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From January 24 to 26, the University of Aveiro (UA) hosted its 8th local edition of the Global Game Jam (GGJ). Held in hundreds of countries worldwide, this event challenges participants to create games in just 48 hours, based on a theme provided by the global organizers. The local event was organized by the Department of Communication and Art (DECA) and the Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics (DETI). Professors, researchers and students from both departments and the Masters in Digital Game Development at the University of Aveiro participated in the organization of the event.
This year, more than 40 participants from different parts of the country worked in teams to develop 8 unique games, which were showcased at the end of the event. For more details and to explore the games created, visit: https://globalgamejam.org/jam-sites/2025/ggj-2025-universidade-de-aveiro.
Check out some moments from the development marathon at:
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.
Beatriz Vieite, a DigiMedia PhD student, did a sabbatical visit in the Science Communication Unit (SCU) in the University of West England (United Kingdom) during the last semester (September-December 2024). She looked to gain more applied knowledge of science communication research and build more connections with researchers in this field, thus choosing to go to the UK and the SCU.
Beatriz replicated part of her study to understand the challenges and opportunities of public engagement of science in the UK’s university collections by interviewing their curators. During her stay in the UK, she also had the chance to shadow the Oxford University Museum of Natural History public engagement team for two days and to audit a module in the MSc in Science Communication in the University of West England.
Although it was not predicted at the beginning of her PhD thesis, this visit contributed to her doctoral research and her thesis entitled “A network approach towards empowering university biological collections for science communication”.
Beatriz Vieite was mentored by Dr David Judge and Dr Laura Hobbs at University of West England, and her PhD is supervised by Professor Pedro Beça (DigiMedia & DeCA), Dr Ascensão Ravara (CESAM & DBio) and Professor Marina Cunha (DBio).
Marina Pereira will present her thesis of the Doctoral Program in Multimedia in Education, with the topic “Ambientes colaborativos Transmedia na promoção da motivação e da autonomia dos estudantes em situação de aprendizagens matemáticas”, under the supervison of Luís Francisco Mendes Gabriel Pedro. The session takes place at Sala do Senado, Edifício da Reitoria da Universidade de Aveiro, on February 5, 2025, at 2:30 p.m.
More information here.
On December 20th 2024, the students in Multimedia and Communication Technologies, Pedro Loyola, Pedro Henriques, Isis Coutinho and Júlia Köche had their final project entitled ‘Viral Passion: Until Immunity Do Us Apart’ awarded Best Animated Movie in the Art Film Awards Festival. This project was supervised by Liliana Costa and Hélder Caixinha, with the participation of the INIAV researchers Margarida Duarte and Teresa Nogueira.
The animation ‘Viral Passion: Until Immunity Do Us Apart’, by Pedro Loyola, Pedro Henriques, Isis Coutinho and Júlia Köche, which was awarded Best Animated Movie in the Art Film Awards Festival, follows the journey of Victor, a virus that invades a young woman’s body, facing natural barriers like nasal hairs and mucus. In search of an ideal host cell, Victor deceives a naive cell, triggering a battle with the NK cells, the body’s natural defenders. This microscopic adventure reveals the surprising resilience of the human body in an intense, internal war.
The animation was part of the student’s final project from in 1st cycle degree in Multimedia and Communication Technologies – PLAYMUTATION DOC: Development of an animated documentary to foster youngsters’ awareness of pathogens, and it can be watched here (https://playmutation.web.ua.pt/)
The Art Film Awards is an annual event that awards, supports, and promotes filmmakers. The results from Autumn 2024 can be consulted on the following page: https://artfilmawards.com/autumn-2024
Sofia Ribeiro, a DigiMedia PhD student, delivered a fifty-hour accredited training course for 3rd Cycle and Secondary school teachers, as part of her doctoral research. The course entitled “Dig2Phy: Capacitação digital docente através da criação de recursos educativos tangíveis” was promoted by the Centro de Formação da Associação de Escolas dos Concelhos de Aveiro e Albergaria-a-Velha (CFAECAAV), between the 9th October 2024 and the 15th January 2025. Teachers from schools in Aveiro, Murtosa e Oliveira Oliveira do Bairro attended the training.
The teacher training aimed to improve the digital competencies of teachers, namely training on how to plan, implement and share educational resources using the Dig2Phy platform (https://dig2phy.web.ua.pt/), multimedia copyright licenses, cybersecurity and the promotion of phygital pedagogical approaches in the teachers’ classrooms.
Sofia Ribeiro’s doctoral research is supervised by Professors Pedro Beça and Mónica Aresta (DigiMedia members), who also contributed to the preparation of this training course.
This month, researchers from DeCA’s research units—DigiMedia, ID+, and inet-D—gathered for a two-day meeting in Curia to collaboratively design research proposals for upcoming funding calls. The event fostered a dynamic environment of collaboration and synergy, with participants leveraging their diverse expertise to generate innovative ideas. The meeting exemplified the power of interdisciplinary teamwork, as researchers engaged in discussions, exchanged insights, and laid the groundwork for near future projects’ calls.
This productive gathering underscored the importance of collective efforts in advancing impactful research initiatives.
The Yo-Media project has developed a set of free educational tools to engage students and support teachers and educators.
Educators, teachers and students can now explore digital and board games designed to educate while promoting critical thinking and creativity. There are perfect for using in the classroom, in a fun model of learning through play.
For professionals, the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) offers development opportunities to improve teaching strategies.
These resources are an asset for the different players in the school community, including teachers, educators, pupils, parents’ associations and other organisations that promote activities with young people.
You can read the booklet for an overview of the project here.
Explore Data Defenders and take your first steps in media literacy. Play now.
Get in touch and transform the future of education. Find out more.
Yo-Media is a project that joins Aveiro Media Competence Centre (Portugal), the University of Aveiro (Portugal), the University of VIC – Central University of Catalonia (Spain) and the Catholic University of Sacro Cuore (Italy), in a consortium led by the Portuguese Press Association and financed by EMIF (European Media and Information Fund).
You can follow the project on LinkedIn, Instagram and use the #yomedia tag to keep up with us. Contact info@yomedia.a-mcc.eu for any questions.
The DigiMedia researcher, Joaquim Santos, took part in a round table discussion in the Escola Superior de Saúde do Porto, to talk about technologies in health, in the scope of the II Jornadas de Ciência e Inovação em Terapia da Fala, on 13 and 14 December 2024.
This topic is part of Joaquim’s PhD thesis “Semi-Autonomous And Secure Tangible Media Interfaces: Framework And Prototype For Home Use By Children With Speech Sound Disorders” (2023).
The Yo-media – Youngsters’ Media Literacy in Times of Crisis project participated in “Cientificamente Provável” (Scientifically Probable) program, and hosted 20 students from a secondary school in the Aveiro region, on 25th October.
The DigiMedia team of the Yo-media project organized activities, that promote critical thinking skills and media literacy among young people during health, political, or military crises. Students participated as evaluators of “Data Defenders,” a digital game developed within this project. During their visit, the students provided valuable feedback on the “Data Defenders” game, evaluating its effectiveness in teaching media literacy skills. This hands-on experience contributed to the Yo-media project’s development and gave students practical exposure to digital education tools and research processes.
The Program Cientificamente Provável aims to create partnerships between primary and secondary schools, research units, and higher education libraries. Through direct contact with researchers and higher education facilities, the Program enriches young people’s educational experience.
