Internet of things: why we are not there yet

Twenty-one years past since Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous computing (UbiComp) has been written, and it is yet to be fully fulfilled despite of almost all the needed technologies already available. Still, the widespread interest in UbiComp and the results in some of its fields pose a question: why we are not there yet? It seems we miss the ‘octopus’ head. In this paper, we will try to depict the reasons why we are not there yet, from three different points of view: interaction media, device integration and applications

Geospatial information infrastructures to address spatial needs in health: Collaboration, challenges and opportunities

Most health-related issues such as public health outbreaks and epidemiological threats are better understood from a spatial–temporal perspective and, clearly demand related geospatial datasets and services so that decision makers may jointly make informed decisions and coordinate response plans. Although current health applications support a kind of geospatial features, these are still disconnected from the wide range of geospatial services and datasets that geospatial information infrastructures may bring into health. In this paper we are questioning the hypothesis whether geospatial information infrastructures, in terms of standards-based geospatial services, technologies, and data models as operational assets already in place, can be exploited by health applications for which the geospatial dimension is of great importance. This may be certainly addressed by defining better collaboration strategies to uncover and promote geospatial assets to the health community. We discuss the value of collaboration, as well as the opportunities that geographic information infrastructures offer to address geospatial challenges in health applications

Trust and context in cyberspace

Every day we place trust or reliance on other people and on inanimate objects, but trust may be diminished in the world of information resources and technology. We are often told that information needs higher standards of verification in digital realms than in the paper world. Similarly, when we encounter digital records and archives we may be uncertain how far we can trust them. In the past, trust in records was said to be reinforced by trust in archivists and archival institutions. However, trust in professional experts and institutions is waning; notions of expert objectivity are increasingly challenged. This paper explores an idea proposed by David Weinberger, that ‘transparency is the new objectivity’. Where records are concerned, documentation of provenance and context forms a basis for enhancing their transparency and thus for evaluating their trustworthiness. Many commentators have expressed anxiety that, in digital environments where resources are reused and remixed at will, records may become decontextualized. But in computer science questions are now being asked about how data can be trusted and verified, and knowledge of their provenance is increasingly seen as a foundation for enabling trust. Many computer scientists argue that, while data should be reusable, each piece of data should carry evidence of its history and original contexts to help those who encounter it to judge its trustworthiness. Some researchers have set out to develop systems to capture and preserve information about data provenance. In the longer term, this research may help archivists meet the challenges of gathering and maintaining contextual information in the world of digital record-keeping. Methods of automatically harvesting certain kinds of contextual information are under investigation; automated solutions are likely to expedite what are currently time-consuming manual processes. However, merely being presented with information about provenance is not enough. Insofar as individuals or institutions supply us with that information, we have to decide how far we trust what those people or institutions tell us. There is still a place for expert voices, but experts cannot be seen as infallible providers of objective information

Exploring the impact of information and communication technology on employees’ work and personal lives

ORIENTATION : Technology has become part of society’s everyday functioning, changing rapidly and providing widespread mobility. Employees are moving towards a continually connected lifestyle, a situation in which information and communication technology (ICT) seem to have become omnipresent. RESEARCH PURPOSE : The overall objective of this research was to investigate the influence of ICT on employees’ work and personal lives. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY : The impact of ICT on the work and personal lives of employees has never been researched before, which motivated the current study. RESEARCH APPROACH, DESIGN AND METHOD : A qualitative research design, with a sample of 25 employees, was followed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, and the interviews were recorded, transcribed, and processed through thematic analyses. MAIN FINDINGS : Five themes with sub-themes were extracted: The positive and negative experiences of ICT both within the work and personal lives of employees, the increased expectations brought about by ICT usage, and the role of ICT on relationships. Findings highlighted that although ICT are generally perceived as positive, employees should make a conscious decision in managing their ICT to decrease the negative impact thereof on their work and personal lives. PRACTICAL/MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS : Overall, the general positive experiences of ICT outweigh the negative experiences, and findings almost suggest that as the quantity of communication increased, the quality of conversations decreased. CONTRIBUTION/VALUE ADD : This study provides a holistic understanding of the impact of ICT on the work and personal lives of employees.http://www.sajip.co.za/am2016Human Resource Managemen

Facilitating data exploration in casual mobile settings with multi-device interaction

