Smart cities aim to increase citizens’ quality of life by employing technology. Education is one ... more Smart cities aim to increase citizens’ quality of life by employing technology. Education is one of the areas of focus in smart cities and in this context, smart education is a term used to refer to education provided by smart cities. As research in this area has expanded recently as shown by the number of literature reviews in a smart city context, a review could help summarize existing directions focusing in this case on education in the smart cities context. As our understanding on negative consequences is limited, this research will address this knowledge gap by concentrating on challenges and difficulties when it comes to education in smart cities. The articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science were review and a qualitative analysis of the articles fitting our research criteria was done. Three themes were identified: shortcomings on the existing educational initiatives to address the needs of smart cities, negative consequences of smart city education in other areas and problems that arise as a result of employing technology in education.
Engaging citizens with digital technology to co-create data, information and knowledge has widely... more Engaging citizens with digital technology to co-create data, information and knowledge has widely become an important strategy for informing the policy response to COVID-19 and the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation in cyberspace. This move towards digital citizen participation aligns well with the United Nations’ agenda to encourage the use of digital tools to enable data-driven, direct democracy. From data capture to information generation, and knowledge co-creation, every stage of the data lifecycle bears important considerations to inform policy and practice. Drawing on evidence of participatory policy and practice during COVID-19, we outline a framework for citizen ‘e-participation’ in knowledge co-creation across every stage of the policy cycle. We explore how coupling the generation of information with that of social capital can provide opportunities to collectively build trust in institutions, accelerate recovery and …
This work studies the role of a human instructor within an immersive VR lesson. Our system allows... more This work studies the role of a human instructor within an immersive VR lesson. Our system allows the instructor to perform “contact teaching” by demonstrating concepts through interaction with the environment, and the student to experiment with interaction prompts. We conducted a between-subjects user study with two groups of students: one experienced the VR lesson while immersed together with an instructor; the other experienced the same contents demonstrated through animation sequences simulating the actions that the instructor would take. Results show that the Two-User version received significantly higher scores than the Single-User version in terms of overall preference, clarity, and helpfulness of the explanations. When immersed together with an instructor, users were more inclined to engage and progress further with the interaction prompts, than when the instructor was absent. Based on the analysis of videos and interviews, we identified design recommendations for future immersive VR educational experiences.
International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR), 2017
This preliminary study explored the possibility of influencing participant's navigation when pres... more This preliminary study explored the possibility of influencing participant's navigation when presented with 5 binary choices. Each participant experienced one trial of the 5 fixed ordered conditions. A think-aloud protocol and questionnaires were used to understand perception and behaviour. We conclude with suggestions of further research of understanding visual aesthetics and their influence of human movement behaviour on patient's navigation.
International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies, 2016
Virtual rehabilitation often incorporates an element of travel in a virtual environment. Whether ... more Virtual rehabilitation often incorporates an element of travel in a virtual environment. Whether patients are transported automatically through the environment, or whether they have navigational control, it is important to understand how the design of the environment itself can supply navigational cues, and how the processing of these cues may influence perception, behaviour and task performance. This paper explores the literature, which might inform application design, and presents a case study using a think-aloud protocol to explore the perception of users to visual cues within a running game. We conclude with some preliminary suggestions for positive and negative navigational cues.
Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 2017
Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem and changes are needed in the way antibiotics are us... more Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem and changes are needed in the way antibiotics are used. The value of engaging children as key contributors in health care campaigns to increase the appropriate use of antibiotics has not been fully recognized. Little is known about how to design educational materials for children in order to enable them to be agents of change in their communities. Science education needs to improve the way it engages children so as to give them the tools needed to make responsible decisions on antibiotic use.
International Journal of Engineering Education, 2018
The impact of federally supported STEM education research is difficult to document, because knowl... more The impact of federally supported STEM education research is difficult to document, because knowledge resulting from research is deeply embedded in complex networks of social interactions, structures and artifacts. DIA2 is a web-based search and visualization tool designed to make knowledge associated with NSF-funded projects more accessible to the STEM education scholarly community. No studies have communicated its value to the community it was designed to serve. This study investigates users’ perceptions of DIA2’s usefulness for carrying out teaching, research, and administrative duties. Using a qualitative interpretivist approach, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 89 principal investigators on NSF-funded grants. We used thematic analysis, and interpreted the results using the Distributed Cognition and the Affordances of Information and Communications Technology frameworks. Results indicated ten ways DIA2 is valuable for carrying out a spectrum of routine scholarly activities, including initiating research collaborations, preparing promotion and tenure documents, and informing strategic decisions. With increased accessibility to the knowledge DIA2 provides, we are better equipped to characterize the impact of federally supported STEM education R&D.
