Andreea Maria Molnar

Cost-Oriented Adaptive Multimedia Delivery

Mobile Internet and mobile services that make use of mobile data are increasingly popular. However, the cost of content delivery, in particular, multimedia type content over cellular networks is still high and poses a challenge for some users who are not necessarily willing or cannot afford to pay too much for it. The problem is further exacerbated when video content is used, as this type of content is heavier and can lead to higher bills. In this context, this paper presents a novel cost-oriented adaptive multimedia delivery (COMEDY) mechanism that considers the users willingness to pay for a certain video quality and users mobile device characteristics to deliver adaptive multimedia content over wireless connection. The goal of the mechanism is to reduce the cost of multimedia delivery for users that are not willing to pay that much. The mechanism is evaluated both through objective and subjective studies. The evaluation shows that the proposed mechanism provides a reduction in the price paid for accessing multimedia content, and the users perceived quality is not negatively affected.

Consumer' risk attitude based personalisation for content delivery

One of the challenges that mobile services face is the high cost of data delivery over cellular networks. This problem is further aggravated with the use of multimedia type content (understood in the context of this research as video in combination with audio and possible text) that can lead to congestion and higher bills. Although higher cost might not be a problem for everyone, there are people who would not like to pay that much. This paper proposes delivering personalized content that is cost effective for the user considering the user attitude towards risk. A novel model is proposed to assess the user risk attitude by taking into account the user self-assessment, his/her age and gender. Based on this information, a personalized mechanism for delivering adaptive multimedia content can be achieved. The proposed user model was validated through a series of case studies.

Educational content delivery: An experimental study assessing student preference for multimedia content when monetary cost is involved

This paper addresses the high cost of transmission over mobile networks, when educational content consists of multimedia files. The proposed solution adapts the multimedia content by changing the bit rate. In order to validate the proposed solution, a preliminary study has been performed. The results of the study show that in average a decrease of 79% in size was obtained for the multimedia content involved in the study. This results in a decrease of the price the learner has to pay for downloading the multimedia content. When the subjects are not provided with any information regarding the quality of the video or the cost of transmission the same number of subjects proffered the original version as the ones who prefer the lower quality version. In the case when the size of the multimedia clips, and the cost of delivery over mobile networks are provided, the number of subjects who preferred the adapted versions increased to 95.44%.

Gaming to master the game - Game usability and game mechanics

Health intervention aimed at children using serious games are starting to grow on popularity, however, Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) paradigm for serious games is in its infancy. In this article, we present a series of IDS educational games developed with the aim of promoting responsible antibiotic use and hygiene part of the edugames4all project. Despite commercial success and market popularity of IDS games one of the major challenges we encountered when the games were distributed to schools for evaluation was that many children never played a similar game before and found the concept challenging. As a result, some of the children enjoyed the game while others were frustrated and gave up at a certain point. Although the phenomenon is not new, and it present even in commercial games, we proposed a new approach to ensure that all children understand the message delivered and at the same time, they enjoy playing the game. This paper proposes the introduction of a training mission that teaches children in a game like environment the basic concepts necessary to progress through the game. The training mission was evaluated in experimental settings with two groups of children, one playing the training mission before playing the game and another one who did not. The results showed that there is no statistically significant difference in terms of usability between the two groups, however the group that did not play the training mission found the game more “awkward” to play, and the difference between the groups in this case was statistically significant.

What can people risk attitude tell us about people preference for multimedia quality

Purpose – Multimedia content that is accessible through mobile devices has a larger size than other types of content (e.g. text, images). This may lead to higher prices for accessing the content via mobile devices, as mobile operators are capping mobile data billing plans in an effort to increase their revenues and prevent congestion. This poses problems for the users that are not willing/do not afford to pay the required price but still want to use multimedia content through the mobile networks. A price reduction for the user, as well as minimising bandwidth consumption can be obtained as a trade-off in multimedia quality. However, as previous research shows, not all people are willing to trade-off quality for a lower price; therefore, there is no straightforward approach to this problem. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to present a model of user willingness to pay for multimedia content quality as a function of the user risk attitude with the aim to provide personalised content depending on the user willingness to trade-off price for multimedia content quality. Design/methodology/approach – A user model was proposed based on a literature review and an existing data set. A stereotypical approach was used where users are divided in two groups: risk averse and risk seekers. An experimental study involving six scenarios was used to validate the findings. Findings – The results of the evaluation show that for the proposed user risk model, risk seekers preferred to pay for multimedia quality, whereas risk adverse users preferred to switch to a lower multimedia quality when monetary cost is involved. However, when the mobile data billing plan had the bandwidth limited, rather than a higher price to be paid when the bundle quantity was exceeded, the risk averse people’s preference for a lower quality still holds, but it does not show that most of the risk seekers prefer to pay for the multimedia quality. Research limitations/implications – This paper adds to the state of the art by providing a novel way to model the user preferences for multimedia quality based on their attitude towards risk, age, and gender. Practical implications – Mobile data users, content providers (application service providers, over-the-top providers), mobile network operators (MNOs) and internet service providers (ISPs) could benefit from the results of this research. For mobile data users, the outcome of this research could be beneficial, as they can obtain personalised content based on their needs. From the content providers’ point of view, providing personalised content can lead to more satisfied users. It could also reduce the bandwidth consumption and the traffic to the server and/or proxy. Reducing the bandwidth consumption could lead to the possibility to acquire more customers and hence increase the revenues. Originality/value – This is among the first studies to assess how the user preference towards multimedia quality if affected by the user attitude towards risk.

COMEDY: Viewer trade off between multimedia quality and monetary benefits

Although the amount of multimedia content delivered over mobile networks is increasing exponentially, the cost of accessing multimedia content represents a problem for many users. Furthermore, internet service providers are capping mobile data plans and this can lead to increased prices for mobile multimedia content users. This paper briefly presents the Cost Oriented adaptive MultimEdia DeliverY (COMEDY)- a mechanism that aims to reduce the cost of multimedia delivery over wireless networks by decreasing the bitrate and resolution of the multimedia clips. COMEDY takes into account the users attitude towards risk when the adaptation is performed. The viewer trade-off between multimedia quality and the delivery cost is analysed. The results have shown that the price to be paid for accessing the adapted multimedia clip is considerably reduced for the case when the COMEDY mechanism was used.

Promoting ICT Skills through Online Services: Case Study of Video Use for Adult Education in Municipalities

The usage of video communication in public services can alleviate some of the existing problems these services face in their adoption and also help in increasing the level of outreach to citizens. In this article we focus on the usage of video-to-video (V2V) communication in municipality services for ICT education of senior citizens. For this purpose, our study focuses on determining criteria that are important for both the teachers and citizens in using such an innovative service. This paper reports on the findings from focus group consultations conducted with teachers and students, in this case senior citizens, of a municipality in Spain who was piloting the use of V2V services for adult education. The research identified several criteria relevant for consideration when deploying V2V as part of a local government service portfolio, of which, trust, quality of service and convenience emerged as common for all stakeholders involved.