O papel da quarta revolução industrial no turismo acessível: estudo e conceptualização de uma aplicação web

The world is experiencing the beginning of the fourth Industrial Revolution, responsible for implementing a new digitalization era. This revolution originated in manufacturing, with industry 4.0 bringing a new reality to organizations. However, the scope of this new technological revolution is vast, and other sectors can benefit from the new digital era. In the Services Industry, tourism is an example of that, as Tourism 4.0 is the result of the impact of the fourth industrial revolution in this sector. Tourism 4.0 is the result of the impact of the fourth industrial revolution in tourism. An interesting challenge that this technological era brings to tourism is the social inclusion of people with disabilities. The accessible tourism market reveals huge potential, but despite this, this market is still largely ignored. Several technologies that promoted the fourth industrial revolution present capabilities to promote accessible tourism by improving tourism’s access conditions to people with disabilities. The present work developed a study in accessible tourism, understanding the main requirements for this market, and conceptualizing a Web application, for promoting accessibility in tourism. This Web application work as a mediator between the principal stakeholders. To gather requirements for the system, a triangulation matrix was elaborated using three methodological approaches: i) Literature Review; ii) website accessibility analysis of hotels located in the central region of Portugal; and iii) content analysis of some concurrent platforms. The requirements triangulation matrix allowed the identification of what requirements are crucial for the system success, which were used to conceptualize the solution with UML notation. This work intends to demonstrate the technological impacts of the fourth industrial revolution on society, especially on the promotion of a more accessible tourismO mundo encontra-se hoje no início da quarta revolução industrial, responsável pela promoção de uma nova era caracterizada pela digitalização. Apesar desta revolução ter surgido no setor industrial, com o conceito de Indústria 4.0, a sua aplicação é muito mais vasta, existindo outros sectores que podem igualmente beneficiar desta nova era tecnológica. O setor dos serviços, nomeadamente o Turismo, é um exemplo disso, e o conceito de Turismo 4.0 é o resultado do impacto da quarta revolução industrial nesse setor. Um desafio interessante que esta nova era tecnológica traz para o turismo é o da inclusão social, promovendo o turismo para todos. De facto, o mercado do turismo acessível, apesar de ter imenso potencial, tem sido relegado no contexto dos negócios. Por outro lado, o potencial tecnológico associado a esta nova revolução industrial sugere uma grande capacidade na promoção do turismo acessível, na medida em que podem facilitar as condições de acesso ao turismo, por parte de pessoas com algum tipo de incapacidade e ou necessidade especial. O presente trabalho visa conduzir um estudo na área do turismo acessível, por forma compreender os principais requisitos deste tipo de mercado e, consequentemente, conceptualizar uma aplicação Web, com o propósito de promover a acessibilidade no turismo, funcionando como um mediador de informação entre os principais stakeholders. Para a obtenção dos requisitos do sistema foi feita: i) uma revisão da literatura; ii) um estudo que avalia a acessibilidade dos websites dos hotéis da zona centro de Portugal, e, ainda iii) um estudo com base em análise de conteúdo de algumas plataformas potencialmente concorrentes. Os resultados são apresentados na forma de uma matriz de triangulação, onde é possível identificar a fonte dos requisitos identificados, sendo posteriormente utilizados para conceptualizar a solução proposta com recurso à notação UML. Pretende-se com este trabalho demonstrar o potencial e o efeito que as tecnologias existentes na era designada por quarta revolução industrial podem ter na sociedade, nomeadamente na promoção de um turismo para todosMestrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industria

Software Usability

This volume delivers a collection of high-quality contributions to help broaden developers’ and non-developers’ minds alike when it comes to considering software usability. It presents novel research and experiences and disseminates new ideas accessible to people who might not be software makers but who are undoubtedly software users

A Systematic Review of the Literature on Living Labs in Higher Education Institutions:Potentials and Constraints

