Innovation Policy Roadmapping for the Future Finnish Smart City Digital Twins : Towards Finland National Digital Twin Programme

Smart City Digital Twins (SCDTs) emerge as a transforming concept with the ability to redefine the future of cities in the fast-paced evolving landscape of urban development. This qualitative futures research explores thoroughly into the complex interaction of socio-technical dynamics in the Finnish setting, investigating the several ways SCDTs might revolutionise urban spaces and create resilience. By utilizing Innovation Policy Roadmapping (IPRM) method for the first time on SCDTs, it reveals the diverse capacities of SCDTs across domains such as urban planning, scenario developing, What-IF analysis, and public involvement through a rigorous examination of academic literature and multi-level analysis of expert interviews. The research emphasises the critical role of policymakers and sectoral actors in building an environment that allows Finnish SCDTs to survive in the face of technological improvements. Furthermore, it emphasises the convergence of SCDTs and Futures Studies approaches, giving a visionary path to adaptable and forward-thinking urban futures. The contributions of this study extend beyond the scope of Finnish SCDTs, giving inspiration for sustainable smart city transformations, potential foundational insights towards Finland National Digital Twin Programme and paving the way for the incorporation of futures studies methodologies and digital twins to mitigate uncertainties and create resilient urban futures. Longitudinal impact assessments, real-time citizen-centric foresight applications via SCDT, and the investigation of SCDTs' role in disaster mitigation and social well-being are among the identified future research directions, providing a comprehensive roadmap for leveraging SCDTs as transformative tools for building sustainable urban futures

Sustainability in design: now! Challenges and opportunities for design research, education and practice in the XXI century

Copyright @ 2010 Greenleaf PublicationsLeNS project funded by the Asia Link Programme, EuropeAid, European Commission

Seven HCI Grand Challenges

This article aims to investigate the Grand Challenges which arise in the current and emerging landscape of rapid technological evolution towards more intelligent interactive technologies, coupled with increased and widened societal needs, as well as individual and collective expectations that HCI, as a discipline, is called upon to address. A perspective oriented to humane and social values is adopted, formulating the challenges in terms of the impact of emerging intelligent interactive technologies on human life both at the individual and societal levels. Seven Grand Challenges are identified and presented in this article: Human-Technology Symbiosis; Human-Environment Interactions; Ethics, Privacy and Security; Well-being, Health and Eudaimonia; Accessibility and Universal Access; Learning and Creativity; and Social Organization and Democracy. Although not exhaustive, they summarize the views and research priorities of an international interdisciplinary group of experts, reflecting different scientific perspectives, methodological approaches and application domains. Each identified Grand Challenge is analyzed in terms of: concept and problem definition; main research issues involved and state of the art; and associated emerging requirements

The Paranoiac-Critical Method of Reflectance Transformation Imaging

A performative talk examining Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), an open source computational photographic process that is transforming methodologies in archaeology and heritage conservation for its ability to interactively re-light artefacts within a virtual hemisphere of illumination and extrude a digital topography that is hyper-legible in space-time, from its contemporary application in facial recognition via Bertrand Tavernier's 1980 science fiction film La Mort en Direct and a return of the death mask through digital extrusion, ultimately locating a progenitor of the heightened objectivity promised by RTI paradoxically in Surrealist photography and the fugitive facialities of Salvador Dali's Paranoiac-Critical Method. As emerging imaging technologies such as RTI are seen to open novel ways of extracting latent data from historical artefacts, reassembling objects of study in a new (virtual) light, collateral opportunities provided by these technologies to re-enter archival still and moving image recordings inadvertently recalibrate their spatio-temporal ground and destabilise their indexical reading through an excessive production of new traces and signs. If methodologies can be seen to play a significant role in constructing their objects of study, then emerging computational imaging operations such as RTI have their own subjectivities to disclose: In performing a media archaeology of this digital process, the talk proposes that we not only narrate the subjects of our study but the very tools of investigation themselves

