Proposal to incorporate sustainability into ICT engineering studies

Amb el suport de la UNESCO, l'Educació per al Desenvolupament Sostenible (EDS) és un concepte clau per formar millors professionals, adaptats a les limitacions de recursos i la situació actual del nostre planeta. La sostenibilitat és una de les competències transversals més importants que tot professional i enginyer ha d'adquirir durant la seva formació. Intentar continuar creant i desenvolupant indústria, ciència i tecnologia sense pensar en la sostenibilitat provocaria el col·lapse del nostre planeta en poc temps. En conseqüència, qualsevol professional ha de tenir un coneixement bàsic per poder identificar els impactes ambientals, socials i econòmics que té el seu camp i aquesta experiència s'ha d'incorporar als plans d'estudis universitaris actuals de la manera més eficient i eficaç. Aquest document es centra en quin mètode és el més adequat per a la introducció de coneixements sobre sostenibilitat al Grau en Enginyeria de Tecnologies i Serveis de Telecomunicació de la UPC. A més, compta amb una revisió de la legislació vigent i una anàlisi de projectes amb diferents abasts - marc local-universitari (projecte intern de la UPC per introduir l'EDS als títols oficials universitaris: Pla Pilot Competència Sostenibilitat i Compromís Social), estatal (EDINSOST, projecte coordinat per la UPC que cerca avançar en l'educació en innovació per dotar els futurs graduats de les habilitats necessàries per catalitzar el canvi cap a una societat més sostenible) i europeu (Unite!, xarxa europea d'universitats que volen transformar l'educació superior europea en una educació innovadora i multidisciplinària) - per donar una perspectiva àmplia dels esforços actuals per introduir l'EDS. A més, per comparar les actuals accions de la UPC en la introducció d'aquest nou camp, s'analitzen les universitats politècniques del territori espanyol a través d'entrevistes directes i la revisió de les guies de les assignatures.Con el apoyo de la UNESCO, la Educación para el Desarrollo Sostenible (EDS) es un concepto clave para formar mejores profesionales, adaptados a las limitaciones de recursos y la situación actual de nuestro planeta. La sostenibilidad es una de las competencias transversales más importantes que todo profesional e ingeniero debe adquirir durante su formación. Intentar seguir creando y desarrollando industria, ciencia y tecnología sin pensar en la sostenibilidad provocaría el colapso de nuestro planeta en poco tiempo. En consecuencia, todo profesional debe tener un conocimiento básico para poder identificar los impactos ambientales, sociales y económicos que tiene su campo y esta experiencia debe incorporarse a los planes de estudios universitarios actuales de la manera más eficiente y eficaz. Este documento se centra en que método es el más adecuado para la introducción de conocimientos sobre sostenibilidad en el Grado en Ingeniería de Tecnologías y Servicios de Telecomunicación de la UPC. Además, cuenta con una revisión de la legislación vigente y un análisis de proyectos con diferentes alcances - marco local-universitario (proyecto interno de la UPC para introducir la EDS en los títulos oficiales universitarios: “Pla Pilot Competència Sostenibilidad i Compromís Social”), estatal (EDINSOST, proyecto coordinado por la UPC que busca avanzar en la educación en innovación para dotar a los futuros graduados de las habilidades necesarias para catalizar el cambio hacia una sociedad más sostenible) y europeo (Unite!, red europea de universidades que quieren transformar la educación superior europea en una educación innovadora y multidisciplinaria) - para dar una perspectiva amplia de los esfuerzos actuales para introducir la EDS. Además, para comparar las acciones actuales de la UPC en la introducción de este nuevo campo, se analizan las universidades politécnicas del territorio español a través de entrevistas directas y la revisión de las guías de las asignaturas.Supported by UNESCO, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a key concept to create better professionals, adapted to the limitations of resources and current situation of our world. Sustainability is one of the most important transversal skills that every professional and engineer must acquire during their formation. Trying to continue creating and developing industry, science and technology without considering sustainability would cause our planet to collapse in a short time. Consequently, every professional should have a basic knowledge to be able to identify the environmental, social and economic impacts that their field have and this expertise must be added to actual university studies curricula in the most efficient and effective way .This document is focused in which method is the most adequate to the introduction of sustainability knowledge in the Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications Technologies and Services Engineering of UPC. Moreover, it counts with a revision of current legislation and, an analysis of projects with different scopes - local-university framework (internal UPC’s project to introduce ESD in the university official titles: “Pla Pilot Competència Sostenibilidad i Compromís Social”), state (EDINSOST, project coordinated by the UPC that seeks to advance in innovation education to provide future graduates with the necessary skills to catalyse change towards a more sustainable society) and European (Unite!, European network of universities wanting to transform European higher education into an innovative, and multidisciplinary education) - in order to give a wide perspective of current efforts to introduce ESD. Furthermore, to compare current actions of UPC in the introduction of this new field, polytechnic universities of Spanish territory are analysed through direct interviews and course guidelines revision

