Interactive Audio Augmented Reality in Participatory Performance

Interactive Audio Augmented Reality (AAR) facilitates collaborative storytelling and human interaction in participatory performance. Spatial audio enhances the auditory environment and supports real-time control of media content and the experience. Nevertheless, AAR applied to interactive performance practices remains under-explored. This study examines how audio human-computer interaction can prompt and support actions, and how AAR can contribute to developing new kinds of interactions in participatory performance.This study investigates an AAR participatory performance based on the theater and performance practice by theater maker Augusto Boal. It draws from aspects of multi-player audio-only games and interactive storytelling. A user experience study of the performance shows that people are engaged with interactive content and interact and navigate within the spatial audio content using their whole body. Asymmetric audio cues, playing distinctive content for each participant, prompt verbal and non-verbal communication. The performative aspect was well-received and participants took on roles and responsibilities within their group during the experience

The Subjectivities of Wearable Sleep-Trackers - A Discourse Analysis

Self-reported quality and duration of sleep in Western populations is declining. The interest in wearable sleep-trackers that are promis- ing better sleep is growing. By wearing a device day and night the sleeper is continuously connected to a more-than-human net- work. The mass-adoption of sleep-tracking devices has an impact on the personal, social and cultural meaning of sleep. This study looks at the discourse forming around wearable sleep-trackers. This extended abstract presents how non-human subjectivities are accounted for in this discourse. Through a posthuman discourse analysis of textual and visual artefacts from interviews, academic research and popular media, six distinct roles for these non-human social agents were identified: ‘Teacher’, ‘Informant’, ‘Companion’, ‘Therapist’, ‘Coach’ and ‘Mediator’. This characterisation is a first step to understanding sleep-trackers as social agents, reorganising personal and contextual relationships with the sleeping self

How to evaluate sexual health in cancer patients:Development of the EORTC sexual health questionnaire for cancer patients

Background: The aim of the study is to describe the development of a comprehensive European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) questionnaire to assess sexual health of female and male cancer patients and for cancer survivors. Methods: According to the EORTC guidelines, the development of an EORTC sexual health questionnaire is typically organised in four phases. The first phases comprise a literature search following interviews with patient and health care professionals (HCPs) (phase 1) and the operationalization into items (phase 2). The translation process is formally conducted according to the EORTC QLG Translation guidelines with a rigorous forward-backward procedure supported by native speakers. Results: Studies on sexuality in oncology patients which were identified by a literature search predominantly focused on issues of activity, experiences of sexual dysfunction, and satisfaction with sexual functioning. The literature review identified themes beyond these aspects. In total 53 potentially relevant issues were presented to 107 patients and 83 HCPs, different evaluations were found. Conclusions: A questionnaire that includes physical, psychological, and social aspects of sexuality of cancer survivors will be needed. Pre-testing and validation of the questionnaire will be done in future (phases 3 and 4). Divergent ratings of patients and professionals should be further investigated. Keywords: Cancer; sexual health; European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) sexual health questionnair

Sleep-Mode: On Sleeping with Wearable Technology

This paper introduces a Ph.D. research project on the affective relationships between users and wearable sleep-trackers. Sleep monitoring is a recent addition to wearable technology, computing in the intimate sphere of the body. Wearable devices interact with the human body, often bypassing conscious thought and manipulating behaviours. The acceptance of sleep-trackers transforms the discourse of sleep from a passive, non-reflexive experience into an active, measurable performance. The sleeping body becomes part of a network of sensing devices where human behaviour becomes operationalised. This exploratory research project aims to untangle the effects of sleep-tracking on individual and social levels. Through analysis of language and discourse a first study aims to identify the human and non-human subjectivities such technology produces and the affective relationships between them. The findings of this project will provide a starting point for a posthuman approach to designing wearable technology