Category Archives: Mobile Tech

Workshop on Entertainment Technology in Transportation against Frustration, Aggression and Irrationality

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DEADLINE EXTENDED: May 20th, 2013

Workshop on “Entertainment Technology in Transportation against Frustration, Aggression and Irrationality”

August 27, 2013, Munich, Germany

Held in conjunction with 15th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI 2013)

http://workshops.icts.sbg.ac.at/mobilehci2013

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Call for Papers

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Position Paper Submission Deadline: Monday, May 20th, 2013 (extended) Notification on Position Papers: Monday, June 10th, 2013 Workshop Date: Tuesday, August 27th, 2013

Using transportation technology (e.g., a car, plane, or traveling in public transportation) can be frustrating due to crowded streets, delays, and other travelers. Games & entertainment technology offer potential to resolve these negative user experiences. Frustration may lead to aggression and negative experiences resulting in irrational behaviors.

The workshop on Entertainment in Transportation will be a forum of multi-disciplinary discussion on how to combine research and design in both the entertainment and the transportation domain. The one-day workshop will include break-out sessions including the creation of entertainment and game concepts for future transportation. Contributions are invited from all areas of mobile HCI, games & entertainment, as well as transportation contexts such as cars, planes, buses, trains, or space ships.

Topics

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Submissions are invited on (but not limited to) the following topics:

- Entertainment applications to reduce frustration, aggression and irrationality

- Game and entertainment application concepts, prototypes, and systems that suit a certain transportation context

- Studies on informing transportation entertainment system design

- Social aspects of gaming in the transportation domain, including passengers as well as personnel

- Interaction modalities for transportation entertainment

- Research addressing the social aspects of transportation entertainment

- Usage of transport context data as game input

Submissions

To participate authors please submit by May 20th, 2013 a position paper (no longer than 4 pages in the CHI extended abstract format) about their research containing the following aspects:

- The authors’ research perspective on entertainment and gaming in transportation and how to improve the situation of travelers through gaming and entertainment, including a description of a game and entertainment application (if applicable) or phenomenon they are working on or have studied.

- A reflection on the future challenges concerning entertainment in transportation that should be addressed by mobile HCI research.

- The way the authors aim at communicating their experience to the workshop participants (e.g., demo, interactive talk). Authors are invited to include an URL linking to digital documentation of a game, artifact, tool, service, project or study that offers a particular view on entertainment in transportation.

Submissions can, but do not have to be anonymized. Please submit your work via email to mobilehci2013@hciunit.org

Interactive presentations (such as demos) are highly encouraged and will be favored in the reviewing process.

We look forward to your contribution!

Workshop organizers:

David Wilfinger (University of Salzburg) Alexander Meschtscherjakov (University of Salzburg)

Manfred Tscheligi (University of Salzburg)

Petra Sundström (University of Salzburg)

Dalila Szostak (Intel

Roderick McCall (University of Luxembourg)

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Updated: I-GEAR Media Appearances

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For those interested in the I-GEAR project why not check out our recent media appearances. We will shortly be conducting a study of commuter study in Luxembourg, so please feel free to sign up! You get paid a small amount for taking part and have the chance to win some cool kit.

Most Recent

Recent Interview on Radio Ara (June 2013)

From Earlier in 2013

Article in Luxembourger Wort

Interview on Radio ARA

News Article on Radio Latina

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Updated: Vehicular Applications and Gamification Papers

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Here is a list of the main papers from this website that explore using gamification to reduce traffic congestion. The work is drawn from research in how to apply vehicular networking technology to reduce traffic congestion. The first paper explores legal and ethical issues, the second explores the use of gamification to asses game design issues, while the third looks at early ideas to use gamification to reduce traffic congestion. The fourth paper explores a simulator that will be used in the I-GEAR project. Our intention is really to bring together gamification with in-car applications while also exploring novel user interface techniques.

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Paper: Reducing Traffic Congestion Through Pervasive Gaming

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Last year we presented a short position paper at the “Workshop on the Car as An Arena for Gaming” which was held during MobileHCI 2012. It was chosen as the best paper from the workshop and we have subsequently published a full version outlining the results from the study featured here and from MobileHCI itself in the International Journal of Mobile Human-Computer Interaction (to appear).

Abstract: In this paper we provide an overview of the I-GEAR (incentives and gaming environments for automobile routing) project that is intended to reduce traffic congestion in Luxembourg through the use of persuasive gaming. In order to illustrate some of the issues involved we also present an outline concept of a live game in which we propose to encourage the workshop participants to take part. If a sufficient number of workshop participants take part, this real life game could even be used as a small scale study within the project.

File: Reducing Congestion Through Pervasive Gaming

The journal paper will be available online soon (we have just received the proof to check over).

Citation: McCall, R., Kracheel, M., and V. Koenig. Reducing Traffic Congestion Through Pervasive Gaming. Position Paper from the Workshop on The Car As an Arena for Gaming at MobileHCI 2012. San Francisco, USA.

