COSPO/CENDI Industry Day Conference

The conference's objective was to provide a forum where government information managers and industry information technology experts could have an open exchange and discuss their respective needs and compare them to the available, or soon to be available, solutions. Technical summaries and points of contact are provided for the following sessions: secure products, protocols, and encryption; information providers; electronic document management and publishing; information indexing, discovery, and retrieval (IIDR); automated language translators; IIDR - natural language capabilities; IIDR - advanced technologies; IIDR - distributed heterogeneous and large database support; and communications - speed, bandwidth, and wireless

Complexity and physical activity policy: considerations for theory and practice.

Background: Complex systems perspectives have been increasingly adopted to address physical inactivity. Within this, myriad policy actions are deemed important for supporting population physical activity and creating so-called ‘active systems.’ I argue that complexity and systems-thinking have, prior to this thesis, predominantly been applied uncritically and with insufficient consideration of the agents who influence, and are influenced by, the complexity of the physical activity policy environment. There is the need to connect different strands of research, specifically in relation to physical activity policy, evidence-informed Public Health, and complexity. Aim: My research aimed to critically assess the understanding and application of complexity theories as a basis for evidence-informed physical activity policy efforts. Specifically, I sought to interrogate the suitability of complexity theories for influencing, developing and implementing physical activity policies; identify conditions that enable more effective complex systems approaches to physical activity policy and programmes; and in doing so, extend understanding concerning complexity theories and their application. Theory and methods: Central to my theoretical position has been a reflexive process in which I have located myself within the wider physical activity and Public Health research landscape, and crucially the system I seek to change. This thesis is underpinned by a complex realist ontology, and epistemologically I draw on the notion of different lenses of evidence about policy issues. Methodologically, I employed qualitative and action-orientated methods to explore individuals’ agency and experiences of the physical activity policy system. My own observations and experiences are discussed through a theoretical pluralism. Study 1: I explored the processes, values and experiences of physical activity policy-makers in UK national government, in relation to complexity, and how they sought to foster system change. I conducted 10 semi-structured interviews. Three overarching themes were constructed and emphasised that while the idea of complex systems permeated the physical activity sector, uncertainty as to the meaning of complexity and its implications may preclude its application in ways that enhance physical activity policies and programmes. I highlight problematic practices and identify potentially important mechanisms to support system change. Study 2: This study was originally a preliminary component of an action research project that was curtailed by the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. Through five in-depth semi-structured interviews, I examined how local partnerships can be used more effectively to improve the implementation of national physical activity policies. Specifically, I extended knowledge by providing a critical reflection on system leadership, demonstrating how it is enabled and strengthened, how it links to implementation, and how changes in systemic practices and cultures can be stimulated in the physical activity policy domain. Study 3: This study responded to outstanding gaps in the evidence, in particular the ongoing uncertainty around the practical applications of complexity theories and systems perspectives. In-keeping with my intended action-orientated approach, I convened a workshop with 19 international experts (from research, policy and practice) to critically reflect on my previous research, drawing attention to issues of conceptual purity and discord between the theory and practice of complexity in the physical activity policy domain. Thereafter, the workshop explored how to optimise the application of complex systems approaches to physical activity policy, by focusing on the action of knowledge mobilisers. Analysis led to the creation of four propositions for advancing complexity theories and systems-based approaches, which set out important considerations concerning the how, when, and why of applying these perspectives. Concluding remarks: The general discussion is presented not as a line in the sand, but as both an advancement on previous thinking, and reflection on these and empirical contributions that remain a work in progress. Specifically, I set out current conceptualisations of complexity theories as they pertain to physical activity policy, and discuss considerations for future practice. I conclude by arguing that a reorientation of efforts across research, policy and practice toward agency, mobilisation and application of complex systems perspectives in physical activity policy settings will strengthen collective impact

Enhancing Free-text Interactions in a Communication Skills Learning Environment

Learning environments frequently use gamification to enhance user interactions.Virtual characters with whom players engage in simulated conversations often employ prescripted dialogues; however, free user inputs enable deeper immersion and higher-order cognition. In our learning environment, experts developed a scripted scenario as a sequence of potential actions, and we explore possibilities for enhancing interactions by enabling users to type free inputs that are matched to the pre-scripted statements using Natural Language Processing techniques. In this paper, we introduce a clustering mechanism that provides recommendations for fine-tuning the pre-scripted answers in order to better match user inputs

Beyond Participatory Design for Service Robotics

The spread of technologies as Cloud and Distributed Computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning techniques comes with highly disruptive innovation potential and consequent design imperatives. High connectivity of devices and machines is shaping not only sensing and monitoring capabilities, but also describing ever more ubiquitous and diffuse computing capabilities, affecting decision-making with a wide range of assisting tools and methods. With the scaling potential of moving beyond its contemporary application such as industrial facilities monitoring, precision farming and agriculture, healthcare and risk management scenarios, RaaS is bound to involve an increasingly fluid and diverse range of users, shaping new socio-technical systems where practices, habits and relationships will evolve in respect to its adoption. On these premises, applied research at Polytechnic Interdepartmental Centre for Service Robotics in Turin, Italy, focuses on the development of a service robotics platform able to operate on the local scale and capable of adapting to evolving scenarios