Living labs (LLs) have emerged as an interface for higher education institutions to collaborate with companies, citizens, non-profit and government organizations to address a variety of problems around social challenges and sustainable development. In this systematic literature review, we summarize the existing knowledge on how universities shape and manage the LLs they are associated with and how they align with their core missions of education and research and—in particular—their social missions. Following PRISMA guidelines for a systematic literature review (SLR), we analyzed journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters published between 2008 and 2020, capturing 93 university-governed LL experiences from across the world. Our findings show that LLs are developing from bottom-up initiatives, often at the fringe of higher education institutions, towards more self-standing entities implementing strategies to undertake social outreach activities. LLs require their host universities to intensify the relationships with their stakeholders and work on capacity building and focus on inter- and transdisciplinary research methodologies. Finally, our literature review points to the need for further research on the hybrid governance approaches displayed by LLs, particularly looking at the roles and responsibilities of academics involved in managing LL initiatives

How High School Students With Dyslexia Use Assistive Technology; A Teacher\u27s Perspective

High school teachers of students with dyslexia face unique instructional challenges. Students’ with dyslexia experience levels of difficulty in reading and writing tasks that have now transmigrated into the digital realm. These teachers are working to collaborate with and teach students that are dyslexic, using technology tools. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of how these teachers are using technology to support the learning of students with dyslexia. Two research questions guided this study: How do the teachers of high school students with dyslexia perceive the use of digital technology to assist in the learning process? What are the experiences of teachers who use digital technology to teach high school students with dyslexia? The sample was a purposeful sample consisting of 8 high school teacher participants. Participants taught a variety of subjects including English, mathematics, history, and science at a charter school in western North Carolina. The data collection instruments were face to face interviews, observations, and member checking sessions. The typological analysis model was used to analyze data collected from interviews and observations. The constant comparative strategy was used during analysis to effectively determine commonalities among these data. These strategies ensured data were being analyzed beyond the surface level. The key findings of this study were that participants view digital classroom technology favorably and are using technology frequently as a teaching tool for all students. The teachers expressed the need for professional development and training sessions to more fully develop technology skills as a way to specifically engage with students with dyslexia and their learning needs

