Bruno Gadelha

An Empirical Study to Evaluate the Feasibility of a UX and Usability Inspection Technique for Mobile Applications.

Usability and UX (User eXperience) are some of the most important factors for evaluating the quality of mobile applications. They focus on how easy to use an application is and the emotions that such use evokes. However, these aspects are often evaluated separately in industry through different evaluation techniques. Although it is possible to identify more usability and UX problems by employing different UX and usability evaluation methods, this distributed approach may not be cost effective and may not allow to thoroughly explore the identified issues. In order to support the identification of both UX and usability problems in a single evaluation, we have proposed Userbility, an UX and usability inspection technique that allows evaluating these aspects in mobile applications. This paper presents an empirical study over the second version of Userbility to verify its feasibility. In this study, we compared Userbility with the UX and Usability Guidelines Approach (UUGA) that helps the evaluation of usability and UX separately in mobile applications. According to the quantitative results, considering efficiency, UUGA was better than the Userbility technique. However, the qualitative results suggest that Userbility pointed more improvement suggestions, which could be useful for redesigning the evaluated application. the emotions, perceptions and judgements of an application. Therefore, software development teams willing to increase the quality in use of the developed mobile applications need to evaluate both of them. To evaluate usability and UX together, in our previous work (13), we developed Userbility in order to support inspectors in the evaluation of both UX and usability in mobile applications at the same time, to assess whether Userbility can support inspectors in detecting usability and UX problems. Nascimento et al. (13) conducted a study with five mobile applications. The results showed that it is possible to identify improvements in applications, and allowed us to identify problems during the use of the technique. Based on this, in this paper, we proposed a new version of the technique and an empirical study to evaluate the feasibility of Userbility. We have compared the Userbility to an approach proposed by De Paula et al. (5), which evaluates UX and usability separately. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section II presents a background on UX and usability evaluation techniques that can be applied to evaluate mobile applications. Then, Section III shows the Userbility technique in its second version. Section IV presents the empirical study where we compared Userbility with another evaluation approach. In Section V, we present the results of the empirical study. Finally, Section VI presents our conclusions and future work.

An application of mobility aids for the visually impaired

This article presents an exploratory case study with a mobile application devised to promote social inclusion of visually impaired people through collaborative mapping considering changes in the local environment. General strategies and technological resources used in tools like this provide greater independence and social inclusion for people with disabilities. Test results suggest that this application can support and expand communication and mobility in physical spaces such as schools, public institutions and the community at large.

Userbility: A Technique for the Evaluation of User Experience and Usability on Mobile Applications

User eXperience UX covers the relationship between usability, context of use, and user emotions regarding an application. Improving the UX and usability of an application, especially mobile applications, can influence their acceptance by end users. Although UX and usability evaluations focus on improving the quality of these applications, the software industry performs these evaluations separately. Based on this, we proposed Userbility, a technique for evaluating UX and usability in mobile applications. This technique is based on two methods: the Heuristic Evaluation and 3E method. In order to evaluate the Userbility technique, we conducted a study through the evaluation of five mobile applications. The results of this study show that it is possible to identify improvements in applications through a UX and usability inspection conducted with Userbility and a new version Userbility.

Collaborative Music Composition Based on Sonic Interaction Design

This work proposes a way to create sonic interaction through collaborative composition of spatialized sounds in real time, based on SID (sound interaction design). There is no centralizing figure for the sound designer, and each person may begin a sonic interaction spontaneous and independently, or join an ongoing interaction. Therefore, each person is responsible for the result of his own interaction. Every movement a person makes within the reach of the determined space, the sound is captured and processed and then externalized as feedback in the multichannel sound system, perceived as a unified sound. The concepts and app designed for sonic interaction discussed in this work is intended for use in multidisciplinary contexts, raising important technical challenges. We have devised a design process resulting in four different prototypes, attending to different perspectives. Each prototype had its own experiment.

