Papers by Pedro Albuquerque Santos
Research Square (Research Square), Feb 29, 2024
In this paper, we introduce a study focused on the creation of multimodal inclusive web interface... more In this paper, we introduce a study focused on the creation of multimodal inclusive web interfaces to foster inclusive services, aiming to empower individuals with disabilities. The primary objective of this endeavour was to develop an online platform known as SEU, which facilitates access to offline services for persons with disabilities. SEU accomplishes this by offering user interfaces that are both accessible and adaptable, catering to the diverse needs of various user profiles. Methods: A participatory design methodology was followed. Human-Computer Interaction Experts, Occupational Therapists, Accessibility Experts, and Persons with Disabilities participated actively during the creation process. A first usability study assessed the web platform regarding accessibility issues. This user study comprises two phases. In phase A, the online platform was assessed by the experts (Occupational Therapists and Accessibility Experts), and persons with disabilities tested the platform in phase B. The user study design included interviews, user observation and usability questionnaires posed after completing tasks in a controlled environment for one day. Results: The platform SEU was developed to present multimodal inclusive web interfaces, which change according to the user's disability. Four different accessibility profiles were considered: cognitive, visual, motor, and hearing impairment. In the user study, four experts and eight end-users with distinct disabilities participated. Experts consider the platform presents important features and is very well designed, providing meaningful feedback. The results obtained with the end-users were equally positive regarding the available features and the usability of the web interfaces. Conclusions: Designing a web interface that is accessible and adaptable for users with distinct disabilities is viable and promising. The preliminary study with experts and PwD indicates they consider it an added value. However, the adaptations for users with cognitive impairments need a 1 deeper study to achieve more efficient solutions. The development of a mobile application interface was suggested by the end users, as most of them use smartphones in everyday life.
Studying the Design of Pervasive Serious Games for Parkinson’s Disease
Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia
Towards Digital Twins for Multi-Sensor Land and Plant Monitoring
Procedia Computer Science
Applications across Co-located Devices: User Interface Distribution, State Management and Collaboration
The 23rd International Conference on Information Integration and Web Intelligence, 2021
We live surrounded by computing devices, but we are not yet combining them into a natural unified... more We live surrounded by computing devices, but we are not yet combining them into a natural unified user experience. Therefore, we have designed and implemented a framework to generalize and support the development of multi-device applications, which distribute their User Interfaces (UI) across co-located devices. The framework is composed of: authentication and authorization services; a broker to sync information across application instances; background services to gather the capabilities of the devices; an integration module with an indoor positioning system to determine when to associate devices. It provides a library to determine the components to be displayed based on UI requirements and the capabilities of the available devices. It also includes elements to manage the distribution of UI components and application states that can be shared to enable collaboration. We present an application prototype and a user study which assesses how multi-device applications are perceived by users. The results are very positive, indicating that we should keep working on our research since the users received very well the prototype and the concept, which also validates the support provided by the framework.
Using Personalisation to improve User Experience in Public Display Systems with Mobile Interaction
Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Advances in Mobile Computing & Multimedia, 2019
Although public displays installations are easy to attract the attention of passers-by to specifi... more Although public displays installations are easy to attract the attention of passers-by to specific content, they present an issue in targeting the right audience. We envision public displays installations working as platforms in which different interactive applications run with highly personalised content based on personal characteristics and interests of a person attending the public displays. Mobile devices can act as an important interaction tool that complements the public screen, providing a feeling of privacy, but they can also be used to get users' preferences in order to obtain their user profiles. This paper is focused on demonstrating how personalisation can be designed and applied to improve the user experience in public display systems, integrating mobile interaction to potentiate the approach. It describes a public display experiment deployed at a university campus and presents a user study composed of two phases: the system without personalisation and the system wi...
