Affective is effective: how information appliances can mediate relationships within communities and increase one’s social effectiveness

Technology is already used as a mediator in social relationships, but current appliances are rarely designed with social context in mind. In this paper, I propose alternative methods for designing products and services in a way that will empower their users within their social context and increase their social effectiveness. I will argue that incorporating human emotional needs in the design process considerations lead to a finished design that responds better to the user’s needs.     

A scalable framework for mobile real-time group communication services

A scalable framework for mobile real-time group communication services is developed in this paper. Examples for possible applications of this framework are mobile social networks, mobile conference calls, mobile instant messaging services, and mobile multi-player on-line games. A key requirement for enabling a real-time group communication service is the tight constraint imposed on the call delivery delay. Since establishing such communication service for a group of independent mobile users under a tight delay constraint is NP-hard, a two-tier architecture is proposed, that can meet the delay constraint imposed by the real-time service requirement for many independent mobile clients in a scalable manner. This goal is achieved by two dimensional partition of the space, first by organization and then geographically. Both the time and memory complexity associated with the location management of N mobile users are O(N) for the location management provided by the proposed framework, while a distributed scheme requires O(N²) for both time and memory complexity.     

Developing the index for product design communication and evaluation from emotional perspectives

Often customers make their purchase decision based on price, quality and functionality of the product. Sometimes the decision is influenced by the perceived value, which is always subjective and emotion-driven. In order to ensure successful launch of a product, it is extremely important to predict the perceived value of design alternatives systematically based on the common language understood by both target users and designers. However, the index for communicating and evaluating such value from emotional perspective is not available in the literature. Therefore, the objective of this research is to extract key indexes of perceived value from emotional perspectives and develop an effective algorithm to evaluate products. First, through literature review and the interview of participants, many scenarios of purchase decision were collected. A focus group was invited to identify the essential elements that influence the perceived value of products. Followed by a large scale questionnaire survey and factor analysis, four indexes were extracted. These indexes, named as FASE Index in brief, included features, association, social-esteem, and engagement. Second, by combining the fuzzy mathematics and the pairwise comparison method, an evaluation model was developed. Third, the perception differences of sample products were conducted to verify the validity of FASE index. The findings of this study demonstrated that FASE index was effective for decision making in product design.     

Nonverbal communication interface for collaborative virtual environments

Nonverbal communication is an important aspect of real-life face-to-face interaction and one of the most efficient ways to convey emotions, therefore users should be provided the means to replicate it in the virtual world. Because articulated embodiments are well suited to provide body communication in virtual environments, this paper first reviews some of the advantages and disadvantages of complex embodiments. After a brief introduction to nonverbal communication theories, we present our solution, taking into account the practical limitations of input devices and social science aspects. We introduce our sample of actions and implementation using our VLNET (Virtual Life Network) networked virtual environment and discuss the results of an informal evaluation experiment.     

A new user-centered design approach: A hair washing assistive device design for users with shoulder mobility restriction

This study utilized a user-centered design approach as the foundation for a new Assistive Device (AD) design process. Observation and evaluation results from a Usability Context Analysis (UCA) was used to improve the analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT Analysis) and the matrix of Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses, and Strengths (TOWS matrix), resulting in two assistive device design methods named AD-SWOT and AD-TOWS. Thus, an AD-design process, tailored for designing assistive devices, was both established and tested. Owing to the information gained from using the design processes and evaluating product efficiency with various cases in the early part of the research, it was decided to use the AD-design process for the entire design process. Using this process, an adjustable hair washer for physically disabled individuals to wash their hair using normal postures was developed. Furthermore, the method derived in this study can also be applied to users suffering from single-sided shoulder-joint mobility disabilities, such as frontal flexion, scapular plan elevation, and restricted abductors.     

A self-verification authentication mechanism for mobile satellite communication systems

In order to provide an opportunity to make personal communication as broad as possible, mobile satellite communication systems have recently drawn much attention. However, any communication system raises two major challenging issues: (1) how to determine whether actors are whom they claim to be; and (2) how to protect data against unauthorized disclosure. Although the secret-key cryptosystem (SKC) and the public-key cryptosystem (PKC) have been developed to provide well-defined security services to address these issues each has serous drawbacks while SKC-based authentication schemes have the common demerit that the server which maintains the secret-key table becomes an attractive target for numerous intrusions, PKC-based schemes suffer from the expensive complexity of the public-key infrastructure (PKI) and a high computation overhead. Therefore, in this paper, a self-verification authentication mechanism with lower computation and key management cost is introduced.     