Characterizing the existing funding portfolio of a federal agency is difficult due to the number,... more Characterizing the existing funding portfolio of a federal agency is difficult due to the number, complexity, and diversity of funded projects and associated metadata. Determining the impact of a funded project can be even more challenging, especially in terms of qualifying the return on investment of the research activity. Deep Insights Anywhere, Anytime (DIA2) is an interactive data-mining and Web-based visualization platform that makes it easy to access and understand funding portfolios. The authors performed an assessment of DIA2's usability and asked users at the US National Science Foundation how DIA2 can provide meaningful representations that contribute to determining the impact of a research portfolio. Their results show that DIA2 has good usability, and the study participants identified several indicators of impact as a result of the visualizations that can be realized through DIA2.
Mobile devices are omnipresent in one’s life leaping developed and developing worlds and leading ... more Mobile devices are omnipresent in one’s life leaping developed and developing worlds and leading to interest among researchers on how to use them for learning purposes. This article presents the results of a survey that aims to better understand the use of mobile phones for educational purposes. The results show that 54% of the participants use mobile Internet from their phone the most cited reason being the cost. A total of 30% use their mobile phone for learning purposes and 69% have mobile devices that would allow them to watch video content. The results of people’s preferences for specific types of educational media are also presented.
The study reported in this chapter evaluates how the Customer Experience Management System (CEMS)... more The study reported in this chapter evaluates how the Customer Experience Management System (CEMS) used by a University's Student Support Services (StuSS) responds to the objectives of capturing, storing, extracting, interpreting, distributing, using and reporting customer experience information for creating organisational value. Theoretically, the study draws on the concept of organizational ambidexterity. Concerning the research design, the study was undertaken using qualitative methods of data collection and interpretivist methods of data analysis. It has been inductively discovered that the availability of customer experience information obtained through the CEMS allows StuSS to respond effectively to different student needs. Organizationally, there is clarity concerning the ownership and management of customer relationships. Individual student data is collected, coordinated and distributed across lines of business. Because of this, StuSS is able to consistently identify customers across touch points and channels. Further suggestions are advanced to improve StuSS's analytical investigation capability to derive descriptive and predictive customer information, through applying data mining models to the information that is currently collected.
In a world increasingly awash in information, the field of information science has become an umbr... more In a world increasingly awash in information, the field of information science has become an umbrella stretched so broadly as to threaten its own integrity. However, while traditional information science seeks to make sense of information systems against a social, cultural, and political backdrop, there exists a lack of current literature exploring how such transactions can exert force in the other direction—that is, how information systems mold the individuals who utilize them and society as a whole.
The Handbook of Research on Innovations in Information Retrieval, Analysis, and Management explores new developments in the field of information and communication technologies and explores how complex information systems interact with and affect one another, woven into the fabric of an information-rich world. Touching on such topics as machine learning, research methodologies, and mobile data aggregation, this book targets an audience of researchers, developers, managers, strategic planners, and advanced-level students.
This handbook contains chapters on topics including, but not limited to, customer experience management, information systems planning, cellular networking, public policy development, and knowledge governance.
International Conference on Digital Public Health, 2019
GADSA (Gamified Antimicrobial Stewardship Decision Support App) is a decision support tool to imp... more GADSA (Gamified Antimicrobial Stewardship Decision Support App) is a decision support tool to improve evidence-based prescribing, designed to be used at the point-of-care to help clinicians comply with guidelines in their everyday practice. The app represents a novel cross-platform, mobile decision support tool, integrating principles from serious games and gamification, to improve compliance with prescription guidelines of Surgical Antibiotic Prophylaxis (SAP) in Nigeria. This paper focuses on the decision support component of the mobile application, integrating the World Health Organisation and Sanford guidelines for SAP prescriptions.
International Conference on Digital Public Health, 2019
This survey study considers the state of the art of participatory research approaches using serio... more This survey study considers the state of the art of participatory research approaches using serious games to improve public health. It provides perspectives on existing research and future directions.
In this research, we study the use of interactive digital storytelling in teaching microbiology. ... more In this research, we study the use of interactive digital storytelling in teaching microbiology. More specifically, we carried out an exploratory study assessing the effect of using the gamification of an interactive digital storytelling on classroom dynamics and students' interaction. The results show that the presence of gamification led to an increase in classroom discussions and in students' engagement with the learning objectives taught by the interactive digital storytelling.
Edugames4all MicrobeQuest! is a mobile game that aims to teach microbiology and create awareness ... more Edugames4all MicrobeQuest! is a mobile game that aims to teach microbiology and create awareness about important healthcare issues among 9 to 12 years old. This article presents the game, discusses the game design and integration of the learning objectives into the game mechanics. A pilot study has been performed to assess the game effectiveness in teaching the learning objectives integrated into the game. The study showed that the game can teach the learning objectives, however, the knowledge difference has not been statistically significant across all three learning objectives.
