Representing the user: a sociological study of the discourse of human computer interaction

The discipline of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) was established in the early 1980's on the foundations of cognitive psychology, computer science and ergonomics. In recent years however, claims have been made for the relevance of forms of sociology to this avowedly multidisciplinary field, and a number of sociologists have attempted to contribute to the general enterprise of developing a deeper understanding of the computer user and thereby informing, and improving, software design. This thesis is, in one sense, a continuation of this emerging body of work. However, my contention is that little, if any, critical attention has been given within this work to questions that would seem to be of fundamental importance to attempts at collaboration between disciplines: how is the disciplinary organization of knowledge to be understood, and more specifically, can HCI be adequately described in the simple pluralist terms in which it tends to characterise itself? The primary focus then is on the discipline of HCI. Utilising a theoretical model which considers disciplines as distinctive discourses which constitute their own domains of objects, I analyse the discourse and practice of HCI in order to explicate some of its underlying premises and assumptions, and to argue that it has, unavoidably, set many of the parameters within which contributing disciplines must operate. Texts, audio and video tapes, and ethnographic observation of instances of HCI practice form the empirical basis of the thesis. In addition, an analysis of some recorded human-computer interactions, which like the study as a whole, exemplifies an approach that differs from the prevailing sociological models within the field, is used to support the argument

Aspectos motivacionais no design de tecnologia para mudanças sociais

Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani BaranauskasTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Conectando pessoas e presente em todos os aspectos da vida, quando projetadas para este fim, as tecnologias têm potencial de influenciar a forma com que pessoas em um grupo social percebem e se relacionam com as coisas no ambiente. Este estudo de doutorado em Interação Humano-Computador (IHC) investiga como elementos motivacionais da Psicologia podem ser aplicados para informar o design, explo- rando esse potencial da tecnologia em promover mudanças sociais. O estudo é instanciado no domínio de consumo de energia elétrica, lidando com o desafio contemporâneo de cons- cientizar a sociedade dos limites naturais do planeta no que diz respeito ao uso de recursos naturais. Informar o design com aspectos motivacionais é uma abordagem recente em IHC. Quando encontrada na literatura, comumente tem foco em aspectos individuais e intrín- secos da motivação. Contudo, como argumentado nessa pesquisa, o contexto sociocultural evidencia a importância de considerar também os fatores externos que motivam as pessoas a se engajarem com uma tecnologia e com uma determinada questão social. Por considerar tanto fontes intrínsecas quanto extrínsecas de motivação, a Teoria da Autodeterminação é então considerada o principal referencial teórico da Psicologia nessa investigação, e a Semiótica Organizacional é a base metodológica para analisar os elemen- tos socioculturais que influenciam a motivação extrínseca. A análise situada dos dados socioculturais por uma perspectiva motivacional levou ao design da Tecnologia Socialmente Informada para Eco-Feedback de Energia (sigla SEET, em inglês), uma arquitetura que tem por objetivo estabelecer um novo padrão de com- portamento, ou uma nova maneira de perceber o consumo de energia coletivamente. O SEET é composto por um sistema interativo que promove colaboração, e pela Árvore da Energia, um dispositivo de feedback tangível para locais onde há encontro de pessoas. O SEET é avaliado em dois cenários complementares: uma Escola de Ensino Funda- mental no Brasil, onde os dados socioculturais foram coletados, analisados e aplicados para informar o design; e no contexto de um departamento de uma universidade no Reino Unido. Aspectos motivacionais da arquitetura do SEET são então analisadas, assim como o impacto dessa tecnologia ao desencadear as esperadas mudanças sociaisAbstract: By connecting people and being present in almost all aspects of life, when properly de- signed for that, technology can potentially influence the way people in a social group perceive and relate with things in their environment. This PhD study in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field investigates how motivational elements from Psychology can be applied to inform the design aiming at exploring this potential of technology for promoting a social change. The study is in- stantiated in the energy consumption domain, coping with the contemporary challenge of raising awareness among the society of the planet¿s natural resources usage and limits. Informing the design with motivational aspects is a recent approach in HCI. When found in literature, it is mostly focused on individual and intrinsic aspects of motivation. However, as argued in this research, the sociocultural context evidences the importance of considering also the external factors that motivate people to be engaged with technology and the social issue. By taking into account both intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation, the Self- Determination Theory is then considered the main theoretical background from Psychol- ogy in this investigation, and the Organisational Semiotics the methodological basis to analyse sociocultural elements that influence extrinsic motivation. The situated analysis of sociocultural data with motivational lenses has led to the de- sign of a Socially-informed Energy Eco-feedback Technology (SEET), an architecture that aims at establishing a "new pattern of behaviour", or a new way of perceiving collective energy consumption. The SEET is composed by an interactive system that promotes collaboration and The Energy Tree, a tangible and public feedback device for gathering places. The SEET is evaluated in two complementary scenarios: an elementary school in Brazil, where the sociocultural data was collected, analysed and applied to inform design; and in the context of an university department in the United Kingdom. Motivational as- pects of the SEET architecture are then analysed, as well as the impact of this technology to trigger the desired social changeDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutora em Ciência da Computaçã