Tales of the Lost Worlds: An Immersive Audio Approach to Storytelling

The purpose of ‘Tales of the Lost Worlds: An Immersive Audio Approach to Storytelling’ is to compile an online immersive audio portfolio of three short stories made for YouTube and Facebook. The material is a mixture of pre-existing and new audio and visuals, each focused on an original story. The motivation behind this research is to consolidate a storytelling approach utilizing immersive audio to enrich the experience of a surrealistic world. A variety of techniques and plugins have been researched in order to mix ambisonics. The result is a diverse and coherent portfolio that displays competence in immersive mixing and a future of captivating storytelling.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1217/thumbnail.jp

Verification of Recommendations for the Production and Use of Vision Videos Based on Subjective Video Quality Assessments

Zur erfolgreichen Umsetzung eines Softwareprojekts ist es essenziell, auf Basis von proaktiver Kommunikation, ein gemeinsames Verständnis zwischen Stakeholdern und Entwicklern zu schaffen. Die Anforderungen des Kunden werden hierbei häufig in Form einer schriftlichen Dokumentation erfasst. Allerdings kann es vorkommen, dass bei der Kommunikation auf Basis schriftlicher Dokumentation Missverständnisse entstehen. Ein neuer Ansatz für die Entwicklung eines gemeinsamen Verständnisses sind Vision Videos. Darunter werden Videos verstanden, die Visionen oder Teile des zu entwickelnden Systems darstellen. Durch ihre konkrete Visualisierung des Inhalts bieten sie weniger Interpretationsraum und ermöglichen eine einfache Informationsübermittlung, da bei der Betrachtung von Videos keine Vorkenntnisse nötig sind. Jedoch sind Vision Videos bislang nicht etabliert im Requirements Engineering. Ein möglicher Grund ist das fehlende Wissen der Requirements Engineers bzgl. der Videoproduktion und darüber welche Eigenschaften ein Vision Video „gut“ machen. In dieser Arbeit wird ein Experiment präsentiert, in dem die Umsetzung der Eigenschaften pleasure, focus und image quality in zwei Vision Videos untersucht werden. Dabei wird jeweils ein professionell und ein amateurhaft produziertes Video betrachtet. Es existieren bereits potentielle Empfehlungen für die Videoproduktion von Vision Videos, aber diese wurden lediglich aus einer Analyse bereits existierender Literatur zusammengestellt. Zum einen werden mithilfe der Untersuchung Rückschlüsse auf die Empfehlungen gezogen, um diese zu verifizieren. Die Verifikation basiert auf der Analyse von subjektiven Bewertungen der jeweiligen Eigenschaft, die kontinuierlich während der Wiedergabe der Videos gesammelt worden ist. Zum anderen wird analysiert, ob und inwieweit Unterschiede bei der Umsetzung dieser Eigenschaften zwischen den Videoarten bestehen. Weiterhin wird untersucht, inwiefern die drei untersuchten Eigenschaften Einfluss auf die Gesamtqualität der Videos haben. An dem Experiment haben insgesamt 16 Softwareentwickler und 15 Informatikstudenten teilgenommen. Die Probanden bewerteten die Umsetzung aller drei Eigenschaften eines Videos. Somit wurden insgesamt 93 Bewertungen erfasst. In dem Experiment konnten signifikant positive Zusammenhänge zwischen den genannten Eigenschaften und der Gesamtqualität festgestellt werden. Genauer bedeutet dies, je besser die jeweilige Eigenschaft umgesetzt ist, desto besser ist die Gesamtqualität. Weiterhin wurde festgestellt, dass das professionelle