 

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Paper: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again – Subjective and Behavioral Presence Measurement in the Augmented Reality Game TimeWarp

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Authors: Jennifer Klatt, Simon Ten Broeke, Astrid M. von der Pütten, Anna-Christin Schütz, Jens Vervoort, Roderick McCall, Nicole C. Krämer, Richard Wetzel, Lisa Blum, and Leif Oppermann.

Presence Conference. Edinburgh Napier University, 2011

Abstract: Presence measurements are traditionally using a variety of subjective and objective measures. However, constraints often result in subjective measurements using questionnaires as a key method of data collection. In this paper we present a study of 44 participants of an augmented reality game known as TimeWarp which used both subjective and objective behavioural measures where both video recordings and self- reports about feelings of presence were compared. Our findings indicate that pointing behaviour and verbal responses to virtual content within an augmented reality scene are correlated negatively to sense of presence. As a result the paper indicates that there are behavioural measures that correlate and can predict subjective feelings of presence in the augmented reality game.

Let’s Do the Time Warp Again – Subjective and Behavioral Presence Measurement in the Augmented Reality Game TimeWarp (PDF)

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Review: Google Nexus 7

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Quite simply this is an excellent little tablet and given it was reduced to €189 when I bought it also excellent value! If you want more information then please read on.

The Google Nexus 7 tablet. Image copyright Google.

Specification wise the device comes with 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM – a larger storage option is available. My version does not have 3G and it is not expandable so that is one major drawback. Also there is no HDMI out – a feature which is often found on many cheaper tablets.  You also get a front facing 1.2mp camera, of course wifi and bluetooth. Plus a rather natty NFC feature that lets you easily send info/files between other tablets or devices that support this platform. You also get all the standard features such as bluetooth, GPS, accelerometer, gyro and compass. This is a quad core device and comes with good graphics capabilities. Wifi connectivity is reliable and so far I have not had any cause to reset.

The Nexus 7 comes not surprisingly with a crisp 7″ display (1280×800), which makes reading almost anything a pleasure. It also beats the much more expensive iPad Mini. That said for reading books it is still not a replacement for the traditional Amazon Kindle. The display is responsive and fonts are clear, there is not really anything to complain about here. Although like all 7″ tablets the screen can sometimes be just too small, but for everyday tasks such as basic email, calendar and document viewing it’s great. The multitouch surface is good quality and is both accurate and quick.

The Tablet comes with Android 4.2 which is very easy to use and responsive. It is a noticable improvement on earlier versions of Android. Also as this is a Google device you are among the first to receive any updates to Android. The device is quite literally switch on and use and unsurprisingly setting up Google services is quick and easy. Also adding additional email accounts for example your one from work on Exchange is no problem. For a more thorough review of Android 4 click here.

If you partner your device with cloud apps such as Google Drive, Evernote or Dropbox you will quickly have something which although it’s Android in a PC and iOS/Mac world merges easily with your everyday tasks. All are free up to a point and make life across devices much easier.

To sum up I recommend buying it as at the price I got it buying an iPad mini is really a no-brainer unless there is some specific app you really must have. Also it really is a huge step up in terms of speed and display from the cheaper sub €150 tablets such as the Xelio. Given this is Google’s early attempt at a tablet then I think Apple should rightfully be terrified.

The Good

  • Fast, responsive
  • Easy to use
  • Well made, feels solid and looks good
  • Good value for money especially if you can bag it for less than €200
  • Lots of Apps on Android Play store
  • Claimed 10 hour battery life

The bad

  • No HDMI out
  • Not expandable
  • Camera could be better and there is no rear facing camera
  • It’s not iOS so Apple people will instinctively not like it:)

 

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North Korea Launches Android Tablet?

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Well not quite the country but Talk Android reports that a company there appears to be launching a tablet. I didn’t even know that such a closed country had tablets and personally I would have through such a closed country such as North Korean would have preferred something more closed such as iOS:) I wonder if the now dead Dear Leader was their equivalent of Steve Jobs?

Full Story

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I-GEAR Gears Up in Luxembourg

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For those of you who are interested, Luxembourg has one of the worst traffic problems in Europe, being rated at number 10 in the congestion league table according to a survey by TomTom a few years ago. Right now we are working on new ways to subtly alter the mobility behaviour of people through the use of location-aware persuasive games. The argument basically goes that states cannot pick up the bill for roadside information systems so we need to find ways to use what is already out there (e.g. your mobile phone) to persuade you to alter your behaviour in small ways each week. In return we’ll give you some benefits for doing so.

Right now we are building the driver simulator, which will eventually support many drivers and shortly will be conducting some studies on mobility behaviour and motivations within Luxembourg.

We aren’t trying to get you completely out of your car, we are just trying to get you to think a little different! I will put more of our publications on here soon, including the one that recently won an award.

If you are in Luxembourg and interested in taking part just contact me. This is a real project, serving a real problem so any help from real people is welcome!

I-GEAR (Incentives and Gaming Environments for Automobile Routing) is funded by FNR and hosted at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust. 

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