Immersive experiences during the conceptual phase of the architectural project: virtual reality as a tool for user participation in the co-creation process

La elevada competencia del mercado actual dificulta la contratación de proyectos singulares de viviendas unifamiliares. Por ello, resulta necesario agudizar el ingenio para ofrecer al cliente una visión diferencial respecto a las propuestas de otros competidores. En este contexto, se propone incorporar al propio usuario en el proceso proyectual durante la fase de desarrollo conceptual de la propuesta constructiva, utilizando la Realidad Virtual (RV). Sumergir al usuario en una experiencia sensorial inmersiva le permitiría vivir su propio espacio habitable antes de ser construido, permitiendo a diseñadores y arquitectos centrar la atención en el estudio personaliza-do de la iluminación natural y el diseño de los paramentos que actuaran como nexo entre el espacio interior y exterior de la vivienda. Esta forma de abordar el proyecto puede suponer una ventaja competitiva que contribuiría al posicionamiento del estudio arquitectónico como referente del mercado. Este trabajo analiza diferentes sistemas RV actuales que podrían ser adaptados durante el proceso de trabajo, y discute la ventaja que supone para los estudios de arquitectura esta metodología del proyecto frente a otras más convencionales.The high competitiveness of the current market makes it difficult to contract unique projects for single-family homes. Therefore, it is necessary to sharpen inventiveness in order to offer the customer a different vision compared to the proposals of other competitors. In this context, we propose to incorporate the user in the design process during the conceptual development stage of the construction proposal, using Virtual Reality (VR). Introducing the user to an immersive sensory experience would allow him/her to live his/her own living space before being built, al-lowing designers and architects to focus attention on the personalized study of natural lighting and the design of the walls that act as a connection between the interior and exterior space of the home. This way of approaching the project can provide a competitive advantage that would contribute to the positioning of the architectural studio as a referent in the market. This paper analyses different cur-rent VR systems that could be adapted during the work process, and discusses the advantage that this project methodology has for architectural studios compared to other more conventional ones.Universitat Jaume I P1·1B2015-30Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-75866-C3-1-

Rice Paddy Soil Seedbanks Composition in a Mediterranean Wetland and the Influence of Winter Flooding

[EN] Soil seedbanks are defined in composition and quantity by many environmental factors inherent to a specific area, and they can be an indicator of the potential problems of weeds in crops. In Valencia (Spain), rice is cultivated with continuous flooding during the growing season, and after harvesting, many of the paddy fields are flooded again during the winter. This study investigates the paddy fields' soil seedbank composition in this Mediterranean paddy area and the effect of winter flooding on the soil seedbank. Multispectral images from the Sentinel-2 satellite were used to characterise the water level of paddies in winter. Satellite images facilitated the characterisation of winter flooding in fields. Soil samples from sixty-nine points distributed over 15,000 ha of paddies were used to determine the composition of the seedbank plots. The data were spatially represented by geographic information systems. The species that contributed most to the paddy seedbank were Cyperus difformis L., an important rice weed in the Mediterranean area, and other rice weeds such as Echinochloa sp. and Leptochloa fusca subspecies. Other species with a great contribution to the seedbank are species that develop in paddy fields that produce a large quantity of small seeds, such as Lemna sp., Polypogon monspeliensis (L.) Desf., and Nasturtium officinale R. Br. These species interfere little or do not interfere with the rice crop. The study revealed that in general, flooding reduced seedbank density with differences between species. Furthermore, the influence of winter flooding on the different plant species obtained as well as their distribution maps are a further step in this protected area from the point of view of weed management in rice crop, as well as in the management of this Mediterranean wetland.The Spanish Society ofWeed Science (SEMh) has contributed by granting one of the authors, F. Galan, funding to carry out this research. This research has not received any other external funding.Osca Lluch, JM.; Galán, F.; Moreno-Ramón, H. (2021). Rice Paddy Soil Seedbanks Composition in a Mediterranean Wetland and the Influence of Winter Flooding. Agronomy. 11(6):1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy1106119911611

The influence of haptics when assessing household products presented in different means: a comparative study in real setting, flat display, and virtual real it environments with and without passive haptics