How to tell stories using visualization: strategies towards narrative visualization

Os benefícios da utilização das narrativas são desde há muito conhecidos e o seu potencial para simplificar conceitos, transmitir valores culturais e experiências, criar ligações emocionais e capacidade para ajudar a reter a informação tem sido explorado em diferentes áreas. As narrativas não são só a principal forma como as pessoas obtêm o sentido do mundo, mas também a forma mais fácil que encontrámos para partilhar informações complexas. Devido ao seu potencial, as narrativas foram recentemente abordadas na área da Visualização de Informação e do Conhecimento, muitas vezes apelidada de Visualização Narrativa. Esta questão é particularmente importante para os media, uma das áreas que tem impulsionado a investigação em Visualização Narrativa. A necessidade de incorporar histórias nas visualizações surge da necessidade de partilhar dados complexos de um modo envolvente. Hoje em dia somos confrontados com a elevada quantidade de informação disponível, um desafio difícil de resolver. Os avanços da tecnologia permitiram ir além das formas tradicionais de narrativa e de representação de dados, dando-nos meios mais atraentes e sofisticados para contar histórias. Nesta tese, exploro os benefícios da introdução de narrativas nas visualizações. Adicionalmente também exploro formas de combinar histórias com a visualizações e métodos eficientes para representar e dar sentido aos dados de uma forma que permite que as pessoas se relacionem com a informação. Esta investigação está bastante próxima da área do jornalismo, no entanto estas técnicas podem ser aplicadas em diferente áreas (educação, visualização científica, etc.). Para explorar ainda mais este tema foi adotada um avaliação que utiliza diferentes metodologias como a tipologia, vários casos de estudo, um estudo com grupos de foco, e ainda estudos de design e análise de técnicas.The benefits of storytelling are long-known and its potential to simplify concepts, convey cultural values and experiences, create emotional connection, and capacity to help retain information has been explored in di erent areas, such as journalism, education, marketing, and others. Narratives not only have been the main way people make sense of the world, but also the easiest way humans found out to share complex information. Due to its potential narratives have also recently been approached in the area of Information and Knowledge Visualization, several times being referred to as Narrative Visualization. This matter is also particularly important for news media, one of the areas that has been pushing the research on Narrative Visualization. The necessity to incorporate storytelling in visualizations arises from the need to share complex data in a way that is engaging. Nowadays we also have the challenge of the high amount of information available, which can be hard to cope with. Advances in technology have enabled us to go beyond the traditional forms of storytelling and representing data, giving us more attractive and sophisticated means to tell stories. In this dissertation, I explore the benefits of infusing visualizations with narratives. In addition I also present ways of combining storytelling with visualization and e cient methods to represent and make sense of data in a way that allows people to relate with the information. This research is closely related to journalism, but these techniques can be applied to completely di erent areas (education, scientific visualization, etc.). To further explore this topic a mixedmethod evaluation that consists of a typology, several case studies and a focus group study was chosen, as well as design studies and techniques review. This dissertation is intended to contribute to the evolving understanding of the field of narrative visualization

A predictive model for the acceptance of wearable ubiquitous activity monitoring devices

