Juhani Heinilä

Multi-user mobile applications and a public display: novel ways for social interaction

In this paper we introduce prerequisites for the empowerment of social interaction when using a multi-user mobile service. The paper is based on a case study of user experiences of a multiplayer mobile game where the players attend the game via their mobile phones whilst their activity is materialized on a common public display. Based on the results of user evaluation we introduce three enabling factors for social interaction in a multiplayer game: context, communication and identification. User aspects to these factors as well as perspectives to other types of services are presented

Deploying mobile multimedia services for everyday experience sharing

This paper presents a solution for creating light-weighted content and context-aware mobile multimedia services. The main application domain is in user created multimedia content and experience sharing. Our approach is to have a platform supporting state-of-the art content management functionalities in order to enable easy creation of specialized multimedia services for various target groups and purposes. We have developed a mobile multimedia content creation platform with integrated context metadata support. To verify the overall functionality of our platform we have defined a multimedia content service template and created a set of exemplary services using web-based technologies such as JavaScript, Media RSS feed and Java.

Sharing Content and Experiences in Smart Environments

Once upon a time… Stories used to be the only way to pass a message. The story teller would take his audience through the events by mere oration. Here and there he would hesitate, whisper, or gesticulate to emphasise his story or induce the right emotions in his audience. No doubt troubadourswere loved, they both brought news of the world as well as entertainment.

Using exercise cycle as a haptic input device in a virtual environment

Virku (Virtual Fitness Centre) is a study, in which an exercise cycle is used for navigating in a virtual environment. The cycle acts as a haptic bodily user interface between the user and the simulation. The simulation takes the terrain of the virtual environment into account in order to provide better feedback of the environment for the user. We have found out in usability tests that this kind of interface enhances the users feeling of immersion in the virtual environment.

Designing smart living for ageing Alice – and the persons next door

ABSTRACT This article presents the co-design and development process for a home control system in the context of a healthcare ecology for older people accessing care home services. The contribution of this article is threefold: (1) it presents a design-oriented, user-centred approach for studying intelligent environments (IE); (2) it describes an ontology-based architecture that provides the foundation for the system, and (3) it introduces a proof-of-concept tool for creating and customizing IE services. The article dedicates the system to ‘Alice’, a central persona created for the initial research scenarios, representing a new arrival at a residential care home. This article illustrates the multifaceted design process and considers the challenges of linking Alices ‘intelligent apartment’ to all the other apartments next to, and beyond, hers.

Creating Scenes for an Intelligent Nursing Environment: Co-design and User Evaluations of a Home Control System

In this paper we describe the co-design process of a proof-of-concept home control system, and how it was carried out by utilising a user-centred design methodology. The aim was to develop a demonstrator of a home control system that supports elderly people in living more independently in their homes. The focus of the research was on the configuration tool of the environment, which was meant to be exploited in a nursing home. The home control system was intended to be used and configured by non-technologically versed users: mainly the care personnel, but also the inhabitants and their close relatives. The system was co-designed and evaluated at first with nurses, who were considered to be the local experts of the chosen ecosystem. The final web-based proof-of-concept system was evaluated with nurses and end-users.