Finding a Midpoint between Civil and Military Use. The Case of Villaputzu (Sardinia, Italy)

The paper addresses the issue of the concurrent use of areas for military and civil activities. In particular, the paper analyzes the effect of planning tools on the valorization of a territorial enclave, namely a military training area located in the coastal area of the municipality of Villaputzu (South Sardinia, Italy), that is, moreover, a Site of Community Importance. In this area, thanks to an institutional agreements between the Municipal Administration of Villaputzu and the Ministry of Defense, has been possible define the coexisting ways where is an important coastal military easement. and the use of the coast for recreational tourism purposes through a specific planning tool. In this specific case, the Local Coastline Plan (LCP) has been identified as the planning tool, which better addresses the co-existence of apparently opposite land uses and interests, as those expressed by the local municipality and those expressed by the military hierarchy. The assessment method is based on the capacity of the Local Coastline Plan (LCP) and the Site of CommunityInterest Management Plan (SCIMP) to create ecosystem services in the military enclave. The evaluation of the LCP and SCIMP shows how their combined action favors the environmental enhancement of territory, contributing to the formation of ecosystem services, The area, initially subject to different constraint (military easements and SIC rules) evolve, by that way, from ‘anticommons’ to ‘semicommons’, guaranteeing sustainable renewal of economic development of the area and looking to become ‘commons’ through planning of ecosystem services

Collaborative design in virtual environments

How can architects and engineers work together in the digital world? The article "Collaborative Design in Virtual Environments" provides an answer. The authors describe how the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) is becoming increasingly important in the architecture industry and what opportunities this opens up. In particular, the article focuses on collaboration in virtual spaces and collaborative modeling of 3D objects. The authors also present a software tool that enables collaborative 3D modeling in virtual environments. The aim of the "Industry 4.0 in Teaching" project is to promote collaboration and joint learning and to prepare students for the requirements of the digital working world. (Editor)Wie können Architekten und Ingenieure in der digitalen Welt zusammenarbeiten? Eine Antwort darauf liefert der Artikel "Collaborative Design in Virtual Environments". Die Autoren beschreiben, wie die Anwendung von Virtual Reality (VR) und Augmented Reality (AR) in der Architekturbranche immer wichtiger wird und welche Möglichkeiten sich daraus ergeben. Insbesondere die Zusammenarbeit in virtuellen Räumen und die gemeinsame Modellierung von 3D-Objekten stehen im Fokus des Artikels. Die Autoren stellen außerdem ein Software-Tool vor, das die kollaborative 3D-Modellierung in virtuellen Umgebungen ermöglicht. Das Ziel des Projekts "Industry 4.0 in Teaching" ist es, die Zusammenarbeit und das gemeinsame Lernen zu fördern und die Studierenden auf die Anforderungen der digitalen Arbeitswelt vorzubereiten. (Herausgeber

Asynchronous industrial collaboration : How virtual reality and virtual tools aid the process of maintenance method development and documentation creation

In the light of Industry 4.0, the field of Industrial Maintenance faces a large digital transformation, adopting Extended Reality (XR) technologies to aid industrial operations. For the manufacturing corporations that provide maintenance services, the efficiency of industrial maintenance plays a crucial role in the competitiveness and is tightly related to the technical documentation supporting maintenance. However, the process of documentation creation faces several challenges due to lack of access to the physical equipment and difficulties in remote communication between globally distributed departments. To address these shortcomings, this research investigates the utilization of Virtual Reality (VR) to facilitate asynchronous collaboration of globally dispersed departments involved in the pipeline of maintenance method and documentation creation. The presented proof-of-concept (the COVE-VR platform) has been developed as an academia-industry collaboration and evaluated iteratively with subject matter experts. The proposed VR platform consists of two virtual environments and eight virtual tools, which allow interaction with virtual prototypes (3D CAD models) and means of digital content creation. Our findings show the high relevance of the developed solution for the needs of industrial departments and the ability to support asynchronous collaboration among them. This article delivers qualitative findings on the value of VR technology and presents guidelines on how to develop virtual tools for digital content creation within VR, adaptable to other industrial contexts. We suggest providing embedded guidance and design consistency to ensure smooth interactions with virtual tools and further discuss the importance of proper positioning, the transparency of operations and the information property of generated content.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Toward Efficient Academia-Industry Collaboration: A Case Study of Joint VR System Development