IEEE 18th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2018
Serious games have the potential to complement existing teaching methods by motivating and provid... more Serious games have the potential to complement existing teaching methods by motivating and providing a more enjoyable experience for the players or by simulating events that would be otherwise difficult to reproduce in the classroom. Despite their potential, little is known about how the games could be used not only for teaching but also as assessment tools. This research addresses this gap. We present an in-game assessment method which assesses the learning objectives included in the game without the need for a separate intervention. We evaluate the proposed method and we show that there is no statistically significant difference in participants being assessed through a questionnaire outside the game and the integrated game assessment method. Moreover, we looked at whether the player experience has been affected by the changes needed in the game design and the players' preferences for different types of assessment. Most participants preferred being assessed through the game. They also felt that the assessment has overall improved their game experience.
Smart cities aim to increase citizens’ quality of life by employing technology. Education is one ... more Smart cities aim to increase citizens’ quality of life by employing technology. Education is one of the areas of focus in smart cities and in this context, smart education is a term used to refer to education provided by smart cities. As research in this area has expanded recently as shown by the number of literature reviews in a smart city context, a review could help summarize existing directions focusing in this case on education in the smart cities context. As our understanding on negative consequences is limited, this research will address this knowledge gap by concentrating on challenges and difficulties when it comes to education in smart cities. The articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science were review and a qualitative analysis of the articles fitting our research criteria was done. Three themes were identified: shortcomings on the existing educational initiatives to address the needs of smart cities, negative consequences of smart city education in other areas and problems that arise as a result of employing technology in education.
Engaging citizens with digital technology to co-create data, information and knowledge has widely... more Engaging citizens with digital technology to co-create data, information and knowledge has widely become an important strategy for informing the policy response to COVID-19 and the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation in cyberspace. This move towards digital citizen participation aligns well with the United Nations’ agenda to encourage the use of digital tools to enable data-driven, direct democracy. From data capture to information generation, and knowledge co-creation, every stage of the data lifecycle bears important considerations to inform policy and practice. Drawing on evidence of participatory policy and practice during COVID-19, we outline a framework for citizen ‘e-participation’ in knowledge co-creation across every stage of the policy cycle. We explore how coupling the generation of information with that of social capital can provide opportunities to collectively build trust in institutions, accelerate recovery and …
This work studies the role of a human instructor within an immersive VR lesson. Our system allows... more This work studies the role of a human instructor within an immersive VR lesson. Our system allows the instructor to perform “contact teaching” by demonstrating concepts through interaction with the environment, and the student to experiment with interaction prompts. We conducted a between-subjects user study with two groups of students: one experienced the VR lesson while immersed together with an instructor; the other experienced the same contents demonstrated through animation sequences simulating the actions that the instructor would take. Results show that the Two-User version received significantly higher scores than the Single-User version in terms of overall preference, clarity, and helpfulness of the explanations. When immersed together with an instructor, users were more inclined to engage and progress further with the interaction prompts, than when the instructor was absent. Based on the analysis of videos and interviews, we identified design recommendations for future immersive VR educational experiences.
International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR), 2017
This preliminary study explored the possibility of influencing participant's navigation when pres... more This preliminary study explored the possibility of influencing participant's navigation when presented with 5 binary choices. Each participant experienced one trial of the 5 fixed ordered conditions. A think-aloud protocol and questionnaires were used to understand perception and behaviour. We conclude with suggestions of further research of understanding visual aesthetics and their influence of human movement behaviour on patient's navigation.
International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies, 2016
Virtual rehabilitation often incorporates an element of travel in a virtual environment. Whether ... more Virtual rehabilitation often incorporates an element of travel in a virtual environment. Whether patients are transported automatically through the environment, or whether they have navigational control, it is important to understand how the design of the environment itself can supply navigational cues, and how the processing of these cues may influence perception, behaviour and task performance. This paper explores the literature, which might inform application design, and presents a case study using a think-aloud protocol to explore the perception of users to visual cues within a running game. We conclude with some preliminary suggestions for positive and negative navigational cues.
Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 2017
Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem and changes are needed in the way antibiotics are us... more Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem and changes are needed in the way antibiotics are used. The value of engaging children as key contributors in health care campaigns to increase the appropriate use of antibiotics has not been fully recognized. Little is known about how to design educational materials for children in order to enable them to be agents of change in their communities. Science education needs to improve the way it engages children so as to give them the tools needed to make responsible decisions on antibiotic use.
