Physical Versus Digital Sticky Notes in Collaborative Ideation

In this paper, we compare the use of physical and digital sticky notes in collaborative ideation. Inspired by a case study in a design company, we focus on a collaborative ideation task, which is often part of pair-wise brainstorming in design. For comparison and to focus on the different materiality, we developed a digital sticky notes setup designed to be as close to the physical setup as possible, not adding any advanced digital features, even though technology has reached a stage where more sophisticated use of digital sticky notes on digital boards is possible. In this paper, we present a study of ideation among pairs of experienced sticky note users. The ideation sessions were video recorded and analyzed to focus on how collaboration is supported across the two setups. Based on quantitative analyses of the participants’ interactions with the artefacts, talking patterns, position and attention during the sessions, we qualify how the differences and similarities between the 2 setups have an impact on note handling, ideation techniques, group dynamics and socio-spatial configuration, e.g. the use of the room, the boards and tables. We conclude that, while the physical setup seems more appropriate for creating notes and posting notes, the digital setup invites more note interaction. Nevertheless, we did not find significant differences in the ideation outcome (e.g., number of notes created) or how participants collaborated between the 2 setups. Hence, we argue that collaborative ideation can successfully be supported in a digital setup as well. Consequently, we believe that the next step in a technological setup is not an either or, but should bring the best of the two worlds together.     

An observational study of undergraduate students’ adoption of (mobile) note-taking software

Mobile learning is increasing in popularity, but not all university students have mobile devices to support it. Our study investigated cross-platform software that has the potential to allow education practitioners to provide mobile support to their students’ learning, while offering similar functionality to non-mobile users via more traditional computing platforms. Undergraduate students were trained in the use of multi-platform cloud-based note-taking software (Evernote), and used the software in independent study for 8 weeks. Data show adoption for a range of functions, particularly gathering and managing information, organisation and planning, and the recording of ideas. Multimedia functions were also adopted innovatively by some students. Use for reflection was rare. Non-adopters were in a minority, giving low utility appraisals and difficulty in changing habits as reasons. Subjective evaluations and recommendations showed that a majority of students felt positive about the software and found it quick and easy to use. Mobile and non-mobile users only differed on the number of locations in which they used the software, and the proportion of notes classified as ideas, both being higher in mobile users. The data provide decision support for education practitioners who wish to provide mobile learning to their students alongside traditional platforms.     

The Digital Reading Desk: A lightweight approach to digital note-taking

Attentive reading is a complex and cognitively demanding task that uses note-taking and annotation to support the reader’s interpretation of the document. When reading on paper, extensive use of highlighting and other activities are conducted to support attentive reading, but this rich behaviour is not used with digital documents. Many users therefore print digital documents and then interact with them in physical form.This paper presents the “Digital Reading Desk,” an enhanced digital reading environment that provides support for attentive reading, providing a large working space for notes that mimics the use of desk space in a conventional physical environment. The Reading Desk uses a single tool to support both annotation and bookmarking, simplifying both the user’s learning of the system and their use of tools. Evaluation of the Reading Desk indicates preference for it, as well as considerable behavioural differences between our approach and traditional digital reading tools.     

Teacher perceptions of using mobile phones in the classroom: Age matters!

This study examined the digital native–digital immigrant dichotomy based on the results of a study involving 1095 teachers from two states in the southeastern United States. The study focused on age as it relates to the relationship between the type of mobile phone they owned, their support for the use of mobile phones in the classroom, their perceptions of the benefits of specific mobile features for school-related work, and their perceptions of instructional barriers. The results indicated that the age of the teacher matters, however, not as suggested by Prensky (2001). There were no significant differences in the findings for the teachers who were less than 32 and the ones who were 33–49; however, they both significantly differed from those over 50 in mobile phone ownership and support for the use of mobile phones in the classroom as well as in their perceptions regarding the useful mobile features for school-related work and instructional barriers. In each instance, the older teachers were less likely to own smartphones, were less supportive on all items, were less enthusiastic about the features, and found the barriers to be more problematic.     

