Human-computer interaction for development (HCI4D):the Southern African landscape

Human-Computer interaction for development (HCI4D) research aims to maximise the usability of interfaces for interacting with technologies designed specifically for under-served, under-resourced, and under-represented populations. In this paper we provide a snapshot of the Southern African HCI4D research against the background of the global HCI4D research landscape.We commenced with a systematic literature review of HCI4D (2010-2017) then surveyed Southern African researchers working in the area. The contribution is to highlight the context- specific themes and challenges that emerged from our investigation

Trainee teachers’ perceptions on cyberbullying in educational contexts

This paper analyzes the perceptions of teachers in training regarding cyberbullying in schools. The objectives of the study were: to ascertain their perceptions regarding their concern and their commitment to cyberbullying, their agreement with the measures to address it in educational contexts, as well as the assessment of their capabilities to act and the training they have received and they would like to receive; to determine if the perceptions differ according to gender, age and degree pursued and if there are relationships between the perceptions; and, to define pre-service teachers’ profiles based on perceptions. With a survey research design, 408 students from different undergraduate and graduate education-related degree programs at Spanish public universities participated. Findings highlight the coexistence of three different teacher in training profiles. All profiles exhibit a high level of concern and recognize cyberbullying as a problem. They strongly agree with all the proposed prevention and management measures. Two of the three profiles perceive themselves as highly confident and willing to respond. On the contrary, participants in the third profile do not feel confident enough to act and consider their training insufficient, coinciding with the second profile. The need to approach this issue in the initial training of future education professionals is a main conclusion

A Systematic Literature Review on Image Information Needs and Behaviors

Purpose: With ready access to search engines and social media platforms, the way people find image information has evolved and diversified in the past two decades. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on image information needs and behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: Following an eight-step procedure for conducting systematic literature reviews, the paper presents an analysis of peer-reviewed work on image information needs and behaviors, with publications ranging from the years 1997 to 2019. Findings: Application of the inclusion criteria led to 69 peer-reviewed works. These works were synthesized according to the following categories: research methods, users targeted, image types, identified needs, search behaviors, and search obstacles. The reviewed studies show that people seek and use images for multiple reasons, including entertainment, illustration, aesthetic appreciation, knowledge construction, engagement, inspiration, and social interactions. The reviewed studies also report that common strategies for image searches include keyword searches with short queries, browsing, specialization, and reformulation. Observed trends suggest common deployment of query analysis, survey questionnaires, and undergraduate participant pools to research image information needs and behavior. Originality: At this point, after more than two decades of image information needs research, a holistic systematic review of the literature was long overdue. The way users find image information has evolved and diversified due to technological developments in image retrieval. By synthesizing this burgeoning field into specific foci, this systematic literature review provides a foundation for future empirical investigation. With this foundation set, the paper then pinpoints key research gaps to investigate, particularly the influence of user expertise, a need for more diverse population samples, a dearth of qualitative data, new search features, and information and visual literacies instruction

A Democracy of Children’s Literature Critics? The Opportunities and Risks of Paying Attention to Open Reviews and Mass Discussion

Drawing on the outputs of a wider democracy of online reviewers presents the academic study of children’s literature with opportunities and challenges, and can enhance critical discussion. As it is now easy to locate a large number of online reviews, it is argued that children’s literature studies needs to make room for a wider range of critical voices. This article reports on the work of two cohorts of over a thousand students. Each cohort, in consecutive years, researched online reviews as part of their studies in contemporary children’s literature on a one year part-time module at a distance learning university. Despite the perceived lack of status of non-academic, non-professional critiques, students’ and tutors’ experiences of these tasks showed the value of researching online reviews. This work also allowed for alternative forms of writing and assessment alongside more conventional academic essays, and encouraged students to develop their skills of critical digital literacy. Module leaders recommended basic initial research methods for student use, but for more extensive or larger scale research it will be important to address methodological issues and understand how online reviewer communities operate. Such changes in approaches to teaching and learning also need to take into account the issues surrounding social media usage, ownership and control

An Analysis of Interactive Technology’s Effect on the Appreciation of Traditional Chinese Painting: A Review of Case Studies

