14]. Apresentamos uma metodologiade design HCImultissensorial que concretizouum sistema de representação simbólica de cheiro e sabor e nos conduziu a um novo sistema de interação multissensorial, que aqui apresentamos. Descrevemos o nosso estudo exploratório Earthsensum, que integra aconceptualização, design e avaliação. Earthsensumofereceu a 16participantes do estudo experiências ambientais de cheiro e sabor relacionadas com localizações geográficasreais. Essas experiências foram representadas digitalmente através derealidade virtual(VR)e realidade aumentada(AR).Estas tecnologias conectamo mundo real e digital através de representações digitais onde podemos reproduzir as experiências multissensoriais. Os resultados do nosso estudo provaramque o sistema interativo proposto é intuitivo e pode levar não apenas a uma melhor compreensão da perceção do cheiroe sabor, como também dos problemas ambientais. O entendimentosobre a interdependência entre exposições ambientais e saúde teve êxitoe os participantes recomendariam este sistema como ferramenta para aeducação. A nossa abordagem conceptual foi positivamentevalidadae novos desenvolvimentos foram incentivados. Nesta tese, demonstramos como aplicar metodologiasde design HCImultissensorialpara projetar com ossentidos químicos. Comprovamosque o modelo apresentado de representação simbólica do cheiroe do saborpermite comunicar essas experiênciasem plataformas digitais. Por serem dependentesdocontexto, as plataformas de aplicações emVR e AR são tecnologias adequadaspara este fim.Desenvolvimentos futuros pretendem aprofundar a nossa abordagemconceptual. Em particular, aspiramos desenvolvera aplicaçãodo sistema para promover mudanças de comportamento. Esta tese propõenovas possibilidades de aplicação da comunicação dos sentidos químicos em plataformas digitais, dedesign multissensorial HCI e de comunicação de saúde ambiental

Experience-Driven Design of Ambiences for Future Pop Up Workspaces

Knowledge work is in transformation and new means for supporting workers’ wellbeing and productivity are needed. Pop Up workspaces are temporary and often social working environments where people can modify their environment to suit their current work mode. The aim of the present research was to explore the opportunities of future Pop Up workspaces, and specifically their technology-mediated ambiences that can provide meaningful experiences for the workers. We employed the Experience-Driven Design (EDD) approach to gain insights of the desired experiences in Pop Up workspaces. We first conducted three participatory group sessions to ideate experience types for Pop Up workspaces. We then run a multidisciplinary concepting workshop in which we designed concepts for technology-mediated ambiences. Five experience categories for worker mindsets were identified, namely Liberty, Fellowship, Determination, Retreat and Recovery. We present ambience concepts that utilise the mindsets and related target experiences, and how they can be supported by ambient technologies.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

That Scent Evokes an Image—On the Impact of Olfactory Cues on User Image Recall in Digital Multisensory Environments

Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). In traditional digital filing systems, people mostly use text as a key to categorise images, and retrieve them in the future. The use of other media as keys for image retrieval is rarely used, notwithstanding that multisensory digital media – mulsemedia – can be harnessed to improve users’ performance and help them to retrieve their images. In this respect, olfactory media (engaging the sense of smell) is an example, as people can categorise their images by using congruent olfactory media. Accordingly, we investigated the impact of employing olfactory media as a key for retrieving a set of images. Moreover, we also studied the impact of the usage of olfactory media in this context on a user’s performance and Quality of Experience (QoE). To this end, we developed an olfactory-enhanced application (SCENT2IMAGE) in which olfactory media was emitted alongside a 5X5 matrix of images, of which users had to recognize 4 images congruent with the emitted scents. Furthermore, we developed a word-only version of the application (WORD2IMAGE) in which words alone were used as an equivalent key instead of olfactory media. Forty-four participants were invited and took part in our experiment, evenly split into a control and experimental group. Results highlight that using olfactory media does have a significant impact on user performance by helping them find related images. Moreover, using olfactory effects in this context was also found to enhance user QoE. Lastly, our findings underscore that users were willing to use olfactory-enhanced applications for categorizing/retrieving their albums and images...

Investigating British customers’ experience to maximize brand loyalty within the context of tourism in Egypt: Netnography & structural modelling approach

