Agents for educational games and simulations

This book consists mainly of revised papers that were presented at the Agents for Educational Games and Simulation (AEGS) workshop held on May 2, 2011, as part of the Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems (AAMAS) conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The 12 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized topical sections on middleware applications, dialogues and learning, adaption and convergence, and agent applications

Digital libraries on an iPod: Beyond the client-server model

This paper describes an experimental system that enhanced an iPod with digital library capabilities. Using the open source digital library software Greenstone as a base, this paper more specifically maps out the technical steps necessary to achieve this, along with an account of our subsequent experimentation. This included command-line usage of Greenstone's basic runtime system on the device, augmenting the iPod’s main interactive menu-driven application to include searching and hierarchical browsing of digital library collections stored locally, and a selection of "launcher" applications for target documents such as text files, images and audio. Media rich applications for digital stories and collaging were also developed. We also configured the iPod to run as a web server to provide digital library content to others over a network, effectively turning the traditional mobile client-server upsidedown

Innovative collaborative design in international interaction design summer schools

[About the book]: Design is changing, and to educate the next generation of designers, these changes need to be addressed. In light of the growing role research and interdisciplinary collaboration play in contemporary design performance, Design Integrations calls for an innovative shake up in design education. Poggenpohl asserts that design research is developed through a typology within academic and business contexts, and follows different research theories and strategies. Such issues in design collaboration are explored in-depth, with essays on an inter-institutional academic project, cross-cultural learning experiences, and a multi-national healthcare project, demonstrating the importance of shared values, interdisciplinary negotiated process and clear communication for tomorrow’s designers

Characteristics of pervasive learning environments in museum contexts

There is no appropriate learning model for pervasive learning environments (PLEs), and museums maintain authenticity at the cost of unmarked information. To address these problems, we present the LieksaMyst PLE developed for Pielinen Museum and we derive a set of characteristics that an effective PLE should meet and which form the basis of a new learning model currently under development. We discuss how the characteristics are addressed in LieksaMyst and present an evaluation of the game component of LieksaMyst. Results indicate that, while some usability issues remain to be resolved, the game was received well by the participants enabling them to immerse themselves in the story and to interact effectively with its virtual characters

Block-Based Development of Mobile Learning Experiences for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things enables experts of given domains to create smart user experiences for interacting with the environment. However, development of such experiences requires strong programming skills, which are challenging to develop for non-technical users. This paper presents several extensions to the block-based programming language used in App Inventor to make the creation of mobile apps for smart learning experiences less challenging. Such apps are used to process and graphically represent data streams from sensors by applying map-reduce operations. A workshop with students without previous experience with Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile app programming was conducted to evaluate the propositions. As a result, students were able to create small IoT apps that ingest, process and visually represent data in a simpler form as using App Inventor's standard features. Besides, an experimental study was carried out in a mobile app development course with academics of diverse disciplines. Results showed it was faster and easier for novice programmers to develop the proposed app using new stream processing blocks.Spanish National Research Agency (AEI) - ERDF fund

The Value of User-Visible Internet Cryptography

Cryptographic mechanisms are used in a wide range of applications, including email clients, web browsers, document and asset management systems, where typical users are not cryptography experts. A number of empirical studies have demonstrated that explicit, user-visible cryptographic mechanisms are not widely used by non-expert users, and as a result arguments have been made that cryptographic mechanisms need to be better hidden or embedded in end-user processes and tools. Other mechanisms, such as HTTPS, have cryptography built-in and only become visible to the user when a dialogue appears due to a (potential) problem. This paper surveys deployed and potential technologies in use, examines the social and legal context of broad classes of users, and from there, assesses the value and issues for those users

Softer perspectives on enhancing the patient experience using IS/IT

Purpose – This paper aims to argue that the implementation of the Choose and Book system has failed due to the inability of project sponsors to appreciate the complex and far-reaching softer implications of the implementation, especially in a complex organisation such as the NHS, which has multifarious stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use practice-oriented research to try and isolate key parameters. These parameters are compared with existing conventional thinking in a number of focused areas. Findings – Like many previous NHS initiatives, the focus of this system is in its obvious link to patients. However we find that although this project has cultural, social and organisational implications, programme managers and champions of the Connecting for Health programme emphasised the technical domains to IS/IT adoption. Research limitations/implications – This paper has been written in advance of a fully implemented Choose and Book system. Practical implications – The paper requests that more attention be paid to the softer side of IS/IT delivery, implementation, introduction and adoption. Originality/value – The paper shows that patient experience within the UK healthcare sector is still well below what is desired

A pilot study of test driven development

textTest Driven Development is a software technique which uses automated unit tests to drive software design and to force decoupling of dependencies. This report describes the pilot study that was conducted to understand Test Driven Development process and to evaluate its pros and cons before adopting it completely across the software team. The goal of the pilot study was to use TDD principles to build part of a real life software project - in particular, to completely implement 3 user stories - and to evaluate the resulting software. The main questions being discussed are - Is it feasible to adopt TDD in the development of a real life system with databases and UI? How easy is it to convert a user story into a set of unit tests? Can a set of unit tests adequately represent a user story or are requirements lost in translation?Electrical and Computer Engineerin