From a perspective of safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, this paper discusses how to enhance the appreciation of traditional Chinese painting through the support of interactive technology. The author analyses extensive yet current case studies based on the findings from the interactive appreciation of and engagement with paintings. The author then summarises four aspects of how to design interactive technology in order to support the appreciation of and engagement with traditional Chinese paintings: (1) deepening the aesthetic understanding of traditional Chinese paintings should not be a neglected aspect during the design process; (2) current case studies have not considered distinguishing the user experience between professional artists and amateurs (who are unskilled at painting); (3) it is vital to exploit interactive technology to improve the originality and subtlety of traditional Chinese painting; and (4) employing interactive systems to engage users in participatory appreciation (through encouraging them to talk about art or discussing their understanding of it) could provide potential design insights for future studies

Microscopy with ultraviolet surface excitation for rapid slide-free histology.

Histologic examination of tissues is central to the diagnosis and management of neoplasms and many other diseases, and is a foundational technique for preclinical and basic research. However, commonly used bright-field microscopy requires prior preparation of micrometre-thick tissue sections mounted on glass slides, a process that can require hours or days, that contributes to cost, and that delays access to critical information. Here, we introduce a simple, non-destructive slide-free technique that within minutes provides high-resolution diagnostic histological images resembling those obtained from conventional haematoxylin-and-eosin-histology. The approach, which we named microscopy with ultraviolet surface excitation (MUSE), can also generate shape and colour-contrast information. MUSE relies on ~280-nm ultraviolet light to restrict the excitation of conventional fluorescent stains to tissue surfaces, and it has no significant effects on downstream molecular assays (including fluorescence in situ hybridization and RNA-seq). MUSE promises to improve the speed and efficiency of patient care in both state-of-the-art and low-resource settings, and to provide opportunities for rapid histology in research

Peer review of learning designs: Interdisciplinary SoTEL

For academics participating in graduate certificates of higher education, the advice and feedback of their teacher peers is a potentially powerful resource. This paper reports on an evaluation-in-progress of one subject in a graduate certificate for university teaching, a fully online unit on the scholarship of technology-enhanced learning (SoTEL). Two demands are made of participants in this unit: that they should develop a prototype activity using technology for learning and teaching, and that they should review and receive a review from a class peer to enhance these individual prototypes. The assumption at the heart of this unit design is that, by undertaking a review of a colleague’s learning design, the teacher learns from these additional perspectives and can then improve their own designs for learning. Challenging this assumption are multiple aspects of the context, including the relative value of design reviews from academic developers versus less experienced peers; the multiple criteria by which a design might be evaluated; and interdisciplinary work between peers. Artefacts from participants and the academic developers teaching them are analysed to probe this underlying assumption, and to consider the value of peer review in SoTEL

Smartphone applications for physical activity promotion from physical education

Smartphone applications (apps) are thought to be an adequate instructional strategy not only to improve the quality of the teaching in physical education (PE), but also to efectively promote leisure-time physical activity (PA) of adolescent students in this context. Although the use of smartphone apps has been generalized in PE, little is known about the curricular approach of smartphone apps to be implemented by teacher to teach specifc curricular contents in PE lessons. Therefore, the aim of this research was threefold: a) to conduct a systematic search for smartphone apps focused on PA and sport; b) to assess the features, content and quality of every included smartphone app; and c) to analyze the relationships between every selected app and the secondary PE curriculum. Systematic searches were completed on Google Play Store from January 2021 to March 2021. Apps were included when they met: main goal focused on PA and sport; permitted use by underage; they are free; user scores of at least 4. The app selection process was carried out by several reviewers and concordance measures were estimated. Additionally, an app quality assessment was independently conducted by three reviewers. A total of 18 apps focused on PA were included. Particularly, eight apps were suitable for ftness, health and quality of life curricular content; two for sports content; four for body expression content; and four apps for outdoor PA content. The mean quality score was 4.00. Apps could be helpful for teachers to implement the secondary PE curriculum and efectively promote PA among adolescent students.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA. Rafael Burgueño is, specifcally, supported by a “Margarita Salas” postdoctoral fellowship (grant number: RR_A_2021_02) from the Spanish Ministry of Universities. Adriana Nielsen-Rodríguez is supported by “Formación del Profesorado Universitario” grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (Spain), grant number FPU17/01554

Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae of Dr. James Edward Osler I