Considering the User in the Wireless World

The near future promises significant advances in communication capabilities, but one of the keys to success is the capability understanding of the people with regards to its value and usage. In considering the role of the user in the wireless world of the future, the Human Perspective Working Group (WG1) of the Wireless World Research Forum has gathered input and developed positions in four important areas: methods, processes, and best practices for user-centered research and design; reference frameworks for modeling user needs within the context of wireless systems; user scenario creation and analysis; and user interaction technologies. This article provides an overview of WG1's work in these areas that are critical to ensuring that the future wireless world meets and exceeds the expectations of people in the coming decades

Exploring collaboration in challenging environments: from the car to the factory and beyond

We propose a daylong workshop at CSCW2012 on the topic collaboration in challenging and dicult environments, which are to our understanding all contexts, which go beyond traditional working/oce settings topic. Examples for these environments can be the automotive context or the context of a semiconductor factory, which show very specic contextual conditions and therefore oer special research challenges: How to address all passengers in the car, not only the driver? How to explore operator tasks in a cleanroom? How could the long-term (social) collaboration of robots and humans be investigated in privacy critical environments

ProMe: A Mentoring Platform for Older Adults Using Machine Learning Techniques for Supporting the “Live and Learn” Concept

It is well known what an important role employment plays in our lives and how it influences our everyday life. With the help of employment, all of us as individuals manage to create our personal and social net that not only gives meaning and financial security but also heavily affects our social status, contributes to self-esteem, and plays a vital role on the way our social relationships at work and (not only) are formed. Being work active even after the retirement time has been found to have mostly useful and positive effects. Age groups that are in the after retirement age group (65 and more) and keep working can significantly improve their mental health since they feel that there are still things to offer to others. ProMe aims to provide a unique framework for the people being in this transitional phase of their life, from work to retirement, thus playing a vital role in supporting their mental health and well-being. ProMe provides a platform for the younger generation to benefit from the accumulated professional and formal knowledge and experience of the older. In this way, ProMe supports professional intergenerational cooperation and mentoring, bringing together older adults with younger generations

VIOLA: concept of a new cognitive framework to enhance the capabilities of interactive service robots using virtual worlds

This paper proposes formative plans for the concept of a framework called VIOLA (Virbots for Independent Online Living Applications) with the potential to integrate an artificial cognitive system (ACS) with real and virtual worlds. The aim is to endow a robot with advanced perception, action and social interaction capabilities, achieved through translating learning and social interaction techniques currently utilised only in virtual worlds, to real world systems. The framework would aspire to enhance human-robotic interaction through the application of accelerated virtual learning outcomes to real-world social interactions and scenarios. A home-based implementation of this framework may demonstrate the capabilities of the concept to illustrate a socially aware cognitive system simultaneously driving and learning from multiple virtual robots (Virbots), and robots, on both functional and social levels

People, context, and devices: Defining the new landscape of TV experiences

Modern technologies (e.g., tablet, smartphone, large public displays) remove many of the constraints that define the scope of what television is or can be, but we often define it based upon our prior TV experiences with broadcast and cable television. This one-day workshop at TVX 2015 will address design challenges and opportunities (e.g., of video streams, social TV apps, second screens) in order to consolidate existing knowledge to describe the changing landscape of TV experiences. It's time to redefine what we think of when we say "television," and this workshop will engage participants in that process

Persona-driven information security awareness.

Because human factors are a root cause of security breaches in many organisations, security awareness activities are often used to address problematic behaviours and improve security culture. Previous work has found that personas are useful for identifying audience needs and goals, when designing and implementing awareness campaigns. We present a six-step security awareness process both driven by and centred around the use of personas. This can be embedded into business-as-usual activities, with 90-day cycles of awareness themes. We evaluated this process by using it to devise a security awareness campaign for a digital agency. Our results suggest a persona-centred security awareness approach is adaptable to business constraints, and contributes towards addressing security risks

1st workshop on situational awareness in semi-Automated vehicles

This workshop will focus on the problem of occupant and vehicle situational awareness with respect to automated vehicles when the driver must take over control. It will explore the future of fully automated and mixed traffic situations where vehicles are assumed to be operating at level 3 or above. In this case, all critical driving functions will be handled by the vehicle with the possibility of transitions between manual and automated driving modes at any time. This creates a driver environment where, unlike manual driving, there is no direct intrinsic motivation for the driver to be aware of the traffic situation at all times. Therefore, it is highly likely that when such a transition occurs, the driver will not be able to transition either safely or within an appropriate period of time. This workshop will address this challenge by inviting experts and practitioners from the automotive and related domains to explore concepts and solutions to increase, maintain and transfer situational awareness in semi-Automated vehicles.The organisers acknowledge the financial assistance provided under a range of projects from FNR Luxembourg (CS14/IS/8301419) and FWF Austria (I 2126-N15

A bibliometric study of human–computer interaction research activity in the Nordic-Baltic Eight countries

Human–computer interaction (HCI) has become an important area for designers and developers worldwide, and research activities set in national cultural contexts addressing local challenges are often needed in industry and academia. This study explored HCI research in the Nordic-Baltic countries using bibliometric methods. The results show that the activity varies greatly across the region with activities dominated by Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, even when adjusting for differences in population size and GDP. Research output variations were larger for the top-tier conferences compared to entry-tier conferences and journals. Locally hosted conferences were associated with local increases in research activity. HCI research longevity appears to be an indicator of research maturity and quantity. HCI researchers typically collaborated either with colleagues within the same institution or with researchers from countries outside the Nordic-Baltic region such as US and the UK. There was less collaboration between national and Nordic-Baltic partners. Collaboration appeared especially prevalent for top-tier conference papers. Top-tier conference papers were also more frequently cited than regional-tier and entry-tier conferences, yet journal articles were cited the most. One implication of this study is that the HCI research activity gaps across the Nordic-Baltic countries should be narrowed by increasing the activity in countries with low research outputs. To achieve this, first-time authors could receive guidance through collaborations with experienced authors in the same institution or other labs around the world. More conferences could also be hosted locally. Furthermore, journals may be more effective than conferences if the goal is to accumulate citations.publishedVersio

Transforming Cars into Computers: Interdisciplinary Opportunities for HCI

Road and highway infrastructures are being transformed in anticipation of self-driving vehicles. During the transition to fully autonomous road networks people and driverless cars will interact with each other in mixed traffic situations. Vehicles are currently equipped with two types of communication devices one auditory (a horn) and the other visual (signalling lights). In many instances, human drivers use these devices in combination with embodied interaction such as eye contact and gesture when communicating with other road users. Hence, horn and signalling devices currently in use may not be enough to communicate with others in traffic settings; especially when driverless vehicles become responsible for the main driving activity. Driverless vehicles require new interaction types that support Human-AV interaction in an easy to understand and intuitive way. With the transformation of cars into computers new opportunities for research present themselves to the HCI community