Category: education

Conferences on Pervasive Displays and Advanced Visual Interfaces

Just came back from presenting two papers in two very interesting conferences:
The 3rd International Symposium on Pervasive Display 2014 in Copenhagen and the International Working Conference on Advanced Visual Displays 2014 in Como.
In both conferences Post-WIMP interfaces were rocking.

My papers were:
1-“What’s in it for me: Exploring the Real-World Value Proposition of Pervasive Displays”
Simo Hosio, Jorge Goncalves, Hannu Kukka, Alan Chamberlain and Alessio Malizia
2-“Visual Engagement: Designing Projected Touch-surfaces for Community Use in a Rural Context”
Alan Chamberlain (University of Nottingham, United Kingdom); Alessio Malizia (Brunel University, United Kingdom); Alan Dix (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)

Stay tuned for more info and feel free to contact me if interested in a copy of the papers or infos on such events.

Can academics still make a difference in CS Research compared to Companies Research labs?

It seems the chicken and egg problem: given the incredible amount of resources companies like Google, Microsoft, or Facebook invest in Computer Science does the research CS faculties do actually make a difference? What if universities hadn’t launched some of these companies, would the same innovations have emerged at such companies? Find out more in this interesting article written by David Karger and appeared on the Haystack blog of MIT CSAIL group [ARTICLE]

Somehow part of the discussion is in line with an article me and Kai Olsen wrote on new tools and new ways of disseminating software:  Alessio Malizia, Kai A. Olsen, “Has Everything Been Invented? On Software Development and the Future of Apps,” Computer, vol. 44, no. 9, pp. 112, 110-111, Sept., 2011

mit_killian

Via MIT Parents Association

Future games might not only change our life but our education too

Imagine games where participants can develop projects in real life to address real problems, such as securing a community’s food supply or establishing a sustainable power source, then progress through levels of the game; would not it be a great way of learning?

Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (Penguin Press, 2011) and the former director of Games Research and Development at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, Calif. presented at EDUCAUSE 2013 a series of examples of games which can change the future of education [ARTICLE]

power-gamification-education-300

Via EDTECH

Designing UX for waiting times

Sabina Idler is community manager, technical writer & UXer @ Usabilla and published this article on designing for waiting times following 5 patterns. Patterns are inspired by David Maister who, in his article about The Psychology of Waiting Lines, explained why perceived waiting time usually has little when nothing to do with the actual time [ARTICLE]

monsters2-1024x395

Via Usabilla

Have you ever tried to design while blindfolded or use your apps with the sound off? You might gain crucial insights

Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google Inc. and the president of ACM, calls especially UI (User Interface) and UX (User Experience) designers to strive fro accessibility. In fact, we are an aging society that needs assistive response not to mention new groups of people needing accessible apps, i.e. wounded soldiers coming back home. Given the range and potential of new technologies, e.g. Google glass, designers need to carefully address this challenge [ARTICLE]

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Via acm.org