Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

D1.3 List of available solutions

This report has been submitted by Tempesta Media SL as deliverable D1.3 within the framework of H2020 project "SO-CLOSE: Enhancing Social Cohesion through Sharing the Cultural Heritage of Forced Migrations" Grant No. 870939.This report aims to conduct research on the specific topics and needs of the SO-CLOSE project, addressing the available solutions through a state-of-the-art digital tools analysis, applied in the cultural heritage and migration fields. More specifically the report's scope is:To define proper tools and proceedings for the interview needs -performing, recording, transcription, translation. To analyse potential content gathering tools for the co-creation workshops. To conduct a state-of-the-art sharing tools analysis, applied in the cultural heritage and migration fields, and propose a critically adjusted and innovative digital approach

Multi-person Spatial Interaction in a Large Immersive Display Using Smartphones as Touchpads

In this paper, we present a multi-user interaction interface for a large immersive space that supports simultaneous screen interactions by combining (1) user input via personal smartphones and Bluetooth microphones, (2) spatial tracking via an overhead array of Kinect sensors, and (3) WebSocket interfaces to a webpage running on the large screen. Users are automatically, dynamically assigned personal and shared screen sub-spaces based on their tracked location with respect to the screen, and use a webpage on their personal smartphone for touchpad-type input. We report user experiments using our interaction framework that involve image selection and placement tasks, with the ultimate goal of realizing display-wall environments as viable, interactive workspaces with natural multimodal interfaces.Comment: 8 pages with reference

Interaction in immersive virtual reality:breakdowns as trouble-sources in co-present VR interaction

Abstract. This thesis examines breakdowns as trouble-sources in co-present interactions within immersive virtual reality (VR). The data examined in this study consists of video recordings of users playing Rec Room, an online multiplayer game, with HTC Vive head-mounted displays (HMDs). The users participating in the recording sessions were predominantly non-native English speakers with no prior immersive VR experience. The participants played the game in six groups of two. The participants were given minimal guidance to facilitate naturally occurring interactions within the virtual environment. Sequences of interest identified in the recorded footage were transcribed for the purpose of analysis. Conversation analysis was applied as the research methodology, while drawing upon past studies regarding the phenomenon of breakdowns in human-computer interaction and repair in interaction. Breakdowns were categorized into game-related and device-related breakdowns during the analysis process. The examined game-related breakdowns were connected to unclear game mechanics and difficulties of avatar interactions, while the examined device-related breakdowns were connected to difficulties with the participants’ HMDs and controllers. Breakdowns related to the game were found to be mildly disruptive to an ongoing interaction, with the participants managing to overcome them either by themselves or with the help of other users within VR. Breakdowns related to the VR devices proved more difficult for the participants to resolve, often requiring assistance not from other VR users, but from the observers of the recording sessions. Device-related issues could also be far more disruptive for the participants, leading to removing a user from the game entirely or forcing a premature end to a recording session at their most severe. A lack of information available to the participants was a recurring factor across both game-related and device-related breakdowns. Possible solutions to providing users with more information regarding both game mechanics and the status of their HMD and controllers were discussed.Tiivistelmä. Tämä tutkimus tarkastelee käyttöhäiriöitä ongelmalähteinä yhteisläsnäolevissa vuorovaikutustilanteissa immersiivisessä virtuaalitodellisuudessa. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltu aineisto koostuu videonauhoituksista käyttäjistä pelaamassa Rec Room -verkkomoninpeliä HTC Vive virtuaalitodellisuuslaseja käyttäen. Nauhoitussessioihin osallistuneet käyttäjät olivat pääsääntöisesti ei-natiiveja englannin puhujia ilman aiempaa kokemusta immersiivisestä virtuaalitodellisuudesta. Osallistujat pelasivat peliä kuudessa kahden hengen ryhmässä. Osallistujia ohjeistettiin mahdollisimman vähän luontaisten interaktioiden helpottamiseksi virtuaaliympäristössä. Aineistosta tunnistetut kiinnostavat sekvenssit litteroitiin analyysiä varten. Tutkimusmetodina sovellettiin konversaatioanalyysiä, hyödyntäen myös aiempia tutkimuksia liittyen käyttöhäiriöihin ihmisen ja tietokoneen vuorovaikutuksessa sekä korjausilmiöihin vuorovaikutuksessa. Käyttöhäiriöt luokiteltiin peliin liittyviin ja laitteisiin littyviin käyttöhäiriöihin analyysiprosessin aikana. Tarkastellut peliin liittyvät käyttähäiriöt liittyivät epäselviin pelimekaniikkoihin sekä hankaluuksiin roolihahmojen vuorovaikutuksessa, kun taas tarkastellut laitteisiin liittyvät käyttöhäiriöt liittyivät hankaluuksiin osallistujien virtuaalilasien ja peliohjaimien kanssa. Peliin liittyneet käyttöhäiriöt häiritsivät vuorovaikutustilanteita lievästi, ja osallistujat pystyivät selviytymään tilanteesta joko yksin tai muiden virtuaalitodellisuudessa olevien käyttäjien avulla. Käyttöhäiriöt jotka liittyivät virtuaalitodellisuuslaitteisiin osoittautuivat osallistujille haastavammiksi selvittää, ja he tarvitsivat usein apua nauhoitussessioiden tarkkailijoilta muiden virtuaalitodellisuudessa olevien käyttäjien sijaan. Laitteisiin liittyvät ongelmat osoittautuivat myös huomattavasti häiritsevämmiksi osallistujille, vakavimmissa tapauksissa johtaen käyttäjän poistumiseen pelistä kokonaan tai nauhoitussession ennenaikaiseen loppuun. Osallistujille tarjolla olleen tiedon puute oli toistuva tekijä sekä peliin että laitteisiin liittyvissä käyttöhäiriöissä. Mahdollisia ratkaisuja pelimekaniikkoihin ja käyttäjien virtuaalilasien sekä peliohjaimien tilaan liittyvän tiedon tarjoamiselle tarkasteltiin

