Pauliina Tuomi

Users as sensors: creating shared experiences in co-creational spaces by collective heart rate

The last decade has witnessed a growing interest in design information technologies and interfaces that support rich and complex user experiences, including satisfaction, joy, aesthetics, and reflection. It is high on the agenda to extend and intensify the overall (user) experiences with the help of appropriate technology. This paper presents a pilot study on using collective heart rate visualized in the indoor ice rink to bring intensiveness into the audience experience. The aim of the study was to explore the usefulness and affect of the developed collective heart rate and to evaluate it as one of the new features that could enhance the user experience among the audiences in wide public events. In particular, the study focuses on studying the significance of the technological equipment in creating a sense of collectiveness and togetherness of the audience. This research is important because it introduces a new idea of audience involvement with the techniques of mobile phones and heart rate measurement belts. The results, positive and negative, of the study widen the field of physiological sensing technologies and facilitate the diffusion of these techniques into different public events with the large number of audience.

The convergence of tv and web (2.0) in Austria and Finland

The purpose of this study was to elaborate and analyze the existing linkage between TV and Web content. We focused on mainstream TV broadcasters in Austria and Finland and chose 10 Austrian and 10 Finnish TV program formats that feature convergence with the Web. We conducted a multidisciplinary platform analysis based on a catalog of criteria established in previous studies that researched (non-) linear TV content in conjunction with the Web. In the second step, we summarized the outcome of the analysis by defining classes from the most frequently observed combination of criteria, which serve as a basis for the concluding discussion. Finally we present ideas and assumptions for a future scenario. Our study identifies that there is minimal linkage between TV and Web content in both countries and its potential is not well recognized in the market place. The reasons are multiple and range from the lack of standards and mechanisms for implementing linkage to inadequate interfaces and input devices. Hence, linear TV content, which limits Web content to coexisting Web pages, prevails.

Coding skills as a success factor for a society

Digitalization is one of the most promising ways to increase productivity in the public sector and is needed to reform the economy by creating new innovation related jobs. The implementation of digital services requires problem solving, design skills, logical thinking, an understanding of how computers and networks operate, and programming competence. These abilities can be considered as coding skills. The aim of the study is to find and classify the different approaches and methods of promoting and learning coding skills. In addition, coding initiatives in Finland are analyzed both from both an historical and a present-day point of view. As a result, we identified three different approaches to learning coding skills: 1) in formal settings (schools within the curriculum); 2) in non-formal settings (online, after school clubs); 3) in informal events (hackathons, jams etc.). In many cases, schools are utilizing coding events and materials created by non-profit organizations, governments, or companies. Coding is also learned in after school clubs on robotics or by creating devices using cheap computing hardware such as the Raspberry Pi.

TV-related content online: a brief history of the use of webplatforms

Television viewing has fragmented to several platforms and the use of web elicits new uses of TV & audience behaviors. Audiences are combining different mediums and content in order to gather a coherent media experience. In this paper the role of the online websites as a platform for TV-related content is analyzed trough a case study. The Finnish TV channel MTV3s website for British TV program Emmerdale is analyzed trough the linkage and purpose of the webplatform to the audience. It is done trough the webplatform data that covers the Emmerdales site from the year 2002, 2006, 2010 and the current situation in 2013. By this the development of TV-related content online and the use of webplatform in order to engage the audiences outside the TV broadcast is presented. Also the role of the social media acting as a webplatform is acknowledged in order to tackle the current situation as well as the future position.

Enriching shared experience by collective heart rate

The last decade has witnessed a growing interest in design information technologies and interfaces that support rich and complex user experiences, including satisfaction, joy, aesthetics, and reflection. It is high on the agenda to extend and intensify the overall (user) experiences with the help of appropriate technology. This paper presents two pilot studies in which mobile devices were used to enrich shared experiences by measuring user generated collective heart rate. It is visualised in the indoor ice rink and utilised in exertion games to bring intensiveness into the audience experience. The aim of the study was to explore the usefulness and affect of the developed collective heart rate system and to evaluate it as one of the new features that could enhance the shared experience among the audiences in co-creational spaces. In particular, the study focuses on studying the significance of the technological equipment in creating a sense of collectiveness and togetherness of the participants. This research is important because it introduces a new idea of user involvement with the techniques of mobile phones and heart rate measurement belts. The results, positive and negative, of the study widen the field of physiological sensing technologies and facilitate the diffusion of these techniques into different public events.