Model-Based Solution for Personalization of the User Interaction in Ubiquitous Computing
2014 IEEE 11th Intl Conf on Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing and 2014 IEEE 11th Intl Conf on Autonomic and Trusted Computing and 2014 IEEE 14th Intl Conf on Scalable Computing and Communications and Its Associated Workshops, 2014
Ubiquitous computing is strongly centered on the human, aiming to provide the right information t... more Ubiquitous computing is strongly centered on the human, aiming to provide the right information through personalized interfaces and services in context of use to the applications users. We envision a ubiquitous computing based world in which a generic personalization model is applied to different applications, even if from different domains. The model is the core of a cloud-based platform, which guides developers by providing services to help them in the implementation of personalized solutions. Moreover, end-users will be less bothered when starting to use a new application, which already might know something about them in order to automatically adapt itself to the users' preferences and needs. A user's interactions with an application A might be useful to know how to personalize her experience when interacting with an application B. This paper presents the X-Users based solution in order to reach that vision, giving special attention to the personalization modeling. Important contributions of the paper are also two case studies that illustrate how X-Users can be used to help personalizing systems.
FCT4U -- When Private Mobile Displays Meet Public Situated Displays to Enhance the User Experience
2013 IEEE 10th International Conference on Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing and 2013 IEEE 10th International Conference on Autonomic and Trusted Computing, 2013
ABSTRACT The last years created a solid opportunity to realize an important vision of ubiquitous ... more ABSTRACT The last years created a solid opportunity to realize an important vision of ubiquitous computing, which is the seamless and pervasive integration of mobile and fixed infrastructures to support everyday tasks. Nowadays, mobile devices are essential tools for developed countries' daily living, while situated large displays are being widely deployed in public areas, shops, and private institutions. This paper describes the issues surrounding the interaction approaches and the technologies we are using to study how to enhance the user experience when mobile displays meet the larger situated displays. We describe FCT4U, a public situated display based system that is used to present additional relevant information to users at a Faculty campus. The system proactively displays information tailored to the users that are recognized in its area of action. A mobile application was developed for active and direct user interaction with the display. A platform for personalization is also introduced. The paper presents a user study conducted to assess and validate the project's purpose and its different interaction modes in order to enhance the user experience.
YanuX
Proceedings of the 16th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services
We currently live surrounded by many different computing devices. Therefore, it is important to t... more We currently live surrounded by many different computing devices. Therefore, it is important to take better advantage of those devices by coming up with smart ways of integrating and combining them. We have been exploring the possibility of building applications that present user interfaces pervasively distributed across different co-located devices. We designed the YanuX framework, which generalizes and supports the development of this new type of applications. A key issue is the automatic distribution of user interface (UI) components among co-located devices. We created the tools set needed to describe the capabilities of each of the devices present in the environment and the requirements of each of the applications' components as configured by the developers. Restrictions of the components should match the capabilities of the devices leading to a UI component distribution decision that should reflect developers' intentions and expectations of the users. Besides detailing YanuX's components, the paper also presents YouTube Viewer as a proof-of-concept application based on YanuX. The application was also used in a user study to evaluate the concept and the experience supported by the framework. The results presented here are positive and very promising.
Designing a Framework to Support the Development of Smart Cross-device Applications
Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, 2018
We live surrounded by computing devices, but applications are mostly confined to run on a single ... more We live surrounded by computing devices, but applications are mostly confined to run on a single device. It should be possible to make better use of the multiple devices around us by coming up with ways of integrating and combining them, while leveraging the specific strengths of some devices and minimizing the individual weaknesses of others. We want to explore the possibility of building applications that have their user interface seamlessly distributed across co-located devices. We created the YanuX Framework to provide the guidelines and tools needed by developers to build those applications. This paper presents the framework and its architecture, which is outlined along with the description of its components. We end by presenting an early evaluation of YanuX and by discussing the status of our work along with directions for further research.
Indoor Positioning System for Ubiquitous Computing Environments
Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning – IDEAL 2021, 2021
20th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, 2021
We live surrounded by the most varied computing devices, which may give us the opportunity to com... more We live surrounded by the most varied computing devices, which may give us the opportunity to combine them to form a unified and richer user experience. Considering this opportunity, we created the UnaxY Framework to support the development of applications with UI components distributed by co-located devices. This paper is focused on a feasibility study based on two prototype applications created using UnaxY. We performed user studies to evaluate concepts associated to this type of applications and the framework they were based on. We had a special interest in assessing how managing the application state and collaborating across devices would be perceived and received by users. The results are positive and clearly indicate that we should continue developing solutions that support a generalized implementation of applications with the user interaction spanning multiple devices.
