Connect: translating complexity through visual simplification

CONNECT: Translating Complexity through Visual Simplification brings complex data into concise visual systems that encourage ease of access. With a background in Human Factors Engineering, user engagement remains a central focus in my design. Whether reducing barriers to scientific information or untangling deeply complex data, design must contain intuitive concepts without the need for extended explanation. Using bold color and geometric shapes as the core design language to render pictorial narratives, this thesis maps my development as an information designer through modes of gathering, deciphering, and interpreting

Written Evidence Submission - House of Lords Communications Committee: Public Service Broadcasting in the Age of Video on Demand

I consider this Inquiry important and relevant as the successful UK Public Service Broadcasters BBC, ITV, C4, C5 and S4C are currently facing major challenges from Video on Demand (VoD) services. These challenges primarily concern competition for content from VoD services in a highly competitive broadcasting market characterised by shifts in audience behaviour. Audiences are watching less scheduled TV as they are attracted by the business model of global streaming services like YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. Fierce competition from mainly US-based, unregulated global VoD players investing billions of pounds in content has escalated programming costs and made it difficult for tightly regulated PSBs with modest domestic UK budgets to compete. The BBC is facing unprecedented pressure regarding its licence fee income and commercial UK PSBs face pressure concerning their funding market models as advertising money is continuously diverted online to new streaming services

Weather Data Gamification

Climate change is an important issue for public policy. Unfortunately, although there are volumes of data about climate change, many members of the public are informed about the issue by politicized interpretations of the data. This is an impediment to planning policies and strategies to counter the impact of climate change, and identifies a need for climate awareness in the public. This thesis explores using gamification to motivate people to learn about long term trends in climate data. As a model for this edutainment activity, we choose a medium that engages millions of players to learn about large sets of data - Fantasy Sports. Fantasy sports have been shown to increase the player’s knowledge and understanding about the domain of the sport being played. With the huge amount of weather data available, we have designed and developed a fantasy weather game. People manage a team of cities with the goal of predicting weather better than other players in their league, and in the process gain an understanding of the weather patterns and climate change trends for those cities. We do a user-study to evaluate our application and prove its feasibility. An evaluation of the fantasy weather game indicates that the game had the desired effect of causing players to explore weather data in more detail. The evaluation also pointed out a number of potential improvements to the current prototype. Overall, the evaluation supports using the model of fantasy sports to motivate people to learn more about weather and climate data

Navigating Relationships and Boundaries: Concerns around ICT-uptake for Elderly People

Despite a proliferation of research in the use of ICTs to support active and healthy ageing, few have considered the privacy and security concerns particular to the elderly. We investigated the appropriation of tablet devices and a neighborhood portal as well as emerging privacy and security issues through ethnographic and action research in a long-term participatory design (PD) project with elderly participants. We discuss two major themes: a) the tensions related to perceived digital threats and the social pressures of online disclosure to the social environment; and b) the relation of these issues to the ICT appropriation process and the referring challenges we encountered. We argue that there is a need to understand the interleaving of physical and virtual habitats, the various ways resulting in discomfort and the senior citizens' actions – which at first glance appear contradictory. We consider the implications of the issues observed for examining privacy and security concerns more broadly as well as discussing implications for the design of the portal and the shaping of social measures for appropriation support