International Journal of Engineering Education, 2018
The impact of federally supported STEM education research is difficult to document, because knowl... more The impact of federally supported STEM education research is difficult to document, because knowledge resulting from research is deeply embedded in complex networks of social interactions, structures and artifacts. DIA2 is a web-based search and visualization tool designed to make knowledge associated with NSF-funded projects more accessible to the STEM education scholarly community. No studies have communicated its value to the community it was designed to serve. This study investigates users’ perceptions of DIA2’s usefulness for carrying out teaching, research, and administrative duties. Using a qualitative interpretivist approach, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 89 principal investigators on NSF-funded grants. We used thematic analysis, and interpreted the results using the Distributed Cognition and the Affordances of Information and Communications Technology frameworks. Results indicated ten ways DIA2 is valuable for carrying out a spectrum of routine scholarly activities, including initiating research collaborations, preparing promotion and tenure documents, and informing strategic decisions. With increased accessibility to the knowledge DIA2 provides, we are better equipped to characterize the impact of federally supported STEM education R&D.
Characterizing the existing funding portfolio of a federal agency is difficult due to the number,... more Characterizing the existing funding portfolio of a federal agency is difficult due to the number, complexity, and diversity of funded projects and associated metadata. Determining the impact of a funded project can be even more challenging, especially in terms of qualifying the return on investment of the research activity. Deep Insights Anywhere, Anytime (DIA2) is an interactive data-mining and Web-based visualization platform that makes it easy to access and understand funding portfolios. The authors performed an assessment of DIA2's usability and asked users at the US National Science Foundation how DIA2 can provide meaningful representations that contribute to determining the impact of a research portfolio. Their results show that DIA2 has good usability, and the study participants identified several indicators of impact as a result of the visualizations that can be realized through DIA2.
Mobile devices are omnipresent in one’s life leaping developed and developing worlds and leading ... more Mobile devices are omnipresent in one’s life leaping developed and developing worlds and leading to interest among researchers on how to use them for learning purposes. This article presents the results of a survey that aims to better understand the use of mobile phones for educational purposes. The results show that 54% of the participants use mobile Internet from their phone the most cited reason being the cost. A total of 30% use their mobile phone for learning purposes and 69% have mobile devices that would allow them to watch video content. The results of people’s preferences for specific types of educational media are also presented.
The study reported in this chapter evaluates how the Customer Experience Management System (CEMS)... more The study reported in this chapter evaluates how the Customer Experience Management System (CEMS) used by a University's Student Support Services (StuSS) responds to the objectives of capturing, storing, extracting, interpreting, distributing, using and reporting customer experience information for creating organisational value. Theoretically, the study draws on the concept of organizational ambidexterity. Concerning the research design, the study was undertaken using qualitative methods of data collection and interpretivist methods of data analysis. It has been inductively discovered that the availability of customer experience information obtained through the CEMS allows StuSS to respond effectively to different student needs. Organizationally, there is clarity concerning the ownership and management of customer relationships. Individual student data is collected, coordinated and distributed across lines of business. Because of this, StuSS is able to consistently identify customers across touch points and channels. Further suggestions are advanced to improve StuSS's analytical investigation capability to derive descriptive and predictive customer information, through applying data mining models to the information that is currently collected.
In a world increasingly awash in information, the field of information science has become an umbr... more In a world increasingly awash in information, the field of information science has become an umbrella stretched so broadly as to threaten its own integrity. However, while traditional information science seeks to make sense of information systems against a social, cultural, and political backdrop, there exists a lack of current literature exploring how such transactions can exert force in the other direction—that is, how information systems mold the individuals who utilize them and society as a whole.
The Handbook of Research on Innovations in Information Retrieval, Analysis, and Management explores new developments in the field of information and communication technologies and explores how complex information systems interact with and affect one another, woven into the fabric of an information-rich world. Touching on such topics as machine learning, research methodologies, and mobile data aggregation, this book targets an audience of researchers, developers, managers, strategic planners, and advanced-level students.
This handbook contains chapters on topics including, but not limited to, customer experience management, information systems planning, cellular networking, public policy development, and knowledge governance.
International Conference on Digital Public Health, 2019
GADSA (Gamified Antimicrobial Stewardship Decision Support App) is a decision support tool to imp... more GADSA (Gamified Antimicrobial Stewardship Decision Support App) is a decision support tool to improve evidence-based prescribing, designed to be used at the point-of-care to help clinicians comply with guidelines in their everyday practice. The app represents a novel cross-platform, mobile decision support tool, integrating principles from serious games and gamification, to improve compliance with prescription guidelines of Surgical Antibiotic Prophylaxis (SAP) in Nigeria. This paper focuses on the decision support component of the mobile application, integrating the World Health Organisation and Sanford guidelines for SAP prescriptions.
International Conference on Digital Public Health, 2019
This survey study considers the state of the art of participatory research approaches using serio... more This survey study considers the state of the art of participatory research approaches using serious games to improve public health. It provides perspectives on existing research and future directions.
