Alessio Malizia

Supporting user-oriented analysis for multi-view domain-specific visual languages

The integration of usable and flexible analysis support in modelling environments is a key success factor in Model-Driven Development. In this paradigm, models are the core asset from which code is automatically generated, and thus ensuring model correctness is a fundamental quality control activity. For this purpose, a common approach is to transform the system models into formal semantic domains for verification. However, if the analysis results are not shown in a proper way to the end-user (e.g. in terms of the original language) they may become useless. In this paper we present a novel DSVL called BaVeL that facilitates the flexible annotation of verification results obtained in semantic domains to different formats, including the context of the original language. BaVeL is used in combination with a consistency framework, providing support for all steps in a verification process: acquisition of additional input data, transformation of the system models into semantic domains, verification, and flexible annotation of analysis results. The approach has been validated analytically by the cognitive dimensions framework, and empirically by its implementation and application to several DSVLs. Here we present a case study of a notation in the area of Digital Libraries, where the analysis is performed by transformations into Petri nets and a process algebra.

The artificiality of natural user interfaces

Toward user-defined gestural interfaces.

Shape description using cubic polynomial Bezier curves

Abstract In this paper we present a new method for shape description consisting of an approximation of a shape by a variable number of Bezier curve segments. In our method we can control the accuracy of the Bezier approximation by a parameter thus controlling the complexity and resolution of the approximation process. The technique described here is suited to a variety of shape-based image retrieval applications and matching processes.

Modeling an ontology on accessible evacuation routes for emergencies

Providing alert communication in emergency situations is vital to reduce the number of victims. However, this is a challenging goal for researchers and professionals due to the diverse pool of prospective users, e.g. people with disabilities as well as other vulnerable groups. Moreover, in the event of an emergency situation, many people could become vulnerable because of exceptional circumstances such as stress, an unknown environment or even visual impairment (e.g. fire causing smoke). Within this scope, a crucial activity is to notify affected people about safe places and available evacuation routes. In order to address this need, we propose to extend an ontology, called SEMA4A (Simple EMergency Alert 4 [for] All), developed in a previous work for managing knowledge about accessibility guidelines, emergency situations and communication technologies. In this paper, we introduce a semi-automatic technique for knowledge acquisition and modeling on accessible evacuation routes. We introduce a use case to show applications of the ontology and conclude with an evaluation involving several experts in evacuation procedures.

What's in it for me: Exploring the Real-World Value Proposition of Pervasive Displays

The future of pervasive public display networks is loaded with high expectations. Non-commercial displays are commonly envisaged as proliferating in numerous contexts and domains, where they offer various uses for a variety of everyday users. In this paper we discuss why this vision is perhaps over optimistic and the realities of deploying, designing and understanding such systems should not be taken for granted. Understanding the value of public display deployments in respect to location managers, and the real-world costs of longitudinal in-the-wild deployments are both commonly overlooked in much of the related literature. Within this paper we develop a discussion in reference to several real-life events by presenting examples from the past five years of running the open UBI Oulu initiative in Oulu, in northern Finland. The purpose of this research is to raise awareness about these aspects of in-the-wild display deployments and to be support the research community in creating sustainable public display deployments.

eStorys: A visual storyboard system supporting back-channel communication for emergencies

In this paper we present a new web mashup system for helping people and professionals to retrieve information about emergencies and disasters. Today, the use of the web during emergencies, is confirmed by the employment of systems like Flickr, Twitter or Facebook as demonstrated in the cases of Hurricane Katrina, the July 7, 2005 London bombings, and the April 16, 2007 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic University. Many pieces of information are currently available on the web that can be useful for emergency purposes and range from messages on forums and blogs to georeferenced photos. We present here a system that, by mixing information available on the web, is able to help both people and emergency professionals in rapidly obtaining data on emergency situations by using multiple web channels. In this paper we introduce a visual system, providing a combination of tools that demonstrated to be effective in such emergency situations, such as spatio/temporal search features, recommendation and filtering tools, and storyboards. We demonstrated the efficacy of our system by means of an analytic evaluation (comparing it with others available on the web), an usability evaluation made by expert users (students adequately trained) and an experimental evaluation with 34 participants.

A Multidimensional Image Browser

Abstract We present a browsing tool for content-based image retrieval. Images are retrieved from the database based on both textual and geometrical attributes. The resulting image collection is presented in a user-defined multidimensional visual information space, which acts as an interface to the underlying image database.

Light on horizontal interactive surfaces: Input space for tabletop computing

In the last 25 years we have witnessed the rise and growth of interactive tabletop research, both in academic and in industrial settings. The rising demand for the digital support of human activities motivated the need to bring computational power to table surfaces. In this article, we review the state of the art of tabletop computing, highlighting core aspects that frame the input space of interactive tabletops: (a) developments in hardware technologies that have caused the proliferation of interactive horizontal surfaces and (b) issues related to new classes of interaction modalities (multitouch, tangible, and touchless). A classification is presented that aims to give a detailed view of the current development of this research area and define opportunities and challenges for novel touch- and gesture-based interactions between the human and the surrounding computational environment.

CAP-ONES: an emergency notification system for all

In this paper, we present an ontology-based system for managing emergency alert notifications. Our purpose is to generate emergency alerts that are accessible to different kinds of people, paying special attention to more vulnerable collectives like impaired people. By adapting alerts to different devices and users, we can allow Emergency Management Systems (EMSs) to communicate with collectives like blind or deaf people who otherwise are unreachable by usual channels. Moreover, if we consider the constraints imposed by the nature of the emergency situations, we can also improve the information transmission to cope with situational disabilities (e.g., smoke during a fire can cause low vision problems). We centred our system architecture on two characteristics: 1) an ontology that codifies knowledge about accessibility, devices, disabilities, emergencies and media so the alert notification can be tailored according to different parameters, 2) an open standard like the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) that enables our system to interoperate with other existing systems.

Hci for emergencies

Emergencies put people in a particular state of mind and often also in difficult physical situations. When de-signing information technology for emergencies, these two sides have to be taken into account in the various activities supporting design. This includes studying and understanding the users and the influential factors for good designs, engaging the users in the design process as well as evaluating designs in realistic ways. There are challenges specific to emergencies in all of these activities, as well as in new technologies ranging from wearable computing to distributed information systems. This workshop is meant as an opportunity for interdis-ciplinary discussion as well as practical hands-on ex-change of experiences regarding these challenges. The goal is to work towards a better understanding of the challenges, technologies, practices, and design meth-odologies relevant to HCI in emergencies.