Acceptance of wearable ubiquitous activity monitoring devices that track activity has been a hot topic for the last decade. Several theories have been made, particularly how to think about the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). These theories have been used in different situations to learn more about how people and organizations accept new technology. Even though the TAM is mature and works in different situations, there is not much published research that tries to expand its ability to predict how people will react to wearable ubiquitous activity monitoring devices. One reason for this gap could be that the TAM is based on the idea that people's acceptance behavior can only be predicted by two beliefs: Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU). Literature shows that PU and PEOU beliefs are not enough. This means that they may not be able to explain why people accept new things, like Activity Trackers (AT). Because of this, it is important to include any other factors that can help predict how likely people are to use activity trackers. As an extension of research on the TAM, this study created and tested two models of how people accept and use wearable ubiquitous activity monitoring devices, with two questionnaires with more than 200 respondents that shield light on the subject. The proposed models added key concepts from the research stream on how people accept information systems to the theoretical framework of the TAM and Health Information Technology Acceptance Model (HITAM). The resulting models were analyzed using a variety of statistical techniques including Structural Equation Analysis. The first model was reanalyzed via qualitative analysis with 20 interviews, and reanalyzed via another quantitative method of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The most significant contributions of this dissertation are: 1. The construction of two models that predict activity tracking adoption and usage. 2. Guidelines for designing activity trackers. These contributions can help promote activity trackers as an essential piece of equipment that helps monitor progress during workouts as well as other times, such as when the user is at rest or sleeping. We will see that by being continually reminded to walk about and avoid sitting for extended periods of time or doing nothing at all, this helps a person build healthy behaviors. Additionally, activity trackers should be designed to maintain a person's motivation to finish the daily activity routine, which is necessary for people to accomplish their health and fitness objectives. This thesis contributes with two quantitative models for the acceptance and use of activity trackers, and creates recommendations for different types of users.A aceitação de dispositivos ubíquos vestíveis de monitorização de atividade que rastreiam a atividade tem sido um tema cálido na última década. Várias teorias foram concebidas, principalmente como pensar o Modelo de Aceitação de Tecnologia (TAM). Essas teorias têm sido usadas em diferentes situações para aprender mais sobre como as pessoas e as organizações aceitam novas tecnologias. Conquanto o TAM seja maturo e funcione em diferentes situações, não há muitas investigações publicadas que tentem expandir a sua capacidade de prever como as pessoas reagirão a dispositivos ubíquos vestíveis de monitoramento de atividade. Uma razão para essa lacuna pode ser porque o TAM é baseado na ideia de que o comportamento de aceitação das pessoas só pode ser previsto por duas asseverações: Facilidade de Uso Percebida (PEOU) e Utilidade Percebida (PU). A literatura mostra que as asseverações nas PU e PEOU não são suficientes. Isso significa que essas duas asseverações podem não ser capazes de explicar o porquê de as pessoas aceitarem coisas novas, como monitores de atividade (AT). Por isso, é importante incluir quaisquer outros fatores que possam ajudar a prever a probabilidade de as pessoas usarem monitorizadores de atividade. Como extensão da pesquisa sobre o TAM, esta investigação criou e testou dois modelos de como as pessoas aceitam e usam dispositivos ubíquos vestíveis de monitorização de atividade, com dois questionários com mais de 200 repostas cada, que clarificam o assunto. Os modelos propostos agregaram conceitos-chave da pesquisa sobre como as pessoas aceitam os sistemas de informação ao referencial teórico do TAM e do Modelo de Aceitação de Tecnologia da Informação em Saúde (HITAM). Os modelos resultantes foram analisados usando uma variedade de técnicas estatísticas, incluindo Modelação de Equações Estruturais. O primeiro modelo foi reanalisado por meio de uma análise qualitativa com 20 entrevistas, e de novo reanalisado por meio de outro método quantitativo com Redes Neurais Artificiais (RNA). A construção de dois modelos que predizem a adoção e uso do monitorização da atividade é a contribuição mais significativa que pode ser retirada deste trabalho, juntamente com as diretrizes para o design de monitorizadores de atividade. Essas contribuições podem ajudar a promover os monitorizadores de atividade como um equipamento essencial que ajuda a monitorizar a evolução durante os treinos e em outros momentos, como quando o utilizador está em repouso ou dormindo. Ao ser continuamente lembrado para andar e evitar ficar sentado por longos períodos de tempo ou não fazer nada, isso ajuda o utilizador a construir comportamentos saudáveis. Além disso, os monitorizadores de atividade devem ser projetados para manter a motivação de uma pessoa em concluir a rotina diária de atividades, o que é necessário para que as pessoas atinjam seus objetivos de saúde e condição física. Esta tese contribui com modelos quantitativos para a aceitação e uso de monitorizadores de atividades e cria recomendações para diferentes tipos de utilizadores