Collaborative academia-industry development and evaluation of virtual reality (VR) systems is a mutually beneficial opportunity to investigate VR technology in a real context and conduct user studies with target users. However, such collaboration is rarely performed due to variations in project pace and work methods. In this article, we introduce the process of action research on joint design, development, and evaluation of a collaborative VR system to address industrial needs. The paper further presents employees’ subjective opinions and perceived value of industrial VR applica- tions and reflects on their involvement throughout the process. The article concludes with a process-oriented framework for remote academia-industry collaboration, supported with practical sugges- tions on how to support this collaboration. Our experiences reveal the methods and advantages of remote collaboration in all phases of the process and signify the efficiency of the remote framework for academia-industry collaboration, especially relevant in the light of the COVID-19 pandemiaacceptedVersionPeer reviewe

The Benefits of Extended Reality for Technical Communication : Utilizing XR for Maintenance Documentation Creation and Delivery

The main goal of this dissertation is to explore the benefits of extended reality for technical communication. Both of these fields offer opportunities and also pose challenges to each other, and this dissertation provides insight into this relationship. The research was initiated by the author’s personal interest in both fields and also human-technology interaction and user needs in general. Even though this is an academic dissertation, it is first and foremost a practitioner’s view of these evolving technologies and their potential uses in industry and, specifically, in industrial maintenance and technical communication. Under the umbrella of extended reality and technical communication, this dissertation focuses on two main themes. The first part studies virtual reality as a technology to facilitate collaboration and digital content creation for technical documentation in industrial companies, and the second part explores the possibilities of augmented reality and smart glasses as a delivery channel for maintenance instructions. The developed concepts were tested by domain experts in user tests. The overall results of testing were positive, and domain experts expressed enthusiasm toward the concepts and technologies in general. The technical documentation process is an inherently collaborative process involving stakeholders from different teams and organizations, and virtual reality was evaluated to have a positive effect on that process, especially in the case of globally scattered teams. The developed tools were also rated positively for digital content creation. Therefore, virtual reality offers many benefits for technical documentation creation, an area where it has not been utilized until now. On the augmented reality side, domain experts were generally enthusiastic about the use of smart glasses even though the technologies are not yet mature enough for field use in industrial maintenance. Furthermore, the results show that content created in the technical communications industry standard, DITA XML, works well when delivered to smart glasses, and the same content can be single sourced to other delivery channels. The use of DITA XML, therefore, eliminates the need to tailor content for each delivery channel separately, and offers an effective way to create and update content for AR applications in industrial companies. This, in turn, can advance the use of AR technologies and related devices in field operations in industrial companies. In conclusion, the findings of this dissertation show that the fields of technical communication and extended reality have a significant amount of synergy. In this dissertation I establish use cases and guidelines for these areas

The national palace museum as a case study for client-and-industry collaboration in the design and development of museum products

Since 1970s, contemporary museums have taken a far more active role in promoting themselves through management and marketing than before. Several internationally wellknown museums, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have been undergoing this process. The National Palace Museum (NPM) is also following this trend. Since 2008 the NPM has played the role of promoting cultural and creative industries based on Taiwan government policy. Under the concept of “Old is New” introduced by the NPM, the museum hopes to engage younger audiences in Chinese culture and promote its image and collection by holding museum product design competitions and the “Workshop for cultural and creative development” to interpret ancient creativity by contemporary design concept. By collaborating with industry, the NPM hopes to engage and nurture young talented designers in Chinese culture, and market its brand through the designers’ creative interpretation of the museum collection. This research focuses on the NPM and the “Workshop for cultural and creative development” as case study. The NPM workshop aims at educating and nurturing designers with knowledge of Chinese culture through its collection so that the designers can present new interpretations of old designs. The workshop was examined for the collaboration between the NPM and five selected design companies that participated in the development of museum products. Qualitative data collected from interviews with NPM staff and design companies were analysed to identify the various levels of collaboration and responses, and types of outcomes in relation to the museum’s aims. Research findings show that various issues affected design process and the collaborations between the NPM and participating companies, such as the interpretation of collection, creativity of design concepts, and difficulties in production. Design companies also responded to the workshop in different ways. The workshop is also a channel not only for the NPM to seek potential partnership, but also provides participants with an opportunity to collaborate with the Museum. Nevertheless the workshop demonstrates potential as a management strategy to facilitate the relationship between the NPM and the cultural and creative industry in the design and development of museum products