Video Games for Earthly Survival: Gaming in the Post-Anthropocene

In this paper I evaluate the sixth mass extinction on planet Earth, and its implications for the medium of the video game. The Anthropocene, a term popularized by the end of the 20th century to refer to the geological impact of human beings on planet Earth, assumes temporal development, a ‘before’ and ‘after’ the appearance of humankind. The ‘after’ period, the Post-Anthropocene, is repeatedly claimed by scientists to be approaching within the next few decades, as over-consumption is destroying vital resources of the planet. Allegedly, the sixth mass extinction in the history of our planet is already unfolding, and might determine the disappearance of life from Earth and, as far as we know, from the Universe and beyond. Video games responding to the arrival of the future is not just imagined in fictional settings (e.g. The Legenda of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Nintendo, 2000; Horizon: Zero Dawn, Guerrilla Games, 2017), but within game design. In the last decade an increasing number of video games requiring limited human intervention has been released. Incremental/ idle games such as Cookie Clicker (Julien Thiennot, 2013) and AdVenture Capitalist (Hyper Hippo Productions, 2014) require an initial input from the player to start, and then keep playing themselves in the background operations of a laptop or smartphone. Virtual environments can be entirely designed by algorithms, as experimented by Hello Games for No Man’s Sky (2016). Artificial Intelligence is also used to play games. Screeps, a massive-multiplayer online game, requires players to program an AI that will play the game in their place, and which will “live within the game even while you are offline” (Screeps Team, 2014). Ghost cars in racing games replace the human actor with a representation of their performance. The same concept is further explored by the Drivatar of the Forza Motorsport series (Microsoft Studios, 2005-2017), which simulates the driving style of the player and competes online against other AI-controlled cars. These are only some of the examples that suggest that human beings are becoming peripheral in the act of playing games. In short, it is probably becoming ‘easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of gaming’. While studies on games with no players, and on the non-human side of gaming, have been proposed in the past, my presentation takes a non-normative and non-systemic approach to the study of games for the Post-Anthropocene. I am concerned with the creative potential of the paradoxes, spoofs, and contradictions opened by games that take Man/Anthropos as being no longer at the centre of ‘interaction’, ‘fun’, and many other mythological aspects of digital gaming. Nonhuman gaming questions the historical, political, ecological and even geological situatedness of our knowledge on games and gamers, interaction and passivity, life and death

Simple identification tools in FishBase

Simple identification tools for fish species were included in the FishBase information system from its inception. Early tools made use of the relational model and characters like fin ray meristics. Soon pictures and drawings were added as a further help, similar to a field guide. Later came the computerization of existing dichotomous keys, again in combination with pictures and other information, and the ability to restrict possible species by country, area, or taxonomic group. Today, www.FishBase.org offers four different ways to identify species. This paper describes these tools with their advantages and disadvantages, and suggests various options for further development. It explores the possibility of a holistic and integrated computeraided strategy

Opportunities for Second Language Development with the Use of Digital Tools: Analyzing the Experience of a Multi-Age Primary Community from an Activity Theory Perspective

