Projects

Personal Objects as Tangible Interfaces (POTI) is a technology that aims to convert everyday objects and actions into interfaces in the digital world.
At the heart of POTI technology are small electronic tags consisting of motion, sound, and light sensors that, when integrated into everyday objects, are capable of recognizing the gestures the user engages in interacting with them daily. The user from a simple smartphone application can configure labels, via WIFI.
SIX is a particular application of the POTI conceptual framework and technology in a real interaction environment (TV and home environment), and it was funded by Altice Labs. It consists of a customized tangible interface for seniors, with the shape of a cube, to select TV channels. This project aims to develop and evaluate an MVP (Minimum Valuable Product) consisting of electronic tags and a mobile application in which the user personalizes the use scenario.
One of the aims of SIX is to eliminate seniors’ difficulties when they interact with a TV remote control, namely selecting channels. To understand the expectations and needs of seniors while they are using the SIX, an empirical study was performed, which characterized the affordance of the SIX.

Polariscope proposes a collaborative storytelling platform to share, visualize and co-create collective memories. It aims to gather citizens and institutions to promote rich digital experiences through interactive and narrative visualizations around meaningful cultural events. The project proposes a solution assisted by Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is able to generate automatic stories based on these archives and present correlated visualizations of content shared by several users.

LOCUS is a multidisciplinary project with the goal of co-design, develop and evaluate an IoT system and understand its potential to support playful intergenerational engagement in creating and exploring cultural contents and learning about Cultural Heritage of rural territories from the Centre Region of Portugal, namely Amiais Village, in Sever do Vouga.
Where: Amiais is a rural space, with an aging population, that preserves ancient rural traditions, which are still practiced by the few permanent inhabitants, as is the case of the maintenance of communal threshing floors, an old gathering point for the farming communities linked to the husking of corn and the ritual of desfolhada, which are still done today.
What: Based on co-designed cultural heritage scenarios and narratives, the Amiais spot in Second Live will enable immersive gamified experiences to the virtual visitors. It will be possible to know the virtual village, interact with local characters and participate in cultural experiences through different virtual tours and challenges.
How: LOCUS will use engaging storytelling challenges to employ an immersive playful approach in metaverse contexts. The project’s development will go through 5 fundamental stages: Ethnographic Research, Reflection & Creativity, Participatory Design & Agile Development, User Testing, Sustainability & Migrability models..

The main objective of the PLAYMUTATION project – Virus Epidemiologic-themed Digital Games and Youngsters’ Attitudes to Viral Infections is to analyze the use of digital games to inform about the evolution of viral genomes, transmission, and mutations, as well as to promote self-care and infection prevention in youngsters.

The project is divided into the following phases: (i) Map the use of games in microbiology and media interventions in youngster’s attitudes and behaviors relative to viral infections; (ii) Develop and validate the virus epidemiologic-themed digital game; and (iii) Assess the youngsters’ attitudes and behaviors relative to viral infections. The contributions are aligned with the sustainable development goals of ensuring quality education and good health and well-being with the use of media for increasing knowledge in virus epidemics, and changing behaviors associated with pandemics.

PAgES aims at contributing to the modernization of the Higher Education (HE) sector in Libya and support the implementation of the Bologna Process through a bottom-up approach for the design and pilot of a Master Course in Cross-Media Journalism. The Master Course will target young people studying communication and young professionals, who wish to specialize in the strategic field of digital journalism. The Master Course will be designed by means of a participatory approach, involving teachers from the EU and Libya, students and journalists. Teachers will be provided with the required skills for the delivery of the Master Course through a set of capacity building initiatives: online Repository for Training Faculty, online Space for discussion and study visits at two EU universities. The length of the Master Course is of 2 years (120 ECTS).

The project aims to foster students’ employability by developing their relevant professional competencies and civic engagement through the comprehensive tutoring and mentoring (T&M) system at partner HEIs as a response to the labour market demands.

VoluntAge4Seniors intends to be a service that allows older adults to request help from a group of volunteers to support in specific tasks such as simple household maintenance or company for a visit to the doctor. All the process includes evaluation moments with end users, and it is also planned to do a pilot test that will combine the use of the whole system with older adults and a network of volunteers.

TV2Mobile intends to take advantage of the proliferation of mobile devices and their increasing use simultaneous with the visualization of television tents, to notify the user that can, through the application, enjoy discounts or participate in games of bets for example.

The “Gamers4Nature: Mission Earth – Reconnecting with Nature Through the Creation of Digital Games” project(ref 2020-1-PT01-KA201-078789)aims to raise young student’s awareness on the importance of environmental and biodiversity preservation, through the creation of digital games and to provide opportunities of co-learning and knowledge share based on experiential learning in outdoor settings.

Safe navigation in inland waters, particularly in channels or near land requires dedicated predictions of a significant set of meteorological and oceanographic variables such as sea level, currents, wind, visibility, and wave regime. In addition, inland waters are more difficult to navigate when officially installed setting of buoys is inexistent, which poses an increased set of safety issues.
The SISMAR project aims to develop a system by coupling several other subsystems, some operational, which allow improving the forecasting and interpretation of meteorological and oceanographic variables by installing dedicated monitoring equipment and by providing a summary of decisions taken previously for similar offshore navigation conditions by similar vessels.
The project will have as main outcomes: a mobile app for the navigation safety assessment; a management system, and forecasts. The fishing and recreation boating associations (APARA, CENARIO e NADO) will provide access to end users for the correct adaptation of the systems to be developed to users’ needs.

The SEDUCE Project (Use of technologically mediated communication and information in Web ecologies by senior citizens).
Considering that technology is more omnipresent today and that the use of ICT can present social and cognitive benefits for this population, it is urgent to make technological devices and their multimedia applications accessible and affordable for each generation. The SEDUCE project is embarking on this challenge. The online social community will be developed with the active participation of senior citizens from Private Social Solidarity Institutions (IPSS) in the municipality of Aveiro, namely, Centro Social Santa Joana Princesa (CSSJP), Fundação CESDA (CESDA), Centro Paroquial de S. Bernardo (CPSB) and Patronato de Nossa Sr.ª de Fátima de Vilar (PNSFV). This community integrates five areas: communicating through an email service and instant messaging; health information; news information; games; and accessing and sharing members’ experiences. Additionally, the community offers three user support areas that address the constant concern with usability and accessibility issues, namely, the help area, the search area and the notifications area.

AgeWell project attempts to design innovative learning and teaching practices that consider and integrate the ageing megatrend into the learning process.