Revista Interdisciplinar em Cultura e Sociedade, 2021
Services to Empower YOU” (SEU) responde a um desafio societal que visa fornecer a pessoas com de... more Services to Empower YOU” (SEU) responde a um desafio societal que visa fornecer a pessoas com deficiência ou incapacidade uma ferramenta agregadora e inclusiva através da qual possam requisitar com confiança serviços. Este artigo apresenta os resultados iniciais obtidos no projeto SEU que compreende o estudo da conceção e implementação de interfaces digitais adaptadas às necessidades específicas de cada utilizador, assim como o estudo de um modelo de negócio que permita aos prestadores de serviços fornecerem serviços para um público com características especiais. Partindo do levantamento das necessidades de pessoas com incapacidades e do estudo das normas de acessibilidade digital, especificou-se um Modelo de Adaptação para interfaces em função das características de cada tipo de utilizador e um Modelo de Serviços, que estende o modelo base de plataformas facilitadoras de serviços offline. Estes dois modelos foram aplicados no desenvolvimento do protótipo web apresentado.Palavras-...
Companion of the 2021 ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems, 2021
We designed a framework to generalize the development of applications with UI elements distribute... more We designed a framework to generalize the development of applications with UI elements distributed across co-located devices. The framework is comprised of diverse components in order to deal with the complexity of such a task, including: authentication and authorization services; a broker to sync information across multiple application instances; background services that gather the capabilities of the devices; an indoor positioning system to determine when devices are close to each other; and a library which helps integrating Web applications with the broker, determining which components to show based on UI requirements and device capabilities, and custom elements to manage the distribution of the UI components and the multiple UI application states. Collaboration is supported by sharing UI states with other users. • Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI); Ubiquitous and mobile computing; • Computer systems organization → Distributed architectures; • Software and its engineering → Software libraries and repositories; Development frameworks and environments.
Revista Interdisciplinar em Cultura e Sociedade, 2021
Services to Empower YOU” (SEU) responde a um desafio societal que visa fornecer a pessoas com de... more Services to Empower YOU” (SEU) responde a um desafio societal que visa fornecer a pessoas com deficiência ou incapacidade uma ferramenta agregadora e inclusiva através da qual possam requisitar com confiança serviços. Este artigo apresenta os resultados iniciais obtidos no projeto SEU que compreende o estudo da conceção e implementação de interfaces digitais adaptadas às necessidades específicas de cada utilizador, assim como o estudo de um modelo de negócio que permita aos prestadores de serviços fornecerem serviços para um público com características especiais. Partindo do levantamento das necessidades de pessoas com incapacidades e do estudo das normas de acessibilidade digital, especificou-se um Modelo de Adaptação para interfaces em função das características de cada tipo de utilizador e um Modelo de Serviços, que estende o modelo base de plataformas facilitadoras de serviços offline. Estes dois modelos foram aplicados no desenvolvimento do protótipo web apresentado.Palavras-...
