The PROSPER toolkit

The PROSPER (Proof and Specification Assisted Design Environments) project advocates the use of toolkits which allow existing verification tools to be adapted to a more flexible format so that they can be treated as components. A system incorporating such tools becomes another component that can be embedded in an application. This paper describes the software toolkit developed by the project. The nature of communication between components is specified in a language-independent way. It is implemented in several common programming languages to allow a wide variety of tools to have access to the toolkit. Published online: 19 November 2002 Work funded by ESPRIT Framework IV Grant LTR 26241. RID="*" ID="*"Michael Norrish is supported by the Michael and Morven Heller Research Fellowship at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. RID="**" ID="**"Konrad Slind is now at the School of Computing, University of Utah, Salt Lake City UT 84112, USA.     

‘Working Well, Together’: Arts-Based Research and the Cultural Future of Small Cities

This article offers a research update on a 3-year programme initiated by the Kamloops Art Gallery and the University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops, British Columbia. The programme is supported by a ‘Community–University Research Alliance’ grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the collaboration focuses on the cultural future of small cities – on how cultural and arts organisations work together (or fail to work together) in a small city setting. If not by definition, then certainly by default, ‘culture’ is associated with big city life: big cities are equated commonly with ‘big culture’; small cities with something less. The Cultural Future of Small Cities research group seeks to provide a more nuanced view of what constitutes culture in a small Canadian city. In particular, the researchers are exploring notions of social capital and community asset building: in this context, ‘visual and verbal representation’, ‘home’, ‘community’ and the need to define a local ‘sense of place’ have emerged as important themes. As the Small Cities programme begins its second year, a unique but key aspect has become the artist-as-researcher. Correspondence and offprint requests to: L. Dubinsky, Kamloops Art Gallery, 101–465 Victoria Street, Kamloops, BC V2C 2A9 Canada. Tel.: 250-828-3543; Email: ldubinsky@museums.ca     

Rendering traditional mosaics

This paper discusses the principles of traditional mosaics and describes a technique for implementing a digital mosaicing system. The goal of this work is to transform digital images into traditional mosaic-like renderings. We achieve this effect by recovering free-form feature curves from the image and laying rows of tiles along these curves. Composition rules are applied to merge these tiles into an intricate jigsaw that conforms to classical mosaic styles. Mosaic rendering offers the user flexibility over every aspect of this craft, including tile arrangement, shapes, and colors. The result is a system that makes this wonderful craft more flexible and widely accessible than previously possible. Published online: 28 January 2003     

A Methodological Approach for Object-Relational Database Design using UML

The most common way of designing databases is by means of a conceptual model, such as E/R, without taking into account other views of the system. New object-oriented design languages, such as UML (Unified Modelling Language), allow the whole system, including the database schema, to be modelled in a uniform way. Moreover, as UML is an extendable language, it allows for any necessary introduction of new stereotypes for specific applications. Proposals exist to extend UML with stereotypes for database design but, unfortunately, they are focused on relational databases. However, new applications require complex objects to be represented in complex relationships, object-relational databases being more appropriate for these requirements. The framework of this paper is an Object-Relational Database Design Methodology, which defines new UML stereotypes for Object-Relational Database Design and proposes some guidelines to translate a UML conceptual schema into an object-relational schema. The guidelines are based on the SQL:1999 object-relational model and on Oracle8i as a product example. Initial submission: 22 January 2002 / Revised submission: 10 June 2002 Published online: 7 January 2003 This paper is a revised and extended version of Extending UML for Object-Relational Database Design, presented in the UML’2001 conference [17].     

Cooking in the Crucible

The Crucible Studio is introduced in the context of the Media Lab at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland. Within the Media Centre Lume and Media Lab, the Crucible Studio studies and develops narration of digital, non-linear and interactive media in three modes of action: practice-based research production, education and networking.     

Interface-Me: Pursuing Sociability Through Personal Devices

In this paper we describe the fundamental principles that guide our work process at 5050 Ltd, in developing concepts and prototypes for personal technology devices. We maintain that in designing personal devices it is critical to address the social interaction elements of the user experience. We introduce the term “social functionality” to refer to those aspects of a device that are specifically designed to elicit sociability and serendipity. It also refers to those aspects which enable users to communicate or represent individuating characteristics through the use of their device. Social functionality is seen as a critical success factor in the design of future personal devices. Introducing social functionality in personal technology devices requires a multidisciplinary approach. Design and technology are seen as inseparable elements of the development process. The mbracelet¹, a wearable prototype we developed for, and in association with, NCR’s The Knowledge Lab, is used as a case in point.     

