Kevin G. Stanley

PiNiZoRo: a GPS-based exercise game for families

Obesity is a growing problem among children, due in part to their sedentary lifestyles. Time spent engaged in physical activity is decreasing, while time spent playing computer and video games is on the rise. We leverage childrens interest in digital games to encourage families to engage in purposeful walking. We present a GPS-based game, played on a mobile device that uses walking as a primary gameplay mechanic. Our game, PiNiZoRo, includes a fighting game, triggered at points along a real-world route, and a map editor that allows parents and recreation specialists to create custom routes in their neighbourhoods. Results from an initial focus group with parents were positive, as they showed enthusiasm for the concept, implementation, and gameplay.

iEpi: an end to end solution for collecting, conditioning and utilizing epidemiologically relevant data

Smartphones have the potential to revolutionize health monitoring and delivery. Significant attention has been given to personal health devices and systems to help individuals and medical practitioners monitor health and treatment compliance. The data collected from these systems also has significant value to public health workers and epidemiologists. However, requirements for backend analysis and supplemental data differ between personal and public health applications. In this paper we describe iEpi, an end-to-end system for collecting, analyzing, and utilizing contextual microdata through smartphones for epidemiological and public health applications.

The Potential of Sensor-Based Monitoring as a Tool for Health Care, Health Promotion, and Research

This issue of the Annals features an article on the automated observation of a small number of residents in a care facility.[1][1] Berke and colleagues use portable devices outfitted with tiny sensors to infer the activity level and social context of the study participants. Perhaps more importantly

Human network data collection in the wild: the epidemiological utility of micro-contact and location data

Contagions - either pathogens spread through contact networks or societal memes spread through social networks - impact the occurrence and character of both epidemic and endemic diseases. While computational models explore disease parameters in the context of a given contact network, these models are always subject to the caveat that reality may not be consistent with the simplified assumptions regarding contact, contagion or network structure. More - and more accurate - data on the contact dynamics between people and places could alleviate some uncertainties, and make models more robust tools for policy-makers and researchers. Properly applied, consumer electronics can serve as a valuable source of this data. Using smartphones as sensor platforms rather than personal communications devices, it is possible to record high fidelity information on a participants location, activity level, and contacts between both people and places. This paper describes the design, architecture and a preliminary deployment of a general smartphone-based epidemiological data collection system. The dataset, gathered over one month, contains over 45 million records related to the behavioral patterns of 39 participants. We provide an initial analysis of aggregate level statistics to demonstrate the power and scope of the technique for capturing relevant data. Demonstrating the potential for such data to inform decision-making, we further perform an agent-based simulation of a flu-like illness that uses the dataset to capture aspects of both person-person and environmental (place-person) transmission. We demonstrate that the data collection is possible, valuable, and scalable and that the data can be leveraged to inform detailed models capturing more complex physical interactions than were previously feasible.

Critic-proofing: how using critic reviews and game genres can refine heuristic evaluations

Heuristic evaluation -- a technique where experts inspect software and determine where the application violates predetermined policies for good usability - is an effective technique for evaluating productivity software. The technique has recently been applied to video games, examining playability and usability for both single and multiplayer games. However, the severity ratings assigned to usability problems and used as a coarse categorization method for triage are still subjectively and somewhat arbitrarily assigned by evaluators, offering limited organizational value. In addition, they fail to account for the diversity found between games and game genres. In this paper we present a modified heuristic evaluation technique, which produces a prioritized list of heuristic violations based on the problems frequency, impact, persistence, the heuristic it violates, and the games genre. We evaluate our technique in a case study and show that the technique provides substantial value with little additional effort.

