Anyfantis, Nikolaos, Evangelos Kalligiannakis, Achilleas Tsiolkas, Asterios Leonidis, Maria Korozi, Prodromos Lilitsis, Margherita Antona and Constantine Stephanidis. (2018) AmITV: Enhancing the Role of TV in Ambient Intelligence Environments. PETRA (2018).

DOI: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3201548

Abstract

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and services and their integration in Ambient Intelligence (AmI) Environments revealed a new range of roles that TVs are expected to play so as to improve quality of life. This work introduces AmITV, an integrated multimodal system that permits end-users to use the TV not only as a traditional entertainment center, but also as (i) a control center for manipulating any intelligent device, (ii) an intervention host that presents appropriate content when they need help or support, (iii) an intelligent agent that communicates with the users in a natural manner and assists them throughout their daily activities, (iv) a notification medium that informs them about interesting or urgent events, and (v) a communication hub that permits them to exchange messages in real-time or asynchronously. This paper presents two motivational scenarios inspired from Home and Hotel Intelligent Environments and the infrastructure behind AmITV. Additionally, it describes how it realizes the newly emerged roles of TVs as a multimodal, intelligent and versatile interaction hub with the ambient facilities of the entire technologically-augmented environment.

Karouzaki, E., Partarakis, N., Antona, M., & Stephanidis, C. (2018) BubbleFeed: Visualizing RSS Information in Public Spaces In Interactivity, Game Creation, Design, Learning, and Innovation (pp. 151-161). Springer, Cham.

DOI: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-76908-0_15

Abstract

Public interaction displays contribute to upgrading the quality of public spaces since they attract many users and stimulate social interaction. In this paper, BubbleFeed is presented, a system for visualizing RSS news from multiple sources in public spaces. RSS news headlines are displayed inside virtual interactive bubbles ascending from the bottom of a vertical screen to the top, resembling the bubbles formed in a glass of soft drink. Besides touching the bubbles to expand and read the respective news stories, playful user interaction is supported to promote better engagement and motivate multiple users to participate. To support custom news feeds and Facebook posts in addition to RSS feeds, we have built a tool and a library that produce RSS files from the respective sources. BubbleFeed also supports displaying weather information, hosting media galleries and providing useful information such as Wi-Fi hotspot maps.

Kalaitzakis, M., Bouloukakis, M., Charalampidis, P., Dimitrakis, M., Drossis, G., Fragkiadakis, A., Fundulaki, I., Karagiannaki, K., Makrogiannakis, A., Margetis, G., Panousopoulou, A., Papadakis, S., Papakonstantinou, V., Partarakis, N., Roubakis, S., Tragos, E., Ymeralli, E., Tsakalides, P., Plexousakis, D., & Stephanidis, C. (2018) Building a Smart City Ecosystem for Third Party Innovation in the City of Heraklion In A. Stratigea & D. Kavroudakis (Eds.), Mediterranean Cities and Island Communities: Smart, Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient (pp. 19-56). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 2018.

DOI: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-99444-4_2

Abstract

This paper describes the implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT) and Open Data infrastructure by the Institute of Computer Science of the Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas (FORTH-ICS) for the city of Heraklion, focusing on the application of mature research and development outcomes in a Smart City context. These outcomes mainly fall under the domains of Telecommunication and Networks, Information Systems, Signal Processing and Human Computer Interaction. The infrastructure is currently being released and becoming available to the municipality and the public through the Heraklion Smart City web portal. It is expected that in the future such infrastructure will act as one of the pillars for sustainable growth and prosperity in the city, supporting enhanced overview of the municipality over the city that will foster better planning, enhanced social services and improved decision-making, ultimately leading to improved quality of life for all citizens and visitors.