Swap the Meat, Save the Planet: A Community-Based Participatory Approach to Promoting Healthy, Sustainable Food in a University Setting

Current dietary patterns threaten human and planetary health. In the United States, individuals must shift to dietary patterns higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal-based foods to reduce chronic disease risk and maintain stability of the Earth system. Despite high scientific agreement that we can simultaneously improve health and environmental sustainability through dietary shifts, interventions targeting these dual outcomes remain understudied. This dissertation employed a community-based participatory research approach to investigate how academics and non-academic foodservice leaders can collaborate to address gaps in the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to promote healthier, more environmentally sustainable diets. Research was focused on the university setting and took place at the University of California, Los Angeles. Guided by the diffusion of innovation framework, Study One qualitatively described and examined the process of developing and implementing the Impossible™ Foodprint Project—an intervention to reduce animal-based protein consumption in university dining. Intervention components included: 1) the addition of new menu items with Impossible™ plant-based meat, and 2) a complementary social marketing campaign framed around climate change. Findings from Study One highlight the value of the university’s involvement in existing health and sustainability initiatives for intervention agenda-setting and collaboration among academics and non-academic partners. In addition, results suggest university foodservice leaders may be particularly open to strategies such as piloting new menu items and providing education—rather than taking existing menu options away. Furthermore, co-creation of intervention materials and feedback from multiple data sources enhanced capacity for foodservice leaders to expand efforts to promote low-carbon-footprint foods. Lack of coordination with restaurant operators emerged as a barrier to initial implementation of the social marketing campaign, while cost prevented scale-up of Impossible™ menu items beyond the pilot intervention restaurant. Study Two utilized routinely collected sales and nutritional data from FoodPro, a widely used foodservice data management platform. A natural experiment with a pre-post non-equivalent comparison group design was used to evaluate 1) whether the Impossible™ Foodprint Project intervention met foodservice leaders’ goal of reducing animal-based entr�e sales, and 2) the impact of the intervention on the healthfulness and environmental sustainability of entr�es sold. The analytic sample included 645,822 entr�es sold at the three study sites during the Fall 2018 (pre) and Fall 2019 (post) academic quarters. During the post period, new menu items with Impossible™ plant-based meat comprised over 11% of entr�e sales at the intervention site. At the same time, the proportion of animal-based entr�e sales decreased by 9% (raw change 7%, 83% to 76%), a significantly greater decrease than the two comparisons sites.Healthfulness was operationalized as a decrease in the proportion of red meat entr�es sold and improvement in the nutritional quality of entr�es sold. While the proportion of red meat entr�es sold significantly decreased by about 8% at the intervention site (raw change 4%, 45% to 41%), a similar decrease was observed at one of the comparison sites, resulting in an unclear intervention effect. Small but statistically significant nutritional changes were observed at the intervention site: On average, each entr�e sold contained 21.3 fewer calories (kcal) and lower quantities of nutrients of concern: 0.2 fewer g saturated fat and 26.9 fewer mg sodium. Quantities of other nutrients also decreased: 0.7 fewer g protein, 0.1 fewer g fiber, and 1.5 fewer g unsaturated fat. However, nutritional outcomes varied when stratifying by entr�e type (i.e., build-your-own vs. special), resulting in a conditional assessment of the intervention’s nutritional impacts, described within. Environmental sustainability was operationalized as reduction in climate impact level (low, medium, high) and carbon footprint of entr�es sold. There were clear positive intervention effects on these outcomes. For example, the proportion of low-impact entr�e sales increased by over 50% at the intervention site (raw change 7%, 14% to 21%), a significantly greater increase than the two comparison sites. This corresponded with an 8% decrease in the mean carbon footprint of each entr�e sold at the intervention site, from 1,522 to 1,405 g CO2-equivalent (117 g decrease). With 141,321 entr�es sold at the intervention site in Fall 2019, this equates to approximately 16.4 metric tons of CO2 saved—the equivalent of driving 42,000 miles. In line with foodservice leaders’ priorities, we also conducted a brief customer survey (n=215). Results suggest a diverse range of students was open to trying the new Impossible™ menu items, and customer satisfaction was high. In comparing one-time versus repeat consumers, we found significant differences across most behavioral and cognitive factors measured. In general, repeat consumers reported consuming less animal-based protein and were more likely to believe Impossible™ is delicious and a satisfying alternative to animal meat. We also found evidence that values and race/ethnicity may affect beliefs about the sensory experience of eating Impossible™, which in turn affects repeat consumption.Finally, Study Three utilized a true experiment through Qualtrics to test whether environmental sustainability framing is more effective than health framing in “nudging” university consumers to choose a plant-based menu option. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three menu framing conditions—control (no framing), health framing, and environmental sustainability framing—and given the choice between chicken enchiladas and plant-based tacos. Of the 450 participants recruited for the study, 437 were maintained in the analytic sample, including 352 (79%) undergraduate students and 85 (21%) university staff. There were no statistically significant differences in choice across menu framing conditions. Approximately 39% of participants chose the plant-based tacos in the control condition, 36% in the health framing condition, and 40% in the environmental sustainability framing condition. In short, we found no main or conditional effects of environmental sustainability framing, compared to control. In contrast, we found some evidence that, compared to control, health framing may have negative effects among some subgroups, including university staff. Despite observed null effects of environmental sustainability framing, this approach may still be preferable to health framing given potentially counteractive health framing effects. In ancillary analyses described within, we found that, compared to health framing, environmental sustainability framing may improve anticipated enjoyment of a plant-based dish—even if it does not affect choice. In sum, Study One sheds light on how and why interventions take shape, with an emphasis on collaboration between academic and non-academic foodservice partners. Study Two provides novel insight into the benefits and tradeoffs of promoting low-carbon-footprint foods and introducing new plant-based meat alternatives into institutional food environments. Experimental findings from Study Three suggest some nudges may be insufficient to affect choice of a plant-based menu item, while others may be counteractive. Taken together, results of this dissertation build capacity for academics and foodservice leaders to advance intervention action and research to improve human and planetary health through food