The purpose of this eight-week study was to analyze how a multi-age primary community utilized the technology available to them from an activity theoretical perspective. In addition, it was aimed at exploring how the technology provided opportunities for second language development. The study relied on Cultural Historical Theory (CHAT) and mainstream sociocultural perspectives that originated from Vygotsky’s work, further developed by SCT theorists. This dissertation employed qualitative methodology, including in-depth interviews with members of the multi-age community: the five educators, the lead administrator, and the Educational Computing Consultant (ECS), and observations and field notes. Digital data (which included videos and photos) collected by student-participants, entries from hard-backed paper journals places in each of the five classrooms, and artifacts from the school wiki were included as well. Significantly, formal interviews with student-participants did not occur as they became self-proclaimed student-researchers in the study. These data collection tools were employed to explore the use of digital tools in learning in the MAC and how these tools mediated second language development. The data were analyzed and discussed from a CHAT perspective, examining the components of the Activity System (AS): the rules, the object, the division of labor, the mediating tools, and the outcomes, as well as sociocultural constructs. Findings revealed the use of digital tools in learning was embedded throughout the AS providing propitious opportunities for second language development and, indeed, for learning across the curriculum. The data collected revealed that digital tools were ubiquitous and embedded in all aspects of learning in the MAC activity system. Participants used these tools as individuals use any tool, pens, pencils, books, and dictionaries, in purposeful, intentional activity in the mediation of learning, specifically in second language development. The data also revealed that the four interacting components of the MAC AS prioritized a multivocality in the community that was formed by all the participants within the community in activity. Consistent collaboration and cooperation in this multivocalic system resulted in the formation of a collective ZPD, creating a positive, emotional experience, which fostered a confidence by inclusion in the community, that engendered competence, offered opportunities for second language development, and facilitated creativity. Finally, the data revealed that the convergence of situated, common rules, objects, division of labor, outcomes, and mediating tools that construct the conditions of activity can be significantly altered when the integrity of the system, like the integrity of any intentionally designed structure, is compromised

University of applied sciences students’ perceptions on engagement and spoken interaction in blended learning language studies