Big data is the new buzzword of computer professionals. Governments and industry are increasingly looking to find benefits from exploring immense data sets using new powerful tools. Large amounts of data are generated through our daily activities: commuting, eating lunch, using mobile phones, and reading the bedtime story to the children. In a truly democratized society we should have access to the data we generate along with the tools needed to gain insight. Consequently, there is an emerging need for aggregating data from different sources and presenting it in forms that will make it accessible for different stakeholders within social entities pervasive computing systems will soon be required to provide opportunities for users to rapidly explore big data in ad-hoc casual settings. This work focuses on how we can transform everyday spaces into data-rich environments where citizens can interactively explore data sets. Specifically, this work will investigate how we can transform table surfaces into interactive spaces by augmenting currently available mobile devices. Using multiple mobile devices for one and many users will be the focal theme and new interaction techniques are explored. The project is build on past research from the t2i Interaction Laboratory and look for new sensing techniques, communication protocols and navigation patterns

Improving the effectiveness of interactive data analytics with phone-tablet combinations

Smartphones and tablet computer are ubiquitous in daily life. Many people carrying smartphones and tablet computers with them simultaneously. The multiplicity of different sized devices indicates the conflict between the maximal interaction space and a minimal bulkiness of the devices. This dissertation we extend the interaction space of mobile devices by adding mutual-spatial awareness to ordinary devices. By combining multiple mobile devices and using relative device placement as an additional input source we designed a mobile tabletop system for ad-hoc collaboration. With this setting we aimed to emulate the concept of so-called interactive tablecloth, which envisages every surface of a table top will become an interactive surface. To evaluate the concept we designed and implemented a working prototype, called MochaTop. To provide the mutual-spatial awareness we placed the mobile devices on an interactive table. For the future we believe in possibilities to replace the interactive table by technology integrated in the mobile device. In this study we used both one Android smartphone and one Android tablet as mobile devices. To track the position of the devices we used one Microsoft Surface2 (SUR40). The system is designed for exploring multimedia information and visual data representations by manipulating the position of two mobile devices on a horizontal surface. We present possible use-cases and environments. In a second step we discuss multiple low fidelity prototypes. The results are integrated in the development of MochaTop. The application MochaTop is designed as an example for exploring digital information. To influence the participants not too much by the content, we choose a common topic to present in MochaTop: coffee production and trade. We present the implementation of MochaTop and the conducted user study with 23 participants. Overall we could awaken interest for future systems by the study-participants and show that the system supports knowledge transfer. Furthermore we were able to identify design challenges for future development of mobile tabletops. These challenges concern mostly input feedback, interaction zones and three dimensional input.Smartphones und Tablet-Computer sind Teil unseres täglichen Lebens. Viele Menschen tragen sowohl Smartphone als auch Tablet-Computer ständig bei sich. Die Vielfalt an unterschiedlich großen Smartphones und Tablet-Computern zeigt einen Interessenskonflikt auf: Einerseits sollen mobile Geräte eine maximal große Interaktionsfläche bieten. Andererseits sollen die Geräte möglichst wenig sperrig sein. In dieser Studienarbeit wird der Interaktionsraum von mobilen Geräten durch gegenseitige räumliche Lage Wahrnehmung erweitert. Durch die Kombination von mehreren mobilen Geräten und der Nutzung von relativen Geräte-Positionen als zusätzliche Eingabemethode, gestalten wir ein mobiles Tabletop System für ad-hoc Zusammenarbeit. Somit emulieren wir das Konzept "interactive tablecloth", welches hervorsagt, dass sich alle Tische und Oberflächen zu digitalen Interaktionsflächen verwandeln werden. Um unser Konzept zu evaluieren entworfen und implementierten wir einen lauffähigen Prototype, genannt MochaTop. Um die gegenseitige räumliche Lage Wahrnehmung der mobil Geräte nutzen zu können, platzierten wir diese auf einem interaktiven Tisch. Für die Zukunft gehen wir davon aus, dass sich entsprechende Sensoren leicht in Smartphones und Tablet-Computer integrieren lassen. In dieser Arbeit verwenden wir sowohl Android Smartphones als auch Android Tablet-Computer. Um die Position des Smartphones und des Tablet-Computers zu ermitteln nutzen wir einen Microsoft Surface2 (SUR40). Das System ist entworfen um multimediale Informationen und graphische Datenrepräsentationen durch Positionsveränderung zweier Geräte zu erforschen. Wir stellen verschiedene Use-Cases und Einsatzumgebungen vor. In einem zweiten Schritt diskutieren wir verschiedene Prototypen. Diese Ergebnisse fließen anschließend in die Entwicklung von MochaTop ein. Die Anwendung MochaTop ist eine beispielhafter Prototype, um digitalen Inhalt erfahrbar zu machen. Um die Studienteilnehmer nicht zu sehr durch den präsentierten Inhalt zu beeinflussen, präsentieren wir in MochaTop ein alltägliches Thema: Kaffeeproduktion und -Handel. In dieser Arbeit stellen wir die Implantierung von MochaTop sowie die anschließende Benutzerstudie vor. Die Benutzerstudie führten wir mit 23 Probanden durch um unser System zu analysieren. Insgesamt stellten wir Interesse der Teilnehmer an den getesteten Techniken fest und konnten zeigen, dass unser System einen positiven Einfluss auf die Wissensvermittlung hat. Darüber hinaus konnten wir verschiedene Herausforderungen für weitere Entwicklungen identifizieren. Diese betreffen hauptsächlich das Eingabefeedback, interaktive Zonen und drei dimensionale Eingaben