Multimodal E-learning: An empirical study

This empirical work aims to investigate the impact of using multimodal communication metaphors on e-learning systems’ usability, overall user experience and affective state. The study proposed a triple evaluation approach to avoid the problem of conventional assessment relying only on usability measurements of efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfactions. Usability in that sense refers only to the functionality and pragmatic side of the product and neglects other aspects of the system. Learning is a cognitive and repetitive task, requiring learners’ attention as well as their interest. Therefore, when delivering content, in addition to the pragmatic functionality, an e-learning system should provide a constructive overall user experience and positive affective state. Doing so will ensure user engagement, facilitate the learning process and increase learners’ performance. The impact of using five different communication metaphors was evaluated in three dimensions using the proposed approach. Within the usability dimension, the evaluation criteria involved measuring system efficiency, effectiveness, user satisfaction and learning performance. Within the user experience dimension, the evaluation criteria involved measuring pragmatic aspects of the user experience, the hedonic aspects of user experience in terms of stimulation as well as identification and the overall system attractiveness. Within the affective state dimension a self-assessments manikin technique was used in conjunction with biofeedback measurements, and users’ valence, arousal and dominance were measured. The study found that system attractiveness and the hedonic user experience had a profound impact on users’ learning performance and attitude toward the tested system. Furthermore, they influenced users’ views and judgement of the system and its usability. The communication metaphors were not equal in their influence within the evaluation criteria. Empirically derived guidelines were produced for the use and integration of these metaphors in e-learning systems. The outcome of the study highlights the need to use the triple evaluation approach in the assessment of e-learning interfaces prior to their release for better adoption and acceptance by end users

Situiertes Lernen im Studium. Didaktische Konzepte und Fallbeispiele einer erfahrungsbasierten Hochschullehre

Situiertes Lernen ist das zentrale didaktische Prinzip, um Hochschulstudierende für die Berufstätigkeit zu qualifizieren. In dem Sammelband wird das Konzept des Erfahrungslernens theoretisch eingeordnet und anhand von Praxisbeispielen vorgestellt. In der Hochschullehre vollzieht sich seit einigen Jahren eine paradigmatische Wende zum Erfahrungslernen ("experiential turn"), die durch digitale Lernformen noch beschleunigt wird. Das didaktische Prinzip des projektbezogenen Studierens, in dem eigene Forschung zu Erfahrung wird, funktioniert ebenso im virtuellen Raum. Schwerpunkt des Sammelbandes sind akademische Lehr- und Lernsituationen, die räumliche und institutionelle Grenzen für experimentelle und explorative Studienmöglichkeiten öffnen. Die Beiträge über Theorie und (lehr-)organisatorische Praxis des situierten Lernens richten sich an Hochschullehrende, an Personen aus Bildungspolitik und Studiengangmanagement. (Herausgeber)"Situated learning" is the central didactic principle for qualifying university students for professional life. In this anthology, the concept of experiential learning is theoretically classified and presented with practical examples. For some years now, a paradigmatic turn towards experiential learning has been taking place in university teaching, which is being accelerated by digital forms of learning. The didactic principle of project-based studying, in which one\u27s own research becomes experience, also works in virtual space. The focus of the anthology is on academic teaching and learning situations that open spatial and institutional boundaries for experimental and explorative study possibilities. The contributions on theory and (teaching) organizational practice of situated learning are addressed to university teachers, to people from educational policy and study program management. (Editor