[EN] This research aimed to analyse the influence of presentation means in assessing different household product characteristics and to study the influence of physical contact with the product on that assessment. To this end, the presentation of an armchair in four different means was prepared: two offering the chance to touch the product (real setting and virtual reality with passive haptics) and two not offering the physical interaction possibility (virtual reality and 3D interactive image on a screen). The product was assessed by 128 volunteers (74 men, 54 women) on a semantic scale with 12 bipolar pairs. The results revealed that the presentation means did not influence the overall product assessment, but affected the assessment of 3 of 12 features (weight, size, and aesthetics), where coming into physical contact with the product impacted the assessment of these features. Finally, similar assessments of the product were obtained in both cu means of visual-only presentation.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant number PID2019-106426RB-C32); the SpanishMinistry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) (grant number TIN2016-75866-C3-1-R); and the Universitat Jaume I (grant number UJI-B2019-39).Galán, J.; Felip, F.; García-García, C.; Contero, M. (2021). The influence of haptics when assessing household products presented in different means: a comparative study in real setting, flat display, and virtual real it environments with and without passive haptics. Journal of Computational Design and Engineering. 8(1):330-342. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcde/qwaa081S3303428

Does a presentation Media Influence the Evaluation of Consumer Products? A Comparative Study to Evaluate Virtual Reality, Virtual Reality with Passive Haptics and a Real Setting

Technologies based on image offer a high potential to present consumers with products by focusing on their visual characteristics, but lack the capacity to physically interact with an object, which can compromise how consumer products are evaluated. The present study aims to analyse the influence of different presentation media on how users perceive the product by comparing the evaluation of a piece of furniture made by a sample of 203 users, which was presented in three different settings: a real setting (R), a Virtual Reality setting (VR) and a Virtual Reality with Passive Haptics setting (VRPH). To evaluate the product in the different settings, a semantic differential scale was built that comprised 12 bipolar pairs of adjectives. To study the results, the descriptive statistics for the semantic differential scales were analysed, a study about the frequency of repetition was conducted of each evaluation, a Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted and Dunn’s post hoc tests were performed. The results showed that the presentation media of a piece of furniture influenced the evaluation of how users perceived it. These results also revealed that the haptic interaction with a product influenced how users perceived it compared to an exclusively visual interaction

Touch Matters: The Impact of Physical Contact on Haptic Product Perception in Virtual Reality

Nowadays, the presentation of products through virtual reality and other online media coexists with traditional means. However, while some products may be perceived correctly in digital media, others may need physical contact. In this scenario, this work analyses how presenting a product highlighted for its haptic properties and the presence or absence of physical contact during the presentation can influence the perception of its attributes and stimulate purchase intention. To this end, an experiment was designed in which each participant viewed and interacted with a chair presented in five different means that elicited a greater or lesser sense of presence. Participants evaluated the product’s attributes on a semantic scale with bipolar pairs. No relation was found between the presentation means and users’ purchase intention. However, results showed significant differences in the evaluation of some physical characteristics depending on the presentation means, and the product was generally more liked when presented in means in which it could be touched. We conclude that choosing means that allow a product to be touched and elicit a greater sense of presence may impact more positively on evaluations of haptic features when presenting a product with high haptic importance.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number PID2019-106426RB-C32, and the Universitat Jaume I, grant number UJI-B2019-39

Consumer Subjective Impressions in Virtual Reality Environments: The Role of the Visualization Technique in Product Evaluation

The availability and affordability of consumer virtual reality (VR) devices have fueled their adoption during the product design process. High fidelity virtual prototypes can be created more quickly and are more cost-effective than using traditional methods, but certain product features are still difficult to evaluate, resulting in perceptual differences when a product is assessed using different visualization techniques. In this paper, we report two case studies in which a group of participants evaluated different designs of a product typology (i.e., a watering can) as presented in VR, VR with passive haptics (VRPH) and in a real setting (R) for the first case study, and VR and R for the second case study. The semantic differential technique was used for product evaluation, and an inferential statistical method using aligned rank transform (ART) proceedings was applied to determine perceptual differences between groups. Our results showed that product characteristics assessed by touch are the most susceptible to being affected by the environment, while the user background can have an effect in some product features