Video eine signifikant besser image quality hat als das amateurhafte Video. Bei den anderen beiden Eigenschaften wurden keine Unterschiede bezüglich ihrer Umsetzung identifiziert. Auf Basis der detaillierten kontinuierlichen Bewertung der Eigenschaften konnten konkrete Videostellen ermittelt werden, die auffallend gute bzw. schlechte Umsetzungen der untersuchten Eigenschaften aus Sicht der Probanden repräsentieren. Die genauere Analyse dieser konkreten Videostellen führte zu der Verifikation von 22 der 52 untersuchten Empfehlungen.For the successful implementation of a software project it is essential to create an equal understanding between stakeholders and developers on the basis of proactive communication. The requirements are often recorded in the form of written documentation. However, misunderstandings can occur during communication based on written documentation. A new approach are Vision Videos. These are videos that represent visions or parts of the system to be developed. Due to their concrete visualization of the content, they offer less room for interpretation and allow for an easy transfer of information, since no previous knowledge is necessary when watching videos. Nevertheless, vision videos are not yet established in requirements engineering. A possible reason is the lack of knowledge of requirements engineers regarding video production and which characteristics define a “good” vision video. In this thesis an experiment is presented in which the implementation of the characteristics pleasure, focus and image quality in two vision videos is examined. One professional and one amateur video will be examined. There are already potential recommendations for the video production of vision videos, but these were only compiled from an analysis of existing literature. On the one hand, the investigation will help to draw conclusions about the recommendations in order to verify them. The verification is based on the analysis of subjective ratings of the respective property, which have been continuously collected during the playback of the videos. On the other hand, it is analyzed whether and to what extent there are differences in the implementation of these characteristics between the video types. Furthermore, it will be examined to what extent the three investigated characteristics have an influence on the overall quality of the videos. A total of 16 software developers and 15 computer science students participated in the experiment. The subjects evaluated the implementation of all three characteristics of a video. Thus a total of 93 evaluations were recorded. The experiment showed significant positive correlations between the mentioned characteristics and the overall quality. This means more exactly, the better the respective characteristic is converted, the better is the total quality. Furthermore, a better image quality was found for the professional than for the amateur video. For the other two characteristics, no differences were identified with respect to their implementation. On the basis of the detailed continuous evaluation of the characteristics, concrete video locations could be determined that represent remarkably good or bad implementations of the examined characteristics from the viewpoint of the test persons. The more exact analysis of these concrete video places led to the verification of 22 of the 52 examined recommendations

Analysis of Video Application in Requirements Engineering Using Semantic Structures

