Lisa Dow

Exploring canons & cathedrals with Open Virtual Worlds: The recreation of St Andrews Cathedral, St Andrews day, 1318

St Andrews Cathedral is located on the East Coast of Scotland. Construction started in 1160 and spanned Romanesque and Gothic architectural styles. It was consecrated in 1318, four years after the battle of Bannockburn in the presence of King Robert I. For several hundred years, the Cathedral was one of the most important religious buildings in Europe and the centre of religious life in Scotland. During the Reformation, John Knox himself lead reformers in divesting the Cathedral of all its finery. Thereafter it fell into disuse and decline. Today the remains hint at its former glory. Here the use of Open Virtual Worlds (OVW) to support new modes of engagement with cultural heritage is presented through the example of St Andrews Cathedral. Open Virtual Worlds offer an extensible collaborative environment for developing historical scenes against which background material and intangible aspects of cultural heritage associated with a site may be explored. They offer the potential to reconstruct within a 3D computer environment both the physical structures of the past and important aspects of the lighting, sounds and lifestyles that once existed within those structures. Bringing together architecture, sculpture, illumination, stained-glass, music, procession and lighting into a scene, which can be explored from multiple spatial perspectives enables holistic appreciations to be developed.

Towards the 3D Web with Open Simulator

Continuing advances and reduced costs in computational power, graphics processors and network bandwidth have led to 3D immersive multi-user virtual worlds becoming increasingly accessible while offering an improved and engaging Quality of Experience. At the same time the functionality of the World Wide Web continues to expand alongside the computing infrastructure it runs on and pages can now routinely accommodate many forms of interactive multimedia components as standard features - streaming video for example. Inevitably there is an emerging expectation that the Web will expand further to incorporate immersive 3D environments. This is exciting because humans are well adapted to operating in 3D environments and it is challenging because existing software and skill sets are focused around competencies in 2D Web applications. Open Simulator (OpenSim) is a freely available open source tool-kit that empowers users to create and deploy their own 3D environments in the same way that anyone can create and deploy a Web site. Its characteristics can be seen as a set of references as to how the 3D Web could be instantiated. This paper describes experiments carried out with OpenSim to better understand network and system issues, and presents experience in using OpenSim to develop and deliver applications for education and cultural heritage. Evaluation is based upon observations of these applications in use and measurements of systems both in the lab and in the wild.

Promoting public awareness of the links between lifestyle and cancer: A controlled study of the usability of health information leaflets

OBJECTIVES To develop health information leaflets for people aged 18-30 about the links between lifestyle and cancer. To devise a lightweight method for evaluating the usability of health information leaflets. To evaluate the usability of leaflets, particularly their effectiveness, in raising awareness about the links between lifestyle and cancer. METHODS A combination of methods was used. A focus group, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were carried out with members of the public, healthcare practitioners and design professionals to collect requirements for the design of healthcare information leaflets. Two leaflets were developed and evaluated using questionnaires and surveys, using a standard leaflet as the control. RESULTS/FINDINGS All leaflets increased awareness of the links between lifestyle and cancer and most of this information was retained over a 2-week gap. Participants preferred the leaflet that had a design that was radically different from standard leaflets. CONCLUSIONS Design guidelines for health information leaflets need to focus on their usability (particularly attractiveness and effectiveness) as well as their legibility and comprehensibility. The attractiveness and effectiveness can be measured using simple usability surveys and awareness tests.

An immersive platform for collaborative projects

In the recent past 3D and immersive technologies were not supported by standard business and educational computers. Yet new generations of Intel and AMD processors and improved networking provide a basis for the spread of immersive technologies, into all aspects of education, business and leisure. Consequently, it is critical that computer science and IT degree programs facilitate the graduation of professionals with an understanding of and experience in working with immersive technologies. The work reported in this paper addresses the need to support learning about how to develop, engineer, use and evaluate 3D and immersive systems. The Apollo Virtual World GRID [1] provides a platform designed to support collaborative learning and exploratory project work with 3D technologies. Apollo provides an environment for the creation of 3D content, a framework for the development of 3D systems and a platform for the delivery of distributed immersive systems. It is built around the open source and freely available OpenSimulator project and extends it by providing educational content, a rapid application development environment and a measurement infrastructure. Using the Apollo GRID student projects have expanded the scope of experiential learning by creating interactive 3D environments that simulate specific learning contexts. For example a Virtual WiFi laboratory supports exploratory learning and experimentation with WiFi network protocols and the LAVA virtual fieldwork resource supports archaeologists in learning how to manage archaeological excavations. This paper reflects upon experience in using Apollo for 30 collaborative projects involving more than 100 students over a period of four years.

Open Badges : a best-practice framework

The widespread adoption of online education is severely challenged by issues of verifiability, reliability, security and credibility. Open Badges exist to address these challenges, but there is no consensus as to what constitutes best practices regarding the implementation of an Open Badge system within an educational context. In this paper we survey the current landscape of Open Badges from educational and technological perspectives. We analyze a broad set of openly-reported pilot projects and case studies, and derive a comprehensive best practice framework that tries to capture the requirements for successful implementation within educational institutions. We conclude by identifying some significant gaps in the technology and identify some possible future research directions.

Promoting and supporting healthy living by design

Chronic diseases are the main causes of premature deaths, and the number of these deaths keeps growing. People often do not understand, however, that by changing their diet and how much they exercise, they can drastically reduce their risk of being affected by chronic disease. The key to moderating peoples behaviour lies in raising awareness of the links between lifestyle and chronic disease and in supporting the adoption and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. Despite rises in global spending on health care, the pressure on resources is growing as people live longer. With people already using technology for medical information, it is an opportune time to develop technologies that can be used to raise public awareness of the links between lifestyle choices and chronic disease, and facilitate behavioural change.