Conversational agents with personality

Conversational agents (CAs) such as voice assistants and chatbots have permeated people's everyday lives. When interacting with these CAs, people automatically attribute a personality to them regardless of whether the CA designer intended it or not. This personality attribution fundamentally influences people's interaction behaviour and attitude towards the CA. By deliberately shaping the CA personality, designers have the opportunity to steer these automatic personality attributions in a desired direction. However, little information is available on how to design such a desired personality impression for a CA. Furthermore, in inter-human interaction, there is no such thing as a perfect personality. Nonetheless, today's commercial CAs have adopted a one-size-fits-all approach to their personality design, ignoring the potential benefits of adaptation. These two insights, namely (1) that users assign a personality to CAs and (2) that there is no such thing as a perfect personality, motivate the vision of this thesis: To improve the interaction between users and CAs by deliberately imbuing CAs with personality and tailoring them to user preferences. This dissertation pursues two primary goals to realise this vision: (1) to develop methods to imbue CAs with personality systematically and (2) to examine user preferences for CA personalities. To achieve the first goal, I introduce two approaches to imbue CAs with personality based on two underlying personality descriptions. The first approach adopts the human Big Five personality model as the theoretical basis for describing CA personality. This adoption allows me to transfer behaviour cues associated with human personality traits compiled from the psycholinguistic literature and my work to synthesise three levels of Agreeableness and Extraversion implemented in fully functional text-based CAs. An empirical evaluation of users' perceptions of these CAs after interacting with them demonstrates that human behaviour cues may be used to synthesise Agreeableness. However, they are insufficient to elicit the impression of low Extraversion or paint a complete picture of CA personality. Due to this insufficiency, I develop a second approach in which I explore whether the human Big Five model can be used to describe CA personality. To this end, I apply the psycholexical approach, which yields ten personality dimensions that do not correspond with the human Big Five model. Consequently, I propose these ten dimensions as an alternative comprehensive way to describe CA personality and introduce a new method, Enactment-based Dialogue Design, to synthesise personality based on these ten dimensions. To achieve the second goal, I present two approaches to examine user preferences for CA personality. Using a deductive approach, I investigate whether users prefer low, average, or high levels of four different personality dimensions in a CA in the context of different use cases. These investigations show that users have very individual preferences for the dimensions Extraversion and Social-Entertaining, whereas the majority prefer CAs that have a medium or high level of Agreeableness and a low level of Confrontational. I find the deductive approach to be useful for capturing users' evaluation of a personality-imbued CA, but it is not effective in collecting user requirements and visions of a perfect CA. The second inductive approach, however, furnishes a novel pragmatic method to better engage users in developing CA personalities. In this context, I also examine the influence of users’ personalities on their preferences for CA personality, but the effects are minimal. In summary, this thesis makes the following contributions to imbuing CAs with personality: (1) theoretical clarity on the necessity of dedicated personality descriptions for CAs, (2) a set of verbal cues associated with human personality implemented in fully functional text-based CA artefacts, (3) an exploration of two methods for synthesising personality in CAs, and (4) a new method for eliciting users' vision of the perfect CA. I consolidate these methods into a user-centred design process for developing CAs with personality. Furthermore, I provide empirical evidence of diverging user preferences and discuss overarching patterns which CA designers may use to tailor their CA personalities to individual users. Finally, this thesis proposes a research agenda for future work, which addresses the challenges that emerged from the presented work.Conversational Agents (CAs) wie Sprachassistenten und Chatbots sind aus dem Alltag der Menschen nicht mehr wegzudenken. In der Interaktion mit CAs schreiben Benutzer:innen ihnen automatisch eine Persönlichkeit zu, unabhängig davon, ob die CA-Designer:innen dies beabsichtigten oder nicht. Diese Persönlichkeitszuschreibung beeinflusst grundlegend das Interaktionsverhalten und die Einstellung der Benutzer:innen gegenüber den CAs. Eine bewusste Gestaltung der CA-Persönlichkeit erlaubt Designer:innen, diese automatischen Persönlichkeitszuschreibungen in eine gewünschte Richtung zu lenken. Jedoch gibt es nur wenige Informationen darüber, wie eine solche gewünschte