The effect of emoticons in simplex and complex task-oriented communication: An empirical study of instant messaging

Many studies have shed light on general computer-mediated communication, instant messaging (IM), and emotion or emoticons, but little is known specifically about the impacts of emoticons in task-oriented IM communication in the workplace. Therefore, the current study addresses this issue by conducting an exploratory experiment to (1) categorize workplace IM messages into coherent groups, (2) identify the most commonly used emoticons (emblems) for expressing positive, negative, and neutral emotions in the case company, (3) test the differences in the emotional effects of the received text messages with and without emoticons on the reader/s, and (4) examine the intention to use emoticons in IM in the workplace. The results showed that (1) negative emoticons could cause a negative effect in both simplex and complex task-oriented communication, (2) positive emoticons only created a positive effect in complex communication and for female employees in simplex communication, and (3) there is no significant difference between task-oriented messages with or without neutral emoticon. Furthermore, the intention of using emoticons was not statistically significant in terms of gender, but it has a higher tendency on female employees. The corresponding suggestions provided by this research may help increase our understanding on the effect of emoticon use in IM in the workplace.     

Designing wearable vibrotactile notifications for information communication

Visual and auditory stimuli are frequently used for information communication on mobile devices. These feedback modalities, however, are less suitable for emerging wearable devices that are intended to support multitasking with minimum interruption. Use of vibrotactile stimuli is great alternatives due to their low disruption and high ability to attract attention.Currently, effective vibration notifications are still elusive. In the present study, we explored a vibration notification mechanism by using a singular vibration motor to generate various vibration stimuli. This solution is appropriate for existing wearable devices that have a small form factor, limited internal space, and low battery capacity. Our first experiment investigated individuals’ vibration perception in order to select a set of vibration stimuli that were detectable and discriminable. In our second experiment, we mapped the 5 vibration stimuli that were identified in the first experiment to various mobile application events and evaluated user performance using a wrist mounted prototype device. Results indicate that our vibration notification design achieved an average response accuracy rate of 82.3% (SD=18.0%) and an average response time of 2.83 (SD=0.83) s. Moreover, results of the post-test questionnaire revealed that the average perceived usefulness towards the vibration notification design was rated 5.5 (SD=1.18) and the average perceived ease of use was rated 5.0 (SD=1.36) when using a 7-point rating scale. Overall, results indicated the present vibration notification design was perceived as useful and highlighted opportunities for improving perceptions of ease of use. Our findings inform the design of future vibration notifications on wearable devices and highlight the importance of increasing pair-wise dissimilarities, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use in designing effective vibration notifications.     

Mobile communication and political participation in South Korea: Examining the intersections between informational and relational uses

This study aims to extend the literature on mobile communication by demonstrating that multifaceted mobile practices work in coordination with one another to predict enhanced engagement in public life. Using a national survey of adults in South Korea, we show that informational mobile phone use to gather and discuss content about news and public affairs is positively associated with political participation while the corresponding link for relational mobile phone use to enhance strong personal tie relationships being also significant. More importantly, the findings indicate that the two mobile usage patterns interact with each other to explain increased involvement in political activities. However, analysis of the three-way interaction points to a noteworthy caveat, namely that those who are already engaged, by virtue of their perceived capacity to produce desired outcomes in politics (i.e., self-efficacy), are even more likely to obtain motivational benefits from the manifold uses of mobile telephony.     

Near field communication: an assessment for future payment systems

In this paper, we present an assessment of near field communication (NFC) in the context of a payment market. During these past years, we have been witnessing a number of mobile payment trials based on NFC. Early experiences are already quite encouraging and many expect NFC to become a highly efficient and effective technology for mobile payments. The objective of our research is to evaluate in a systematic manner the potential of NFC as an upcoming technology for mobile payments. In order to ensure the rigor of our research, we used a formal and structured approach based on multi-actor multi-criteria methods. Our research provides one of the first assessment of NFC and a realistic picture of the current Swiss situation as we involved numerous mobile payment experts. Our findings show that Swiss industry experts are quite enthusiastic about the future of NFC. A previous version of this paper was presented at the 6th international conference on mobile business, 2007. “Jan Ondrus, Yves Pigneur, An assessment of NFC for Future Payment Systems, Proceedings, Sixth International Conference on Mobile Business, 8–11 July 2007, IEEE Computer Society, ISBN 0-7695-2803-1.”     