A Field-Validated Architecture for the Collection of Health-Relevant Behavioural Data

Human behaviour is an underlying factor in many diseases. Behavioural data has traditionally been collected through interviews, surveys, and direct observation. While these methods offer significant insight, they have drawbacks including bias, limited recall accuracy, and low temporal fidelity. Automated data collection devices such as GPS trackers have helped to reduce these problems while increasing objectivity and fidelity. Modern smart phones provide sensors that can replicate the functionality of dedicated devices while providing ubiquity, near-perpetual presence, and the ability to perform ecological momentary assessment. This has spurred researchers to envision or deploy smartphone data collection tools. Not all of these tools, however, are well designed, thoroughly tested, or easily extended. To realize the potential of this technology in the health sphere, careful attention must therefore be paid to the underlying software architecture and its robustness. To this end, we present a highly flexible, reconfigurable, and verifiable software architecture for monitoring health-related behaviours constructed using modern software engineering principles. We detail here the process-stream abstractions that underlie its data collection and management processes. Efficacy is demonstrated through retrospective analysis of deployments of the system, which include targets as diverse as studying flu transmission and gamified interventions for sedentary behaviour.

Gemini: a pervasive accumulated context exergame

Exergames encourage physical activity, but generally require specialized hardware and prescribed activities; whereas pervasive accumulated context exergames (PACEs) allow players to choose their type of exercise, but have limited depth of play. For mass commercialization of PACEs, facilitating long-term behavioural change, we propose two requirements: that PACEs support large-scale and flexible deployment; and that the design of PACEs support staying power through long-term playability. From these requirements, we motivate six PACE design principles and use these principles to develop a multiplayer roleplaying PACE. Results from a week-long study of our game showed that by satisfying the six design principles, we can create a PACE with scalability and staying power. Our results are the first step toward creating PACEs that promotes long-term game engagement, which is needed for activity-related behaviour change.

Using affective state to adapt characters, NPCs, and the environment in a first-person shooter game

Innovations in computer game interfaces continue to enhance the experience of players. Affective games - those that adapt or incorporate a players emotional state - have shown promise in creating exciting and engaging user experiences. However, a dearth of systematic exploration into what types of game elements should adapt to affective state leaves game designers with little guidance on how to incorporate affect into their games. We created an affective game engine, using it to deploy a design probe into how adapting the players abilities, the enemys abilities, or variables in the environment affects player performance and experience. Our results suggest that affectively adapting games can increase player arousal. Furthermore, we suggest that reducing challenge by adapting non-player characters is a worse design choice than giving players the tools that they need (through enhancing player abilities or a supportive environment) to master greater challenges.

Designing Games to Discourage Sedentary Behaviour

Regular physical activity has many physical, cognitive and emotional benefits. Health researchers have shown that there are also risks to too much sedentary behaviour, regardless of a person’s level of physical activity, and there are now anti-sedentary guidelines alongside the guidelines for physical activity. Exergames (games that require physical exertion) have been successful at encouraging physical activity through fun and engaging gameplay; however, an individual can be both physically active (e.g. by going for a jog in the morning) and sedentary (e.g. by sitting at a computer for the rest of the day). In this chapter, we analyse existing exertion games through the lens of the anti-sedentary guidelines to determine which types of games also meet the requirements for anti-sedentary game design. We review our own game designs in this space and conclude with an identification of design opportunities and research challenges for the new area of anti-sedentary game design.

Decreasing sedentary behaviours in pre-adolescents using casual exergames at school

There are risks to too much sedentary behaviour, regardless of a persons level of physical activity, particularly for children. As exercise habits instilled during childhood are strong predictors of healthy lifestyles later in life, it is important that schools break up long sedentary periods with short periods of physical activity. Casual exergames are an appealing option for schools who wish to engage adolescents, and have been shown to provide exertion levels at recommended values, even when played for only 10 minutes. In this paper we describe a preliminary survey with teachers of a local school that informed the deployment of a casual exergame with a group of pre-adolescent students from the same school. We show that students preferred the game to traditional exercise, that the game was able to generate appropriate levels of exertion in pre-adolescents, and that students have a sophisticated understanding of the role of exercise in their lives. Overall, we establish the feasibility of casual exergames for combating sedentary behavior in preteen classrooms.