MobiQuitous 2019 - 16th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services, 2019
We currently live surrounded by many different computing devices. Therefore, it is important to t... more We currently live surrounded by many different computing devices. Therefore, it is important to take better advantage of those devices by coming up with smart ways of integrating and combining them. We have been exploring the possibility of building applications that present user interfaces pervasively distributed across differ- ent co-located devices. We designed the YanuX framework, which generalizes and supports the development of this new type of appli- cations. A key issue is the automatic distribution of user interface (UI) components among co-located devices. We created the tools set needed to describe the capabilities of each of the devices present in the environment and the requirements of each of the applications’ components as configured by the developers. Restrictions of the components should match the capabilities of the devices leading to a UI component distribution decision that should reflect devel- opers’ intentions and expectations of the users. Besides detailing YanuX’s components, the paper also presents YouTube Viewer as a proof-of-concept application based on YanuX. The application was also used in a user study to evaluate the concept and the experi- ence supported by the framework. The results presented here are positive
MUM 2018 - Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia , 2018
We live surrounded by computing devices, but applications are mostly confined to run on a single ... more We live surrounded by computing devices, but applications are mostly confined to run on a single device. It should be possible to make better use of the multiple devices around us by coming up with ways of integrating and combining them, while leveraging the specific strengths of some devices and minimizing the individual weaknesses of others. We want to explore the possibility of building applications that have their user interface seamlessly distributed across co-located devices. We created the YanuX Framework to provide the guidelines and tools needed by developers to build those applications. This paper presents the framework and its architecture, which is outlined along with the description of its components. We end by presenting an early evaluation of YanuX and by discussing the status of our work along with directions for further research. CCS Concepts • Human-centered computing~User interface management systems • Human-centered computing~Ubiquitous and mobile computing theory, concepts and paradigms Author
EICS '17 - Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems , 2017
Nowadays we are surrounded by many different computing devices, but applications running on them ... more Nowadays we are surrounded by many different computing devices, but applications running on them are still largely independent. It should be possible to address this shortcoming to provide a better user experience. There is a lack of tools to realize this vision, so we aim to develop a framework that allows third-party developers to build applications that run across multiple co-located devices. Three key related work areas have been identified: proxemics, indoor positioning and multi-device applications. The work is under way to define the framework's architecture and the design of core components, as well as to develop a supporting indoor positioning solution. We will also be developing prototypes in order to perform usability tests to assess if this approach is beneficial to potential users.
Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing, 2014 IEEE 11th Intl Conf on and IEEE 11th Intl Conf on and Autonomic and Trusted Computing, and IEEE 14th Intl Conf on Scalable Computing and Communications and Its Associated Workshops (UTC-ATC-ScalCom)
Ubiquitous computing is strongly centered on the human, aiming to provide the right information t... more Ubiquitous computing is strongly centered on the human, aiming to provide the right information through personalized interfaces and services in context of use to the applications users. We envision a ubiquitous computing based world in which a generic personalization model is applied to different applications, even if from different domains. The model is the core of a cloud-based platform, which guides developers by providing services to help them in the implementation of personalized solutions. Moreover, end-users will be less bothered when starting to use a new application, which already might know something about them in order to automatically adapt itself to the users' preferences and needs. A user's interactions with an application A might be useful to know how to personalize her experience when interacting with an application B. This paper presents the X-Users based solution in order to reach that vision, giving special attention to the personalization modeling. Important contributions of the paper are also two case studies that illustrate how X-Users can be used to help personalizing systems.
Proceeding MOBIQUITOUS '14 Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services, 2014
We propose a platform with the goal of helping developers when they need to apply personalization... more We propose a platform with the goal of helping developers when they need to apply personalization to ubiquitous computing applications, ranging from simple mobile apps to rich multimodal systems. The platform's core is a general personalization model, which provides the orientation and required tools to simplify and accelerate the creation of personalized applications. It also includes a context-aware clustering module fed by user data and context data in order to obtain users profiles for each personalization.
Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing, 2013 IEEE 10th International Conference on and 10th International Conference on Autonomic and Trusted Computing (UIC/ATC)
The last years created a solid opportunity to realize an important vision of ubiquitous computing... more The last years created a solid opportunity to realize an important vision of ubiquitous computing, which is the seamless and pervasive integration of mobile and fixed infrastructures to support everyday tasks. Nowadays, mobile devices are essential tools for developed countries' daily living, while situated large displays are being widely deployed in public areas, shops, and private institutions. This paper describes the issues surrounding the interaction approaches and the technologies we are using to study how to enhance the user experience when mobile displays meet the larger situated displays. We describe FCT4U, a public situated display based system that is used to present additional relevant information to users at a Faculty campus. The system proactively displays information tailored to the users that are recognized in its area of action. A mobile application was developed for active and direct user interaction with the display. A platform for personalization is also introduced. The paper presents a user study conducted to assess and validate the project's purpose and its different interaction modes in order to enhance the user experience.
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Papers by Pedro Albuquerque Santos