Watch or Immerse?: Redefining Your Role in Big Shows

Great events as concerts, music festivals and football matches bring together many people from different backgrounds and interests. In these events, people act, most of the time, as passive spectators, with little or none interaction with the artists in the event. Nowadays, there is some effort to engage people in those spaces, as well as using simple technology such as objects that can be raised on pre-defined moments or, as most recently, using LED technology with sensors. This work proposes an interaction technology for crowds in great events using mobile devices. This technology involves a dynamic and an app to redefine crowd role in those events, increasing their participation and engagement. In order to evaluate people immersion in great events, a case study has been carried out in a controlled environment mimicking a music concert. As a result, it was observed that the participants felt engaged, immersed and motivated to use the proposed technology in music concerts or even other great events and they are also willing to use their own devices as a way of an active participation.

Higher Education in the Amazon: Challenges and Initiatives

In this paper, we present an overview of the results achieved by a few applications of educational research towards overcoming the difficulties in the Amazon region’s educational scenarios for a better higher education. Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, demands an urgent increase in the number of qualified professionals, mostly for its Industrial Pole. However, Amazonas has a poor record of educational performance in all scholastic grades. The situation is especially critical in the rural areas, where the population, separated by miles of uncharted jungle, is usually only accessible through the rivers. This geographic isolation transforms the simplest educational activities into a daily challenge. A sustainable solution to the lack of professionals needs the ability to reach the students with learning activities wherever they are. In this work we share experiences in two different scenarios: the Capital and the rural areas. For the capital, the authors began a large-scale program to address three aspects: (i) reducing student dropouts; (ii) enlarging the reachable community; (iii) offering different levels of knowledge. Four different learning activities were prepared: undergraduate and graduate classes, a talent development program, short-term events and intensive training. For the rural towns, the authors describe the educational experience with undergraduate and graduate distance learning and the ongoing research using learning analytics and adaptive models based on the LMS Moodle. The results are encouraging, as the measurement of the positive impacts of the reported initiative clearly indicates that a structured program would bring solid and long lasting benefits. It is also worth noticing that the proposed solutions may also fit other learning scenarios.