Science and technology in Africa : a bibliometric and patent analysis

Mestrado Economia e Gestão de Ciência, Tecnologia e InovaçãoIt is known that Africa's R&D has been fragile. However, the analysis of bibliometric data indicates that Africa has relative distinguish behaviours on publication (2,51% of world output in 2011) and patent production (0,25% of total PCT Applications in 2011). Regarding research output there was a turning point around 2004, when the continent's output was yet to reach 15,000 publications annually. Since that year African publications have grown faster than the world average, with its number more than duplicating until now. These advances are overshadowed by the fact the continent’s production is still highly concentrated (South Africa and Egypt). Concerning scientific specialization, the results indicate that the overall Africa’s specialization is not too different of the world pattern with the exception of Agricultural Sciences, which are relatively more important in Africa. An important finding is that, at the nation level, higher level of specialization and English language colonial legacy seems to lead to better results on “scientific impact”. Other relevant result is that there seems to be a non-linear dynamics between publication output and patent output. The more a country publishes in WoS publications, the more it is able to transform scientific information into technological inventions. Finally, as demonstrated, in a way, by our cluster analysis, Africa is too complex to follow one set of S&T policies. Each country must evaluate what already exists and, with a realistic vision (Lundvall, 2009), develop their knowledge frontiers to respond to local circumstances and opportunities.Historicamente, a I&D em África tem sido diminuta. No entanto, a análise de dados bibliométricos indica que África tem comportamentos distintos em relação à produção científica (2,51% da produção mundial em 2011) e aos pedidos internacionais de patentes (0,25% do total em 2011). Relativamente à produção científica, houve um ponto de viragem em 2004, quando a produção total do continente não ultrapassava as 15000 publicações anuais. Desde esse ano o crescimento anual tem sido mais rápido que a média mundial. Estes avanços são ofuscados pelo facto da produção do continente ser ainda altamente concentrada (África do Sul e Egito). Quando o à especialização científica, a única área científica onde África apresenta maior diferenciação é em “Ciências Agrárias”. Um resultado importante, ao nível dos países, é que maiores níveis de especialização e a existência da língua inglesa como língua colonial, parecem levar a publicações com maior "impacto científico". Outra conclusão relevante é que parece haver uma dinâmica não-linear entre o número de publicações de um país e o número de pedidos PCT. Quanto maior o nível de publicação de um país na WoS, maior parece ser a capacidade dos agentes em transformar a informação científica em invenções tecnológicas. Finalmente, a nossa análise de clusters demonstrou, que África é muito complexa para seguir um conjunto único de políticas de C&T. Cada país deve avaliar as suas características e, com uma visão realista (Lundvall, 2009), desenvolver as suas fronteiras de conhecimento para responder às circunstâncias e oportunidades locais