Aplicación móvil del tiempo atmosférico usando la API de Openeeathermap

Des de l'aparició dels telèfons intel·ligents l'increment d'aplicacions ha crescut exponencialment, i una de les quals no falta mai són les aplicacions del temps. Si bé la majoria són simples widgets que et redirigeixen a les seves pàgines webs, a mesura que han sorgit noves tecnologies per a les creacions d'aquestes, han anat evolucionant. Una d'aquestes tecnologies seria per exemple Flutter, que permet desenvolupar aplicacions per a Android i IOS, els dos grans sistemes operatius que ocupen el mercat. És per això que he dirigit el meu projecte a la creació d'una aplicació per a totes dues plataformes que barregi la senzillesa dels widgets antics amb els nous estils d'aplicacions més dinàmics, amb noves funcions i mapes interactius. Al llarg d'aquesta memòria es descriurà; el procés de creació de l'aplicació; l'estudi de les API que proporcionen les dades i la creació d'aquests models de dades; el disseny de les pantalles que componen l'aplicació, des de l'esbós principal passant per les aplicacions a usar per a això, fins a la creació final d'aquestes donant una explicació detallada de cada element que ho compon i el perquè. Finalment es descriuran les funcionalitats dissenyades, tant el seu desenvolupament com la seva implementació. Una vegada totes les funcions han estat implementades, s'ha passat a la fase de testatge. L'aplicació ha estat testada en diferents models, tant en antiguitat com en grandària. Finalment, s'ha polit el disseny perquè sigui agradable i dinàmic. Finalment es mostraran les pantalles del resultat final tal com vindria després de la descàrrega des del store.Desde la aparición de los smartphones el incremento de aplicaciones ha crecido exponencialmente, y una de las que no falta nunca son las aplicaciones del tiempo. Si bien la mayoría son simples widgets que te redirigen a sus páginas webs, a medida que han surgido nuevas tecnologías para las creaciones de estas, han ido evolucionando. Una de estas tecnologías sería por ejemplo Flutter, que permite desarrollar aplicaciones para Android y IOS, los dos grandes sistemas operativos que ocupan el mercado. Es por esto que he dirigido mi proyecto a la creación de una aplicación para ambas plataformas que mezcle la simpleza de los widgets antiguos con los nuevos estilos de aplicaciones más dinámicos, con nuevas funciones y mapas interactivos. A lo largo de esta memoria se describirá; el proceso de creación de la aplicación; el estudio de las API que proporcionan los datos y la creación de estos modelos de datos; el diseño de las pantallas que componen la aplicación, desde el boceto principal pasando por las aplicaciones a usar para ello hasta la creación final de estas dando una explicación detallada de cada elemento que lo compone y el porqué. Por último se describirán las funcionalidades diseñadas, tanto su desarrollo como su implementación. Una vez todas las funciones han sido implementadas, se ha pasado a la fase de testeo. La aplicación ha sido testeada en diferentes modelos, tanto en antigüedad como en tamaño. Por último, se ha pulido el diseño para que sea agradable y dinámico. Finalmente se mostrarán las pantallas del resultado final tal y como vendría tras la descarga desde el store.Since the emergence of mobile phones the rising number of applications has been increasing exponentially, and one of the must have are the weather apps. Even though most of them are just widgets that usually redirect to their web pages, as new technologies have appeared for the development of applications, these have been evolving. One of these would be for example Flutter, which allows you to develop applications for both Android and IOs, the two most important operating systems nowadays. And that reason is why I have led my project to the development of an application for both platforms that mixes the simplicity of the old widgets with the style from the new ones, more dynamics, with new functions and interactive maps. Throughout this memory it will be described; the creation process of the application; the API study that provide us with all the data and the creation of their data models; the design of our mobile screens, from the first sketch and which applications have been used to the final design, explaining every element used and why. Lastly, all the functionalities designed will be descrived, both their development and implementation. Once all the functionalities have been implemented, it was turn to the test phase. The application has been tested with different models, both antiquity and size to check if it fits well. Lastly, the design has been polished to make it more comfortable and dynamic. Finally all the screens will be shown just as they will be after downloading it from the store

Future mathematics in a TI-83 graphing calculator environment

Reformed mathematics curricula are demanding increased use of graphing calculator technology. This report describes the background, need for, and evolution of a set of activities supporting implementation of graphing calculator technology in high school. Associated with the manual is a five-day professional development institute project. The manual is a self-contained body of notes and linked exercises describing TI-83 application throughout secondary school mathematics. It assumes no prior TI-83 knowledge. It is designed to accommodate personal instruction. Full solutions and extensive explanations are provided. A facilitator package including a complete description of managing such an institute is appended. It includes a glossary of terms and is fully referenced. Teaching tips, which provide alternate strategies and enhancements, are also included