26,357 research outputs found
Smartphones
Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones
App creation in schools for different curricula subjects - lesson learned
The next generation of jobs will be characterized by an increased demand for
people with computational and problem solving skills. In Austria, computer
science topics are underrepresented in school curricula hence teaching time for
these topics is limited. From primary through secondary school, only a few
opportunities exist for young students to explore programming. Furthermore,
today's teachers are rarely trained in computer science, which impairs their
potential to motivate students in these courses. Within the "No One Left
Behind" (NOLB) project, teachers were supported to guide and assist their
students in their learning processes by constructing ideas through game making.
Thus, students created games that referred to different subject areas by using
the programming tool Pocket Code, an app developed at Graz University of
Technology (TU-Graz). This tool helps students to take control of their own
education, becoming more engaged, interested, and empowered as a result. To
ensure an optimal integration of the app in diverse subjects the different
backgrounds (technical and non-technical) of teachers must be considered as
well. First, teachers were supported to use Pocket Code in the different
subjects in school within the feasibility study of the project. Observed
challenges and difficulties using the app have been gathered. Second, we
conducted interviews with teachers and students to underpin our onsite
observations. As a result, it was possible to validate Pocket Codes' potential
to be used in a diverse range of subjects. Third, we focused especially on
those teachers who were not technically trained to provide them with a
framework for Pocket Code units, e.g., with the help of structured lesson plans
and predefined templates.Comment: 10 pages, 5 tables EduLearn 201
Fall prevention intervention technologies: A conceptual framework and survey of the state of the art
In recent years, an ever increasing range of technology-based applications have been developed with the goal of assisting in the delivery of more effective and efficient fall prevention interventions. Whilst there have been a number of studies that have surveyed technologies for a particular sub-domain of fall prevention, there is no existing research which surveys the full spectrum of falls prevention interventions and characterises the range of technologies that have augmented this landscape. This study presents a conceptual framework and survey of the state of the art of technology-based fall prevention systems which is derived from a systematic template analysis of studies presented in contemporary research literature. The framework proposes four broad categories of fall prevention intervention system: Pre-fall prevention; Post-fall prevention; Fall injury prevention; Cross-fall prevention. Other categories include, Application type, Technology deployment platform, Information sources, Deployment environment, User interface type, and Collaborative function. After presenting the conceptual framework, a detailed survey of the state of the art is presented as a function of the proposed framework. A number of research challenges emerge as a result of surveying the research literature, which include a need for: new systems that focus on overcoming extrinsic falls risk factors; systems that support the environmental risk assessment process; systems that enable patients and practitioners to develop more collaborative relationships and engage in shared decision making during falls risk assessment and prevention activities. In response to these challenges, recommendations and future research directions are proposed to overcome each respective challenge.The Royal Society, grant Ref: RG13082
Contributions to Using IT in Education: An Educational Video Player
Following the trends of IT use in education we propose four main principles of educational application development: anytime-anywhere access (including access for mobile devices); user-generated content; assigning users an active role inside the platform; creating a correlation between natural activities and educational activities – adding fun into the equation. With these principles in mind we developed a small Educational Player – a movie player that connects to a database to show information relevant to the events in the movie, more specific to the exact key-frame (in the movie time-line) at the moment of the request. Though the application is still in a conceptual form, its possibilities make us confident in its future success either as an informal way of learning, or by using it in a formal educational context either as an e-learning tool, either as interactivity tool in a traditional classroom setting.E-learning, Educational Technologies, Multimedia Applications
Innovative strategies for 3D visualisation using photogrammetry and 3D scanning for mobile phones
3D model generation through Photogrammetry is a modern overlay of digital information representing real world objects in a virtual world. The immediate scope of this study aims at generating 3D models using imagery and overcoming the challenge of acquiring accurate 3D meshes. This research aims to achieve optimised ways to document raw 3D representations of real life objects and then converting them into retopologised, textured usable data through mobile phones. Augmented Reality (AR) is a projected combination of real and virtual objects. A lot of work is done to create market dependant AR applications so customers can view products before purchasing them. The need is to develop a product independent photogrammetry to AR pipeline which is freely available to create independent 3D Augmented models. Although for the particulars of this research paper, the aim would be to compare and analyse different open source SDK’s and libraries for developing optimised 3D Mesh using Photogrammetry/3D Scanning which will contribute as a main skeleton to the 3D-AR pipeline. Natural disasters, global political crisis, terrorist attacks and other catastrophes have led researchers worldwide to capture monuments using photogrammetry and laser scans. Some of these objects of “global importance” are processed by companies including CyArk (Cyber Archives) and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, who work against time to preserve these historical monuments, before they are damaged or in some cases completely destroyed. The need is to question the significance of preserving objects and monuments which might be of value locally to a city or town. What is done to preserve those objects? This research would develop pipelines for collecting and processing 3D data so the local communities could contribute towards restoring endangered sites and objects using their smartphones and making these objects available to be viewed in location based AR. There exist some companies which charge relatively large amounts of money for local scanning projects. This research would contribute as a non-profitable project which could be later used in school curriculums, visitor attractions and historical preservation organisations all over the globe at no cost. The scope isn’t limited to furniture, museums or marketing, but could be used for personal digital archiving as well. This research will capture and process virtual objects using Mobile Phones comparing methodologies used in Computer Vision design from data conversion on Mobile phones to 3D generation, texturing and retopologising. The outcomes of this research will be used as input for generating AR which is application independent of any industry or product
Enhanced reality live role playing
Live role-playing is a form of improvisational theatre played for the experience of the performers and without an audience. These games form a challenging application domain for ubiquitous technology. We discuss the design options for enhanced reality live role-playing and the role of technology in live role-playing games
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