News
Jorge Ferraz Abreu and Ana Velhinho, members of the Permanent Scientific Committee of the DigiMedia Research Centre, were the chairs of the session “UX Design and Evaluation of collaborative, participatory and/or social applications and services” at the 26TH International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Ten DigiMedia researchers also presented their work on this session.
The session included 2 slots and 12 papers. Ana Velhinho presided over the first slot, which can be watched here. Slot 2 was presided by Jorge Ferraz Abreu, and can be watched here. The papers presented in this session can be read below.
SLOT 1
- Insights from User Perceptions Towards the Design of a Proactive Intelligent TV Assistant
Tiffany Marques, Jorge Ferraz de Abreu, Rita Santos
View paper in SpringerLink - Optimization of Display Content Switching Under Multiple Large-Screen Displays: A Multi-Channel Interaction Usability Evaluation
Jialing Chen, Xiaoxi Du, Xinhao Guo, Xiaozhou Zhou, Chengqi Xue
View paper in SpringerLink - Empowering Older Adults: A User-Centered Approach Combining iTV and Voice Assistants to Promote Social Interactions
Juliana Duarte de Camargo, Telmo Silva, Jorge Ferraz de Abreu
View paper in SpringerLink - Designing Conversational Human-Robot Collaborations in Silence
Naoki Ohshima, Hiroko Tokunaga, Ryo Fujimori, Hiroshi Kaneko, Naoki Mukawa
View paper in SpringerLink - The Experience of Portuguese Visually Impaired with Interactive Television (iTV) Services: A Questionnaire Survey
- Rita Oliveira, Luisa Julio, Ana Patricia Oliveira
View paper in SpringerLink - Affective TV: Concepts of Affective Computing Applied to Digital Television
Pedro Valentim, Debora C. Muchaluat-Saade
View paper in SpringerLink
SLOT 2
- Designing a Collaborative Storytelling Platform to Enrich Digital Cultural Heritage Archives and Collective Memory
Ana Velhinho, Mariana Alves, Pedro Almeida, Luis Pedro
View paper in SpringerLink - Head and shoulder esports organization tools: A user based study
George Margetis, Eirini Sykianaki, Ioannis Chatzakis, Emmanouil Adamakis, Ioannis Markopoulos, Konstantinos C. Apostolakis, Stavroula Ntoa, Constantine Stephanidis
Will be published in the “HCII 2024 – Late Breaking Papers” volumes. - UXAR-CT – an Approach for Measuring UX for Mobile Augmented Reality Applications in Corporate Training
Stefan Graser, Martin Schrepp, Stephan Böhm
View paper in SpringerLink - Optimizing Information Seeking for Multi-person Collaboration: Evaluating the Influence of Various Zoom Centers and Interaction Modals
Xinhao Guo, Xiaoxi Du, Jialing Chen, Xiaozhou Zhou, Chengqi Xue
View paper in SpringerLink - Proactive TV Gamification: Engaging Older Adults Socially
Gabriel Faria, Telmo Silva, Jorge Ferraz de Abreu
View paper in SpringerLink - Public Transparency in Brazil: Evaluation of Transparency Websites and Portals of Local Governments with More Than 200 Thousand Inhabitants
- Joao Marcelo Alves Macedo, Valdecir Becker, Felipe Melo Feliciano De Sa, Edvaldo Vasconcelos Da Rocha Filho, Daniel de Queiroz Cavalcanti
- View paper in SpringerLink
Tânia Ribeiro, a PhD student from the Doctoral Program in Information and Communication in Digital Platforms at the University of Aveiro (UA), has received the SILVER Award at the 2024 “HCI Student Design Competition” with the project “Creating Empathic Characters: A Method”. This brainstorming tool, which is an outcome of her PhD research, is designed to help creating characters that effectively communicate empathy in digital games, a project under the supervision of Professor Ana Isabel Veloso (UA) and Peter Brinson, Professor of Practice from the University of Southern California.
The selection process was overseen by a distinguished seven-member international jury composed of experts from various academic institutions, ensuring a rigorous and impartial evaluation. The award was presented during the Opening Plenary Session of the HCI International 2024 conference, on Monday, 01 July 2024, from 18:30 to 20:00 EDT in Washington, DC, USA (HCI International).