Ntagianta, A., Korozi, M., Leonidis, A., Antona, M., & Stephanidis, C. (2018) CognitOS: A Student- Centric Working Environment for an Attention-Aware Intelligent Classroom In C. Stephanidis (Ed.), HCI International 2018 - Posters Extended Abstracts, Part II, Volume 29 of the combined Proceedings of HCI International 2018 (20th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 15-20 July (pp. 102-110). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG (CCIS 852).

DOI: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92285-0_15

Abstract

The emergence of Intelligent Classrooms, and in particular classrooms equipped with facilities for identifying the students’ attention levels, has raised the need for appropriate student-friendly tools that not only facilitate application hosting, but also acts as the means to re-engage inattentive students in the educational process. This work presents CognitOS, a web-based working environment that hosts several types of applications (i.e., exercises, multimedia viewer, digital book) that are utilized as channels to present interventions dictated by the intelligent decision-making mechanisms of the attention-aware classroom. This paper presents the functionality of CognitOS and the design process followed for its development.

Grammenos, D., Zabulis, X., Antonis, C., Stefanidi, Z., Adami, I., & Neroutsou, V. (2018, June). (2018) COIN-O-RAMA: Designing an Interactive Exhibit for Exploring and Engaging with Coin Exhibitions In Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference (pp. 38-45).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3197768.3197770

Abstract

This paper presents COIN-O-RAMA, an interactive exhibit designed for exploring and further engaging with coins in physical exhibitions. The key motivation was to create an appealing and user friendly system, augmenting and complementing the overall experience of visiting the exhibition, also offering the means for creating a personalized digital souvenir (a coin with the user's head engraved on it), working as a post-visit link to the exhibition and to related information, as well as an artifact to share with friends and the social media. In this paper the requirements and preferences upon which the creation of COIN-O-RAMA was based are presented, followed by an account of the conceptual and interaction / user interface design of the system. Subsequently, a technical description of the process followed to achieve the engraving effect used for creating the personalized digital coin is offered. Then, the results of an expert evaluation of a fully working prototype of the system are reported, comprising issues raised by the evaluators and the corresponding re-design of the system. The paper wraps up with some conclusions and pointers to future work.

Korozi, M., Leonidis, A., Ntoa, S., Arampatzis, D., Adami, I., Antona, M., & Stephanidis, C. (2018) Designing an augmented tabletop game for children withcognitive disabilities: The “Home game” case British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(4), 701-716

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12641

Abstract

This paper presents “Home game,” a multimodal interactive educational game that supports training in independent living for children with cognitive disabilities. It is intended to be used under the supervision of educators in a rehabilitation center. The game features a variety of exercises that incorporate multimedia, virtual environments, tangible, and playful interaction to facilitate learning of the main rooms of a house, daily routines, and how to avoid inappropriate or prevent hazardous behaviors. It enhances touch-based interaction with physical manipulation through printed cards on a tabletop setup, using a webcam to recognize and track cards on a board. This paper describes the system, along with the development process and the results of a preliminary user-based evaluation. Furthermore, it reports the insights and lessons learned throughout the process of developing tangible educational technologies for children with cognitive impairments, in terms of functionality, interaction, and evaluation with children.

Stefanidi, E., Korozi, M., Leonidis, A., Doulgeraki, M., & Antona, M. (2018) Educator-Oriented Tools for Managing the Attention-Aware Intelligent Classroom In the Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Mobile, Hybrid, and On-line Learning (eLmL 2018), Rome, Italy, 25-29 March 2018 (pp. 72-77). IARIA.

Abstract

The emergence of Intelligent Classrooms and in particular classrooms that are equipped with appropriate infrastructure for identifying the students’ attention levels, has raised the need for appropriate educator-friendly tools that facilitate monitoring and management of these educational environments. This paper presents two such systems: LECTORviewer and NotifEye. LECTORviewer is deployed on the educator’s personal workstation and offers an overview of the students’ attention levels. Additionally, through its intuitive user interface, educators can provide their input regarding ambiguous behaviors or scheduled interventions that aim to reengage distracted, tired or unmotivated students to the educational process. NotifEye is a smart watch application for educators that aims to communicate, in a mobile fashion, important events occurring during a lesson (e.g., 60% of students are tired). This work presents the functionality of these tools and the usability findings of a heuristic evaluation experiment conducted with UX experts for LECTORviewer.