Text-TV + Twitter = a new form of social TV?

In Finland the national broadcaster company YLE has done experiments in creating social TV by combining text TV and social media for a couple of years now. YLE has offered viewers an opportunity to tweet on Twitter via text TV page in real time simultaneously with live TV broadcast. This has been done mainly around different large and nationalistic media events that are approached as media spectacles in this study. The communication done with tweets has been possible for example during the Eurovision Song Contest, Independence Day celebration and now currently as a part of presidential election of Finland. This focused on the Text TV & Twitter broadcasting of Eurovision Song Contest and Finnish Independence Day celebration in 2011. The purpose of this study was to firstly explore for what and how is this social media channel used by the audience --what does audience tweet about? For this, all the (overall 3005) tweets published on text TV were analyzed based on content analysis method.

A brief history of social iTV entertainment

TV is seen much less active medium than PC or mobile phone and often it is forgotten when social media and its technologies are defined. Usually TV is seen as a passive entertainment device, but TV is a part of active and social gaming experience. A qualitative study of social interaction on the TV-screen was conducted by recording sample of Finnish iTV formats and corresponding discussion forums & internet inquiry on the Internet and analyzing the content. The roles of different applications and services utilizing ubiquitous and pervasive technology were analyzed and discussed to answer these questions: in which ways is it possible to play and interact socially with TV nowadays? What are the different functions iTV operates with? Research concentrates mainly on the history of iTVs mobile entertainment. This sort of a trajectory is never been made from the academic or social point of view, which is why it should be explored now, at the latest, when the first ten years of iTV entertainment have passed. This research is also important beyond Finland since Finland tends to pioneer interactive entertainment that later spreads out to other countries.

The Twenty-First Century Television: Interactive, Participatory and Social

The process of digitalization has detached television content from the television screen with a tendency of media convergence. In the twenty-first century social mobile media and the Internet with the help of different mobile devices have gained more and more ground in TV-production. In this chapter the media convergence(s) taken place around television, acting as a central cluster, is studied through the aspect of second screens. It concentrates on the convergence of twenty-first century’s television and mobile devices that are acting as second screens in facilitating TV watching experience.

Promoting students' fractional thinking by challenging them to design game-based number line tasks for others

Research has shown that students struggle to learn fractions with current instructional methods. The subject is important, because the previous research has shown that the extent to which students master fractions is a strong predictor of future success in mathematics. Therefore, significance of this study lies on developing an engaging and effective approach for learning fractions. We aim to promote childrens fractional thinking not only by letting them to play a mathematics game, but allowing them also to design game-based number line tasks for their peers. The present study focuses on investigating the effectiveness of learning by designing game levels approach. Rational number pre-and a post-test were used for evaluating the effectiveness of the approach. The results of the pilot study showed that the level design activities enhanced overall fractional thinking.

Learning by Creating Educational Exergames

With the rapid social, economic, and technological changes currently taking place in our society, collaboration skills and creativity are nowadays seen as basic survival and success factors. Technology-driven changes are also generating new challenges in the knowledge society. For example, the widening gap between daily information-centered activities carried out inside and outside school is undermining students’ engagement in school studies. What’s more, they are leading increasingly sedentary lifestyles and consequently obesity is becoming an increasing problem in many countries. So there is a clear call for educators to introduce innovative learning solutions and practices that engage students, support the development of 21 st century skills, and increase the level of physical activity performed in schools. In this paper we propose a new pedagogical approach, learning by creating educational exergames, an approach that entails user-generated content and gets children moving during school hours. We report the results of a pilot study in which students created educational exergames for their peers. The aim was to explore what happens when the learning-by-creating-educational-exergames approach is introduced in primary school and how students experience the creation of educational exergames. The results clearly indicate that this innovative approach can be successfully implemented in classroom teaching, it can make the school day more physically active, and help to engage and motivate students.