Representando objetos de aprendizagem funcionais para a TVDI

Este artigo apresenta uma ferramenta desimulacao do modulador ISDB-TB, que permite realizaranalises complexas em cada estagio de processamento. Apartir de um arquivo Broadcast Transport Stream (BTS) epossivel acompanhar o processamento realizado em cadabloco do modulador ate o estagio final de transmissao.Utilizando um gerador de sinal vetorial e possivel realizartransmissoes reais com os arquivos de RF gerados nosimulador. Uma abordagem matematica e pratica sobre ofuncionamento de cada bloco que constitui o modulador erealizada iniciando pela descricao do sinal BTS ate oestagio final de transmissao.This article will explain some of the general ideas and specific techniques for usingambience in live broadcast audio that the author has developed over the past 30 years in thetelevision industry. The paper is concerned with stereo sound fields. The use of ambiencein a surround matrix is similar in approach, though it of course involves the perspective offront/back in addition to left/right.Este artigo apresenta medidas praticas da area de cobertura de uma emissora de televisao digital experimental da empresa Linear Equipamentos Eletronicos, operando em rede de frequencia unica (Single Frequency Network - SFN) na cidade de Santa Rita do Sapucai, Minas Gerais. O trabalho aborda aspectos teoricos de multiplos sinais resguardados por um prefixo ciclico, a utilizacao de distribuicao de conteudo por satelite, o emprego de enlaces terrestres na faixa de microondas para distribuicao de BTS e as particularidades em se empregar moduladores de diferentes fabricantes.Os receptores de TV Digital terrestre possuem umsoftware de sistema operacional que eventualmente necessita seratualizado pelo fabricante. Alem dos metodos tradicionais viaporta USB, internet, ou atraves das redes de servicos autorizados,surge a possibilidade desta atualizacao ser realizada pelo aratraves do proprio sinal digital que esta sendo recebido, sem anecessidade de intervencao do usuario. O sistema japones de TVDigital, onde o sistema brasileiro esta baseado tambem para aatualizacao de receptores via ar, possui uma entidadecentralizadora que e responsavel por controlar o conteudo detodos os fabricantes e envia-los aos receptores. No Brasil, por naoexistir tal entidade, criou-se um modelo de transmissao onde epossivel que cada emissora seja capaz de gerenciar seu proprioconteudo de download e envia-lo de acordo com o especificadopor cada fabricante. Este trabalho apresenta o estudo realizado,juntamente com o grupo de pesquisas da norma ABNT NBR15603 e os fabricantes de receptores, com a finalidade de definir aestrutura necessaria para cada radiodifusor, de forma a permitirque o envio de dados seja feito de maneira descentralizada e semque haja perdas para o usuario final.Este trabalho pretende continuar a discussao, em nivel teorico, desenvolvida no Congresso Set 2007, sobre o planejamento da grade de programacao em Televisao Digital Interativa. No atual cenario, os emissores tem o desafio de adequar as multiplas possibilidades de producao e distribuicao de conteudo da mais alta tecnologia, para um publico de cultura heterogenea e de contrastes sociais marcantes. Com a digitalizacao, a midia se transforma para alem da experiencia de assistir a uma programacao sequencial e se torna pervasiva, favorecendo, inclusive, o uso de recursos interativos em ambientes moveis e portateis. A televisao, enfim, adquire o status tecnologico que possibilita sua definitiva integracao ao ciberespaco, levando consigo, pela usabilidade, pelo entretenimento e pelo sentido de comunhao, a parcela da populacao que o computador, sozinho, nao alcanca. Contudo, a questao mais relevante, no processo de convergencia, esta na constituicao de uma grade que mantenha seu foco nas experiencias genuinamente televisivas. Aquelas que estimulam a interacao social, do publico entre si e com o assunto em pauta. O HDTV aumenta o prazer compartilhado de assistir televisao em casa. Os dispositivos moveis sao digitais e seus usuarios, interativos. Nesse cenario, tem muito a ganhar a programacao que souber conciliar a liberdade individual de escolhas com a satisfacao da experiencia comum, que primeiro estabelecer seus paradigmas “televisivos” de interacao com o publico.Com o advento do Sistema Brasileiro de TV Digital (SBTVD), e tendo em conta osseus recursos de universalizacao previstos no cronograma de implantacao, umagrande variedade de tecnologias de displays (incluindo receptores de altaresolucao, displays de celulares, etc.) ira requerer ensaios de resposta e defidedignidade colorimetrica para a adequada insercao no mercado brasileiro.Neste contexto, e importante destacar que a qualidade da resposta cromatica, naotica do telespectador, depende nao somente da adequacao dos parâmetros doSistema transmissor, mas tambem do desempenho dos displays (modernosdisplays planos ou Flat Panel Displays -FPD), dos efeitos de distorcoes em corproduzidas por nao linearidades nos set-top box e outros dispositivos detratamento de sinal de video.De uma maneira geral, a questao da fidelidade da resposta cromatica de displaysextrapola questoes ou elementos de apreciacao puramente subjetiva (qualidadeda resposta de um receptor de TV), assumindo cada vez mais relevância nomundo moderno a associacao das coordenadas de cor do elemento cromatico dodisplay a um dado mensurando: na area da saude, as cores apresentadas nosdisplays estao relacionadas a diagnosticos; no campo da ciencia, o espectrocromatico esta associado, cada vez de forma mais ampla, a novos mensurandos(altitude, temperatura, pressao, vazao, tipo de vegetacao, caracteristicasgeologicas, etc.).O objetivo deste trabalho e apresentar os testes a serem adotadas pelo CPqD eDIOPT/Inmetro no sentido de efetuar a caracterizacao de FPDs, em conformidadecom normas e recomendacoes internacionais e cadeias de rastreabilidadeenvolvidas.Este artigo apresenta um estudo de obras audiovisuais que utilizam a interatividade em sua narrativa, os chamados videos interativos, presentes na web e em DVD. Desenvolve uma discussao sobre as diferencas entre interacao e interatividade em videos interativos. Estabelece uma classificacao em modalidades das formas interativas em audiovisualEste trabalho pretende apresentar uma metodologia para mensuracao das degradacoes sofridas pelo sinal de video quando e transportado por redes IP....

FLOCOS: Sistema Colaborativo à Construção de Objetos de Aprendizagem Funcionais

This work presents FLOCOS - Functional Learning Objects Collaborative System, a collaborative system for learning objects development that has it focus on a LO category not dealt with by other works: functional learning objects. This system was conceived based on 3C collaboration model and in this context its functionalities have been described.