Towards Intelligent Playful Environments for Animals based on Natural User Interfaces

Tesis por compendioEl estudio de la interacción de los animales con la tecnología y el desarrollo de sistemas tecnológicos centrados en el animal está ganando cada vez más atención desde la aparición del área de Animal Computer Interaction (ACI). ACI persigue mejorar el bienestar de los animales en diferentes entornos a través del desarrollo de tecnología adecuada para ellos siguiendo un enfoque centrado en el animal. Entre las líneas de investigación que ACI está explorando, ha habido bastante interés en la interacción de los animales con la tecnología basada en el juego. Las actividades de juego tecnológicas tienen el potencial de proveer estimulación mental y física a los animales en diferentes contextos, pudiendo ayudar a mejorar su bienestar. Mientras nos embarcamos en la era de la Internet de las Cosas, las actividades de juego tecnológicas actuales para animales todavía no han explorado el desarrollo de soluciones pervasivas que podrían proveerles de más adaptación a sus preferencias a la vez que ofrecer estímulos tecnológicos más variados. En su lugar, estas actividades están normalmente basadas en interacciones digitales en lugar de explorar dispositivos tangibles o aumentar las interacciones con otro tipo de estímulos. Además, estas actividades de juego están ya predefinidas y no cambian con el tiempo, y requieren que un humano provea el dispositivo o la tecnología al animal. Si los humanos pudiesen centrarse más en su participación como jugadores de un sistema interactivo para animales en lugar de estar pendientes de sujetar un dispositivo para el animal o de mantener el sistema ejecutándose, esto podría ayudar a crear lazos más fuertes entre especies y promover mejores relaciones con los animales. Asimismo, la estimulación mental y física de los animales son aspectos importantes que podrían fomentarse si los sistemas de juego diseñados para ellos pudieran ofrecer un variado rango de respuestas, adaptarse a los comportamientos del animal y evitar que se acostumbre al sistema y pierda el interés. Por tanto, esta tesis propone el diseño y desarrollo de entornos tecnológicos de juego basados en Interfaces Naturales de Usuario que puedan adaptarse y reaccionar a las interacciones naturales de los animales. Estos entornos pervasivos permitirían a los animales jugar por si mismos o con una persona, ofreciendo actividades de juego más dinámicas y atractivas capaces de adaptarse con el tiempo.L'estudi de la interacció dels animals amb la tecnologia i el desenvolupament de sistemes tecnològics centrats en l'animal està guanyant cada vegada més atenció des de l'aparició de l'àrea d'Animal Computer Interaction (ACI) . ACI persegueix millorar el benestar dels animals en diferents entorns a través del desenvolupament de tecnologia adequada per a ells amb un enfocament centrat en l'animal. Entre totes les línies d'investigació que ACI està explorant, hi ha hagut prou interès en la interacció dels animals amb la tecnologia basada en el joc. Les activitats de joc tecnològiques tenen el potencial de proveir estimulació mental i física als animals en diferents contextos, podent ajudar a millorar el seu benestar. Mentre ens embarquem en l'era de la Internet de les Coses, les activitats de joc tecnològiques actuals per a animals encara no han explorat el desenvolupament de solucions pervasives que podrien proveir-los de més adaptació a les seues preferències al mateix temps que oferir estímuls tecnològics més variats. En el seu lloc, estes activitats estan normalment basades en interaccions digitals en compte d'explorar dispositius tangibles o augmentar les interaccions amb estímuls de diferent tipus. A més, aquestes activitats de joc