Online social networks for health behaviour change: Designing to increase socialization

Positive health behaviour by eating nutritious foods and performing physical activity has been shown to have significant benefit. Furthermore, theoretical models show that social factors contribute to health behaviour. However, social technology for health behaviour has provided limited social interaction. This paper presents an online social network for health behaviour change called VivoSpace that was designed from a theoretical foundation. The results from a field study (n = 35) are presented that include participants from both clinical and non-clinical settings. The results show that there was a significant change in some of the individual determinants for health behaviour change; however, social determinants did not change. Furthermore, the social features such as commenting were under utilized. Two follow-up focus groups (n = 7 and 8) were conducted to determine how the design should be iterated to increase socialization on VivoSpace. The results suggest that the posts need to add interest through system intelligence and allowing the user to add photos and other information to the post.     

无人机强实时性串行通讯程序设计

研究了无人机飞行控制器通讯软件的实时性问题。运用中断服务程序就地帧识别、有限状态机、缓存共用和代码优化技术,设计了具有多通讯协议的强实时性串行通讯接收程序。经过实际运行测试,程序解码率高、可靠性好、实时性强、运行时间合理,满足了无人机飞行控制对串行通讯程序的性能要求。     

面向应急监控的无线传感器网络跨层通信设计

面向应急监控应用的无线传感器网络的通信面临着由于网络拓扑的动态性和时变性,以及应急灾难事件突发区域数据量剧增而造成的网络数据传输冲突严重等问题。针对这些问题,提出一种融合物理层功率控制、MAC层的链路调度和网络层路由的跨层通信设计思路,分别给出了集中式和分布式算法,以实现面向应急场景的实时、健壮且低干扰的数据通信。采用NS2进行模拟,实验结果表明提出的算法在应急监控应用中,随着设定灾难模型蔓延和扩大以及数据源增加的情况下,都具有良好的数据投递率、实时性和能量效率;提出的机制适用于各类型灾难应急场景,与同类研究相比具有其优越性。     

透地通信系统天线小型化设计与测试

针对现有透地通信系统天线尺寸较大、可移动性差、无法实现双向通信的问题,设计了中心频率为500kHz的中波小型方环天线,并对天线的阻抗特性、匹配性能及通信距离进行了理论分析及测试研究。测试结果表明,天线与信号源之间实现了良好的阻抗匹配,匹配网络效率近似为1;天线工作带宽约为8kHz,天线效率为6.1×10-5,与理论计算结果近似相等;天线具有良好的辐射特性,在输入功率为0.25W时有效传输距离为30m。     

The action of looking at a mobile phone display as nonverbal behavior/communication: A theoretical perspective

This study investigates the now-common action of looking at a mobile phone display, thereby offering insight into the present communication situation in an era in which the use of high-performance mobile phones has become ubiquitous. In this study, the action of looking at a mobile phone display is considered nonverbal behavior/communication. This study applies a basic, general model to elucidate the present situation of face-to-face communication in light of the increasing prevalence of social interaction via mobile phone use. The results derived from the model include mobile phone users’ increasing social power and an accumulation of potential discontent in relation to different interpretations. This study concludes that in an era of high-performance mobile phones, the social context in face-to-face communication can be influenced by the act of looking at a mobile phone display.     