MAP IT: The GIS software for field mapping with tablet pc

Map IT is a proper Geographic Information System (GIS) software designed for digital mapping and data capture with tablet pc that ought to be tested and evaluated by field geologists and people who project and use field systems and geologic databases.It can be easily used at different levels of digital knowledge. The digital pen writing on the sunlight readable screen of a rugged tablet pc is similar to the traditional way by which geologists draw lines and other features on a base map and write hand notes on a field book. If the entry level of this software is very simple, going ahead, step by step, Map IT keep its user-friendly interface.Global Positioning System (GPS) connected device allows to capture points (i.e. bedding measurements), lines (i.e. faults and stratigraphic boundaries) and polygons (i.e. landslides, large outcrops) and to georeference any file created by the surveyor via date and time through an intuitive method.Then a slip of yellow paper (Easy Note) can be used to take short notes and link any files (hand notes, recorded sound and/or voice notes, hand sketches, digital photos) by drag-and-drop. After the picture, downloaded from digital camera into the computer, has been linked in Easy Note, a photo display allows to visualize and sketch the photos for outcrop or landscape interpretations and notes.Moreover any kind of software useful for data capturing (i.e. spreadsheets, stereoplots, etc.) can be used to generate files which can be linked to Map IT database.If the mapping project is pre-organized by standardized symbology and conventional ontology for interoperability, the project manager can easily customize forms to be filled by the surveyors to input data directly into the database. However, the field geologist can keep flexibility in unexpected field situations using Easy Note and other digital note and sketch recorder in addition.In case of working with groups of surveyors, the data can be sent via communications technologies (GPRS or UMTS) to a central server with high reduction of time for building a GIS or more simply a real-time cartography, which would be important, for example, when natural or anthropogenic disasters occur.     

Towards a design tool for visualizing the functional demand placed on older adults by everyday living tasks

This paper discusses the development of a design tool using data calculated from the biomechanical functional demand on joints in older adults during activities of daily living, portrayed using a visual ‘traffic-light’ system. Whole body movements of 84 older adults were analysed using a 3D motion capture system and reaction forces were measured by force platforms, and translated into a 3D software model. Although originally intended as a tool for designers, the early evaluation of this method of visualizing the data suggests that it may be of value across those involved in the professional care of older adults.     

Marginalised Care: Migrant Workers Caring for Older People in Ireland

Older adult care in Ireland is a mix of public, private, voluntary and family provision. This model is characterised by deficient funding and support structures for both care recipients and carers, leading ultimately to fragmented service delivery, both in the community and in residential care. Against this backdrop, there has been a significant and rapid growth in the number of migrant registered nurses and care assistants providing care to Irish older people. With two potentially marginalised groups now at the centre of the caring relationship, questions arise regarding the sustainability of quality of care and quality of life for both providers and recipients of care. This research study draws on the perspectives of the older person, the migrant carer and the employer to develop an understanding of migrant worker care provision within the disadvantaged ageing sector in Ireland. The paper will frame migrant care workers’ experiences within the perspective of a marginalised sector, whose central consumers, older people, are not prioritised in policy or practice. Providing evidence of disadvantage for older adults and migrant carers, the research findings demonstrate that it is necessary to improve caring experiences and conditions for both groups if quality of care is to be enhanced.     

The Day-to-Day Co-Production of Ageing in Place

We report findings from a study that set out to explore the experience of older people living with assisted living technologies and care services. We find that successful ‘ageing in place’ is socially and collaboratively accomplished – ‘co-produced’ – day-to-day by the efforts of older people, and their formal and informal networks of carers (e.g. family, friends, neighbours). First, we reveal how ‘bricolage’ allows care recipients and family members to customise assisted living technologies to individual needs. We argue that making customisation easier through better design must be part of making assisted living technologies ‘work’. Second, we draw attention to the importance of formal and informal carers establishing and maintaining mutual awareness of the older person’s circumstances day-to-day so they can act in a concerted and coordinated way when problems arise. Unfortunately, neither the design of most current assisted living technologies, nor the ways care services are typically configured, acknowledges these realities of ageing in place. We conclude that rather than more ‘advanced’ technologies, the success of ageing in place programmes will depend on effortful alignments in the technical, organisational and social configuration of support.     