The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to gain a deeper understanding on the aspects that contribute to higher education students’ social and academic engagement when language studies are implemented with the blended learning approach. Another aim is to discover the elements to enhance spoken interaction in the foreign language in blended learning language courses. Based on the results of sub-studies I-III, I argue that students’ academic and social engagement are intertwined, alternating, and nurturing one another during the learning process. Similarly, teacher engagement and student engagement are reciprocal phenomena nourishing one another and depending on each other. In addition, I argue that university of applied sciences students’ foreign language spoken interaction can be activated and enhanced in blended learning courses given the learning material, learning activities and digital tools are meaningful, relevant, timely and aligned with the learning objectives. This dissertation comprises three original studies; they focus on one language course each in the context of universities of applied sciences. Each sub-study experiments various opportunities that digital technology provides for language learning: social networking sites, gamification, telecollaboration and multimodality. Regardless of the course design all courses are based on the ecological language learning approach and the notion of engagement. In addition, authentic learning and students’ collaboration are in the focus; the target is that the students are producers rather than consumers of digital media and they act as active learners within authentic learning activities. All three courses were implemented with the blended learning approach. Sub-study I investigated first-year health care students’ (n=23) perspectives on a gamified professional English course regarding particularly engagement, enjoyability and language learning. The course was a three-credit, field-specific English course which duration was 10 weeks, including five face-to-face sessions. The course aimed to prepare students for communicating in multi-professional and intercultural situations within the health care sector. The course implementation was based on gamification with a background storyline. The students' reflective learning diaries and a post-course questionnaire formed the data which were analysed via content analysis method. The results indicate that gamification and appropriate digital applications augmented student engagement, enhanced language learning, and provided enjoyable learning experiences for the students. Further, students’ collaboration and a tolerant stress-free course atmosphere had a positive impact on learning and engagement according to the students’ self-reflections. Sub-study II explored the opportunities a telecollaboration project provided for online collaboration, language learning and student engagement. The participants were 26 higher education German language students, 12 in Finland and 14 in New Zealand. The students used a closed Facebook group for posting on given topics. The required five posts combined videos, photos, audio, and text. The duration of the project was six weeks, and it formed a part of the German course in both countries. The course design was informed by social networking sites in language learning and telecollaboration. A mixed method approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data. The qualitative data were analysed by content analysis method, and they included pre- and post-project questionnaires, interviews, and Facebook-logs. The results suggest that the students regarded Facebook as an appropriate tool for community building. In addition, collaboration, the use of communication tools, authenticity, enjoyment, and teachers’ support fostered student engagement and had a positive impact on students’ language learning and intercultural competence. Sub-study III discovered the impact multimodality and regular in-pairs conducted video calls had to spoken interaction in the target language and to student engagement. The research was conducted, and the data were collected in a 5-credit Business English course for 1st-year business administration students (n= 22) in a university of applied sciences. The course was divided into 16 weeks and 8 topics; during the course there were 5 face-to-face sessions. The students deployed various digital tools and particular attention was given to spoken interaction; hence the students were instructed to complete spoken discussions using an online video call system once a week according to the week’s topic using English in authentic, business-related situations. The data included students’ learning diaries and a post-course online questionnaire mapping students' perception. The