构建激发想象力与创造力的素描教学新模式——当代语境中的素描教学实践与思考

置身艺术观念及媒介不断推陈出新的当代语境中,如何有效地激发学生的想象力及创造力,并为他们进入当代艺术创作语境打下基础,成为当前素描教学所必须面临的新课题。汕头大学长江艺术与设计学院引入前沿的教学理念与方法,通过对素描创作来源上进行横向类比联系,表达方式上进行纵向手法拓宽,努力构建激发学生想象力与创造力的素描教学新模式。本文为笔者参与学院素描改革教学的一些实践与思考。     

The Mobile Phone: An Identity on the Move

This paper analyses the shifting identity of the mobile phone in the light of research carried out in 1996 on a representative population sample from five major European countries: Italy, UK, France, Germany and Spain. A total of 6609 people were interviewed by means of a telephone survey. The mobile phone emerged as a charismatic technology compared to other mobile technologies (laptop and car phone) and as a leading technology that, in just a few years, has appropriated 11% of total telephone traffic. It has “dragged” its widespread presence and amount of use from the workplace to the domestic sphere, although in Italy, where it has had greatest success, its widespread use has been detached from its use in the workplace. Another emerging result is that the use of the mobile phone is not correlated to strong residential mobility in individuals.     

Negotiating and Understanding Information Systems Requirements: The Use of Set Diagrams

A major contributor to the failure of information technology-based systems is the problem of understanding user or customer requirements in the initial analysis and requirements identification stage of development. This paper identifies and describes an approach to help overcome some of these problems, particularly the mismatch or understanding gap between the customer and the developer. The approach is intended to be used at the early stages of requirement determination and introduces techniques from operational research into the process. In particular set theory and Venn diagrams are used as a way of graphically representing the relationships and gaps in understanding that may exist. The benefit obtained from the use of the technique is partly in the graphical representations themselves but mainly in the dialogue and negotiation that result from the construction of the diagrams. The technique has been developed in a research study of retail organisations’ use of information technology in the UK and an example case study from the sector is used to illustrate and discuss the technique.     

Movement Awareness for Ubiquitous Game Control

This paper describes a sensing system for recognising and characterising human movements and its application to ubiquitous gaming. In particular this paper considers the control of computer games through players interacting with the physical environment around them in a natural and appropriate manner. This pushes the interface into the environment, and pulls ubiquitous computing into the game. This is achieved using a sentient computing system. Such a system senses the location, motions, actions and even physiological responses of users. This sensory data can be used to interface and control a game. A good example is 3D first-person games and we demonstrate a system in which actions in the game are mapped to similar actions in the real world. Correspondence to: R. Headon, Laboratory for Communications Engineering, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK. Email: rph25@cam.ac.uk     

User diversity and design representation: Towards increased effectiveness in Design for All

This paper addresses user modelling for “Design for All” in a model-based approach to Human-Computer Interaction, paying particular attention to placing user models within organisational role- and task-related contexts. After reviewing a variety of user modelling approaches, and deriving requirements for user modelling related to Design for All, the paper proposes a role-driven individualised approach. Such an approach is based on a model-based representation schema and a unifying notation that keeps the user’s models and the contextual information transparent and consistent. Individualisation is achieved by coupling symbolic model specifications with neural networking on synchronisation links between symbolic representation elements. As a result, user modelling for Design for All is achieved not by stereotypical user properties and functional roles, but by accommodating the actual users’ behaviour. Published online: 18 May 2001     

新媒体艺术的分众性研究

伴随着数字化时代的到来,新媒体艺术应运而生,在信息化的浪潮中,它重新诠释了技术和艺术结合的魅力,展示出极强的生命力和发展潜力。本文就新媒体艺术的分众性进行相关讨论,旨在明确设计作品的受众对象,有效提高最终作品的信息感知能力。     

Distributed Cognition in an Emergency Co-ordination Center

*Formerly at the Department of Communication Studies, Linko¨ping University, Sweden. Most of this work was conducted during the author’s employment at the Department of Communication Studies. Recent research concerning the control of complex systems stresses the systemic character of the work of the controlling system, including the number of people and artefacts as well as the environment. This study adds to the growing body of knowledge by focusing on the internal working of such a system. Our vantage point is the theoretical framework of distributed cognition. Through a field study of an emergency co-ordination centre we try to demonstrate how the team’s cognitive tasks, to assess an event and to dispatch adequate resources, are achieved by mutual awareness, joint situation assessment, and the co-ordinated use of the technology and the physical arrangement of the co-ordination room.     

