Family memories in the home: contrasting physical and digital mementos

We carried out fieldwork to characterise and compare physical and digital mementos in the home. Physical mementos are highly valued, heterogeneous and support different types of recollection. Contrary to expectations, we found physical mementos are not purely representational, and can involve appropriating common objects and more idiosyncratic forms. In contrast, digital mementos were initially perceived as less valuable, although participants later reconsidered this. Digital mementos were somewhat limited in function and expression, largely involving representational photos and videos, and infrequently accessed. We explain these digital limitations and conclude with design guidelines for digital mementos, including better techniques for accessing and integrating these into everyday life, allowing them to acquire the symbolic associations and lasting value that characterise their physical counterparts.     

Character sets of today and tomorrow

This paper reviews the character sets used in today's computer systems and discusses character sets for future computer systems. Some newer Latin-based character sets are introduced and compared in terms of their suitability for information interchange and information processing. Finally, the character set most appropriate for use in future computer systems is suggested.     

Photo mementos: Designing digital media to represent ourselves at home

We examine photos in the family home as examples of mementos, cherished objects kept in memory of a person or event. In a ‘memory tour’, we asked participants to walk us through their family home selecting and discussing significant mnemonic objects. With each personal narrative we recorded memento location, i.e. the room, place within the room and any nearby objects. Although photos were not the most popular mementos, when chosen they were highly significant, and often unique. These photo mementos were usually not representational but symbolic, where only the owner knows their many layers of meaning. Photos from different times in the person's life were strategically placed in different rooms. Their location afforded different functions, e.g. photo mementos in family spaces reinforced family bonds, photo mementos in personal spaces were for immersive reminiscing, whereas those in public rooms had an aesthetic value and to spark conversations with visitors. Finally photo mementos were rarely isolated: they were clustered in displayed albums or stored with other memorabilia in boxes or drawers to represent a stage in life. We explore the implications of these findings by designing potential new home photo technologies, looking at how new designs might support the types of behaviours observed. Through four conceptual designs we examine how photo technology might integrate into the practices and aesthetic of the family home. The concepts led to a set of concluding considerations that need to be taken into account when designing new forms of display technology that are part of a larger domestic photo system.     

Scandinavian human-centred systems design: Theoretical reflections and challenges

Currently there is a clear trend towards questioning the traditional sovereign human self which for two hundred years has had an undisputed central status within European culture and philosophy. This challenges the tradition of anthropocentrism which in a Scandinavian computer science context has had two theoretical foundations: the workoriented design theory represented by the Scandinavian participatory design philosophy, and the idea of the computer to a rather passive medium for human communication. The process, reducing the computer to a rather passive medium for human communication. The paper firstly examines these two theoretical anthropocentric positions. Secondly it outlines the trend towards challenging the status of the human self within different research contexts. This trend represents a challenge for Human-centred systems design. Finally, it discusses the new demands for conceptualising basic IT research phenomena created by this development, with particular focus on the issue of human-centredness as a systems design strategy.     

Prospective work design of a human-centred CNC lathe

In the operation of many automated systems, the control functions are performed concurrently by human operator and computer. This paper discusses the importance of man-machine interface design for overall system efficiency and described how interface software enables operator and machine to help each other to achieve an effect of which each is separately incapable. Guidelines for the design of a computer numerically controlled (CNC) lathe interface are outlined and the implications for interface design methodology are discussed.     

Reconstructing human-centred technology: Lessons from the Hollywood dream factory

A post-modernist analysis of human-centred technology (HCT) suggests the ideology which informs the theoretical and practical development of HCT resonates with ideological representations of machine intelligence portrayed in science fiction (sf) films. It is argued that such an ideology reflects and reinforces ontological dualisms which constrain our ability to imagine and realise our future relations with technology. This paper invites proponents of HCT to meet their shadows, to transgress, the cultural and discursive borders constructed in the name of modernism, and to reflect on what is taken-for-granted and peripheralised within their own work.     

