Arttu Perttula

Users as sensors: creating shared experiences in co-creational spaces by collective heart rate

The last decade has witnessed a growing interest in design information technologies and interfaces that support rich and complex user experiences, including satisfaction, joy, aesthetics, and reflection. It is high on the agenda to extend and intensify the overall (user) experiences with the help of appropriate technology. This paper presents a pilot study on using collective heart rate visualized in the indoor ice rink to bring intensiveness into the audience experience. The aim of the study was to explore the usefulness and affect of the developed collective heart rate and to evaluate it as one of the new features that could enhance the user experience among the audiences in wide public events. In particular, the study focuses on studying the significance of the technological equipment in creating a sense of collectiveness and togetherness of the audience. This research is important because it introduces a new idea of audience involvement with the techniques of mobile phones and heart rate measurement belts. The results, positive and negative, of the study widen the field of physiological sensing technologies and facilitate the diffusion of these techniques into different public events with the large number of audience.

Mobile video sharing: documentation tools for working communities

Although video sharing in web is used in learning, most video sharing services are not originally designed to be used as a learning application. In addition, most of these systems were designed to use via computer and with a web browser. Our solution, MoViE (Mobile Video Experience), is designed to be used in learning applications especially with mobile devices. MoViE is a social media service that enables users to create video stories using their mobile phones. Services web interface is light and it works with all modern mobile phone browsers. In order to support automatic tagging of videos we designed a specific client for Symbian S60 platform that uses gps and cell tower data for creating tags for location, place and weather. In addition, MoViEs mobile client application makes uploading process even faster and makes possible to utilize smart tagging suggestions. The S60 MoViE client was used by the staff of Pori Jazz festival organization during the festival in summer 2009 for documenting the festival arrangements. They tried to capture unsuccessful, broken and bad things around the festival area. The aim was to use the videos for learning how to do things better next year.

MoViE: Mobile Social Video Sharing Tool for Learning Applications

Although video sharing in web is used in learning, most video sharing services are not designed to be used as a learning application. In addition, most of these systems were designed to use via computer and with a web browser. Our solution, MoViE (Mobile Video Experience), is designed to be used in learning applications especially with mobile devices. MoViE is a social media service that enables users to create video stories using their mobile phones. In order to support automatic tagging of videos we designed a specific mobile client application. It was used by the staff of Pori Jazz festival organization during the festival in summer 2009 for documenting the festival arrangements. The aim was to use the videos for learning how to do things better next year.

Social navigation with the collective mobile mood monitoring system

At large-scale events, people could benefit from the experiences of others to help find interesting areas. Also, more and more pervasive and ubiquitous mobile devices could be utilized for navigation in different situations. In this paper, we will present a manual input mobile computing platform for monitoring and collecting information about peoples moods at a large-scale public event. In addition to places and venues, moods are represented in real time on a public map as a social navigation recommendation system. Furthermore, as a step towards future work, we utilized consumer-level brainwave measurement equipment to build a mobile prototype research application for semi-automatic mood monitoring. The aims of the field pilot study and the follow-up examination were to explore the usefulness and effect of the mobile mood sharing system that was developed on event visitors. In particular, the study focuses on benefits of the social aspects, in addition to spatial and semantic navigation. With todays available technology, we have to balance in the comfort zone between required user attention and user experience. In any case, the results of the study broaden the field of social mobile applications and facilitate the diffusion of these into different large-scale public events.

Enriching shared experience by collective heart rate

The last decade has witnessed a growing interest in design information technologies and interfaces that support rich and complex user experiences, including satisfaction, joy, aesthetics, and reflection. It is high on the agenda to extend and intensify the overall (user) experiences with the help of appropriate technology. This paper presents two pilot studies in which mobile devices were used to enrich shared experiences by measuring user generated collective heart rate. It is visualised in the indoor ice rink and utilised in exertion games to bring intensiveness into the audience experience. The aim of the study was to explore the usefulness and affect of the developed collective heart rate system and to evaluate it as one of the new features that could enhance the shared experience among the audiences in co-creational spaces. In particular, the study focuses on studying the significance of the technological equipment in creating a sense of collectiveness and togetherness of the participants. This research is important because it introduces a new idea of user involvement with the techniques of mobile phones and heart rate measurement belts. The results, positive and negative, of the study widen the field of physiological sensing technologies and facilitate the diffusion of these techniques into different public events.

Flow Experience as a Quality Measure in Evaluating Physically Activating Serious Games

The measurement of the subjective playing experience is important part of the game development process. The enjoyment level that a serious game offers is a key factor in determining whether the player will be engaged in the gameplay and achieve the objectives of the game. In this paper the usefulness of flow experience in evaluating the quality of physically activating problem-solving game was studied. The aim of the paper is to explore to what extend the flow experience can facilitate the game evaluation and design process. In the study 53 junior high school students played a cooperative exergame designed to teach collaboration and communication skills. Students’ playing experience was measured with a flow questionnaire and playing behavior was also observed. In general, the results indicated that the measurement of the flow experience can reveal shortages of the game and that way aid the design process. However, although the level of flow tells about the overall quality of the playing experience, the flow measurements needs to be extended with other aspects in order to be able to evaluate the implementation of the game more deeply.

Supporting Learning with Wireless Sensor Data

In this article, learning is studied in in situ applications that involve sensors. The main questions are how to conceptualize experiential learning involving sensors and what kinds of learning applications using sensors already exist or could be designed. It is claimed that experiential learning, context information and sensor data supports twenty first century learning. The concepts of context, technology-mediated experiences, shared felt experiences and experiential learning theory will be used to describe a framework for sensor-based mobile learning environments. Several scenarios and case examples using sensors and sensor data will be presented, and they will be analyzed using the framework. Finally, the article contributes to the discussion concerning the role of technology-mediated learning experiences and collective sensor data in developing twenty first century learning by characterizing what kinds of skills and competences are supported in learning situations that involve sensors.

Promoting students' fractional thinking by challenging them to design game-based number line tasks for others

Research has shown that students struggle to learn fractions with current instructional methods. The subject is important, because the previous research has shown that the extent to which students master fractions is a strong predictor of future success in mathematics. Therefore, significance of this study lies on developing an engaging and effective approach for learning fractions. We aim to promote childrens fractional thinking not only by letting them to play a mathematics game, but allowing them also to design game-based number line tasks for their peers. The present study focuses on investigating the effectiveness of learning by designing game levels approach. Rational number pre-and a post-test were used for evaluating the effectiveness of the approach. The results of the pilot study showed that the level design activities enhanced overall fractional thinking.

When a video game transforms to mobile phone controlled team experience

An existing rhythm game is modified to provide a new kind of collective experience. In addition to providing a novel collective experience, this study seeks answers to the following research question; how could the game be modified so that it would enhance social interaction between players? In order to obtain answer to the question, the game modification was based on an extraordinary custom-made user-interface that involves players in cooperation. According to players, the modified multiplayer version of the game was both engaging in action and enjoyable. Totally out of the context of the game, controllers offered amusing game experience. Finally, cooperation through modification of the game was the answer to the proposed research question.

Retrospective vs. prospective: two approaches to mobile media capture and access

Mobile media applications need to balance user and group goals, attentional constraints and limited screen real estate. In this paper, we describe the iterative development and testing of an application that explores these trade-offs. We developed early prototypes of a retrospective, time-based system as well as a prospective and space-based system. Our experiences with the prototypes led us to focus on the prospective system. We argue that attentional demands dominate and mobile media applications should be lightweight and hands-free as much as possible.