Die Anzahl der wissenschaftlichen Publikationen nimmt jedes Jahr zu, was die Suche nach bestimmten Daten und relevanten Information erschwert. Eine geringe Nachhaltigkeit der Datenbasis bei den aktuell verwendeten Analysemethoden stellt ein Problem für die Forscher dar, wenn ein aktueller Stand der Forschung in einem Forschungsfeld untersucht werden muss. Systematische Literaturrecherche und systematische Mapping-Studie sind aktuell die meist benutzten Methoden, die das Problem lösen sollten. Jedoch bietet keiner von den beiden Methoden nachhaltige und langfristige Aufbereitung der Daten. Außerdem bieten die systematische Literaturrecherche und systematische Mapping-Studie keine Wiederverwendbarkeit. Um einen aktuellen Stand der Forschung zu erhalten nach dem neue Artikel publiziert wurden, müssen diese aufwändigen Methoden jedes Mal neu durchgeführt werden. Als Alternative zu den bereits bekannten Methoden wird in dieser Arbeit Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG) untersucht. ORKG bietet sogenannte Templates, diese ermöglichen das Erzeugen einer semantischen Struktur der jeweiligen Publikation. Damit wiederum lassen sich alle Daten maschinenlesbar machen. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird ein bereits bestehendes Template "Video Process" aufgebaut und an fünfzig wissenschaftlichen Publikationen zum Thema "Production and Use of Videos Requirements Engineering" angewendet. Außerdem werden die Daten der entsprechenden Publikationen mit Hilfe von SPARQL, Schnittstelle von ORKG, abgerufen und in einem Jupyter Notebook graphisch dargestellt. Damit werden die Zusammenhänge von bestimmten Eigenschaften des Video Prozesses analysiert. Die durchgeführte Analyse hat gezeigt, dass es anhand der zur Verfügung gestellten Publikationen zwei Forschungslücken gibt. Das Ergebnis dieser Arbeit bezeichnet ORKG als eine mögliche Lösung um wissenschaftliches Wissen nachhaltig und langfristig zu akquirieren, kuratieren, veröffentlichen und zu verarbeiten.The number of scientific publications is increasing every year, making it difficult to find specific data and relevant information. A low sustainability of the database with the currently used analysis methods poses a problem for the researchers when the current state of research in a research field has to be examined. Systematic literature review and systematic mapping study are currently the most used methods that should solve the problem, but neither of the two methods offers more sustainable and long-term processing of the data. In addition, the systematic literature review and systematic mapping study do not offer any reusability. These time-consuming methods have to be repeated every time new articles are published in order to keep the research up-to-date. As an alternative to the already known methods, Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG) is examined in this work. ORKG offers socalled templates that make it possible to create a semantic structure for the respective publication and also make the data machine-readable. As part of this work, an existing template "Video Process" is set up and applied to 50 scientific publications on the subject of "Production and Use of Videos Requirements Engineering". In addition, the data from the corresponding publications are retrieved using the SPARQL interface of ORKG and displayed graphically in a Jupyter notebook in order to analyze the relationships between certain properties of the video process. The made analysis, based on available publications, has shown that there are two research gaps. The results of this work also describe the ORKG as a possible solution to acquire, curate, publish and process scientific knowledge in a sustainable and long-term manner

Let's put standardisation in practice: accessibility services and interaction

Quality is a subjective attribute. For media accessibility, quality is an agreed benchmark issued by a standardisation agency. The context of work on media accessibility in standardisation agencies is the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), wherein article 9.2 requests States Parties to take appropriate measures, among others “To develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public”. Meeting CRPD requirements has led to many international standardisation agencies to actively produce technical requirements towards accessibility, both for physical and digital/online environments. Technology is developing at a fast pace to produce new interactions, which turn into new communication barriers, some of which might be avoidable. Looking at recommendations from some accessibility standards at the design stage could solve many issues and help towards native accessible technology. This article looks at existing standards related to accessibility and media communication. The first part of the article looks at different standardisation agencies and the need to produce harmonised standards for accessibility at IEC, ITU, ISO and W3C. The second part of the article outlines how standards are produced and implemented at a European level by the European Standardisation Organisations (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI). It then lists existing standards for each media accessibility service: subtitling, audio description, audio subtitling and sign language. Mention is made of Easy to Read as a new emerging accessibility modality. The final part of the article will provide conclusions and directions for further research.La calidad es un atributo subjetivo y, en el caso de la accesibilidad a los medios, es un acuerdo de recomendaciones consensuado en las agencias de estandarización. El artículo 9.2 de la Convención de los derechos de las personas con discapacidad (CRPD) recoge: los Estados Partes tomarán las medidas apropiadas para desarrollar, diseminar y monitorizar la implementación de unos mínimos en estándares y guías de buenas prácticas para lugares y servicios abiertos o suministrados al público. El CRPD es el contexto de trabajo de las agencias internacionales de estandarización para producirlos requisitos técnicos para la accesibilidad, tanto para entornos físicos como digitales. La tecnología se está desarrollando a gran velocidad para permitir nuevas interacciones del usuario con el entorno, que a la vez se convierten en nuevas barreras de comunicación, algunas evitables. Tener en cuenta los estándares de accesibilidad en la fase inicial del diseño y desarrollo ayudaría a que la tecnología fuera accesible desde un inicio. Este artículo analiza los estándares existentes relacionados con la accesibilidad y la comunicación a los medios. La primera parte del artículo revisa la importancia de redactar estándares armonizados para la accesibilidad en cuatro agencias que producen estándares de accesibilidad: IEC, ITU, ISO y W3C. Luego describe cómo las organizaciones europeas de normalización (CEN, CENELEC y ETSI) producen e implementan estándares. En la segunda parte del artículo se presentan los servicios de accesibilidad a los medios: subtitulado para personas sordas, audiodescripción para personas con discapacidad visual, audio subtitulado y lengua de señas. También se menciona la lectura fácil como una nueva modalidad de accesibilidad emergente. En la parte final del artículo se proporcionan conclusiones y direcciones para futuras investigaciones