Aprendiendo del feedback del usuario para mejorar el diseño de la adaptación del nivel de molestia de las interacciones

[ES] Sistema para adaptar el nivel de molestia de las interacciones automáticamente basandose en la respuesta del usuario[EN] System for adapting interaction obtrusiveness automatically based on user feedbackBerzosa Tejero, JV. (2013). Aprendiendo del feedback del usuario para mejorar el diseño de la adaptación del nivel de molestia de las interacciones. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/37139Archivo delegad

Vote with your feet : hyperlocal public polling for urban screens

Technological advances have led to an ongoing spread of public displays in urban areas. However, they still mostly show passive content such as commercials and digital signage. Researchers took notice of their potential to spark situated civic discourse in public space and have begun working on interactive public display applications. Attracting people’s attention and providing a low barrier for user participation have been identified as major challenges in their design. This thesis presents Vote With Your Feet, a hyperlocal public polling tool for urban screens allowing users to express their opinions. Similar to vox populi interviews on TV or polls on news websites, the tool is meant to reflect the mindset of the community on topics such as current affairs, cultural identity and local matters. It shows one Yes/No question at a time and enables users to vote by stepping on one of two tangible buttons on the ground. This user interface was introduced to attract people’s attention and to lower participation barriers. Vote With Your Feet was informed by a user-centred design approach that included a focus group, expert interviews and extensive preliminary user studies in the wild. Deployed at a bus stop, Vote With Your Feet was evaluated in a field study over the course of several days. Observations of people and interviews with 30 participants revealed that the novel interaction technology was perceived as inviting and that Vote With Your Feet can spark discussions among co-located people

Estudio para determinar los efectos causados por la implementación del uso Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones en el Desempeño Laboral en el Banco Davivienda de la Ciudad de Tunja

La implementación de las “tecnologías de la información y la comunicación” (TIC) han potencializado los procesos internos y externos de las organizaciones en términos operativos y comerciales. Sin embargo, dicha implementación tiene efectos de todo tipo, tales como lo son efectos sociales, económicos, motivacionales, estructurales, entre otros. Debido a lo anterior, es fundamental analizarlos con mayor detenimiento a la luz del bienestar de los empleados. El presente trabajo busca determinar los efectos de la implementación de las “tecnologías de la información y la comunicación” mediante el estudio de caso de los empleados con contratación directa en área operativa y comercial de banco Davivienda Tunja. Analizamos el impacto de la implementación de las tecnologías, las mejoras sustanciales en la operatividad, el tiempo de respuesta del talento humano, la competitividad, la eficiencia de la organización y finalmente el evidente desarrollo de beneficios que tienen las entidades y sus usuarios. La anterior afirmación obedece a un incremento sustancial en la mejora operativa y en la satisfacción de las necesidades de los usuarios. Respecto a los funcionarios y su desempeño laboral, si bien es cierto experimentan una mejora en los tiempos de respuesta, simultáneamente consideran que esto genera incertidumbre laboral, debido a que al sistematizar todos los procesos deben capacitarse y en algunos casos reubicarse ya que la tecnología los sustituye.“The implementation of information and communication technologies” (TIC) have potentiated the internal and external processes of organizations in operational and commercial terms, however, such implementation has effects of all kinds, social, economic, motivational, structural, among others. Therefore, it is essential to review them in greater detail with a view to the well-being of employees. This work seeks to determine the effects of the implementation of information and communication technologies, through a case study of employees with direct hiring in the operational and commercial area of Banco Davivienda de Tunja. Evidence of the substantial improvements in the operation and response times of human talent, thereby greater competitiveness and efficiency of the organization, highlighting the entity and its users as the main beneficiaries, thanks to a substantial increase in operational improvement and customer satisfaction. However, their needs, regarding officials and their job performance, although it is true they experience an improvement in response times, they simultaneously consider that this generates job uncertainty, since, by systematizing all processes, they must be trained and some cases relocate as technology replaces them