Valsamakis, Y., & Savidis, A. (2018) Personal Applications in the Internet of Things Through Visual End-User Programming In C. Linnhoff-Popien, R. Schneider, & M. Zaddach (Eds.), Chapter in Digital Marketplaces Unleashed (pp 809-821). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer

DOI: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-49275-8_71

Abstract

The Internet of Things is based on ecosystems of networked devices, referred to as smart objects, effectively enabling the blending of physical things with digital artifacts in an unprecedented way. In principle, endless automations may be introduced in the context of daily life exploring the numerous opportunities offered by the deployment and utilization of such smart objects. However, in practice the demands for such automations are highly personalized and fluid effectively minimizing the chances for building commercially successful general‐purpose applications. In this context our vision is to empower end‐users with the appropriate tools enabling to easily and quickly craft, test and modify the automations they need. In this chapter we initially discuss a few possible future scenarios for automations relying on smart objects. Then, we elaborate on the visual tools we currently develop, followed by a brief case study using the tools. Finally, the potential of publishing such automations in typical digital markets is considered.

Stefanidi, E., Korozi, M., Leonidis, A., & Antona, M. (2018, June) (2018) Programming Intelligent Environments in Natural Language: An Extensible Interactive Approach In Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference (pp. 50-57). ACM.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3197768.3197776

Abstract

The proliferation of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) devices and services and their integration in smart environments creates the need for a simple yet effective way of controlling and communicating with them. Towards that direction, the application of the Trigger -- Action model has attracted a lot of research with many systems and applications having been developed following that approach. This work introduces ParlAmI, a multimodal conversational interface aiming to give its users the ability to determine the behavior of AmI environments, by creating rules using natural language as well as a GUI. The paper describes ParlAmI, its requirements and functionality, and presents the findings of a user-based evaluation which was conducted.

Bouloukakis, M., Partarakis, N., Drossis, G., Kalaitzakis, M., & Stephanidis, C. (2018) Virtual Reality for Smart City Visualization and Monitoring In A. Stratigea & D. Kavroudakis (Eds.), Mediterranean Cities and Island Communities: Smart, Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient (pp. 1-18). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 2018.

DOI: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-99444-4_1

Abstract

In the present Internet of Things (IoT) era, smart city components (e.g. Smart buildings, Smart infrastructures, etc.) are increasingly embracing cutting edge technologies to support complex scenarios that include decision-making, prediction and intelligent actuation. In this context, there is an increased need for information visualization, so as to propagate information to end users in a smart, sustainable, and resilient way. Currently, despite the growth of the IoT sector, many IoT operators only provide static visualizations. However, interactive data visualizations are required to achieve deeper and faster insights, beyond what is available in existing infrastructure, towards supporting decision-making by city authorities; while offering real time information to citizens. This paper builds on top of ongoing research work carried out at the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Laboratory of ICS-FORTH in the domain of visualizing and interacting with information in Ambient Intelligence environments, in order to propose the design of an interactive Smart City Visualization framework. In this context, advanced user interaction techniques can be employed, including gesture-based interaction with high resolution large screen displays in alternative contexts of use and immersive VR experiences. To this end, several gesture-based interaction techniques have been validated to propose a sufficiently rich set of gestures that are adaptable to user and context requirements and are ergonomic, intuitive, and easy to perform and remember, while remaining metaphorically appropriate for the addressed functionality. Additionally, Big Data visualization is accomplished by employing 3D solutions. The proposed design supports experiencing and interacting with information through VR technologies and large displays, offering improved data visualization capacity and enhanced data dimensionality, thus overcoming issues related to data complexity and heterogeneity.