In this research, we study the use of interactive digital storytelling in teaching microbiology. ... more In this research, we study the use of interactive digital storytelling in teaching microbiology. More specifically, we carried out an exploratory study assessing the effect of using the gamification of an interactive digital storytelling on classroom dynamics and students' interaction. The results show that the presence of gamification led to an increase in classroom discussions and in students' engagement with the learning objectives taught by the interactive digital storytelling.
Edugames4all MicrobeQuest! is a mobile game that aims to teach microbiology and create awareness ... more Edugames4all MicrobeQuest! is a mobile game that aims to teach microbiology and create awareness about important healthcare issues among 9 to 12 years old. This article presents the game, discusses the game design and integration of the learning objectives into the game mechanics. A pilot study has been performed to assess the game effectiveness in teaching the learning objectives integrated into the game. The study showed that the game can teach the learning objectives, however, the knowledge difference has not been statistically significant across all three learning objectives.
IEEE 18th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2018
Serious games have the potential to complement existing teaching methods by motivating and provid... more Serious games have the potential to complement existing teaching methods by motivating and providing a more enjoyable experience for the players or by simulating events that would be otherwise difficult to reproduce in the classroom. Despite their potential, little is known about how the games could be used not only for teaching but also as assessment tools. This research addresses this gap. We present an in-game assessment method which assesses the learning objectives included in the game without the need for a separate intervention. We evaluate the proposed method and we show that there is no statistically significant difference in participants being assessed through a questionnaire outside the game and the integrated game assessment method. Moreover, we looked at whether the player experience has been affected by the changes needed in the game design and the players' preferences for different types of assessment. Most participants preferred being assessed through the game. They also felt that the assessment has overall improved their game experience.
Mobile Apps Engineering Design, Development, Security, and Testing, 2018
Teaching children about responsible antibiotic use and infection prevention and control using ser... more Teaching children about responsible antibiotic use and infection prevention and control using serious games could well help in educating future antibiotics users and contribute to reducing the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance. This chapter will present edugames4all MicrobeQuest!, a mobile game that teaches children about microbe transmission, hygiene, and responsible antibiotic use. The chapter describes how the game was designed and learning objectives were included in the game mechanics using the so-called seamless evaluation approach. It also presents the result of a study assessing the usability of the mobile game and children's enjoyment with the game.
In this paper we present an Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) formalisation that captures th... more In this paper we present an Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) formalisation that captures the IDS logic constraints. This was implemented in a game engine and an authoring tool was created to facilitate the development of IDS based games. We created several IDS based games using the proposed engine and authoring tool. They were used as case studies in this research. We also present some of the challenges we encountered once the games were implemented and how we addressed them.
Bulletin of the IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technology, 2017
In this research we present an authoring environment, Edu-Interact, that supports the creation of... more In this research we present an authoring environment, Edu-Interact, that supports the creation of adaptive interactive digital storytelling based games. Edu-Interact allows to design a story that seamlessly evaluates the student knowledge, performs subsequent adaptation of the digital storytelling, and provides summative assessment. The authoring environment allows also to assign weights to different concepts the student could accumulate through the interaction with the storytelling. This can provide a score that could be used as a means of gamifying the interactive digital storytelling, or provide teachers or other stakeholders with feedback on the student performance.
Antibiotic resistance is an increasingly global problem that requires different approaches to be ... more Antibiotic resistance is an increasingly global problem that requires different approaches to be undertaken. This article argues that games could be used to complement existing antibiotic-resistance awareness campaigns as they have several characteristics that could help people engage with information.
The advent of feature phones in emerging economies makes them an ideal tool to be used for facili... more The advent of feature phones in emerging economies makes them an ideal tool to be used for facilitating and complementing education performed in a formal environment (i.e. schools). However most of the proposed applications do not take into account the wishes of the teachers to customise the applications for student needs, or easiness to re-create and personalise the educational content. In this paper, we extend the state of the art by presenting the evaluation of EducaMovil, a platform aimed at easing the creating of educational games that allows teachers to customise or create entirely new educational content by being agnostic of the underlying implementation of the games. Teachers have successfully been using EducaMovil to create educational content for mobile games that were later on used by the students both in formal (i.e. classroom) and informal environments (i.e. outside the classroom).
In this paper we present an Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) formalisation that captures t... more In this paper we present an Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) formalisation that captures the IDS logic constraints. This was implemented in a game engine and an authoring tool was created to facilitate the development of IDS based games. We created several IDS based games using the proposed engine and authoring tool. They were used as case studies in this research. We also present some of the challenges we encountered once the games were implemented and how we addressed them.