Situation-centered goal reinforcement of activities of daily living in smart home environments

Older adults with early-stage dementia (ED) can experience confusion or lack clarity when performing routine activities of daily living (ADLs). These circumstances predispose the older adult to safety-critical and often risky situations. A safety-critical risky situation is one that constitutes a hazard. To support independent living, a sensor-laden smart environment can be employed to mitigate such hazards. In this paper, we propose a situation-centered goal reinforcement framework that supports older adults with ED in their decision making, and guides them through their ADL in order to fulfill their goal or intention and avoid hazards. First, we employ an LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) model to infer the current goal of the resident, using their previously observed normal ADL patterns. Secondly, we identify potentially risky situations in their currently observed goal path. We then incorporate a situ-learning agent (SLA) that helps an inhabitant to make the right decision, thus preventing adverse events while guiding her through the task sequence that leads to her goal state. In addition, we use a naïve agent to simulate episodes of confusion similar to those that might be experienced by older adults with ED. We validated our method against an open-source dementia dataset (Quesada et al., 2015) by considering four types of ADLs as case studies. We achieved an accuracy of 90.1% for our goal inference model, higher than the accuracies reported by related studies. We also reported other metrics including precision, recall and f1-score for goal inference model. Finally, SLA's action recommendations relevance was evaluated accordingly.     

Clairvoyance: A framework to integrate shared displays and mobile computing devices

Supporting formal and informal meetings with digital information and ubiquitous software systems every day becomes increasingly mandatory. These meetings require that the integration of devices participating in the meeting and the information flow among them should be done as seamless as possible to avoid jeopardizing the natural interactions among participants. Trying to contribute to address such a challenge, this article presents a framework that allows devices integration and smooth information flow. This framework, named Clairvoyance, particularly integrates mobile computing devices and large-screen TVs through a mobile ad hoc network, and thus it eases the implementation of shared displays intended to be used in formal and informal meetings. Clairvoyance provides a set of services through an API, which can be used to develop ubiquitous applications that support meetings in particular scenarios. The preliminary evaluation of this framework considered its usage to implement a ubiquitous system that supports social meetings among friends or relatives. According to developers, the framework is easy to use and it provided all required services for such an application. The solution obtained was then utilized by end-users in simulated meetings. The evaluation results indicate that the Clairvoyance services were suitable to support the informal meetings, and that the devices integration and information flow were transparent for the end-users.     

A tool for taking class notes

Students still take class notes using pencil and paper—although digital documents are more legible, easier to search in and easier to edit—in part because of the lack of software to support note-taking. Class notes are characterized by free spatial organization, many small chunks of text, and a dense mix of text and graphic elements. These characteristics imply that a note-taking system should use pen, keyboard and mouse-or-equivalent; allow the swift entry of text at any desired position; and minimize the need to switch between input tools. A system with these properties was built and used by 10 subjects in a controlled study and by four users in their classes. Some users preferred our system to pencil and paper, suggesting that taking class notes with the computer is feasible.     

Sleeping situation monitoring system in ubiquitous environments

In recent years, because of the development of ubiquitous technology in health care, research is actively progress. We describe a sleeping situation monitoring system, created to support home healthcare services. We discuss the method we used to develop the system and how to use the sleep activity monitor to support home health care. Information about the sleeping situation is collected from motion detection, sound, and vibration sensors. And this information is based on real-time processing, we used the TMO (Time-trigger and Message-trigger Object) schema and TMOSM (TMO Support Middleware) into the development software environment of the healthcare application. To verify the practical use of sleeping situation information as recorded by the system discussed in this paper, we relate an example of the monitoring of a sleeping situation using our system, and we describe the results of an experimental evaluation.     

Towards personalized decision support in the dementia domain based on clinical practice guidelines

A set of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines has been synthesized and integrated in the clinical decision support system DMSS-R (Dementia Management and Support System) to support clinical routines and reasoning processes as performed by individual health professionals in daily practice. DMSS-R provides advice, tailored to individual and often exceptional patient cases, to the user while providing guidance to the next step in the assessments and support for hypothesis generation and evaluation throughout the process. This paper describes DMSS-R and the results of a case study in clinical practice where the system was used. The case study included interviews and observations of the clinical investigation process as undertaken in 41 real patient cases with suspected dementia. Two physicians participated, one of whom was considered a novice regarding dementia while the other had a moderate level of skills. Initially, both physicians were unfamiliar with DMSS-R. A group of nurses together with care personnel and relatives were also involved. The most important contribution of DMSS-R at the point of care, apart from the tailored explanatory support related to a patient case, was the educational support it provided. This was partly manifested in a change of routines in the encounter with patients. Aspects regarding the individual health care professional??s need for a personalized support system are discussed and put in relation to the team??s need for support, and in relation to the diversity of disease manifestations in this group of patients, which reinforces patient-centric assessments.     