The impact of the presentation means on the assessment of the characteristics of a product and the user's purchase intention

[ES] El auge del comercio electrónico ha favorecido el uso de la imagen y la realidad virtual como medio preferido por muchas empresas para presentar sus productos, desplazando a otros formatos de presentación más convencionales. No obstante, la percepción de ciertas características del producto ligadas al tacto y a otras cualidades físicas puede verse alterada en estos medios virtuales, distorsionando la valoración del producto y pudiendo afectar a la decisión de compra. Así pues, entender mejor estas cuestiones podría ayudar a diseñadores y a comerciantes a elegir mejor el medio de presentación de sus productos. En este estudio mostramos un mismo producto doméstico a 39 usuarios a través de tres medios distintos de visualización, en ordenes alternos: realidad virtual, realidad virtual con hápticos pasivos, y entorno real. El propósito es cuantificar el impacto que estos medios tienen sobre la valoración de los usuarios sobre las características del producto. Para evaluar el producto se propone una escala semántica de 12 pares bipolares. Finalmente, los usuarios son preguntados sobre su intención de compra.[EN] The rise of e-commerce has encouraged the use of image and virtual reality as the preferred means for many companies to present their products, replacing other more conventional presentation formats. However, the perception of certain characteristics of the product linked to touch and other physical qualities can be altered in these virtual means, distorting the assessment of the product and potentially affecting the purchase decision. A better understanding of these issues could therefore help designers and retailers to make better choices about the means of presenting their products. In this study we showed the same household product to 39 users through three different means of visualisation, in alternate orders: virtual reality, virtual reality with passive haptics, and real environment. The purpose is to quantify the impact that these media have on the users' assessment of the product's characteristics. To evaluate the product, a semantic scale of 12 bipolar pairs is proposed. Finally, users are asked about their purchase intention.Este trabajo se ha realizado como parte del proyecto PID2019-106426RBC32 del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, y del proyecto UJI-B2019-39 de la Universitat Jaume I.Felip, F.; Galán, J.; García-García, C.; Contero, M.; Chulvi, V. (2021). Impacto del medio de presentación sobre la valoración de las características del producto y la intención de compra del usuario. AEIPRO. 980-993. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/181190S98099

Gamification as a tool for acquisition soft skills in the design field

Comunicació presentada a INTED2018, 12th International Technology, Education and Development Conference. (March 5-7 2018, Valencia, Spain).The current labour context is increasingly changing, driven by the continuous blooming of technological changes. So, the integration of recent graduates to the labour market, as new professionals, demand the acquisition of not only each field’s specific Hard Skills, but also generic, transversal Soft Skills which might facilitate the adaptation of these professionals to future contexts, while enabling them to develop their work career in a responsible way, as well as increasing their entrepreneurial spirit. These abilities are especially relevant in the field of design engineering, as the idiosyncrasy of the discipline leads their practitioners to offering solutions to diverse problems society and users have. So their professional development is inextricably linked to social changes and society evolution. In this way, in the “Sustainable Development Goal 4, Education 2030” (SDG4-Education 2030), regarding targets and commitments, the UNESCO defines the needs to emphasize the development of high-level cognitive and non-cognitive/transferable skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, communication skills or conflicts resolution, which can be applied across a wide range of occupational fields. Therefore, the acquisition of these Soft Skills by design professionals can ease their adaptation to a novel future scenario and guarantee a prolonged professional development over time. So, not only learners should be provided with opportunities to update their skills continuously through lifelong learning, but it is also necessary to give the chance for active professionals to adapt to new contexts in the future. This work presents an action proposal aimed to enhance the acquisition of Soft Skills by design professionals, in a playful way. So, a conceptual proposal of a methodology, based on the concept of Gamification, is suggested, where the degree of acquisition of some Soft Skills by the designer would be assessed. To do so, a platform where sharing and assessing evidences is to be developed. And the incentive for the participation of both new graduates and professionals lies in the detection of their professional weaknesses (from the evidences’ assessment) and the possibility of having a feedback consisting of professional recycling actions. The use of Smartphones becomes the vehicular platform for acquiring and assessing these transversal abilities, as these devices offer different technological possibilities for generating the designers’ own evidences, by means of actions such as voice recording, video recording, image capturing, text recognition, etc. Once generated, the evidences would be assessed by using a co-evaluation system, based on a peer review process, where the evaluation of colleagues’ work is presented as a part of a collaborative game and where the assessment process of peers’ work can contribute ideas for improving personal Soft Skills. Furthermore, all this may end up in the generation of a community with common interests. As a result, the suggested methodology can offer a useful tool for designers for continuously assessing the state of their Soft Skills, thus facilitating their progressive adaptation to the changes to their future professional contexts