16th Sound and Music Computing Conference SMC 2019 (28–31 May 2019, Malaga, Spain)

The 16th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2019) took place in Malaga, Spain, 28-31 May 2019 and it was organized by the Application of Information and Communication Technologies Research group (ATIC) of the University of Malaga (UMA). The SMC 2019 associated Summer School took place 25-28 May 2019. The First International Day of Women in Inclusive Engineering, Sound and Music Computing Research (WiSMC 2019) took place on 28 May 2019. The SMC 2019 TOPICS OF INTEREST included a wide selection of topics related to acoustics, psychoacoustics, music, technology for music, audio analysis, musicology, sonification, music games, machine learning, serious games, immersive audio, sound synthesis, etc

Human-Computer Interaction

In this book the reader will find a collection of 31 papers presenting different facets of Human Computer Interaction, the result of research projects and experiments as well as new approaches to design user interfaces. The book is organized according to the following main topics in a sequential order: new interaction paradigms, multimodality, usability studies on several interaction mechanisms, human factors, universal design and development methodologies and tools

New Technology and Tools to Enhance Collaborative Video Analysis in Live ‘Data Sessions’

The live ‘data session’ is arguably a significant collaborative practice amongst a group of co-present colleagues that has sustained the fermentation of emerging analyses of interactional phenomena in ethnomethodological conversation analysis for several decades. There has not, however, been much in the way of technological innovation since its inception. In this article, I outline how the data session can be enhanced (a) by using simple technologies to support the ‘silent data session’, (b) by developing software tools to present, navigate and collaborate on new types of video data in novel ways using immersive virtual reality technologies, and (c) by supporting distributed version control to nurture the freedom and safety to collaborate synchronously and asynchronously on the revision of a common transcript used in a live data session. Examples of real cases, technical solutions and best practices are given based on experience. The advantages and limitations of these significant enhancements are discussed in methodological terms with an eye to future developments