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The concept of ‘customer experience’ has evolved as an imperative area of study within the marketing discipline. Despite its importance and the positive attention this concept has received during the last few years, the explanation of customer experiences have remained vague and lack a thorough theoretical foundation. Furthermore, practitioners across many industries claim that there is a connection between customer experience and loyalty, yet there is a paucity of research to validate this theoretical assumption. This study aims to address this gap in the literature and to facilitate better understanding of the concept of 'customer experience' and its antecedents and focus on brand loyalty as consequence from the consumer perspective. Accordingly, a mixed-method research design was adopted that consisted of two phases. The first phase involved a netnography study to gain better understanding of the notion of customer experience and refine a conceptual framework that has been developed on the basis of the existing literature. In the second phase this framework was tested by means of a survey of British customers to examine their experience with resort-hotel brands in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the survey responses. The structural model showed a very good fit to the data and good convergent, nomological and discriminant validity and reliability stability. The findings of this study identified four aspects of customer experience in the resort-hotels in Egypt; i.e. educational, aesthetics, relational and novelty. Those aspects are congruent with prior work in the tourism literature. Additionally, the study found that customers rely on some service cues such as: price, core service and WOM to predict and assess their experiences. The findings also indicated that perceived service quality has a mediating role in the relationship between customer-contact employees and core service and customer experience. A key contribution of this research is offering a robust model that explains the nascent phenomenon of customer experience and demonstrating that experience has a definite positive impact on brand loyalty. The use of netnography to identify customer experience dimension is also considered as a methodological contribution in the area of marketing research. Moreover, the present study adds novel perspective to the growing body of brand literature (particularly service brand) and suggests directions for future research. Finally, the study provides managerial implications for service managers to identify the experiential needs of their customer and properly design the customer experience

Invisible City. A Multi-Sensory Approach to the Analysis of Urban Space

This thesis explores the relationship between sensory stimuli and human behaviour in urban space. It seeks to understand how spatial conditions, mediated, and supported by sensory experiences, impact individual and social activities and how this learning might be applied to other cities. This research aims to challenge the “visualism” of planning and urban design approaches and to examine the urban environment through a multi-sensory analysis, focusing on the non-visual senses, such as hearing, smell and touch. It is based on a qualitative case study approach focused on Bishopsgate, in the City of London, an area with a unique variety of urban spaces, compact morphology and land use. This thesis contributes to knowledge in three principal ways: First, the use of “sensewalks” and “sensetalks” as innovative user-centred methods of data collection, enabling in-situ semi-structured interviews with the presence of the researcher. Second, the use of thematic analysis of verbal and semantic descriptions received from participants, establishes a baseline for the exploration. Finally, the creation of a framework of analysis based on the concept of “sensescapes” will facilitate the future exploration of the urban setting through its different dimensions. This framework not only creates a baseline for discussion but also establishes a tool for use in future urban development within the fields of environmental psychology, sensory analysis, urban design and spatial planning. These contributions add to the academic literature and offer methods and techniques of analysis that may support future academic research, practice and policy. As planners and urban designers try to create better and healthier spaces, the analysis and production of urban “sensescapes” can be used as a tool in (re)designing the city in new ways that stimulate the senses – ultimately making the role of the non-visual senses more ‘visible’ in the urban setting

The impact of visual advertising techniques on consumers’ purchase intention of a chocolate bar : the mediating role of taste perception

Billions and billions of dollars are annually spent on advertisement. The Food Packaged Goods industry is no exception. This is because advertising is a powerful weapon to influence the consumers’ purchase intention and taste perception. Complementarily, it is also known that taste is a key-attribute in food acquisition. Albeit, food advertisement is mainly used to induce buying intentions and rarely attempts to affect taste perceptions. But what if taste perception explains the relationship between consumer exposure to visual ads and their intention to purchase Food Packaged Goods? What if marketers can skew these taste perceptions through the usage of different advertising techniques? This research sought to answer these questions using Endorsement and Sensory Marketing. Each of these practices had a Traditional advert (i.e. only presenting the product) serving as control. Accordingly, seven pictorial adverts were created from the ground up based on three research procedures: Pre-Online Survey, Focus Group and Semi-Structured Interviews. Subsequently, the hypotheses were tested using a cross-sectional online questionnaire. Findings suggest that taste perception largely mediates the relationship between visual advertising and purchase intention. Moreover, Sensory Marketing demonstrated to be extremely effective when deployed in adverts. On the other hand, Endorsement is surprisingly inadvisable since it achieved similar outcomes to Traditional advertising, or even inferior. Given this, it is believed that managers should invest on techniques that subtly influence consumers, going unnoticed as marketing intending to persuade. The advertising world has been changing, and this research is proof of that.Biliões e biliões de dólares são anualmente gastos em publicidade. Na indústria de produtos alimentares embalados não é exceção. De facto, a publicidade é uma arma poderosa para influenciar intenções de compra e perceções de sabor. Complementarmente, também se sabe que o sabor é um atributo chave para a aquisição destes bens. Todavia, a publicidade é maioritariamente utilizada para promover intenções de compra, invulgarmente tencionando afetar o sabor percebido. Mas e se a perceção de sabor explicar a relação entre anúncios pictóricos e a intenção de adquirir produtos alimentares? E se os marketers puderem afetar essas perceções através da utilização de técnicas de publicidade? Esta investigação visa responder a estas questões utilizando Endorsement e Marketing Sensorial. Cada uma destas práticas foi acompanhada por um anúncio Tradicional (isto é, apenas apresentando o produto) servindo como controlo. Por conseguinte, sete anúncios foram criados tendo por base três estudos: Pré-Questionário Online, Grupo de Foco e Entrevistas Semi-Estruturadas. Posteriormente, as hipóteses foram testadas através de um questionário online transversal. Os resultados revelaram que a perceção de sabor medeia consideravelmente a relação entre publicidade visual e a intenção de compra. Ademais, a utilização de Marketing Sensorial em anúncios provou ser extremamente eficaz. Por outro lado, Endorsement demonstrou ser surpreendentemente desaconselhável visto alcançar semelhantes, ou até piores, resultados que publicidade Tradicional. Dado isto, acredita-se que os managers devem apostar em técnicas que influenciem os consumidores subtilmente, passando despercebidas como técnicas de marketing. O mundo da publicidade está em transformação e esta pesquisa é a prova disso