What did you learn from practice today? Exploring experiences from a Danish R&D effort in digital construction

The Architecture-Engineering-Construction (AEC) industry has been slow in turning the potential of Information and Communication Technologies into greater efficiency and productivity. This is a phenomenon which can be observed in many countries, and in Denmark this issue has been recognized as a major problem for the further development of the AEC industry. The public-private and nationally funded R&D program ‘Digital Construction’ was initiated in 2003 to establish a common platform for exchanging digital information and stimulating digital integration in the Danish AEC industry. This paper reports on the lessons learned from developing strategies, demands and guidelines in the ‘Digital Construction’ program and from adapting one of its ‘digital foundations’, the ‘3D Working Method’, to the design process of the large-scale building project ‘The Icelandic National Concert and Conference Centre’. The explorations are based on a process evaluation of the R&D program and a qualitative case study of the building project. The paper reports on identified factors enabling or hindering the adaptation, as well as on the benefits and challenges experienced from using and exchanging 3D object models according to the ‘3D Working Method’. The paper concludes that the adaptation has been successful due to the initial ambitions of the project actors. Nevertheless, there are still many challenges to be overcome. The findings indicate that the introduction of the ‘3D Working Method’ to the real-life project depended on the success of balancing an array of the factors identified across the R&D program and the different levels within the building project. Three especially crucial balancing acts are explored; first, the power of the ‘implementer’ versus the expected risk and benefits of implementation, second, the strategies and guidelines within the program versus the resources for learning and the organizational traditions for using digital tools, and third, the level of ambition versus the skills of the users and the potential of the technology to address real-life practice. Mastering these balancing acts requires a broad understanding of both the project and its context. The findings from qualitative and holistic studies as presented in this paper are valuable for building such understanding, and for further learning and improvement regarding strategies for integrating ICT in architectural and engineering practice.     

Ergonomics in the development of human-centred AMT

This paper discusses the concept of human-centred advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) and the role of ergonomics in its design and development. Various methods of human-centred design are illustrated through two examples taken from the Commission of European Communities' ESPRIT initiative. Difficulties which have been encountered are outlined and the methods being developed to overcome these problems are discussed.     

Exploring the design space of robots: Children''s perspectives

Children's perceptions and evaluations of different robot designs are an important unexplored area within robotics research considering that many robots are specifically designed for children. To examine children's feelings and attitudes towards robots, a large sample of children (N = 159) evaluated 40 robot images by completing a questionnaire for each image, which enquired about robot appearance, robot personality dimensions and robot emotions. Results showed that depending on a robot's appearance children clearly distinguished robots in terms of their intentions (i.e. friendly vs. unfriendly), their capability to understand, and their emotional expression. Results of a principal components analysis of the children's ratings of the robots' personality attributes revealed two dimensions labelled ‘Behavioural Intention’ and ‘Emotional Expression’. Robots were classified according to their scores on these two dimensions and a content analysis of their appearance was conducted in an attempt to identify salient features of different robot personalities. Children judged human-like robots as aggressive, but human–machine robots as friendly. Results on children's perceptions of the robots' behavioural intentions provided tentative empirical support for the Uncanny Valley, hypothesized by (Mori, M., 1970), reflecting a situation where robots are very human-like, but still distinguishable from humans, evoking a feeling of discomfort or repulsion. The paper concludes with a discussion of design implications for robots, and the use of robots in educational contexts.     

Exploring the Processing-in-Memory design space

With the emergence of 3D-DRAM, Processing-in-Memory has once more become of great interest to the research community and industry. Here we present our observations on a subset of the PIM design space. We show how the architectural choices for PIM core frequency and cache sizes will affect the overall power consumption and energy efficiency. We include a detailed power consumption breakdown for an ARM-like core as a PIM core. We show the maximum possible number of PIM cores we can place in the logic layer with respect to a predefined power budget. Additionally, we catalog additional sources of power consumption in a system with PIM such as 3D-DRAM link power and discuss the possible power reduction techniques. We describe the shortcomings of using ARM-like cores for PIM and discuss other alternatives for the PIM cores. Finally, we explore the optimal design choices for the number of cores as a function of performance, utilization, and energy efficiency.     

