SmartMirror: A Glance into the Future

In todays society, information is available to us at a glance through our phones, our laptops, our desktops, and more. But an extra level of interaction is required in order to access the information. As technology grows, technology should grow further and further away from the traditional style of interaction with devices. In the past, information was relayed through paper, then through computers, and in todays day and age, through our phones and multiple other mediums. Technology should become more integrated into our lives - more seamless and more invisible. We hope to push the envelope further, into the future. We propose a new simple way of connecting with your morning newspaper. We present our idea, the SmartMirror, information at a glance. Our system aims to deliver your information quickly and comfortably, with a new modern aesthetic. While modern appliances require input through modules such as keyboards or touch screen, we hope to follow a model that can function purely on voice and gesture. We seek to deliver your information during your morning routine and throughout the day, when taking out your phone is not always possible. This will cater to a larger audience base, as the average consumer nowadays hopes to accomplish tasks with minimal active interaction with their adopted technology. This idea has many future applications, such as integration with new virtual or augmented reality devices, or simplifying consumer personal media sources

The simultaneity of complementary conditions:re-integrating and balancing analogue and digital matter(s) in basic architectural education

The actual, globally established, general digital procedures in basic architectural education,producing well-behaved, seemingly attractive up-to-date projects, spaces and first general-researchon all scale levels, apparently present a certain growing amount of deficiencies. These limitations surface only gradually, as the state of things on overall extents is generally deemed satisfactory. Some skills, such as “old-fashioned” analogue drawing are gradually eased-out ofundergraduate curricula and overall modus-operandi, due to their apparent slow inefficiencies in regard to various digital media’s rapid readiness, malleability and unproblematic, quotidian availabilities. While this state of things is understandable, it nevertheless presents a definite challenge. The challenge of questioning how the assessment of conditions and especially their representation,is conducted, prior to contextual architectural action(s) of any kind

ASETS – An Academic Trading Simulation Platform

This paper is intended to present the results of our academic research upon a distributed computing environment dedicated to trading simulation. Our research has been conducted with the aim of creating a trading simulation platform, that would provide both the foundation for future experiments with trading systems architectures, components, APIs, and the framework for research on trading strategies, trading algorithms design, and equity markets analysis tools.Trading Systems, Simulation, Distributed Computing, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Message-Oriented Middleware (MOM), Java Message Service (JMS)

Low empathising and high systemising tendencies in higher education computing students: the affordances of virtual worlds in their education

Background. The increasing societal reliance on emerging technologies is demanding much more from those planning a career in the computing industry than technical ability alone. Many contemporary job roles require business contact, increasing the relevance of soft skills to competent practice. However, the association between those who are inherently drawn to a career in computing and low empathising, high systemising tendencies may present a barrier to future professional success. It is therefore important that the needs of such students are considered as part of their higher education experience, in order to ensure that the development of essential soft skills can be addressed as early as possible. Aim. To evaluate the ability of virtual world (VW) technology, through its characteristics of immersion, identity and interaction, to foster the soft skills recognised as presenting the most difficulty for those with a low empathising, high systemising disposition. Method. A variety of bespoke scenarios were developed for a VW and introduced to an undergraduate Applied Computing programme. These were based on technical activities but with a focus on managing non-routine situations, improving communication, embracing play and imagination as well as developing social relationships. Associations were made between the students’ cognitive style and their scholastic performance, including their own perception of the intervention. Consideration was also given to the observations of others, such as higher education unit lecturers, support staff, volunteer VW scenario participants and employers. Result. Achievement for all students was generally found to be better in areas of the course incorporating VW activities. Those with low empathising, high systemising traits considered their communication to have improved the most, followed by their ability to tackle non-routine situations, albeit with some delay in their reaction to the latter. A positive, but less significant, impact was reported for the other skills. However, the contribution of VW activities appeared to be transformational in some students experiencing more severe difficulties in these areas. Discussion. The research provided evidence of the VW as an engaging environment for developing non-technical skills through technical experiences, but raised a number of adoption concerns. While these techniques, applicable to other Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) areas or indeed any subject discipline that requires an emphasis on sought-after soft skills, could still be implemented by other methods in the real world, the activities may not be as effective as they are in avatar-based VWs

Mediated city: Annual review 2012

The research projects under Mediated City explore questions that traverse through various disciplines to create new knowledge. Here, design catalyses changes in people’s practices to cross boundary domains, such as art, business, geospatial science, interaction design and creative writing. Common themes under Mediated City are:• Activating public engagement in social, environmental and political issues• Creating spaces for dialogue and diversity• Altering our perception and relationship of place• Making histories accessible and meaningful in today’s world.This report documents the 2012 research activities for Mediated City including symposia, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, prototypes, and scholarly outputs including books, book chapters, conference papers, presentations, and journal articles.&nbsp