Learning Organisations: The Process of Innovation and Technological Change

In the present scenario of globalisation, knowledge has become the prime factor of production for competitive advantage. This calls for acquisition and utilisation of knowledge for innovation and technical change on a constant basis, which is only possible in a ‘learning organisation’. Innovative activities of a learning organisation are influenced by three main factors: (1) internal learning; (2) external learning; and (3) the innovation strategies decided upon by the enterprise management. An assumption has been made that, particularly in developing countries, absorption and adaptation of technologies, i.e. indigenisation, take place through a process of ‘learning by doing’. Taking this into consideration, this paper focuses on a few case studies carried out at NISTADS, New Delhi, India, on small enterprises in the formal as well as traditional sectors, highlighting the learning process in an organisational context and how it brings in innovation and technological change at enterprise level. The study demonstrates that the learning environment in an organisational context is an indispensable process to be innovative and building up capabilities for technological change. This in turn also calls for strong networking of the enterprises with academia, R&D institutions and other enterprises, to create knowledge clusters. This builds up a strong case for a network approach of learning organisations not only at the regional level but also at the cross-cultural level for constant innovation and technical change.     

Aware Community Portals: Shared Information Appliances for Transitional Spaces

People wish to maintain a level of awareness of timely information, including presence of others in the workplace and other social settings. We believe this provides better exchange, coordination and contact within a community, especially as people work in asynchronous times and distributed locations. The challenge is to develop lightweight techniques for awareness, interaction and communication using shared information appliances. In this paper, we describe the design of an exploratory responsive display projected within a shared workspace at the MIT Media Lab. The system uses visual sensing to provide relevant information and constructs traces of people’s activity over time. Such aware portals may be deployed in casual workplace domains, distributed workgroups, and everyday public spaces.     

Touch-Space: Mixed Reality Game Space Based on Ubiquitous, Tangible, and Social Computing

This paper presents a novel computer entertainment system which recaptures human touch and physical interaction with the real-world environment as essential elements of the game play, whilst also maintaining the exciting fantasy features of traditional computer entertainment. Our system called ‘Touch-Space’ is an embodied (ubiquitous, tangible, and social) computing based Mixed Reality (MR) game space which regains the physical and social aspects of traditional game play. In this novel game space, the real-world environment is an essential and intrinsic game element, and the human’s physical context influences the game play. It also provides the full spectrum of game interaction experience ranging from the real physical environment (human to human and human to physical world interaction), to augmented reality, to the virtual environment. It allows tangible interactions between players and virtual objects, and collaborations between players in different levels of reality. Thus, the system re-invigorates computer entertainment systems with social human-to-human and human-to-physical touch interactions. Correspondence to: Professor A. Cheok, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260. Email: adriancheok@nus.edu.sg     

Model checking JAVA programs using JAVA PathFinder

This paper describes a translator called Java PathFinder (Jpf), which translates from Java to Promela, the modeling language of the Spin model checker. Jpf translates a given Java program into a Promela model, which then can be model checked using Spin. The Java program may contain assertions, which are translated into similar assertions in the Promela model. The Spin model checker will then look for deadlocks and violations of any stated assertions. Jpf generates a Promela model with the same state space characteristics as the Java program. Hence, the Java program must have a finite and tractable state space. This work should be seen in a broader attempt to make formal methods applicable within NASA’s areas such as space, aviation, and robotics. The work is a continuation of an effort to formally analyze, using Spin, a multi-threaded operating system for the Deep-Space 1 space craft, and of previous work in applying existing model checkers and theorem provers to real applications.     

Effects of Integrated Graphical Displays on Situation Awareness in Anaesthesiology

Anaesthetic information displays have been shown to influence anaesthesiologists’ situation awareness. In study 1 an object display was compared with the traditional display currently used. Twelve anaesthesiologists (residents and faculty members) participated in a simulator evaluation of the displays. Reaction times for detection of critical events and situation awareness were measured. The object display improved situation awareness for one of four test scenarios. Low-level situation awareness was higher with the traditional display, and medium-level situation awareness was higher with the new display. In study 2, an integrated 3D display was compared to the traditional display. Twelve students participated in the evaluation. The new 3D display helped the observers to see changes more rapidly. In one scenario, situation awareness was higher with the new display than with the traditional display. In summary, during 63% of the simulated scenarios, reliable differences were found in favour of the new displays. Thus, by introducing integrated graphical displays in the operating room, anaesthesiologists’ performance may be improved.     

Negotiating Use: Making Sense of Mobile Technology

This paper is based on a study of the ways in which a group negotiated the use of a new mobile technology. The group was made up of ski instructors who, during a one-week ski trip, were equipped with a mobile awareness device called the Hummingbird. The group was studied using ethnomethodologically inspired qualitative methods, with the focus on the group members’ different views of the Hummingbird’s intended use. Negotiations of use occurred using two methods: talk and action. The users negotiated issues such as where and when to use the technology, and whether to consider the Hummingbird a work tool or a gadget for social events. Further, the empirical results clearly show how negotiations of new, mobile technology differ from stationary technology.