Persönlichkeit für einen CA gestaltet werden kann. Darüber hinaus gibt es in der zwischenmenschlichen Interaktion nicht die eine perfekte CA-Persönlichkeit, die allen Benutzer:innen gleichermaßen gefällt. Nichtsdestotrotz sind heutige kommerzielle CAs lediglich mit einer Persönlichkeit für alle Benutzer:innen ausgestattet und lassen somit die potenziellen Vorteile einer Anpassung an individuelle Präferenzen außer Acht. Diese beiden Erkenntnisse, (1) dass Benutzer:innen CAs eine Persönlichkeit zuweisen und (2) dass es die eine perfekte Persönlichkeit nicht gibt, motivieren die Vision dieser Arbeit: Die Interaktion zwischen Benutzer:innen und CAs zu verbessern, indem CAs gezielt mit einer Persönlichkeit ausgestattet und an die Präferenzen der Benutzer:innen angepasst werden. Um diese Vision zu realisieren, verfolgt die vorliegende Dissertation zwei primäre Ziele: (1) die Entwicklung von Methoden, um CAs systematisch eine Persönlichkeit zu verleihen und (2) die Untersuchung von Präferenzen der Benutzer:innen für CA-Persönlichkeiten. Um das erste Ziel zu erreichen, stelle ich zwei Ansätze zur Ausstattung von CAs mit Persönlichkeit vor, die auf der jeweiligen zugrunde liegenden Persönlichkeitsbeschreibung basieren. In dem ersten Ansatz verwende ich das menschliche Big Five Persönlichkeitsmodell als theoretische Grundlage für die Beschreibung von CA-Persönlichkeit. Diese Annahme ermöglicht es, Verhaltenshinweise, die mit menschlichen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen assoziiert sind, in der psycholinguistischen Literatur sowie meiner eigenen Arbeit zu identifizieren. Diese Verhaltenshinweise übertrage ich dann auf CAs, um jeweils drei Ausprägungen von Verträglichkeit und Extraversion zu synthetisieren, die in vollständig funktionsfähigen text-basierten CAs implementiert sind. Eine empirische Untersuchung der Wahrnehmung dieser text-basierten CAs deutet darauf hin, dass menschliche Verhaltenshinweise genutzt werden können, um Verträglichkeit zu synthetisieren. Sie sind jedoch unzureichend, um den Eindruck von niedriger Extraversion zu vermitteln sowie die Persönlichkeit von CAs vollständig abzubilden. Aufgrund der mangelnden Eignung der menschlichen Persönlichkeitsbeschreibung entwickle ich einen zweiten Ansatz, in dem ich untersuche, ob das menschliche Big Five Modell für die Beschreibung von CA-Persönlichkeit genutzt werden kann. Zu diesem Zweck wende ich den psycholexikalischen Ansatz an, aus dem zehn Persönlichkeitsdimensionen hervorgehen, die nicht mit dem menschlichen Big Five Modell übereinstimmen. Folglich schlage ich diese zehn Dimensionen als eine alternative und vollständige Möglichkeit zur Beschreibung von CA-Persönlichkeit vor. Außerdem führe ich eine neue Methode, genannt Inszenierung-basiertes Dialogdesign, ein, die es ermöglicht, Persönlichkeit auf Grundlage dieser zehn Dimensionen zu synthetisieren. Um das zweite Ziel zu erreichen, stelle ich zwei Ansätze zur Untersuchung der Präferenzen von Benutzer:innen für CA-Persönlichkeit vor. In einem deduktiven Ansatz untersuche ich zunächst, ob Benutzer:innen eine niedrige, durchschnittliche oder hohe Ausprägung von vier verschiedenen Persönlichkeitsdimensionen in einem CA im Kontext unterschiedlicher Anwendungsfälle bevorzugen. Diese Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Benutzer:innen sehr individuelle Präferenzen für die Dimensionen Extraversion und Sozial-Unterhaltend haben, während die Mehrheit CAs bevorzugt, die eine mittlere oder hohe Ausprägung in Verträglichkeit sowie eine niedrige Ausprägung in Konfrontativ aufweisen. Obgleich der deduktive Ansatz nützlich für die Evaluierung von CA-Prototypen ist, ermöglicht dieser es nicht, Bedürfnisse und Vorstellungen der Benutzer:innen einzufangen. Im zweiten, induktiven Ansatz präsentiere ich daher eine neue pragmatische Methode, um die Benutzer:innen besser in die Entwicklung von CA-Persönlichkeiten einzubinden. In diesem Zusammenhang untersuche ich darüber hinaus den Einfluss der Persönlichkeit der Benutzer:innen auf ihre Präferenzen für die CA-Persönlichkeit, finde jedoch nur einen begrenzten Effekt. Zusammenfassend leistet die vorliegende Arbeit die folgenden wissenschaftlichen Beiträge zur Ausstattung von CAs mit Persönlichkeit: (1) Theoretische Klarheit über die Notwendigkeit dedizierter Persönlichkeitsbeschreibungen für CAs, (2) eine Sammlung verbaler Verhaltenshinweise, die mit menschlicher Persönlichkeit assoziiert sind und in voll funktionsfähigen CA-Artefakten implementiert sind, (3) eine Exploration von zwei Methoden zur Synthese von Persönlichkeit in CAs und (4) eine neue Methode, um die Vision eines perfekten CAs von Benutzer:innen zu eruieren. Ich führe diese Methoden in einem benutzungszentrierten Designprozess für die Entwicklung von CA-Persönlichkeiten zusammen. Darüber hinaus liefere ich empirische Belege für divergierende Präferenzen der Benutzer:innen für CA-Persönlichkeit und erörtere übergreife Muster, die CA-Designer:innen anwenden können, um ihre CA-Persönlichkeiten auf individuelle Benutzer:innen zuzuschneiden. Abschließend wird eine Forschungsagenda für zukünftige Arbeiten präsentiert, welche die Herausforderungen diskutiert, die sich aus den vorgestellten Arbeiten ergeben

