Informática e Sistemas de Informação | Artigos em revistas internacionais / Papers in international journals
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- Cities in Citizens’ HandsPublication . Morgado, Leonel; Rodrigues, Rui; Coelho, António; Magano, Olga; Calçada, Tânia; Cunha, Paula Trigueiros; Echave, Cynthia; Kordas, Olga; Sama, Sara; Oliver, Jennifer; Ang, Jim; Deravi, Farzin; Bento, Ricardo; Ramos, LuísWe propose a new paradigm for public participation in urban planning, a field which presents significant challenges for public understanding and participation. Our approach is based on leveraging the rich diversity of meaning associated with cultural gestures, traditions, folklore, and rituals, and using them in augmented reality systems, in order for citizens’ to explore, understand, and communicate the complex, systemic ideas and concepts associated with urban planning. At an immediate level, this approach holds the potential for enabling increased public awareness of what is at stake in urban planning - both on the part of citizens and on the part of public officials, policy-makers, and decision-makers – and consequently enhancing understanding and improving participation in public life and citizenship. It may also open up a new field of research and development in human-computer interaction, to leverage the richness of meaning and modes of expression which exist in various cultures and societies, rather than ignoring them and imposing dumbed-down or prescribed command methods. Thus, it aims to facilitate new levels of empowerment of users in the use of digital systems and data. The active utilization of cultural meaning in gestures, rituals, and social practices may also support and promote better inclusion and participation of minority groups and migrant communities in contemporary, technology-rich life.
- Accessible options for deaf people in e-Learning platforms: technology solutions for sign language translationPublication . Martins, Paulo; Rodrigues, Henrique; Rocha, Tânia; Francisco, Manuela; Morgado, Leonel
- Collaboration in 3D virtual worlds : a protocol for case study researchPublication . Cruz, Armando; Paredes, Hugo; Fonseca, Benjamim; Martins, Paulo; Morgado, LeonelThree-dimensional virtual worlds have been growing fast in number of users, and are used for the most diverse purposes. In collaboration, they are used with good results due to features such as immersion, interaction capabilities, use of avatar embodiment, and physical space. In the particular cases of avatar embodiment and physical space, these features support nonverbal communication, but its impact on collaboration is not well known. In this work we present a protocol for case study research and its creation process, which aims to assert itself as a tool to collect data on how nonverbal communication influences collaboration in three-dimensional virtual worlds. We define the propositions and units of analysis, and a pilot case to validate them. Then, two cases are analysed under the created protocol. Most of the propositions found chains of evidences supporting them.
- Transmedia storytelling as an educational strategy: a prototype for learning english as a second languagePublication . Rodrigues, Patrícia; Bidarra, JoséThis paper proposes the use of transmedia storytelling in an educational context. Transmedia stories are perceived as opportunities to create a new learning scenario that allows for the development of innovative student-centred educational practices, and the implementation of collaborative strategies that ultimately meet the 21st-century students’ needs. Through the discussion of a transmedia learning project targeted to English as Second Language students, this paper attempts to provide insight on how learning activities and strategies can be embedded in the digital narrative and experience layers of a storyworld.
- A bot spooler architecture to integrate virtual worlds with e-learning management systems for corporate trainingPublication . Morgado, Leonel; Paredes, Hugo; Fonseca, Benjamim; Martins, Paulo; Almeida, Álvaro; Vilela, Andreas; Peixinho, Filipe; Santos, ArnaldoJoining efforts of academic and corporate teams, we developed an integration architecture - MULTIS - that enables corporate e-learning managers to use a Learning Management System (LMS) for management of educational activities in virtual worlds. This architecture was then implemented for the Formare LMS. In this paper we present this architecture and concretizations of its implementation for the Second Life Grid/OpenSimulator virtual world platforms. Current systems are focused on activities managed by individual trainers, rather than groups of trainers and large numbers of trainees: they focus on providing the LMS with information about educational activities taking place in a virtual world and/or being able to access within the virtual world some of the information stored in the LMS, and disregard the streamlining of activity setup and data collection in multi-trainer contexts, among other administrative issues. This architecture aims to overcome the limitations of existing systems for organizational management of corporate e-learning activities.