Revitalizing public space from communication and creative neomedial practice. New languages for dialogue between the citizen and the urban environment

La ciudad actual se construye, desarrolla y practica desde la comunicación, y el lenguaje, clave en la formación del pensamiento, la cultura y las identidades, evoluciona en sociedad. Cabe por tanto reflexionar sobre la capacidad de los nuevos lenguajes que emergen de la integración de las nuevas tecnologías en el entorno urbano para proponer un nuevo tipo de comunicación con la ciudad que revitalice sus diferentes espacios. En este artículo se identifican las distintas tipologías de espacios públicos desde los que el ciudadano establece su relación con la ciudad. Así mismo, se estudia cómo una incorporación creativa de las NTIC en los soportes más habituales de estos lugares ayuda a percibirlos como espacios urbanos de relación vividos por el ciudadano desde la interacción, identificando claves que ayudan a entender mejor la comunicación en la urbe y su relación con la emergencia de una ciudad híbrida. Desde el análisis de significativas aportaciones creativas de la última década se identifican diferentes lenguajes y tipologías de comunicación que acontecen en la ciudad, reflexionando sobre tendencias y escenarios de interés para los campos del arte y el diseño orientados a reforzar el concepto de ciudad practicada que ayuda a canalizar la revitalización de los distintos espacios urbanos.ABSTRACT: The modern city is built, developed and practiced from communication, and language, key in the formation of thought, culture and identities, evolves in society. We should therefore consider the ability of new languages emerging from the integration of new technologies in the urban environment to propose a new type of communication with the city to revitalize its different spaces. This article describes the different types of public spaces from which citizens determine their relationship with the city. Similarly, we study how the creative incorporation of ICTs in the most usual elements of these places helps to perceive them as relationship urban spaces, experienced by the citizens through interaction, identifying clues that help us to better understand communication in the city and its relationship with the emergence of a hybrid city. From the analysis of significant creative contributions of the last decade different languages and types of communication that occur in the city are identified, reflecting on trends and scenarios relevant to the fields of art and design, aimed at strengthening the concept of a practiced city that aims to revitalize the various urban spaces

Diseño, producto y usuario:: el papel del consumidor en el proceso de co-creación

CThis work proposes a new model for the design and development of new products and establishes a framework for reflection on the relationship that the designer must establish with consumers belonging to special collectives when integrating them into the Co-Creation process, trying to answer to their real needs regardless of the commercial potential of the product. From the point of view of a product design that does not only watch over the mere economic interests of the companies, it seems possible to take advantage of the current inertia of other social movements to transfer these role changes also to the consumption system. This approach takes up part of the Universal Design principles as a way towards a design that meets the diversities, capable of reaching all citizens to solve their needs and minimizing the social gap that has been widening in recent decades.Este trabajo propone un nuevo modelo para el diseño y desarrollo de nuevos productos y establece un marco de reflexión sobre la relación que debe establecer el diseñador con los consumidores pertenecientes a colectivos especiales al integrarlos en el proceso de Co-Creación, tratando de responder a sus necesidades reales independientemente del potencial comercial del producto. Desde el punto de vista de un diseño de producto que no vela únicamente por los meros intereses económicos de las empresas, parece posible aprovechar la inercia actual de otros movimientos sociales para trasladar estos cambios de poder también al sistema de consumo. Este planteamiento retoma en parte los principios del Diseño Universal como camino hacia un diseño que atiende a las diversidades, capaz tanto de llegar a todos los ciudadanos para dar solución a sus necesidades como de minimizar la brecha social que ha ido ampliándose en las últimas décadas