The promise and perils of wearable technologies

Wearable technology collectively describes some of the most exciting emerging technologies, encompassing smart gadgets, garments, jewelry, and other devices worn on the user\u27s body. In recent years, high profile wearable devices such as the Google Glass, Apple Watch, and FitBit have captured both the public imagination and headlines. Wearable technology has the potential to change the world even more profoundly than other mobile technologies. The appearance of such high profile wearable devices in the end-consumer market has also lead to serious consideration of the implications of such technologies, previously limited to the pages of science fiction. The implications for security and privacy of individuals and organizations, and the potential dangers to both society and the economy, must be considered and addressed in order for wearable technology to successfully deliver upon its many promises. Through addressing such concerns, the pathway to a wearable future can be unlocked, and users can adopt wearable technology with confidence

Conclusions: Where next for wearables?

©2017, IGI Global. This chapter provides a contemporary example of how data from wearable devices can be used for big data type research. It then asked the question of data policies for the use of data generated by wearable devices. This is followed by an overview of the chapters in the book and how they fit within the general theme of the book. In addition, each chapter is categorised into whether it is social research or more technical type research. The chapter also includes concluding suggestions on the possible future research agenda for privacy and security within the subject domain of the use of wearables. In addition, insights into the future of wearables in relation to ethical considerations, privacy, security and data ownership is also given

Conclusions: Where next for wearables?

© 2018 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. This chapter provides a contemporary example of how data from wearable devices can be used for big data type research. It then asked the question of data policies for the use of data generated by wearable devices. This is followed by an overview of the chapters in the book and how they fit within the general theme of the book. In addition, each chapter is categorised into whether it is social research or more technical type research. The chapter also includes concluding suggestions on the possible future research agenda for privacy and security within the subject domain of the use of wearables. In addition, insights into the future of wearables in relation to ethical considerations, privacy, security and data ownership is also given

A data visualisation for horizontal eye-movements

© 2015 IEEE. The increasing ease with which large data sets can be collected brings a concomitant need for tools to help understand what this data indicates. For many user applications such data may be collected passively and unobtrusively in the flow of their activity, and on scales ranging from the individual to increasingly larger communities. With the advent of smart eyewear and the emerging availability of sophisticated but affordable eye-tracking devices, eye movement data becomes a source of detailed information about a user\u27s focus and indirectly about their cognition and attention. Visualising this usefully however, remains a challenge. In this paper we report a new data representation from significant data sets generated by a gaze-controlled digital reading application for second language speakers. The visualisation of this data allows rapid diagnosis of problem areas in texts, informing educators immediately of individual or wider issues. The generality of this visualisation to other applications is discussed

Design environments for Intelligent Systems

There is a need to balance the quality of professionally designed information systems with the end user’s current knowledge of specific decision contexts. This is particularly so for intelligent systems. This paper looks at some theoretical underpinnings for the potential end- user development of intelligent systems. General requirements are characterised and the metaphor of a semantic spreadsheet is introduced. A two level process enabling end user development of knowledge-based systems is described. The first involves the development of a design environment that allows experts to develop the knowledge base. The second involves development within the design environment for the ultimate end users

The promise and perils of wearable technologies

Wearable technology collectively describes some of the most exciting emerging technologies, encompassing smart gadgets, garments, jewelry, and other devices worn on the user\u27s body. In recent years, high profile wearable devices such as the Google Glass, Apple Watch, and FitBit have captured both the public imagination and headlines. Wearable technology has the potential to change the world even more profoundly than other mobile technologies. The appearance of such high profile wearable devices in the end-consumer market has also lead to serious consideration of the implications of such technologies, previously limited to the pages of science fiction. The implications for security and privacy of individuals and organizations, and the potential dangers to both society and the economy, must be considered and addressed in order for wearable technology to successfully deliver upon its many promises. Through addressing such concerns, the pathway to a wearable future can be unlocked, and users can adopt wearable technology with confidence

Designing an Interactive Visualization to Explore Eye-movement Data

For many user applications large data sets may be collected passively and unobtrusively in the flow of their activity, and on scales ranging from the individual to increasingly larger communities. Large data sets, however, bring a concomitant need for tools to help understand what the data indicates. With the emergence of smart eyewear and the availability of sophisticated but affordable eye-tracking devices, eye movement data becomes a source of detailed information about a user’s focus and indirectly about their cognition and attention. Visualizing this usefully in terms meaningful for diagnosis however, remains a challenge. In this paper we report a new data representation from significant data sets generated by a gaze-controlled digital reading application for second language speakers. Current tools provide data sets aimed primarily towards statistical analysis of patterns: our focus is on end-user exploration of data sets in domain terms, so that practical implications can be readily identified. The visualization of horizontal eye movement data allows rapid diagnosis of problem areas in texts, informing educators immediately of individual or wider issues. The general applicability of this visualization to other applications is discussed

Gamifying Foundational STEM Skills

© 2016 IEEE. University education has always required numeracy and literacy to underpin development of higher-level knowledge and skills. In many countries, education policies have often followed transitory fashions, both in mathematics and language education, enfeebling potentially generations of their youth. The use of technological innovations can amplify or hinder the development of foundation skills, and for digital natives this is their norm. In this paper we address this issue by describing the development of a gamified approach to learning, aimed at reinforcing and developing the fundamental knowledge of basic elements, whilst enhancing more conceptual skills, such as pattern recognition and hyper search strategies. These latter are increasingly important in the digital world. We focus here on numeracy skills, illustrating both how rote learning is practiced \u27incidentally\u27 as strategic pattern recognition is developed in a game context. We detail how the application can be used diagnostically and normatively as it is mapped to outcome based educational levels and standards. We then discuss the extension of the approach to language development, and show implications for educational information systems design

Ensemble artifact design for context sensitive decision support

Although an improvement of design knowledge is an essential goal of design research, current design research predominantly focuses on knowledge concerning the IT artifact (tool) design process, rather than a more holistic understanding encompassing the dynamic usage contexts of a technological artifact. Conceptualising a design in context as an ensemble artifact (Sein et al., 2011) provides the basis for a more rigorous treatment. This paper describes an IS artifact design framework that has been generated from the development of several practitioner-oriented decision support systems (DSS) in which contextual aspects relevant to practitioners\u27 decision making are considered as integral design themes. We describe five key dimensions of an ensemble artifact design and show their value in designing practitioner-oriented DSS. The features are user centredness, knowledge sharing, situation-specific customisation, reduced model orientation, and practice based secondary design abilities. It is argued that this understanding can contribute to design research knowledge more effectively both to develop dynamic DSS, and by its extensibility to other artifact designs