This recognition highlights DigiMedia’s ongoing research and development in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) while emphasizing the importance of empathy in digital game character design, enhancing user experience in digital platforms, and contributing to the broader field of HCI.
The presentation of the new research network PROCOMHUM – Perspetivas em Comunicação Multimédia e Humanismo, in which the DigiMedia researchers Patrícia Oliveira and Rita Oliveira are pivots for Portugal, took place on June 14, 20204. Rita Oliveira is also one of the 5 members of the scientific committee of PROCOMHUM.
The PROCOMHUM research network has 24 researchers from 11 countries and 18 ibero-american institutions and was built with the aim of creating synergies between the technology and the humanities areas. This network was created with the support of the Associação Universitária Ibero-Americana de Pós-Graduação (AUIP), in which the University of Aveiro is included, and the UNIR (Universidad Internacional de la Rioja).
The video of the presentation can be watched here: 20240614 Presentación de la red iberoamericana de investigación PROCOMHUM (panopto.eu)
More information about the event here: https://www.unir.net/evento/seminarios/investigacion-procomhum/
The PhD defense of the DigiMedia researcher Ceci da Costa Diehl took place on June 20, 2024, in the University of Aveiro, with the title “Foot Interaction: Design guidelines for older adults”, under the supervision of Professor Telmo Silva and Professor Jorge Ferraz de Abreu.
Ceci Diehl is currently colaborating with DigiMedia, as a research fellow in the Project YO-MEDIA – Youngsters’ Media Literacy in Times of Crisis. Her research interests are human-computer interaction, user experience, interaction design, user interface design, accessibility, digital games, eHealth, and media literacy.
Digimedia member Catarina Lelis was one of the University of Aveiro’s lecturers selected to represent the institution at the ECIU University Forum 2024, in Kaunas, Lithuania. Under the theme “Education for a sustainable and resilient society”, the meeting raised a few questions and proposed multiple ways to find answers. The event constituted a significant step towards shaping the future of education and innovation. It was an opportunity to create and consolidate relationships and reinforce the power of the community involved in the project.
In a global meeting where “impact” was the leading word, it made sense to share with the ECIU community The Impact Plan, introducing participants to a framework that helps individuals in better aligning their desired repertoire of skills and project ambitions (their WHYs) with the UN SDGs and the three main sustainability dimensions: environmental, economic and social. A small and promising network seems to have emerged from this meeting.
The DigiMedia PhD student Dalila Martins presented her latest case study, developed as part of her thesis, at the IEEE Games, Entertainment and Media conference (IEEE GEM 24′). The article “From Entertainment to Mental Health Awareness: The “Debris” Case”, is a case study which investigates the design of a serious game on commercial platforms about psychosis.
The conference took place in Turin, Italy between June 5 and 7, 2024.
The PhD defense of the DigiMedia researcher Ceci da Costa Diehl will take place on June 20, 2024, at 2:30PM in the Sala de Atos Académicos, Edifício Central e da Reitoria – University of Aveiro.
The title of her PhD thesis is Foot Interaction: Design guidelines for older adults.
Juliana Camargo, Pedro Almeida and Jorge Abreu presented their work at the IMX’24 (ACM Interactive International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences) in Stockholm:
. Always together: combining TV notifications and voice interactions to connect older adults to other generations: access here.
. Remixing and repurposing cultural heritage archives through a collaborative and AI-generated storytelling digital platform: access here
Juliana was also awarded a travel grant from SIGMM Student Travel Awards.
The workshop “Assistive Technologies for Inclusion” took place on June, 6. This was the fourth session of the Peer2Peer initiative organized by the NEDD.
The session was led by three DigiMedia researchers: Francisca Rocha Lourenço, a PhD student, and the researchers Rita Oliveira and Oksana Tymoshchuk.
During the workshop, various assistive technologies for different types of disabilities were discussed, highlighting innovative solutions that make life easier for people with physical, sensory and cognitive limitations. The researchers shared detailed information on how these technologies can be integrated into different contexts to promote inclusion and accessibility.