Smell of Heritage

We don’t know much about the smells of the past. Yet, odours play an important role in our daily lives: they affect us emotionally, psychologically and physically, and influence the way we engage with history. Can this lead us to consider certain smells as cultural heritage? And if so, what would be the processes for the identification, protection and conservation of those heritage smells? In order to answer these questions, the connection between olfaction and heritage was approached through the framework of Significance Assessment – Chemical Analysis – Sensory Analysis – Archiving. Four case studies were developed, each around a different smell: old books and historic libraries; scented conservation wax, historic pot-pourri, and mould. Through them, the validity of the framework was tested, while exploring associated aspects of olfaction in heritage: authenticity, value in connection with visitor experience and interpretation, considerations around historic odour reconstruction and role of non-sensory input in historic odour perception. Odour characterisation was achieved by chemical analysis of the volatile organic compounds (VOC) for each case study, using either HS-SPME-GS-MS or HS-TD-GC-TOF-MS. Sensory characterisation was obtained via GC-O and odour evaluation panels. Visitor experience surveys were also conducted in a historic house setting. Smells were documented using odour wheels and other forms of visual representation. Some findings of this study worth discussing are: (1) the perception of authenticity in historic odours is not necessarily linked to a chemically-accurate reconstruction; (2) several historic odours present an ambiguity that lead to characterisation being significally modulated by both sensory and non-sensory information and (3) there is a great potential for non-visual engagement of visitors with the space and collections in heritage institutions, currently untapped. This is the first systematic study of olfaction in heritage and therefore its insights will be relevant to the heritage community, as well as engaging with current research in the field of odour perception, interpretation and representation

Evaluating an androgynous brand extension: the gender identity/ gendered brand relationship and influencing factors

Includes bibliographical referencesGender identification behaviour has altered drastically within the last decade. Consequently, there has been a noteworthy rise in the amount of androgynous individuals. Gender identity congruity theory posits that individuals display more favourable behavioural outcomes towards brands that possess similar images or identities to their own. Further, contemporary consumers express their identities via their brand choices. Thus, there is a strong implication that introducing an androgynous brand could prove to be a lucrative strategy for marketers. However, gendering brands as either masculine or feminine prevails as the most commonly employed strategy to differentiate a brand and appeal to target audiences. Introducing androgynous brands through a brand extension could prove to be less risky and costly than introducing such a brand as a novel, stand-alone offering. This study examined gender identity's potential influence on the evaluation of an androgynous brand extension. Further, it investigated the potential influence of three key factors on this central relationship: self-concept, product category and the gender of the parent brand. With regard to these moderators, it was posited that first, if the brand's image aligned with one's self-concept the evaluation of the androgynous brand extension would be more favourable. Distinction was made between actual and ideal self-concept. Second, a distinction could be made between functional and symbolic product categories with regards to the influence that gender identity exerted on brand extension evaluation. And third, that the gender of the parent brand would influence the evaluation of the androgynous brand extension. Subsequently, a 2 x 2 factorial design experiment was administered to a quota-controlled non-probability sample of Generation Y consumers. The findings demonstrated that gender identity influences the evaluation of an androgynous brand extension. Furthermore, self-concept moderated this relationship between gender identity and brand extension evaluation. The product category wherein the androgynous brand extension was implemented was evidenced to affect individuals' evaluation of the brand extension, with the one introduced in the symbolic product category receiving more favourable evaluations than the extension introduced in the functional category. The gender of the parent brand exerted no influence on brand extension evaluation, where androgynous brand extensions from both feminine and masculine parent brands were evaluated similarly. Self-concept also exerted an effect on brand extension evaluation, with ideal self-concept exerting a stronger influence than actual self-concept. Lastly, individuals were shown to prefer an androgynous brand to a masculine or feminine one. The principal inference resulting from this research is that marketers should strongly consider introducing an androgynous brand extension should they possess a feminine masculine brand within the clothing, deodorant, or similar products categories. Respondents evaluated the androgynous brand extension favourably across both assessed product categories and regardless of whether the brand extension was introduced from a masculine or feminine parent brand. This was observed for all gender identity segments. It is imperative that managers take gender identity and self-concept into account as these identity aspects exert noteworthy influences on individuals' consumption behaviours. However, managers should take note of the evidenced interaction between gender identity and self-concept. Where individuals perceive there to be a high level of congruence between their self-concept and the androgynous brand extension, individuals with high levels of masculinity should not be targeted as they displayed negative evaluations of the brand extension