Little research in Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) has been given to writing stories that ... more Little research in Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) has been given to writing stories that convey a set of Learning Objectives (LOs). This is particularly important for educational IDS games. In this paper we propose the STAR framework for formalizing the design of IDS stories for educational interventions. The story is designed as a set of red-herrings and clue puzzle in which the LOs are integrated. We present one of the three IDSes we designed based on this framework; we use one as a case study and present its evaluation. A study was undertaken to evaluate the game effectiveness in conveying the educational message. This study performed with 145 players shows that the players’ knowledge improved as a result of playing the game and that the change was statistically significant.
This paper presents a work in progress focused on facilitation of cross-cultural awareness betwee... more This paper presents a work in progress focused on facilitation of cross-cultural awareness between citizens of two European cities. We aim to engage visitors of telecom museums in Athens and Luxembourg to learn more about both cities by means of collaborative games played on multitouch tables. We also explore how live video-to-video streaming influences players’ behaviour and collaboration with remote players.
Serious games have recently enjoyed unprecedented interest
among researchers. Despite the fact ... more Serious games have recently enjoyed unprecedented interest
among researchers. Despite the fact that the main focus of this
domain remains on player entertainment and engagement, serious
games have established themselves as an alternative educational
paradigm. However, little interest has been given to investigating
methods for the assessment of their effectiveness. Game
evaluation focus remains on investigating usability and technical
aspects. Those attempting to evaluate the educational impact
typically rely on traditional questionnaires that typically
negatively affecting user immersion and the overall game
enjoyment. Among game genres, Interactive Digital Storytelling
(IDS) is a fast growing genre that merges computer games,
multimedia and cinematic storytelling with entertaining education.
Like any other teaching intervention, educational IDS’s have to be
evaluated against a defined set of Learning Objectives (LOs). In
this paper we present a User-Centred Seamless Evaluation
Framework for IDS games and describe the algorithm for the
integration of knowledge assessment to measure knowledge
improvement against given LOs without affecting player
enjoyment. We implement this algorithm in an educational game
and show that the framework has been perceived by the majority
of the players as a positive enhancement to the game, 94% of the
participants reported preferring this form of assessment as
opposed to the more “traditional” methods. Statistically significant
knowledge improvements were obtained after the game play.
IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2013
As serious games are emerging as a new educational paradigm, it is increasingly important to unde... more As serious games are emerging as a new educational paradigm, it is increasingly important to understand how to integrate educational content into the games, and what elements of the game make learning more effective. This research proposes to add to the work in the area by examining whether learning objectives delivered through the game narratives as text, or learning objectives delivered through game mechanics provide a more effective way of integrating educational content in a game. In order to investigate this question, we designed a study to evaluate two types of participants that were divided into two groups to take part in complementary versions of the game. Participants are asked to play a game in which learning objectives are delivered either through text or game mechanics. An evaluation was performed with 60 participants. The results show that for one of the learning objectives, the participants learn more when the educational content was integrated through the game mechanics and that the difference between the group that learns through text and the one that learned through the game mechanics is statistically significant. For the rest of the learning objectives covered, no statistically significant difference was obtained between the two ways of integrating the learning objectives.
The current global pandemic crisis has unquestionably disrupted the higher education sector, forc... more The current global pandemic crisis has unquestionably disrupted the higher education sector, forcing educational institutions to rapidly embrace technology-enhanced learning. However, the COVID-19 containment measures that forced people to work or stay at home, have determined a significant increase in the Internet traffic that puts tremendous pressure on the underlying network infrastructure. This affects negatively content delivery and consequently user perceived quality, especially for video-based services. Focusing on this problem, this paper proposes a machine learning-based resource allocation solution that improves the quality of video services for increased number of viewers. The solution is deployed and tested in an educational context, demonstrating its benefit in terms of major quality of service parameters for various video content, in comparison with existing state of the art. Moreover, a discussion on how the technology is helping to mitigate the effects of massively increasing Internet traffic on the video quality in an educational context is also presented.
16th International Conference on Advances in Mobile Computing and Multimedia, 2018
Video content is increasingly used in education. At the same time, students are using mobile devi... more Video content is increasingly used in education. At the same time, students are using mobile devices to access educational content or watched video clips which have an informative purpose. Video content, when being accessed on mobile devices, is often adapted to meet the network or mobile device characteristics. The adaptation can not only affect the user experience, but also the capability to assimilate information from the video clips. This research explores how different content types affect the information assimilation when they are adapted. We organised an experimental study considering different quality levels and four video content types: a mini-lecture, a demonstration, an interview and a scenario. We also explore how video quality is affected by the proposed content types.
Paving the Way for 5G Through the Convergence of Wireless Systems, 2019
The increase in multimedia traffic is likely to pose challenges for the 5G networks. The data bun... more The increase in multimedia traffic is likely to pose challenges for the 5G networks. The data bundles are likely to increase but also open the door to new applications which will increase the data consumption. This chapter discusses how multimedia adaptation could be improved in this context by considering the user and the contextual factors for multimedia adaptation. This could be used to deliver a more accurate trade-off between quality and price. As a result, this could reduce the network consumptions, reduce the cost the user has to pay, and improve user satisfaction with the multimedia services.