Modeling collaboration for large-scale software system integration by formal communication models

In the development of large software systems, several synchronization points have to be passed successfully in order to achieve high-end user acceptance of the final system. In particular, the integration of conceptual design entities has turned out to be the most crucial step in software development. At this point, an explicit representation of the organizational knowledge, namely how the integration can be performed, is required. The overall organization of the integration of design entities is a set of knowledge, action (including communication), and time. The knowledge part comprises the integration procedure itself as well as the design entities. Actions are performed by the members of the project team (project leaders, developers). Each integration step has to be performed synchronized, so that each member of the development team knows concurrently the status of the integration procedure. All other individual design activities are usually performed asynchronously. According to the need for an explicit representation of the organizational knowledge for large software system design, this paper attempts tounderstand the nature of large software system integration and formallydescribes the coordination of a dispersed set of software developers. The organizational knowledge is represented by processes that occur in an asynchronous development environment. The design knowledge is assigned to logical formulas that are processed as exchanged messages among developers. Hence, the activities for integration are based on the transmission of messages. Time-critical events, such as the integration of a particular design entity into the final conceptual design of the software system, have to become common knowledge concurrently for all developers. This organizational constraint has been formalized in the communication model. Not only can the proposed framework be adapted to organizational changes in a flexible way, it can also be applied to any specific development strategy for the integration of conceptual design entities. Thus, such kind of formal communication models may provide a sound basis for cooperative CASE (computer-aided software engineering) tools.This work has been sponsored by the Max Kade Foundation, New York.     

Equality of participation and influence in groups: The effects of communication medium and sex composition

We tested the claim that computer-mediated communication (CMC) is more egalitarian than face-to-face (FTF) communication by studying patterns of reported participation and influence in 30 FTF and 30 synchronous CMC groups over seven weeks. Twenty-two of these groups were composed of a majority of males or females; these were used to test effects of communication medium and sex composition on relative levels of participation and influence among group members. Competing predictions were derived from three theories: proportional theory, social role theory, and expectation states theory. Results indicated that CMC participation was perceived as more centralized than was FTF participation in groups' first meetings, but as similar for the remaining six meetings. Results revealed no or weak support for any of the competing theories of sex composition. Influence was perceived as most centralized in CMC majority-male groups and in FTF majority-female groups. In CMC groups, males in majority-female groups were perceived as having more influence than their female group members, whereas males in majority-male groups were perceived as having less influence than their female group members. In FTF groups, the ratio of male-to-female influence in majority-male and majority-female groups did not differ significantly. Implications of these findings and the need for additional longitudinal research are discussed.     

Characterizing communication networks in a web-based classroom: Cognitive styles and linguistic behavior of self-organizing groups in online discussions

In this study, we explore the cognitive style profiles and linguistic patterns of self-organizing groups within a web-based graduate education course to determine how cognitive preferences and individual behaviors influence the patterns of information exchange and the formation of communication hierarchies in an online classroom. Network analysis was performed on communication data collected from 1131 student messages posted in 19 asynchronous online discussion forums to determine centrality, clique membership, and core-periphery structure in the communication networks. The social network data were examined in relation to the students' cognitive style profiles, which were assessed using the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) (32 and 33). The cognitive style composition of small cliques (dyadic and triadic) was found to be highly heterogeneous, often with large cognitive gaps between clique members, which suggests that web-based environments may mask cognitive style differences that have been shown to create conflict in face-to-face interactions. In addition, the cognitive style mean of the students in the core of the network was found to be significantly more adaptive than that of the periphery group. To further characterize the nature of the communicative interactions, automated linguistic analysis was used to analyze the students' writing samples. Interestingly, students in the core of the social network demonstrated a significantly higher usage of several language features associated with individuals who actively promote enhanced group performance and cohesion. For our sample, the linguistic behaviors of students in the core of the social network, coupled with their more adaptive cognitive style preferences, suggest that these students may inherently place greater value on fostering group cohesion than those in the periphery.     

基于最大加权队列的终端到终端通信时延感知跨层设计算法

基于李雅普诺夫(Lyapunov)优化理论的最大加权队列(MWQ)控制策略是一种可以获得队列稳定性和最优时延性能的跨层控制方法.针对终端到终端(D2D)通信业务具有实时性和时延感知低时延的要求,MWQ算法综合考虑物理层的信道状态信息(CSI)和MAC层的队列状态信息(QSI),以最大系统吞吐量为目标函数,动态地控制D2D节点的功率.提出了基于D2D通信的MWQ算法,将MWQ算法与固定功率分配算法、基于CSI算法、基于QSI算法等已有算法进行比较.仿真结果表明,MWQ算法在数据包平均到达率高于10 Mb/s时,能减少约0.5 s的平均时延;在平均时延相同时,能减少约26dB的功率.该算法具有使D2D通信保持低时延的良好性能,为实现低时延的D2D通信提供了一定的参考.