data were analysed according to the content analysis method. The findings indicate that students’ academic and social engagement were fostered by course design with authentic assignments and study material as well as students’ activity and collaboration with peers. Further, collaboration, students’ own activities and digital technology contributed the most to spoken interaction. To conclude, the three sub-studies reflect universities of applied sciences students’ perception on the aspects that enhance engagement in digital learning environments and the methods to activate their spoken interaction in the foreign language. On the bases of the sub-studies, it became apparent that teacher role is paramount prior, during and after the course. Besides timely knowledge on digital tools, teachers need to master the traditional teacher competences such as subject content, pedagogy, guidance, facilitating and interaction. In addition, students’ own activities contribute immensely on their engagement and learning. Regarding spoken interaction, the data indicate that with relevant peer and teacher support and regular interaction students’ self-compassion and error-tolerance in terms of their own competences grow which leads to enjoying the regular spoken activities in the target language, and finally contributes positively to spoken interaction. Similarly, students’ self-reflection ability increases which enables targeted rehearsal of the language skill which in turn activates and enhances spoken interaction. Digitalisation offers myriad opportunities for individual and flexible learning paths regardless of time and place but does not decrease students’ nor teachers’ role. On contrary, students need to be active learners and teachers need wider range of competences in creating optimal learning experiences for their students. ________________________________________ Keywords: student engagement, blended learning, multimodality, social networking sites in learning, telecollaboration, spoken interaction, English for specific purposes, German as a foreign language, higher educationVäitöstutkimukseni tavoitteena oli selvittää, mitkä seikat ammattikorkeakouluopiskelijoiden mielestä tehostavat heidän akateemista ja sosiaalista kiinnittymistään kieliopintoihin, sekä edistävät suullisen vuorovaikutuksen harjoittelemista monimuoto-opinnoissa. Väitöskirjani osatutkimusten tuloksiin perustuen väitän, että akateeminen ja sosiaalinen kiinnittyminen kietoutuvat toisiinsa, vuorottelevat ja kasvattavat toisiaan oppimisprosessin aikana. Samoin opettajien ja oppilaiden kiinnittyminen on vastavuoroista, jolloin ne ovat riippuvaisia toisistaan ja ruokkivat molemminpuolisesti toisiaan. Lisäksi väitän, että ammattikorkeakouluopiskelijoiden vieraan kielen suullinen vuorovaikutus aktivoituu ja vahvistuu monimuoto-opinnoissa edellyttäen, että oppimisaktiviteetit ja –materiaalit ovat kiinnostavia, alakohtaisia ja linjassa oppimistavoitteiden kanssa. Lisäksi digitaalisten sovellusten täytyy olla relevantteja, ajanmukaisia ja sopivia kyseisiin tehtäviin. Tämä väitöstutkimus koostuu kolmesta osatutkimuksesta; jokainen niistä kohdistuu yhteen kieli- ja viestintäopintojaksoon ammattikorkeakoulussa. Osatutkimukset tutkivat digitaalisen teknologian tarjoamia mahdollisuuksia kieltenopetukselle kuten pelillistäminen, sosiaalinen media opetuksessa, etäyhteistyö ja monikanavaisuus. Tutkimuksen teoreettisena viitekehyksenä on ekologinen kieltenoppiminen ja opiskelijoiden kiinnittyminen. Opintojaksojen suunnittelussa kiinnitettiin erityistä huomiota opiskelijoiden yhteisölliseen ja autenttiseen oppimiseen. Tavoitteena oli, että opiskelijat eivät pelkästään ole digitaalisten välineiden käyttäjiä, vaan pikemminkin he itse tuottavat materiaalia toimien aktiivisina oppijoina. Kyseessä olevat opintojaksot toteutettiin monimuoto-opintoina. Osatutkimuksessa I tutkittiin ensimmäisen vuoden terveysalan opiskelijoiden (n=23) kokemuksia pelillistetystä ammatillisen englannin opintojaksosta etenkin kiinnittymisen, viihdyttävyyden ja kielenoppimisen kannalta. Kyseessä oli kolmen opintopisteen alakohtainen ammatillinen englannin opintojakso, jonka kokonaiskesto oli kymmenen viikkoa sisältäen viisi lähiopetusjaksoa. Osaamistavoitteena oli terveysalan viestintäosaaminen moniammatillisissa ja monikulttuurisissa tilanteissa. Opintojakson toteutus perustui pelillistämiseen ja kehyskertomukseen, jossa suomalainen vaihto-opiskeija toteuttaa opintoihin kuuluvan työssäoppimisjakson Espanjassa. Tutkimusaineisto koostui opiskelijoiden oppimispäiväkirjoista ja opintojakson jälkeen täytetystä kyselystä. Laadullinen aineisto analysoitiin sisällönanalyysin avulla. Tulokset osittavat, että pellistäminen ja sopivat digitaaliset sovellukset tehostivat opiskelijoiden sitoutumista ja kielenoppimista