The increased usage of mobile devices for learning purposes raises several concerns regarding how... more The increased usage of mobile devices for learning purposes raises several concerns regarding how this adaptation affects learning and perceived quality of educational content across different screen resolutions. This research looks into how educational content type and video adaptation affect the perceived quality of multimedia educational content on two different mobile devices. We consider seven different categories of educational content: slideshow, screencast, presentation, lab demo, interview, documentary, and animation. The results show that the participants could learn regardless of the video content type and the adapted version of the video. We found no statistical significant difference between the perceived quality of the highest quality video and the lower quality video for two of the categories (lab demo and interview) and statistical significant difference on the remaining ones. The implications of this study are also discussed.
The increased usage of mobile devices for learning purposes raises several concerns regarding how... more The increased usage of mobile devices for learning purposes raises several concerns regarding how this adaptation affects learning and perceived quality of educationalcontent across different screen resolutions. This research looks into how educational contenttype and video adaptation affect the perceived quality of multimedia educational content on two different mobile devices. We consider seven different categories of educational content: slideshow, screencast, presentation, lab demo, interview, documentary, and animation.The results show that the participants could learn regardless of the video content type andthe adapted version of the video. We found no statistical significant difference between the perceived quality of the highest quality video and the lower quality video for two of thecategories (lab demo and interview) and statistical significant difference on the remainingones. The implications of this study are also discussed.
IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo
People increasingly use their mobile phones and mobile data to access different media types, incl... more People increasingly use their mobile phones and mobile data to access different media types, including video. Due to mobile phone limitations, but also due to the scarce bandwidth on mobile networks, video content is often adapted to fit with these requirements by reducing its quality. In this study we look into how the user preference for a certain multimedia content (e.g. video, audio, text and images or only text) and the usage of mobile data affects user preference for video quality. The results show a statistically significant difference in the video quality preference only for participants who reported that video is one of the preferred multimedia content types, and the ones who did not. We also discuss how these results could be used for multimedia streaming and in telecommunications marketing research to improve user experience and increase network operators and content provider revenues.
Despite extensive research regarding the user willingness to pay under different billing plans an... more Despite extensive research regarding the user willingness to pay under different billing plans and prices it is still unclear how users choose a preferred video quality under existing mobile data plans. This is especially important as the usage of adaptive video delivery servers that make use of different video quality levels is increasing. This study presents the results of assessing user preferences for video quality under three different mobile data billing plans. The results show that the user choice of different quality of video content depends on the billing plans used. It also shows that in the case when the mobile data plan is capped but the user has the possibility to pay extra for the exceeding quantity, s/he will choose higher video quality compared to the same plan in which the bandwidth is throttled when the bandwidth is exceeded. No correlation was found between the user choices and age or gender.
Journal of Universal Computer Science, Jul 1, 2015
When using mobile phones for learning purpose, video content is considered to be the preferred ty... more When using mobile phones for learning purpose, video content is considered to be the preferred type of multimedia content. However, the video file has a big size in comparison to text or audio and might lead to a high delivery cost when transmitted over a mobile network, a cost that not all users are willing to pay. Concerns regarding the monetary cost for accessing data content through mobile networks have been raised by various researchers. A solution that considers the user preference for trading off between video quality and price in order to reduce the content delivery cost is presented. This paper also evaluates the proposed solution and presents the results of an experimental study that assesses the video content adaptation impact on information assimilation. The results show that although video quality is reduced information assimilation is not negatively affected by the adaptation. This holds true regardless of the mobile device used in the study.
Mobile Internet and mobile services that make use of mobile data are increasingly popular. Howeve... more Mobile Internet and mobile services that make use of mobile data are increasingly popular. However, the cost of content delivery, in particular, multimedia type content over cellular networks is still high and poses a challenge for some users who are not necessarily willing or cannot afford to pay too much for it. The problem is further exacerbated when video content is used, as this type of content is heavier and can lead to higher bills. In this context, this paper presents a novel cost-oriented adaptive multimedia delivery (COMEDY) mechanism that considers the user's willingness to pay for a certain video quality and user's mobile device characteristics to deliver adaptive multimedia content over wireless connection. The goal of the mechanism is to reduce the cost of multimedia delivery for users that are not willing to pay that much. The mechanism is evaluated both through objective and subjective studies. The evaluation shows that the proposed mechanism provides a reduction in the price paid for accessing multimedia content, and the user's perceived quality is not negatively affected.
