Carlo Maria Medaglia

UX and Usability on Smart TV: A Case Study on a T-commerce Application

Smart TVs offers new possibilities of interaction, due to the peculiarity of the device and the presence of apps. However, more usability studies on Smart TV apps are needed in order to improve the quality of the user interfaces. So, in this paper the authors focus on the interaction between user and Smart TV through remote control. In detail, they test with the users an e-commerce (or more specifically, t-commerce) application on Smart TV.

A Usability Study of a Gesture Recognition System Applied During the Surgical Procedures

Within an operating room, surgeons need to interact with a large amount of patient’s medical information and data. In order to avoid misunderstandings among the staff and protecting the patient safety, the medical staff may use a touchless interaction system that allows the surgeons to directly interact with digital devices that visualize digital images. The RISO project aims to create a gesture recognition system for the visualization and manipulation of medical images, useful for the surgeons even during the surgical procedures. In this paper we show the main findings from a usability study carried out with the aim to evaluate, among others, the learnability of the system and the memorability of the gestures employed for the interaction.

The IoT Design Deck: A Tool for the Co-design of Connected Products

The Internet of Things (IoT) does not only refer to technology but is a new paradigm in the relationship between human and computers. Connected and smart devices will be pervasive in our life and, for this reason, the design of the User Experience will be very important for this brand new kind of products. This scenario offers new opportunities but also big challenges to UX designers, moreover it requires a multidisciplinary team due to its complexity. In this work the authors propose a method for the co-design of the user experience of Internet of Things products and services. The key elements of this methods are: it help multidisciplinary teams sharing ideas using a common language, it helps to take into account opportunities and threats of the IoT scenario, it is based on a lean approach, encouraging the team to prototype and test ideas with users.

Chatbot in a Campus Environment: Design of LiSA, a Virtual Assistant to Help Students in Their University Life

This work presents some initial results of our research about the design and implementation of “LiSA” (Link Student Assistant), a chatbot intended to help students in their campus life, through information and services. The focus of our research is to understand which kind of information and services are better accessed through this kind of touch point, how the chatbot personality influences the user experience and the interaction and which level of intelligence should be implemented. After an analysis of the state of the art in the considered application domain we investigated, through a survey, the users’ needs and their inclination to the use of a chatbot for this specific purpose. A chatbot was created to deliver the survey, allowing to understand both the users’ needs and their behaviour while using the tool.

Improving Quality of Interaction with the Mobility Services Through the Gamification Approach

The evolution of mobility sector towards a multimodal and multi-service approach enables new possibilities of interaction for travellers. At once it creates a complex ecosystem where the final users are one of the main key components for the effectiveness and the success of the deployed mobility strategies and solutions. It implies that, both for academic and commercial purposes, a remarkable attention should be put on the design approaches focusing on human aspects in interactive systems. Moreover different methods aiming at enhancing the user experience should be exploited, in order to trigger desirable and worthy innovations. So in this paper we focus on gamification for improving the quality of interaction with the mobility services. In effect, mobility represents a more and more promising domain for the application of playful solutions, although in this field it is nowadays employed mostly for incentivizing smart and sustainable behaviours, also in combination with crowdsourcing. However we can suppose a wider use of this approach in the mobility services, e.g. to improve the overall traveller experience and to increase an active collaboration among the stakeholders. In detail, in this paper we will discuss three main variables to identify which possibilities can emerge in future mobility services by applying a gamification approach: the different stages of a journey, for better knowing the contexts of action and the needs of people potentially interested in; the devices to be exploited, for better accomplishing gamification purposes; the game components, for better understanding how they contribute to fulfill the traveller objectives.

Citizen Involvement in Public Services Design: The SPAC3 Case Study

In the last years new relational systems between citizens and Institutions have been arising. One of the main effects of such transformation is an increasing citizen engagement in designing public services. The motivations, modes, and effects concerning this practice are relevant research topics addressing political, social, and economic issues. In this paper the authors present the SPAC3 project, as it involved the citizens in the design process. The project aims to allow families of the Municipality of Bergamo Italy to access services and information dedicated to them in a more effective way. Here, the authors will focus on the analysis carried out in the project, by pointing out the methodology and the main achieved outcomes, and the features of the identified solution. In the end, the SPAC3 project has been a good opportunity to think about the complex relationship between citizens and Institutions in order to strengthen it.

An innovative system for a clean and sustainable public transport system in smart cities

Municipal mobility agencies have tried to reduce the carbon footprint of their bus fleets using a range of options over the years, from biofuels and hydrogen to batteries and hybrid-electric diesel. A possible alternative to these options, could be the use of ultracapacitors and their capacity to offer a greener and most economical way of powering city buses. Compared to lithium-ion batteries ultracapacitors lack in range: the best ultracapacitors can only store about 5 percent of the energy that lithium-ion batteries hold, limiting them to a couple of miles per charge. This makes them ineffective as an energy storage medium for passenger vehicles. But what ultracapacitors lack in range they make up in their ability to rapidly charge and discharge. So in vehicles that have to stop frequently and predictably as part of normal operation, energy storage based exclusively on ultracapacitors begins to make sense. This paper illustrates a novel concept for a clean and sustainable public transportation system based on the use of ultracapacitors. Concepts and objectives of the project are discussed and results of test activities are reported. Moreover, in the last section of the paper an application of the proposed system to a real case in the city of Rome is illustrated.

Smart Objects for Autism: A Proposal of Classification of the Objects Based on the Autism Symptoms

The Technology could have a greater impact on the life of people, especially for disabled people. In this paper we focus on smart objects designed for the autistic people. In fact the IoT technologies are proving their suitability for these users. So we made a review and a qualitative analysis of the actual offer of these objects, adding also items for disabled people and not specifically designed for autistic people. Its general aim is try to understand if the smart objects could be useful for the autistic people and how they do this. As result, we present a proposal of classification of the smart objects for the autistic people, based on the symptoms of the Autism on which the object could have an effect.

Playful Interactions for the Citizens’ Engagement. The Musical Language as a Possible Application

The human side of the city is taking more and more importance. It allows to create a positive human experience and to evaluate what people feel and what are their emotions in the city during the interaction with services and spaces. Moreover, in order to make the cities more “human”, an active citizens’ involvement in design processes is more and more considered as a necessary factor. However, the mere existence of tools that can engage people does not ensure real and effective actions. This work proposes to consider the dissemination of game elements in the city environment (exploiting the physical affordances of the urban pattern) as a possible approach to enhance the citizens’ engagement, and discusses the related technological and interaction issues. The musical language is proposed as a possible language related to the game context that we would apply to city for engagement purposes in the urban environment.

Enhancing Data Visualization Modes Through a Physical Representation: The “Makerometer” Solution

In this work we investigate how a physical representation of a large amount of data could increase not only their value but also their understanding by the final users. Indeed, the use of visual metaphors related to a three-dimensional environment, specific of a physical representation, makes the access to the related information easier and “natural” if compared to those used in an only-digital environment. In this context, digital fabrication tools can be useful for fast prototyping and testing of different tools. In this work, we show one application of these concepts, “Makerometer”, a solution installed at Maker Faire Rome 2015, which collects and visualizes the data related to this exhibition.