sekä tarjosivat miellyttäviä oppimiskokemuksia. Yhteisöllinen oppiminen sekä opiskelijoita arvostava ja rento oppimisilmapiiri vaikuttivat positiivisesti oppimiseen ja opiskelijoiden kiinnittymiseen. Osatutkimuksessa II tarkasteltiin, miten etäyhteistyöprojekti (telecollaboration project) vahvisti opiskelijoiden yhteisöllistä kielenoppimista ja kiinnittymistä opintoihin. Tutkimuksen osallistujat olivat korkeakouluopiskelijoita Uudessa Seelannissa (n=14) ja Suomessa (n=12) ja he opiskelivat saksaa vapaasti valittavina kieliopintona. Opiskelijoille luotiin suljettu Facebook-ryhmä, jonne he lähettivät viestejä annetuista viidestä aiheesta monikanavaisesti käyttäen valokuvia, videoita, äänitteitä ja kirjoitettua tekstiä. Projektin kesto oli kuusi viikkoa ja se muodosti osan opiskelijoiden saksan opintojaksosta kummassakin maassa. Opintojakson suunnitelma perustui sosiaalisen median käyttöön kieltenopetuksessa ja etäyhteistyön viitekehykseen. Monimenetelmäinen aineisto koostui kyselylomakkeiden vastauksista, Facebook-käyttölogista sekä opiskelijahaastatteluista. Tulokset osoittavat, että opiskelijoiden mielestä Facebook soveltuu hyvin oppimisyhteisönrakentamiseen. Lisäksi yhteistyö, autenttinen oppiminen, opintojen viihdyttävyys sekä opettajien tuki vahvistivat opiskelijoiden sitoutumista ja ne vaikuttivat positiivisesti kielenoppimiseen ja kansainvälisyystaitojen kehittymiseen. Osatutkimuksessa III selvitettiin monikanavaisuuden ja säännöllisten parin kanssa tehtyjen videopuheluiden vaikutusta vieraan kielen suulliseen vuorovaikutukseen ja opiskelijoiden kiinnittymiseen. Tutkimus toteutettiin ja aineisto kerättiin ensimmäisen vuoden liiketalouden opiskelijoiden (n=22) ammatillisen englannin opintojaksolla. Opintojakson pituus oli 16 viikkoa, ja siinä oli viisi kasvokkain tapahtuvaa opetuskertaa; opintojakso oli jaettu kahdeksaan teemaan. Opiskelijat käyttivät erilaisia digitaalisia sovelluksia ja erityistä huomiota kiinnitettiin suullisen vuorovaikutuksen aktivoimiseen. Koko opintojakson ajan opiskelijat keskustelivat parin kanssa kerran viikossa videopuhelun välityksellä liiketalouteen ja työelämään liittyvistä autenttisista aiheista ja tehtävistä. Tutkimusaineisto koostui opiskelijoiden oppimispäiväkirjoista sekä opintojakson jälkeen kerätystä kyselylomakevastauksista. Laadullinen aineisto analysoitiin sisällönanalyysin keinoin. Opiskelijat kokivat, että autenttiset tehtävät ja opintomateriaali, opiskelijoiden oma aktiivisuus ja yhteistyö vertaisten kanssa sekä opettajan panostus paransivat akateemista ja sosiaalista kiinnittymistä. Samoin opiskelijoiden välinen yhteistyö, digitaalinen teknologia sekä opiskelijoiden oma panostus edistivät suullisen vuorovaikutuksen harjoittelemista. Yhteenvetona voin todeta, että osatutkimuksien tulokset kuvaavat seikkoja, jotka ammattikorkeakouluopiskelijat kokivat vahvistavan heidän kiinnittymistään kieliopintoihin monimuoto-opinnoissa, sekä metodeja, jotka opiskelijat kokivat edistävän vieraan kielen suullisen vuorovaikutuksen harjoittamista. Osatutkimukset osoittivat, että opettajan rooli on tärkeä niin ennen ja jälkeen kuin opintojakson aikanakin. Sen lisäksi, että opettajalla on hallussaan traditionaaliset opettajan taidot, kuten aineenhallinta, pedagogia, ohjaaminen, fasilitointi ja vuorovaikutustaidot, hänellä täytyy olla kattava osaaminen digitaalisuuden oikeanlaisesta pedagogisesta käytöstä, sekä ajankohtainen tieto digitaalisista sovelluksista. Lisäksi opiskelijan oma rooli on merkittävä kiinnittymisen kannalta. Suullisen vuorovaikutuksen osalta tulokset osoittavat, että säännöllisellä vertaistuella ja vuorovaikutuksella opiskelijoiden itsemyötätunto ja virheidensietokyky kasvaa, mikä puolestaan lisää innokkuutta tehdä suullisia harjoituksia vieraalla kielellä. Lisääntynyt kielen käyttö puolestaan luo varmuutta suulliseen vuorovaikutukseen. Samoin opiskelijoiden itsereflektiotaito kasvaa, minkä perusteella opiskelijat osaavat harjoitella tiettyä suullisen kielitaidon osa-aluetta, esimerkiksi ääntämistä. Digitalisaatio tarjoaa runsaasti mahdollisuuksia yksilöllisille ja joustaville, ajasta ja paikasta riippumattomille oppimispoluille. Kuitenkaan digitaalisuuden valjastaminen opetuskäyttöön ei vähennä opettajan ja opiskelijan roolia – pikemminkin päinvastoin. On tärkeää tukea opiskelijoiden aktiivisen oppijan roolin rakentumista ja vastuun ottamista omasta oppimisprosessista. Opettajien pedagogiseen osaamiseen sisältyy useita osa-alueita, joita he tarvitsevat luodessaan opiskelijoilleen optimaalisia oppimiskokemuksia. ________________________________________ Asiasanat: opiskelijoiden kiinnittyminen, monimuoto-opetus, monikanavaisuus, sosiaalinen media opetuksessa, etäyhteistyö, suullinen vuorovaikutus, erikoisalojen englannin opetus, saksa vieraana kielenä, ammattikorkeakouluopetu