Painting the ideal home: using art to express visions of technologically supported independent living for older people in North East England

This paper describes the investigation of the development of future technological products to support older people in everyday living through the agency of a community art group. Recent research has identified a number of challenges facing designers seeking to use traditional participatory design approaches to gather technology requirements data from older people. Here, a project is described that sought to get a group of older people to think creatively about their needs and desires for technological support through the medium of paint. The artistic expression technique described in this article allowed the identification of issues that had also been found by previous research that used a range of different techniques. This indicates that the approach shows promise, as it allows information to be gathered in an environment that is comfortable and familiar using methods already known by the participants and which they find enjoyable. It provides a complement (or possible alternative) to standard protocols and has the potential benefit of extracting even richer information as the primary task for participants is enjoyable in its own right and is not associated with an interrogative process. Furthermore, it is argued that some of the key risks of traditional approaches are lessened or removed by the naturalistic setting of this approach

Auditory emoticons: Iterative design and acoustic characteristics of emotional auditory icons and Earcons

In recent decades there has been an increased interest in sonification research. Two commonly used sonification techniques, auditory icons and earcons, have been the subject of a lot of study. However, despite this there has been relatively little research investigating the relationship between these sonification techniques and emotions and affect. Additionally, despite their popularity, auditory icons and earcons are often treated separately and are rarely compared directly in studies. The current paper shows iterative design procedures to create emotional auditory icons and earcons. The ultimate goal of the study is to compare auditory icons and earcons in their ability to represent emotional states. The results show that there are some strong user preferences both within sonification categories and between sonfication categories. The implications and extensions of this work are discussed

Sound Improves Player Performance in a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Game

Sound in video games is often used by developers to enhance the visual experience on screen. Despite its importance in creating presence and improving visual screen elements, sound also plays an important role in providing additional information to a player when completing various game tasks. This preliminary study focuses on the use of informative sound in the popular multiplayer online battle arena game, Dota 2. Our initial results indicate that team performance improves with the use of sound. However, mixed results with individual performances were measured, with some individual performances better with sound and some better without sound

Visual tools and languages: Directions for the '90s

We identify and discuss three domains where we believe that innovative application of visual programming languages is likely to make a significant impact in the near term: concurrent computing, computer-based assistance for people with disabilities, and the multimedia/multimodal environments of tomorrow in which it will be possible to hear and physically interact with information as well as see it. 33 refs., 3 figs

Techniques for Interactive 3-D Scientific Visualization

Interest in interactive 3-D graphics has exploded of late, fueled by (a) the allure of using scientific visualization to go where no-one has gone before'' and (b) by the development of new input devices which overcome some of the limitations imposed in the past by technology, yet which may be ill-suited to the kinds of interaction required by researchers active in scientific visualization. To resolve this tension, we propose a flat 5-D'' environment in which 2-D graphics are augmented by exploiting multiple human sensory modalities using cheap, conventional hardware readily available with personal computers and workstations. We discuss how interactions basic to 3-D scientific visualization, like searching a solution space and comparing two such spaces, are effectively carried out in our environment. Finally, we describe 3DMOVE, an experimental microworld we have implemented to test out some of our ideas. 40 refs., 4 figs

Evaluation and multimedia learning objects: towards a human‐centred approach

If initial attempts to incorporate reusable multimedia into university teaching were characterised by the efforts of enthusiasts, the growth of the “Learning Object” economy in recent years requires a more strategic and systems-based approach. While all reusable learning materials have a value, both financial and educational, multimedia in particular is expensive to produce. Systematic production (based on ISO 14915 standards (2002a, 2002b, 2003) and evaluation of fitness for purpose, are paramount. Human-centred design (HCD) methodologies, based on the ISO 13407 standard (1999), are now well-established for ensuring that investments in technology result in benefits, and in particular lay heavy emphasis on the frequent use of evaluation. This paper reviews literature in educational multimedia production, interaction design, HCD, and pedagogy, and summarises ongoing attempts to standardise a definition of reusable learning objects (RLOs), with multimedia learning objects (MLOs) as a specific example. We conclude that evaluation must be central to the production and deployment of MLOs. We report on experiences applying an existing framework for effective production of multimedia learning resources, and propose revisions to this framework to add effective evaluation mechanisms