- Exploring educational immersive videogames : an empirical study with a 3D multimodal interaction prototypePublication . Fernandes, Luís Miguel Alves; Matos, Gonçalo Cruz; Azevedo, Diogo; Nunes, Ricardo Rodrigues; Paredes, Hugo; Morgado, Leonel; Barbosa, Luís; Martins, Paulo; Fonseca, Benjamim; Cristóvão, Paulo; Carvalho, Fausto de; Cardoso, BernardoGestural interaction devices emerged and originated various studies on multimodal human-computer interaction to improve user experience. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the use of these devices to enhance learning. We present an exploratory study which analysed the user experience with a multimodal immersive videogame prototype, based on a Portuguese historical/cultural episode. Evaluation tests took place in high school environments and public videogaming events. Two users would be present simultaneously in the same virtual reality environment: one as the helmsman aboard Vasco da Gama’s XV-century Portuguese ship, another as the mythical Adamastor stone giant at the Cape of Good Hope. The helmsman player wore a virtual reality headset to explore the environment, whereas the giant player used body motion to control the giant, and observed results on a screen, with no headset. This allowed a preliminary characterization of user experience, identifying challenges and potential use of these devices in multi-user virtual learning contexts. We also discuss the combined use of such devices, towards future development of similar systems, and its implications on learning improvement through multimodal human-computer interaction.
- Self-regulated learning in higher education: strategies adopted by computer programming students when supported by the SimProgramming approachPublication . Pedrosa, Daniela; Cravino, José; Morgado, Leonel; Barreira, Carlos Manuel FolgadoThe goal of the SimProgramming approach is to help students overcome their learning difficulties in the transition from entry-level to advanced computer programming, developing an appropriate set of learning strategies. We implemented it at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal), in two courses (PM3 and PM4) of the bachelor programmes in Informatics Engineering and ICT. We conducted semi-structured interviews with students (n=38) at the end of the courses, to identify the students’ strategies for self-regulation of learning in the assignment. We found that students changed some of their strategies from one course edition to the following one and that changes are related to the SimProgramming approach. We believe that changes to the educational approach were appropriate to support the assignment goals. We recommend applying the SimProgramming approach in other educational contexts, to improve educational practices by including techniques to help students in their learning.
- Merged reality for everyonePublication . Carvalho, Fausto de; Morgado, LeonelThis article addresses some interesting challenges and business opportunities within the promising merged reality ecosystem, which offers the vision of bringing together virtual, augmented and physical realities, seamlessly. The article also links the current status of this field with exploratory research and development work carried out by Altice Labs.
- Integration scenarios of virtual worlds in learning management systems using the MULTIS approachPublication . Morgado, Leonel; Paredes, Hugo; Fonseca, Benjamim; Martins, Paulo; Almeida, Álvaro; Vilela, Andreas; Pires, Bruno; Cardoso, Márcio; Peixinho, Filipe; Santos, ArnaldoThis work further clarifies how the MULTIS architecture can be used for integration of virtual worlds in learning management system (LMS) for organizational management of e-learning activities, as an extension to a previous work published in the proceedings of VEAI 2016. Current LMSs provide minimal support for educational use in an organizational context, and other integration efforts assume that educators are inside the virtual world, accessing the LMS as an external service. Our approach enables educators to set up and manage virtual world activities from within the traditional LMS Web interface as an integral part of the overall educational activities of a course. The MULTIS architecture foresees several alternative communication channels between LMS and virtual worlds, including the spooling of automated clients or “bots” and the flexibility to inject code if necessary and possible. In this work, we detail the application of this architecture and its approach in several sample scenarios, based on previous analysis of integration requirements. It is the result of a joint effort by academic and corporate teams, implemented and tested in the Formare LMS for OpenSimulator and Second Life Grid virtual world platforms.
- The impact of e-commerce on the success of microenterprise retail sector of the Pinhal Interior Norte sub-region of PortugalPublication . Carvalho, Maria; São Mamede, HenriqueIn the global, competitive and ever-changing market it is important that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), as a significant part of the Portuguese industrial business, become competitive and, thus, it ́s important to assess how the level of involvement in Electronic Commerce (EC), in Business-to-Consumer (B2C) relations, can influence the success of a microenterprise in the retail sector, focusing on the Portuguese sub-region of Pinhal Interior Norte. Being a region that is far from the big metropolises, where the young and more educated stratum distances itself, leaving it little more than the population that is getting older and with a reduced level of education, we considered it interesting to study if the microenterprises of the region are prepared to the new era of technology as a business model for their companies. Using the definition of success for a company as positive and growing financial result, it is objective of this work to know if companies with involvement in the EC, in B2C relations, have an increasing success rate due to its adoption and maintenance. Based on a research in a database with information from the companies, the sample was subsequently evaluated to find out which of the companies in the sample were involved in the EC and conducted surveys / interviews with the managers of the sample companies to assess the motivation (s) for their adoption, as well as whether they recognize the return of their investment and what they intend to do to maintain or modify their business. Initially we found several difficulties to gather data to be able to achieve proper conclusions, but with the help of some company managers, we were able to confirm that 62.50% of the analyzed companies saw their financial result increased after the adoption of the EC, which allows us to establish the existence of a relationship between the two facts.