A mobile knowledge carrier with personalized knowledge provision

In the e-commerce era, the organization knowledge within a centralized knowledge management server can be easily accessed over the Internet by the client PCs at distinct locations. Currently, the personal digital assistant (PDA) has been widely used as the carrier for personal memos and daily records for its high mobility. Taking advantage of the personal information, the user requirements for knowledge can be determined. This research presents an intelligent KM scheme by integrating the PDA information (including notes, schedules and address book) mining model and mobile knowledge management mechanism. Based on the user profile mining technique, the PDA-ready knowledge that fits user requirements can be imported from the knowledge server to the client PDA. Demonstration cases are also provided to illustrate the applications of the proposed model in the content services and healthcare industry. By application of the mobile KM technique, the organization knowledge can be seamlessly provided to the PDA user via the data synchronization process. The attempt of this paper is to present an applicable and intelligent mobile knowledge carrier for realization of the mobile office.     

A Communication Support System for Older People with Dementia

CIRCA lets those with short-term memory loss draw on reminiscences to converse with relatives and caregivers. The system, which software engineers, psychologists,and designers developed with caregiver input, features a touch screen that displays photos, music, video, text, and other materials to help those with dementia access long-term memory. This paper presents a communication support system for older people with dementia.     

Who will watch (over) me? Humane monitoring in dementia care

The ageing population as well as the tight labor market put pressure on future health care. In this article, we explore the role of monitoring systems in small-scale housing for older people with dementia. By incorporating principles of value-sensitive design in a human centered design process we developed a system for remote monitoring at night in dementia care. The performance of the working system was evaluated in the real-life context of a nursing home and is currently being implemented in small-scale housing. Next to reporting the iterative design and evaluation of the monitoring system, we reflect upon the approach taken.     

Developing a pragmatic evaluation of ICTs for older adults with cognitive impairment at scale: the IN LIFE experience

Implementing information and communications technology (ICT) at scale requires evaluation processes to capture the impact on users as well as the infrastructure into which it is being introduced. For older adults living with cognitive impairment, this requires evaluation that can accommodate different levels of cognitive impairment, alongside input from family and formal caregivers, plus stakeholder organisations. The European Horizon 2020 project INdependent LIving support Functions for the Elderly (IN LIFE) set out to integrate 17 technologies into a single digital platform for older people living with cognitive impairment plus their families, care providers and stakeholders. The IN LIFE evaluation took place across six national pilot sites to examine a number of variables including impact on the users, user acceptance of the individual services and the overall platform, plus the economic case for the IN LIFE platform. The results confirmed the interest and need among older adults, family caregivers, formal caregivers and stakeholders, for information and communications technology (ICT). Relative to the baseline, quality of life improved and cognition stabilised; however, there was an overall reluctance to pay for the platform. The findings provide insights into existing barriers and challenges for adoption of ICT for older people living with cognitive impairment.

     

What Does Pseudo-Code Do? A Psychological Analysis of the use of Pseudo-Code by Experienced Programmers

The use of pseudo-code and pen and paper are prevalent within the task of programming. However, few studies examine the use of informal notations or the use of the paper medium. In this article, I offer a psychological analysis of the use of pseudo-code and pen and paper by experienced programmers. In particular, I investigate how such informal notations and the paper medium support the cognitively complex task of programming. The basis of the investigation is an analysis of the notes that programmers make during programming. These notes were collected from eight experienced programmers, who were all programming in different languages with different programming environments. Interviews and questionnaires were used as supplementary data. In the analysis based on these data, I describe the kinds of tasks done using pseudo-code and pen and paper, and I offer an account of why these tasks are done using these particular notations and this medium. This study suggests that programmers use pseudo-code and pen and paper to reduce the cognitive complexity of the programming task.