The Big Five:Addressing Recurrent Multimodal Learning Data Challenges

The analysis of multimodal data in learning is a growing field of research, which has led to the development of different analytics solutions. However, there is no standardised approach to handle multimodal data. In this paper, we describe and outline a solution for five recurrent challenges in the analysis of multimodal data: the data collection, storing, annotation, processing and exploitation. For each of these challenges, we envision possible solutions. The prototypes for some of the proposed solutions will be discussed during the Multimodal Challenge of the fourth Learning Analytics & Knowledge Hackathon, a two-day hands-on workshop in which the authors will open up the prototypes for trials, validation and feedback

Multimodal Challenge: Analytics Beyond User-computer Interaction Data

This contribution describes one the challenges explored in the Fourth LAK Hackathon. This challenge aims at shifting the focus from learning situations which can be easily traced through user-computer interactions data and concentrate more on user-world interactions events, typical of co-located and practice-based learning experiences. This mission, pursued by the multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) community, seeks to bridge the gap between digital and physical learning spaces. The “multimodal” approach consists in combining learners’ motoric actions with physiological responses and data about the learning contexts. These data can be collected through multiple wearable sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This Hackathon table will confront with three main challenges arising from the analysis and valorisation of multimodal datasets: 1) the data collection and storing, 2) the data annotation, 3) the data processing and exploitation. Some research questions which will be considered in this Hackathon challenge are the following: how to process the raw sensor data streams and extract relevant features? which data mining and machine learning techniques can be applied? how can we compare two action recordings? How to combine sensor data with Experience API (xAPI)? what are meaningful visualisations for these data

EVA London 2022: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

The Electronic Visualisation and the Arts London 2022 Conference (EVA London 2022) is co-sponsored by the Computer Arts Society (CAS) and BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, of which the CAS is a Specialist Group. Of course, this has been a difficult time for all conferences, with the Covid-19 pandemic. For the first time since 2019, the EVA London 2022 Conference is a physical conference. It is also an online conference, as it was in the previous two years. We continue with publishing the proceedings, both online, with open access via ScienceOpen, and also in our traditional printed form, for the second year in full colour. Over recent decades, the EVA London Conference on Electronic Visualisation and the Arts has established itself as one of the United Kingdom’s most innovative and interdisciplinary conferences. It brings together a wide range of research domains to celebrate a diverse set of interests, with a specialised focus on visualisation. The long and short papers in this volume cover varied topics concerning the arts, visualisations, and IT, including 3D graphics, animation, artificial intelligence, creativity, culture, design, digital art, ethics, heritage, literature, museums, music, philosophy, politics, publishing, social media, and virtual reality, as well as other related interdisciplinary areas. The EVA London 2022 proceedings presents a wide spectrum of papers, demonstrations, Research Workshop contributions, other workshops, and for the seventh year, the EVA London Symposium, in the form of an opening morning session, with three invited contributors. The conference includes a number of other associated evening events including ones organised by the Computer Arts Society, Art in Flux, and EVA International. As in previous years, there are Research Workshop contributions in this volume, aimed at encouraging participation by postgraduate students and early-career artists, accepted either through the peer-review process or directly by the Research Workshop chair. The Research Workshop contributors are offered bursaries to aid participation. In particular, EVA London liaises with Art in Flux, a London-based group of digital artists. The EVA London 2022 proceedings includes long papers and short “poster” papers from international researchers inside and outside academia, from graduate artists, PhD students, industry professionals, established scholars, and senior researchers, who value EVA London for its interdisciplinary community. The conference also features keynote talks. A special feature this year is support for Ukrainian culture after its invasion earlier in the year. This publication has resulted from a selective peer review process, fitting as many excellent submissions as possible into the proceedings. This year, submission numbers were lower than previous years, mostly likely due to the pandemic and a new requirement to submit drafts of long papers for review as well as abstracts. It is still pleasing to have so many good proposals from which to select the papers that have been included. EVA London is part of a larger network of EVA international conferences. EVA events have been held in Athens, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, California, Cambridge (both UK and USA), Canberra, Copenhagen, Dallas, Delhi, Edinburgh, Florence, Gifu (Japan), Glasgow, Harvard, Jerusalem, Kiev, Laval, London, Madrid, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Paris, Prague, St Petersburg, Thessaloniki, and Warsaw. Further venues for EVA conferences are very much encouraged by the EVA community. As noted earlier, this volume is a record of accepted submissions to EVA London 2022. Associated online presentations are in general recorded and made available online after the conference