Housing quality and lost (public) space in Croatia

IN ENGLISH: In the post-socialist period and within the current social transition context, urban and rural Croatia has, just like other transition countries, experienced many changes in the social structure and space. One example is the housing quality which is a replica of the situation in the Croatian society and has also undergone some major changes. Socially oriented housing construction co-financed by the state and the cities is in an unfavourable position compared to private housing construction. In the last twenty years the amount of the social housing construction has been only a minor part of the total contruction work in the country. For instance, out of nine newly planned residential housing developments in Zagreb, the capital city, only three have been completed and the work on the rest of them has stopped and is unlikely to continue. Private construction work prevails especially on the edge of the city and is characterised by high density housing. This type of housing construction doesn't benefit the majority of citizens in search of accommodation (price per square meter is too high, low-quality building). There is also a big problem of the community facilities (primary and secondary infrastructure, schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, green areas, sidewalks, public transport etc.). The existing globalisation-transition circumstances of the Croatian society corroborate the fact which experts of various profiles often point out: ignoring the process of (urban) planning will irreparably damage the space. The city transformation shows the absence of comprehensive urban planning which results in an ever increasing number of random buildings which do not fit in the surroundings. This leads up to yet another important issue – the shrinking and, in some cases, disappearance of public space which becomes the “lost space“. In recent years there has been a lot of building in the city core and on the edge which does not quite fit in the existing urban structure, image or the skyline of the city. The current situation in the process of planning can be characterized as a conflict and imbalance between the powerful actors (mostly political and economic) and less powerful actors (mostly professional and civil). The actors who have the political power and influence and the ones who possess the capital are forming an “alliance” between two important layers of the social structure. The lack of civil and professional actors, “lost spatial actors”, and therefore of civic aggregation is also present and that is also the cause of public space “disappearance” and undermined process of public participation. --------------- IN CROATIAN: U postsocijalističkom razdoblju i trenutnom tranzicijskom kontekstu urbana i ruralna Hrvatska su, kao i ostale tranzicijske zemlje, doživjele mnoge promjene u društvenoj strukturi i samom prostoru. Na primjeru kvalitete stanovanja kao replike stanja u hrvatskom društvu mogu se vidjeti značajne promjene. Društveno usmjerena stambena izgradnja sufinancirana od strane države i gradova je stoga rjeđa i u nepovoljnijoj je situaciji prema privatnoj stanogradnji. Zadnjih dvadeset godina udjel socijalne stambene gradnje je zanemariv u ukupnoj izgradnji na razini zemlje. Primjerice, od devet planiranih stambenih naselja izgrađenih po modelu POS-a u Zagrebu samo su tri i završena. Na ostalima je proces gradnje zastao i ne čini se da će se privesti kraju. Privatna je gradnje prisutnija, posebno na rubovima grada, a obilježava je visoka gustoća gradnje. Ovakav tip gradnje ne odgovara većini stanovnika koji su u procesu potražnje stambene nekretnine (visoka cijena kvadratnog metra, a slaba kvaliteta gradnje). Postoji također i problem nedostatne opremljenosti susjedstva (primarna i sekundarna infrastruktura, škole, vrtići, igrališta, zelene površine, pješačke staze, javni transport itd.). Navedene globalizacijsko-tranzicijske okolnosti hrvatskog društva potvrđuju ono što eksperti različitih profila ističu, a to je da će ignoriranje procesa (urbanog) planiranja nepovratno uništiti prostor gradova. Ovakve transformacije pokazuju nedostatak sustavnog urbanog planiranja što rezultira sve većim brojem zgrada koje se ne uklapaju u neposrednu okolinu. To nadalje dovodi do drugog važnog aspekta – smanjivanja i u nekim slučajevima, nestanka javnog prostora koji postaje „izgubljeni prostor“. Posljednjih je godina izgrađen velik broj zgrada, i u središtu i na rubovima grada, koje se ne uklapaju u postojeću urbanu strukturu, izgled ili vizuru grada. Ovakvu situaciju obilježavaju sukob i neravnoteža između moćnijih društvenih aktera (većinom političkih i ekonomskih) i onih manje moćnih (većinom profesionalnih i civilnih). Politički i ekonomski akteri se često povezuju u „savez“ dvaju najjačih u društvenoj strukturi. S druge strane nedostatak utjecaja civilnih i profesionalnih aktera kao „izgubljenih prostornih aktera“ dovodi do „nestanka“ javnih prostora te smanjenja važnosti procesa participacije (sudjelovanja javnosti)