Haptic user experience evaluation for virtual reality

Hapticians (engineers, researchers or designers) are developing 'haptic displays' to replicate the complexity of sensations and interactivity accommodated by the hand. Haptic displays hold potential in allowing users to interact with each other and manipulate things in virtual reality (VR), providing them with a limitless safe environment. However, technological advances alone are insufficient to develop a high-quality haptic user experience (UX). Research indicates that current evaluation instruments, guidelines and education on haptic engineering and perception do not address haptic interaction and experience design needs. This research investigates the problem, endeavouring to consolidate findings into helpful haptic UX evaluation instruments, design principles, and guidelines to support haptic design practice.</p

Corralling culture as a concept in LIS research

Individuals' cultural backgrounds influence their use of societal resources, including libraries. A literature search and review was completed on the treatment of culture in library and information science (LIS) in the body of work on information behaviour and use. While much of the literature reviewed cites culture as an important influence, few researchers define culture as a concept, nor do they explore in detail the factors that it comprises. In this body of work culture is primarily used in two ways: (a) to differentiate groups of library users; and (b) to draw attention to questions of integration.</p

Multimedia profiles as external personalities to support people with dementia and their carers

Dementia is a growing problem with prevalence rapidly increasing. It is a progressive and eventually severe disease that affects many areas of the person’s life. Often, as a result of this disease, individuals reside in care homes. Care staff can find it difficult to get to know a person with dementia as they have limited time to spend with each person. In addition, communication difficulties can make it difficult to learn important social information and preferences. This lack of knowledge about an individual with dementia can make social interactions very difficult and can often contribute to repetitive social interactions. This research aimed to establish if technology could be used to support care staff within their care environment to get to know people with late-stage dementia. The goal was to develop software that can act as an external communication bridge between carers and people with dementia through the creation of simple but effective ‘Portraits’. This thesis investigates the creation and use of multimedia ‘Portraits’ of individuals with dementia that are immediately and easily accessible to care staff. This thesis describes the development of a software tool called Portrait, designed to help staff in care homes quickly get to know a person with dementia as a person. It is intended to be used by the staff in their care environment to gain an initial understanding of that person’s life prior to entering care and to learn more personal information about their needs and habits. The Portrait system contains important but limited personal and social information about the people with dementia. Five key studies were conducted during this research. The first study evaluated the usability of the Portrait system. The second and third were conducted with care managers and staff in the care home setting to assess usefulness and usability of the Portrait system and to compare it to current methods used in the care home environment. The fourth study conducted case studies with families of people with dementia to investigate the Portrait creation process and the final study investigated the placement of these Portraits in the care environment. The results of this research are promising, with Portrait being very positively received by care managers, care staff and the families of people with dementia. This research highlights the potential benefits of technology in the care environment to assist care staff. A number of key areas for future research have been identified including the possibility of expanding the use of the system and using alternative state of the art devices

CURIOS: Connecting Community Heritage through Linked Data

Peer reviewedPostprin

Youth digital participation:Measuring social impact

Current scholarly debate around digital participatory youth projects and approaches to their evaluation are examined in this article. The analysis of the literature presented here reveals (1) an over-reliance on traditional evaluation techniques for such initiatives, and (2) a scarcity of models for the assessment of the social impact of digital participatory youth projects. It is concluded that the challenges and limitations of social impact evaluation practice in digital participatory youth projects should be addressed through the adoption of alternative, participant-centred approaches. These issues are discussed in reference to a current ongoing study that seeks to identify solutions for enhancing social impact evaluations of participatory digital initiatives by young people.<br/

Social Media by Proxy: how older adults work within their ‘social networks’ to engage with social media

Introduction. Social media use is at an all-time high, and the adoption of online tools by older adults is increasing. This paper reports an exploratory qualitative study investigating the ways in which older adults are supported by social media proxies defined as ‘an individual who uses a social media account for or supports the use of a social media account by another person’. Method. Interviews, a diary study, and a focus group were conducted to explore the motivations for undertaking a proxy role; formal or informal agreements between proxies and account holders; and collaborative proxy practices and behaviours that exist between the individuals providing or receiving proxy support. Analysis. A reflective thematic analysis (Clarke et al., 2015) of all three data sources was undertaken. The coding structure was developed from the interview, diary and focus group guides as a way of categorising the data into themes.Results. Results reveal that social media proxy relationships exist, even if proxy roles are not clearly defined, and that older adults engage with their ‘social networks’ to identify proxy support and it is likely that without this support the older adult would be unable to fully access or engage with social media or other online accounts. Conclusion. The results demonstrated that social media proxies exist, although the role is not clearly defined, and the nature of the proxy relationship changes over time. This research highlights the need for more in-depth investigations related to social media proxies, especially as the use of social media and other online platform is increasing steadily across all age groups

Determining Content for Unknown Users : Lessons from the MinkApp Case Study

Peer reviewedPreprin

Let's Play the Arcade Machines

"Let's Play the Arcade Machines" showcases games made by children in schools in the Wester Hailes area of Edinburgh. The project aims to expose the children to a constructionist style of learning; supporting them to create and remix games about their local area using the Scratch programming environment, whilst encouraging them to engage with the idea that further study of computing could lead them to interesting and fulfilling careers.</p

Capturing mink and data : Interacting with a small and dispersed environmental initiative over the introduction of digital innovation

This case study was carried out by Koen Arts1, Gemma Webster1, Nirwan Sharma1, Yolanda Melero2, Chris Mellish1, Xavier Lambin2 and René van der Wal1. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions, and Chris Horrill from SMI for his very helpful and insightful comments on previous drafts of this manuscript. The research described here is supported by the award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme to the dot.rural Digital Economy Hub; award reference: EP/G066051/1.Case study for 'Responsible Research & Innovation in ICT' platformPostprin

Technology for supporting care staff in residential homes.

Care staff, those who attend to the day-to-day needs of people in residential facilities, represent an important segment of the health-care provision of those entrusted to their care. The potential use of technology by care staff has not been a focus of researcher attention. The work reported here provides initial steps in addressing that gap, considering both the design requirements for this population and presentation of early work on a software system for use by care staff. We describe the development of a software tool for use by care staff, called Portrait, and report two studies related to factors affecting technology use by this population. The results of this research are promising, with Portrait being very positively received by care managers and care staff. Use of this software in a care home for over a month indicated continued use, with care staff returning to the system throughout the test period. The contributions of this research are the identification of factors important in working with a care staff population, the introduction and evaluation of a novel software tool for care staff in residential homes, and the highlighting of potential benefits of technology in assisting care staff