Wen-Hung Liao

A service platform for logging and analyzing mobile user behaviors

Quantitative analysis of user behavior calls for automated collection of large amount of log data over time. In this paper, we present a service platform for logging and analyzing mobile user behaviors. We have implemented a log collection service which records all user operations on the mobile unit. The collected data are transmitted to a remote server based on an energy-aware schedule. By providing a simple web-based interface, researchers can selectively retrieve the log according to the subject of interest. We illustrate the functionalities of the proposed service platform by several sampled logs.

HuayuNavi: a mobile Chinese learning application based on intelligent character recognition

With the recent rise of China, Chinese is becoming a dominant language in the world. People are pursuing an efficient and effective means to learn the Chinese language. Most of the traditional learning platforms such as textbooks, laptop applications and language learning centers are not portable and interactive simultaneously. In this paper, we attempt to develop a new language-learning platform that not only creates a better user experience but also promotes better efficiency in language training. We present a mobile application named HuayuNavi that integrates a touch-based user interface with intelligent character recognition techniques to achieve real-time image content understanding. Specifically, the feature vector is formed by accumulating localized gradients of different orientations in the image. Recognition is achieved by employing support vector machine (SVM) with probability estimation to obtain candidate characters, which is then refined using domain-specific vocabulary models. The overall operation can be completed in 3 seconds. Initial tests on the specific subject of Taiwanese snacks indicate that the recognition rate can reach 83% using handwritten samples as well as signboards containing characters of diverse fonts.

Exploring the Reading Experiences of High School Students on E-Book Reader

Today’s ‘digital natives’ grew up in the age of network and digital devices. They have a completely different kind of cross-medium user experiences from the older generations. Understanding how the digital natives use e-book reader and their reading behavior will be an important issue for designing the next-generation e-book reader and mobile device. This study aims to explore how the introduction of e-book reader into high school campus influences the students’ learning and daily life. The authors found that e-book reader does help the students to develop a habit of mobile reading. Its effect exceeds our expectation of achieving digital learning. Using e-book reader, students engaged in creating new form of digital contents and became active in peer-sharing activities. Thus, they propose that when new curricula are designed, user experience with the e-book reader can be taken into account in order to maximize the potential of using the e-book reader in education.