estan ja predefinides i no canvien amb el temps, mentre requereixen que un humà proveïsca el dispositiu o la tecnologia a l'animal. Si els humans pogueren centrar-se més en la seua participació com a jugadors actius d'un sistema interactiu per a animals en compte d'estar pendents de subjectar un dispositiu per a l'animal o de mantenir el sistema executant-se, açò podria ajudar a crear llaços més forts entre espècies i promoure millors relacions amb els animals. Així mateix, l'estimulació mental i física dels animals són aspectes importants que podrien fomentar-se si els sistemes de joc dissenyats per a ells pogueren oferir un rang variat de respostes, adaptar-se als comportaments de l'animal i evitar que aquest s'acostume al sistema i perda l'interès. Per tant, esta tesi proposa el disseny i desenvolupament d'entorns tecnològics de joc basats en Interfícies Naturals d'Usuari que puguen adaptar-se i reaccionar a les interaccions naturals dels animals. Aquestos escenaris pervasius podrien permetre als animals jugar per si mateixos o amb una persona, oferint activitats de joc més dinàmiques i atractives que siguen capaces d'adaptar-se amb el temps.The study of animals' interactions with technology and the development of animal-centered technological systems is gaining attention since the emergence of the research area of Animal Computer Interaction (ACI). ACI aims to improve animals' welfare and wellbeing in several scenarios by developing suitable technology for the animal following an animal-centered approach. Among all the research lines ACI is exploring, there has been significant interest in animals' playful interactions with technology. Technologically mediated playful activities have the potential to provide mental and physical stimulation for animals in different environmental contexts, which could in turn help to improve their wellbeing. As we embark in the era of the Internet of Things, current technological playful activities for animals have not yet explored the development of pervasive solutions that could provide animals with more adaptation to their preferences as well as offering varied technological stimuli. Instead, playful technology for animals is usually based on digital interactions rather than exploring tangible devices or augmenting the interactions with different stimuli. In addition, these playful activities are already predefined and do not change over time, while they require that a human has to be the one providing the device or technology to the animal. If humans could focus more on their participation as active players of an interactive system aimed for animals instead of being concerned about holding a device for the animal or keep the system running, this might help to create stronger bonds between species and foster better relationships with animals. Moreover, animals' mental and physical stimulation are important aspects that could be fostered if the playful systems designed for animals could offer a varied range of outputs, be tailored to the animal's behaviors and prevented the animal to get used to the system and lose interest. Therefore, this thesis proposes the design and development of technological playful environments based on Natural User Interfaces that could adapt and react to the animals' natural interactions. These pervasive scenarios would allow animals to play by themselves or with a human, providing more engaging and dynamic playful activities that are capable of adapting over time.Pons Tomás, P. (2018). Towards Intelligent Playful Environments for Animals based on Natural User Interfaces [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/113075TESISCompendi

Design da interação na Web pragmática : reduzindo barreiras semióticas na colaboração mediada pela Web

Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani BaranauskasTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Web e suas tecnologias de base facilitam interações entre pessoas que alguns anos atrás não eram imagináveis. A colaboração é um tipo importante de interação que tem um propósito. Pessoas de diferentes contextos sociais e culturais, e com diferentes preferências e habilidades, podem colaborar mediadas pela Web. A colaboração muitas vezes acontece em contextos heterogêneos, que são definidos tanto pelas situações atuais dos parceiros na colaboração, quanto pelas experiências passadas, sejam elas individuais ou coletivas. A Web como um meio/uma mídia tem um impacto na colaboração e facilita certos aspectos da colaboração enquanto dificulta outros. Adotando uma perspectiva informada pela Web Pragmática, nesta tese investigamos questões da colaboração mediada pela Web, relacionadas com o Design da Interação. Nosso objetivo principal é entender barreiras semióticas da colaboração mediada pela Web e propor uma abordagem ao Design da Interação que reduza tais barreiras. Barreiras semióticas são barreiras relacionadas à comunicação, mediação e representação. Estas barreiras surgem na colaboração mediada pela Web pois muitos mecanismos da comunicação interpessoal face-a-face não estão disponíveis. Dependendo do contexto, barreiras semióticas frequentemente exercem um impacto negativo à colaboração; entretanto, em alguns casos o impacto pode ser positivo também. A abordagem ao Design da Interação aqui proposta tem suas bases na Web Pragmática e utiliza a Semiótica Organizacional e a Teoria da Atividade como referenciais teórico-metodológicos. As investigações teóricas contaram com uma contrapartida em termos de um embasamento em práticas reais através da participação em um projeto de pesquisa no domínio da educação inclusiva. Materializamos a abordagem proposta no design de um protótipo e na implementação de uma ferramenta correspondente ao protótipo, que apoia uma prática de profissionais no domínio da educação inclusiva. Além disso, propusemos e conduzimos um método de avaliação guiada pela pragmática dentro do contexto de um estudo de caso longitudinal. O design do protótipo, a implementação da ferramenta e a avaliação conduzida fornecem evidências de que a abordagem proposta ao Design da Interação guiada pela pragmática contribui para a redução de barreiras semióticas e para a promoção da colaboração mediada pela WebAbstract: The Web and its underlying technologies enable interactions among people that were unimaginable a few years ago. An important type of purposeful interaction is collaboration. Mediated by the Web, people from different social and cultural backgrounds, with different needs, preferences and capabilities can collaborate with each other. Collaboration often takes place in heterogeneous contexts that are not only defined by the actual situations of the collaboration partners, but also by individual and collective past experiences. The Web as a medium has an impact on collaboration and facilitates or enables certain aspects of collaboration while making others more difficult. In this PhD thesis we investigate Interaction Design related questions about web-mediated collaboration under a Pragmatic Web perspective. Our prime objective is to understand semiotic barriers to web-mediated collaboration and propose an approach to Interaction Design that reduces these barriers. Semiotic barriers are barriers related to communication, mediation and representation. These barriers emerge during web-based collaboration since many mechanisms of interpersonal face-to-face communication are not available. Depending on the context, semiotic barriers often have a negative impact on collaboration, but in some cases they might also have positive effects. The approach to Interaction Design proposed in this PhD thesis is rooted in the Pragmatic Web and uses Organizational Semiotics and Activity Theory as its theoretical and methodological frames of reference. The theoretic investigations were practically grounded in real world practices by participating in a research project in the domain of inclusive education. We materialized the proposed approach in the design of a prototype and the implementation of the corresponding tool that supports a practice of inclusive education professionals. Furthermore we proposed and applied a pragmatics-driven evaluation method in a longitudinal case study. Prototype design, tool implementation, and the conducted evaluation provided evidence that the proposed approach to pragmatics-driven Interaction Design can reduce semiotic barriers and thus promote web-mediated collaborationDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutor em Ciência da Computaçã

Understanding Social Insider Intrusions to Personal Computing Devices

We examined the characteristics of social insider intrusions to personal computing devices. Social insider intrusions are situations in which one person physically accesses the device of someone they know, without permission. With devices like smartphones becoming hubs for social interaction, social insider intrusions also became a central challenge to interpersonal privacy. Through a series of quantitative and qualitative empirical studies, we sought to better understand intrusions. Our analysis indicates that the frequency of intrusions is substantially higher than previously thought, and even prevalent among younger segments of the populations we analyzed. We found recurring patterns in how intrusions unfold, including a variety of motivations and access strategies, often successful despite the presence of security technologies, like device locks. Our analysis offers both a snapshot in time, and insight onto foundational challenges that arise from technologies mediating interpersonal relationships