User Interface Challenges of Banking ATM Systems in Nigeria

The use of banking automated teller machine (ATM) technological innovations have significant importance and benefits in Nigeria, but numerous investigations have shown that illiterate and semiliterate Nigerians do not perceive them as useful or easy-to-use. Developing easy-to-use banking ATM system interfaces is essential to accommodate over 40% illiterate and semiliterate Nigerians, who are potential users of banking ATM systems. The purpose of this study was to identify strategies software developers of banking ATM systems in Nigeria use to create easy-to-use banking ATM system interfaces for a variety of people with varying abilities and literacy levels. The technology acceptance model was adopted as the conceptual framework. The study\u27s population consisted of qualified and experienced developers of banking ATM system interfaces chosen from 1 organization in Enugu, Nigeria. The data collection process included semistructured, in-depth face-to-face interviews with 9 banking ATM system interface developers and the analysis of 11 documents: 5 from participant case organizations and 6 from nonparticipant case organizations. Member checking was used to increase the validity of the findings from the participants. Through methodological triangulation, 4 major themes emerged from the study: importance of user-centered design strategies, importance of user feedback as essential interface design, value of pictorial images and voice prompts, and importance of well-defined interface development process. The findings in this study may be beneficial for the future development of strategies to create easy-to-use ATM system interfaces for a variety of people with varying abilities and literacy levels and for other information technology systems that are user interface technology dependent

Integrated multimodal interaction framework for virtual reality foot reflexology stress therapy

Frameworks in interaction research have seen varying compositions from numerous researchers, and have been applied for either a specific or general purposes in several domains. Previous studies have highlighted virtual reality (VR) in stress therapy, and revealed the potential of foot reflexology therapy using VR technology. However, the interaction framework for foot reflexology through virtual reality requires further investigation. This study presents the design and evaluation of an integrated multimodal interaction framework for virtual reality foot reflexology stress therapy. The components of the proposed framework were identified from the literature review and previous research, which included design principles, technology, structural components, multimodal interaction architecture, and segment composition. This formed the proposed integrated multimodal interaction framework for virtual reality foot reflexology stress therapy. The proposed framework was then validated using expert reviews. This was followed by prototype development, which explored the effectiveness of the virtual reality foot reflexology therapy application on relaxation and stress relief using Smith Relaxation States Inventory (SRSI-3). A pre and post-test intervention quasi experiment was employed in the study for the evaluation. The findings revealed that Virtual Reality Foot Reflexology Stress Therapy (VR–FRST) effectively evokes the relaxation state categories of transcendence, mindfulness, positive energy, and basic relaxation, and also reduces users stress state. This research provides a concise, organized, practical and validated integrated multimodal interaction framework for the design and development of foot reflexology therapy in a virtual environment. This contributes to the field of interaction design for virtual reality developers and complementary therapy for the alternative medical practitioners

Towards A Framework for Holistic Contextual Design for Low-Resource Settings

Healthcare inequality is ubiquitous globally, but the effects are most striking in low-resource settings. In these settings, current methods for the design of medical devices are failing to address specific needs. The associated publications rarely describe how the context was studied at the front-end of design. There is a latent need for a holistic contextual framework for guiding the design decision-making process for devices in these complex contexts. We present results from a systematic literature review and expert interviews that informed the development of a framework for contextualized design for low-resource settings. The contextual factors identified are described and compared for different types of medical devices. This taxonomical framework aims to guide designers towards gaining a better understanding of the context of use when designing products for global challenges in low-resource settings.The National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) in Mexico supported this research