The State of Digital Media Data Research, 2023

DMD Report website: https://mddatacoop.org/dmd/The purpose of this report is to provide an account of digital media data (DMD) research practices and to highlight its ongoing challenges. We define DMD as data that are collected, extracted, gathered, or scraped from a web-based platform such as a website, social networking site, mobile application, or another virtual space. We break these practices and their challenges into three stages—collection, analysis, and sharing. We argue that continuing digital media data (DMD) research should be guided by four principles: collaboration, transparency, preparation, and consistency. 1. COLLABORATION: Working together on protocols for DMD research can occur across all stages of the research pipeline, including setting norms for data sharing, producing baseline research, and co-developing archives. 2. TRANSPARENCY: Make code and data accessible to other researchers, when possible. Open-source software development is especially helpful for advancing research in a transparent manner. Given the cost for collecting, storing, and analyzing DMD, we also encourage researchers to provide these details in their publications. 3. PREPARATION: Researchers should anticipate the risks or challenges to collecting, analyzing, and reporting on DMD. Emerging methods for data collection, such as donated data, provide a new mechanism for studying user-consented data. 4. CONSISTENCY: We end with this principle because it builds on the aforementioned three as, when researchers are collaborative, transparent and prepared, research approaches will be more consistent, allowing us to compare across studies and identify situational contexts that require nuanced protocol.This work has been generously supported by the Social Science Research Council.Journalis

Advancing Ehealth Education for the Clinical Health Professions

This is the final report of a project that aimed to encourage and support program coordinators and directors of Australian undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs in all allied health, nursing and medical professions to address the need for Ehealth education for entry-level clinical health professionals

Architecture of participation : the realization of the Semantic Web, and Internet OS

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, February 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-68).The Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) is becoming an integral part of our daily life and touching every part of the society around the world including both well-developed and developing countries. The simple technology and genuine intention of the original WWW, which is to help researchers share and exchange information and data across incompatible platforms and systems, have evolved into something larger and beyond what one could conceive. While WWW has reached the critical mass, many limitations are uncovered. To address the limitations, the development of its extension, the Semantic Web, has been underway for more than five years by the inventor of WWW, Tim Berners-Lee, and the technical community. Yet, no significant impact has been made. Its awareness by the public is surprisingly and unfortunately low. This thesis will review the development effort of the Semantic Web, examine its progress which appears lagging compared to WWW, and propose a promising business model to accelerate its adoption path.by Shelley Lau.S.M

New approach to design and assess metaverse environments for improving learning processes in higher education: the case of architectural construction and rehabilitation

This research paper has defined and applied a new approach to develop and optimize augmented reality-based metaverse environments for learning construction and rehabilitation in architectural studies. This research paper is part of a broader project that aims to improve the learning process of architectural students by approaching construction and rehabilitation realities to the classroom in a feasible and pedagogical way. The approach has been applied successfully to develop a new environment with augmented reality that allows teachers to carry out activities using com puters, tablets, cellphones and smartphone headsets in classrooms. Students’ satisfaction regarding the new environment is high, though there is room for improvement. The assessment of this new environment has involved both questionnaires and a multicriteria decision-making method which have holistically evaluated the new proposal by achieving complementary results. The main advantages of this new environment are in terms of application and inclusion, while its weaknesses will be solved in future steps that will introduce both mixed reality, to enlarge students’ perception and comprehension, as well as neuroeducation, to diminish students’ potential annoyances and dissatisfaction.Postprint (published version