Exploring the characteristics of an optimal design of digital materials for concept learning in mathematics: Multimedia learning and variation theory

Design principles emerging from the cognitive theory of multimedia learning can be applied to engage cognitive processing, and teaching methods that have evolved from variation theory can encourage thinking through comparisons in mathematics education. Applying these principles and teaching methods in designing digital material should be a sound proposition. However, there is a disconnection between research in digital educational material and classroom practices. Teachers often have doubts about the effectiveness of the materials. Thus, this paper presents a design-based research of developing a digital material for algebra concept learning. We collaborated with two experienced teachers and a subject expert from a university, and designed some digital learning material that was presented to 68 students through an iterative redesign development cycle; the effectiveness of the final product was tested on another group of 66 students the following year. Characteristics of an optimal design generated from the data collected are presented in this paper. The characteristics may have useful practical implications for instructional designers and teachers and contribute to improvements in the design of digital learning materials.     

Requirement acquisition in system development: A human-centred perspective of the tacit requirements

Specification acquisition in the system design process has been improved since the middle of the 1980s when the upper CASE tools appeared. On the contrary the quality of requirement acquisition in the upper processes of system design has not been enhanced as much as specification acquisition. Understanding the user's requirements is indispensable as one of the basic conditions for building systems that can really satisfy users.This article discusses obtaining requirement knowledge, in terms of human-centred design. The focus is on the process of requirement acquisition, where there is room for one to make full use of human knowledge in a dynamic manner.     

System on a chip: changing IC design today and in the future

Market-related trends continue to drive innovation in the semiconductor industry today, they are particularly driving the design of systems on a chip, the new breed of complex, highly integrated systems.     

Exploring the use of information visualization for digital libraries

This paper presents the findings from a study conducted to explore the current and future use of information visualization (IV) for digital libraries (DL). A series of query techniques and participatory design workshops were employed with the goal of actively involving users in identifying the key characteristics and applications of IV for DLs. The methodology employed, key findings and overall conclusions are presented and discussed.     

Towards the appropriate human-centred information systems: A case study of the Japanese retail industry

The industries of Japan have developed by learning from Western industries, especially the USA, and by implementing many of their concepts and technologies. However, Japanese industries have often implemented these concepts and technologies in a very different way from the USA. For example, while the USA uses information systems in retail industries as a tool by which data are collected and analysed to control the market, in Japan this same technology is considered rather as a learning device to interpret the market. While in the USA the market is seen as a natural phenomenon capable of being controlled, the Japanese see it as an ambiguous phenomenon that is ever changing and is not capable of being controlled. Rather it is important to feel the change in the market itself.This paper introduces human centredness to the information system, and argues against modern rationalism, i.e. human versus technology, taking the case of use of POS data from the POS system (point of sale: a system that collects data on both the customer and goods sold by scanning bar codes that are attached to the surface of the goods) by the eminent Japanese retailer, Ito-Yokado. It emphasises an interactive concept of interaction between human and technology of the postmodern paradigm.     

数字水平仪的设计与应用

高精度低功耗数字水平仪的设计原理．叙述了其关键芯片ADXL202的结构和原理以及使用方法．给出了详细的设计电路图和程序流程。     

基于FPGA的数字下变频器设计

本文设计和实现了基于FPGA的数字下变频器DDC,用于宽带数字中频软件无线电接收机中。采用自上向下的模块化设计方法,将DDC的功能划分为基本单元,实现这些功能模块并组成模块库。在具体应用时,优化配置各个模块来满足具体无线通信系统性能的要求。这样做比传统ASIC数字下变频器具有更好地可编程性和灵活性,从而满足不同的工程设计需求。