The workshop provided a platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences, enriching participants’ knowledge of the possibilities and challenges of technologies to support inclusion. The researchers emphasized the importance of continuous innovation and collaboration in the field to ensure that everyone can benefit from technological advances.
The DigiMedia researcher Patrícia Oliveira, attended the NFC – Non Fungible Conference 2024, an event about the Web3 (Blockchain, NFT, Art and Technology).
Patrícia Oliveira is also a team member of the Project Blockchain.pt (Agenda PRR), and went to this conference to get to know what is being done by startups and new companies regarding the use of NFT in games, as well as to build networking in the area of NFTs in games, which is the focus of the WP4/PPS10-QUDO of the Blockchain.pt project.
Patrícia Oliveira was interviewed by Restart – Instituto de Criatividade Artes e Novas Tecnologias and the excerpt can be watched here.
The full video here.
Three projects won the four awards of Media Play’24: Rehamind, Twovest and et-cetera.
Media Play’24 had 13 projects in the competition, which were developed by our students, within the Multimedia area and show new apps, games, digital platforms, or UX prototypes.
The voting process was open to everyone, upon registration.
Get to know more about the winning projects below.
The Rehamind Project won the Public Award (votes from the general public: students, faculty members, researchers, etc), sponsored by DigiMedia.
Sérgio oliveira is the author of Rehamind – Virtual Reality Serious Game for stroke rehabilitation at home. Stroke is one of the main causes of death and disability worldwide, with consequences that can lead to physical and cognitive disabilities. Rehabilitation plays a central role in the lives of survivors. This work proposes the use of Virtual Reality and Serious Games as a complementary methodology for cognitive and upper limb rehabilitation of stroke survivors. By combining these tools, it is possible to create virtual environments that stimulate real-life activities, as well as immersion and interaction with virtual objects, following narratives based on everyday tasks, with which survivors can relate with.
The Twovest project won the Academia Award (votes from faculty members and researchers of STC), sponsored by DigiMedia).
Vasco Saraiva, Jónatas Roque, Gonçalo Calçada, João Paixão, Daniela Silva and Margarida Bicho are the authors of Twovest, which is an e-commerce platform for clothes’ selling that focuses on the second-hand market and guarantees its customers the authenticity and quality of all items. In addition to offering a wide variety of products and brands, you can also create customizable collections where you save the inspirations you see in our community’s look gallery. In addition, it is possible to unlock new offers and coupons by interacting in the gallery or making new purchases. At Twovest, our goal is to help brands actively contribute to sustainability. And you benefit from that.
The et.cetera project won both the Professional Award (votes from the business representatives), sponsored by AlticeLabs, and the Disruptive award (votes from faculty members, researchers, and business representatives), (sponsored by Ubiwhere).
Carolina Batista, Gabriel Ribeiro, Inês Sucena, Lara Mendes, Leonardo Coelho and Nathália Magalhães are the authors of et.cetera, which is a home management platform that allows the creation of collaborative shopping lists, using or not Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, it allows all members of the household to keep their bills up to date, thanks to the expense’s functionality, integrated with expenses associated with purchases.
Media Play’24, organized by DigiMedia, took place on May 29, with more than 125 people attending the event to meet the participants and their Multimedia Projects, such as apps, games, digital platforms, and UX prototypes.
This second edition of Media Play presented 13 projects developed by students within the scope of the courses of Sciences and Technology Communication (CTC), in the Department of Communication and Art (DeCa) in the University of Aveiro.
Six local technology companies were also present in the event, to bring their vision of the business sector into the academic world. The representatives of Ubiwhere, AlticeLabs, Loba, Mindera, Mog, Tice and Fundação Altice had the opportunity to meet the students involved and their projects.
The best projects, voted by the people attending the event, were awarded with different prizes.
The winning projects were:
Professional Award (sponsored by AlticeLabs) : et.cetera
Disruptive award (sponsored by Ubiwhere): et.cetera
Public Award (sponsored by DigiMedia) : Rehamind
Academia Award (sponsored by DigiMedia): Twovest
More information on the Media Play’24 winners, soon!
Know more about all the participants of Media Play’24 here.
More photos in our social networks:
