The new special issue of the Journal of Digital Media and Interaction (Vol. 8, No. 19) is now available.

This special issue on Web3, guest-edited by Ana Patrícia Oliveira, Liliana Vale Costa, and Salomé Azevedo, presents a curated selection of extended and revised papers originally presented at the WEB3: Tokenization, Technology and Culture Conference, hosted by the University of Aveiro, Portugal.

Within this context, the current issue emerges at a decisive moment to critically analyze and discuss the real impacts of Web3 technologies and their cultural ecosystems, not only in relation to public perception, but also in how they are reshaping the behaviors of creators, users, institutions, and digital artifacts themselves. The selected contributions span domains such as Web3 software quality, decentralized scientific data privacy, Health Web3 cybersecurity, blockchain-based digital identity, and NFT-driven Digital Twins.

Read the full issue here.

The DigiMedia researcher and PhD student of the Doctorate in Information and Communication in Digital Platforms, Renata Frade, participated in the book launch of Direitos humanos e saúde: gênero e sexualidade em vozes insurgentes (Human rights and health: gender and sexuality in insurgent voices, published by EdUFBA and Fiocruz) at the 1º Congresso Internacional de Saúde da Família (1st International Family Health Congress), held by the Escola Superior de Saúde da Universidade de Aveiro (Higher School of Health of the University of Aveiro).

Renata Frade talked about the chapter in which she is co-author – “Decolonial Information Technologies – challenges for design from intersectional and feminist perspectives in Human-Algorithm Interaction” with one of the editors, Dr. Angélica Baptista Silva.

Human rights and health: gender and sexuality in insurgent voices, edited by Angélica Baptista Silva, Maria Helena Barros de Oliveira, Patrícia Von Der Way, addresses emerging themes of gender, sexuality and human rights in health from a liberating and decolonial perspective. The work presents contributions from experts and final papers from the Postgraduate course in Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights at the Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health, at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (ENSP/Fiocruz), with 17 chapters divided into four thematic axes. The axes cover labor relations and occupational health; the health challenges of the LGBTQIAPN+ population; gender-based violence and vulnerabilities; and empowerment through education and technologies.

About the chapter DECOLONIAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES – challenges for design from intersectional and feminist perspectives in Human-Algorithm Interaction (HCI), by Elen Nas and Renata Frade:
Before the human risks in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications were properly understood, the large data extractions that made up what was called big data represented structures organized through algorithms, in which the quality, representativeness and social significance of the data passed uncritically into the production environments (the “product design”) and programming. Since Feminist Human-Computer Interaction (Feminist HCI) is an interdisciplinary approach, in which the principles of feminism are applied to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), we present in this introduction some notes regarding the recurring biases in AI applications that, directly or indirectly, concern HCI.

The book can be downloaded here: https://repositorio.ufba.br/handle/ri/40750

DigiMedia has released a new issue of the Journal of Digital Media and Interaction (JDMI) in December 2024, with a comprehensive focus on Media Literacy. This special edition brings together a collection of groundbreaking experiences and research studies demonstrating how Media Literacy is a powerful and versatile framework for contemporary challenges. In  this  special  issue,  we  present  experiences  and  studies  reflecting  the  importance  of  Media Literacy  as  a  powerful  framework  to  deal  with  fragmented  information,  invisible  poverty,  inclusion  of older people and social issues such as prejudice and homophobic attitudes.

DigitalOBS has published a new booklet examining accessibility features in modern digital games, focusing on inclusive design for players with disabilities.

The study analyzes popular titles like Celeste, God of War Ragnarök, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and The Last of Us Part II to show how accessibility options and adaptive features transform gaming experiences.
The findings reveal that well-designed accessibility features offer two key benefits: they remove participation barriers for players with specific needs while improving the gaming experience for everyone through better customization options and flexible gameplay mechanics. This research adds to the growing evidence supporting inclusive game design and universal accessibility standards in the gaming industry.

The booklet can be read here.

Renata Frade, a DigiMedia researcher and PhD student, is the author of a chapter of the book “Direitos humanos e saúde : gênero e sexualidade em vozes insurgentes”, released by EdUFBA in partnership with Fiocruz. 

The book can be downloaded here.

About this book:

Human rights and health: gender and sexuality in insurgent voices was organized by Angélica Baptista Silva, Maria Helena Barros de Oliveira, Patrícia Von Der Way and addresses emerging themes of gender, sexuality and human rights in health from a liberating and decolonial perspective. The work presents contributions from experts and final papers from the Postgraduate course in Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights at the Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health, at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (ENSP/Fiocruz), with 17 chapters divided into four thematic axes. The axes cover labor relations and occupational health; the health challenges of the LGBTQIAPN+ population; gender-based violence and vulnerabilities; and empowerment through education and technologies.

About the chapter DECOLONIAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES – challenges for design from intersectional and feminist perspectives in Human-Algorithm Interaction (HCI), by Elen Nas and Renata Frade:

Before the human risks in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications were properly understood, the large data extractions that made up what was called big data represented structures organized through algorithms, in which the quality, representativeness and social significance of the data passed uncritically into the production environments (the “product design”) and programming. Since Feminist Human-Computer Interaction (Feminist HCI) is an interdisciplinary approach, in which the principles of feminism are applied to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), we present in this introduction some notes regarding the recurring biases in AI applications that, directly or indirectly, concern HCI.

“Sensing in Inland Waters to Promote Safe Navigation: A Case Study in the Aveiro’s Lagoon” is the recently published paper in the Journal Sensors, by Diogo Carvalho, a Phd Student in Information and Communication in Digital Platforms, and his supervisors Jorge Ferraz Abreu (DigiMedia) and João Miguel Dias (DFis).

This article, in the scope of the doctoral project “Partilha e visualização de informação meteo-oceanográfica para a promoção da segurança marítima: Um estudo na Ria de Aveiro”, systematizes the data collection and the construction of a simulation station, which made it possible to build a system for sharing and visualizing meteo-oceanographic data.

The article was published in the special issue “Advanced Sensing Technologies for Marine Intelligent Systems” and can be read here.