With the increasing usage of multimedia in education, videos in particular, the delivery of conte... more With the increasing usage of multimedia in education, videos in particular, the delivery of content becomes difficult on low bandwidth networks. Conversely, the authoring of adaptable courses is still very difficult and time-consuming and no adaptation strategies for multimedia transmission customised for learner have been proposed so far. This paper presents two Quality of Experience aware reusable adaptable strategies for authoring adaptive and personalised content. These strategies are used by an author to specify adaptation rules in order to improve the quality of the educational material delivered to the learner. They are appropriate for any personalised learning environment that also caters for optimal media transmission.
China-Ireland International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies, 2009
The increased affordability of mobile devices combined with the availability of the latest wirele... more The increased affordability of mobile devices combined with the availability of the latest wireless technologies have made mobile devices an attractive tool for learning. Nowadays learners can choose between multiple wireless networks with different characteristics, belonging to the same or to different mobile operators. Unfortunately, the Internet billing plans are still difficult to predict and control by most users. This paper presents an algorithm which aims to determine the best network, from a list of available ones (in terms of price), for delivering the selected educational content.
Intelligent and Adaptive Learning Systems: …, Jan 1, 2011
Abstract Today, mobile devices have become an integral part of their possessor's lif... more Abstract Today, mobile devices have become an integral part of their possessor's life. Learning using mobile devices has the advantage of receiving educational content at the moment when it is actually needed, or when the learner feels like s/he is able to study. ...
The high usage of multimedia content in daily activities has put strains on the network operators... more The high usage of multimedia content in daily activities has put strains on the network operators as the transmitted content can lead to network congestion. In an effort to control and reduce the traffic, network operators have capped their billing plans. A capped billing plan may require the user to pay extra money when exceeding the quota, and this can result in undesirably high bills for the mobile users. A solution that has been shown to reduce the size of transmitted data and also addresses user needs in terms of billing cost was presented in Molnar and Muntean (2013a). This solution involves personalising the multimedia content based on the user attitude towards risk. It makes use of a model that assesses the user attitude towards risk by considering the user age, gender, and risk attitude self-assessment. The research presented in this chapter adds to the state of the art by presenting an improvement to the user risk attitude model (Molnar & Muntean, 2012) that takes into account the user context (e.g. whether the user uses the roaming service or not, the current data consumption) as well as the user input. The improved model may be used to provide a more accurate trade-off: quality vs. price (Molnar & Muntean, 2013a) and this leads to an increase in user satisfaction and better service quality.
Purpose
– Multimedia content that is accessible through mobile devices has a larger size than oth... more Purpose – Multimedia content that is accessible through mobile devices has a larger size than other types of content (e.g. text, images). This may lead to higher prices for accessing the content via mobile devices, as mobile operators are capping mobile data billing plans in an effort to increase their revenues and prevent congestion. This poses problems for the users that are not willing/do not afford to pay the required price but still want to use multimedia content through the mobile networks. A price reduction for the user, as well as minimising bandwidth consumption can be obtained as a trade-off in multimedia quality. However, as previous research shows, not all people are willing to trade-off quality for a lower price; therefore, there is no straightforward approach to this problem. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to present a model of user willingness to pay for multimedia content quality as a function of the user risk attitude with the aim to provide personalised content depending on the user willingness to trade-off price for multimedia content quality.
Design/methodology/approach – A user model was proposed based on a literature review and an existing data set. A stereotypical approach was used where users are divided in two groups: risk averse and risk seekers. An experimental study involving six scenarios was used to validate the findings.
Findings – The results of the evaluation show that for the proposed user risk model, risk seekers preferred to pay for multimedia quality, whereas risk adverse users preferred to switch to a lower multimedia quality when monetary cost is involved. However, when the mobile data billing plan had the bandwidth limited, rather than a higher price to be paid when the bundle quantity was exceeded, the risk averse people’s preference for a lower quality still holds, but it does not show that most of the risk seekers prefer to pay for the multimedia quality.
Research limitations/implications – This paper adds to the state of the art by providing a novel way to model the user preferences for multimedia quality based on their attitude towards risk, age, and gender.
Practical implications – Mobile data users, content providers (application service providers, over-the-top providers), mobile network operators (MNOs) and internet service providers (ISPs) could benefit from the results of this research. For mobile data users, the outcome of this research could be beneficial, as they can obtain personalised content based on their needs. From the content providers’ point of view, providing personalised content can lead to more satisfied users. It could also reduce the bandwidth consumption and the traffic to the server and/or proxy. Reducing the bandwidth consumption could lead to the possibility to acquire more customers and hence increase the revenues.
Originality/value – This is among the first studies to assess how the user preference towards multimedia quality if affected by the user attitude towards risk.
This paper addresses the high cost of transmission over mobile networks, when educational content... more This paper addresses the high cost of transmission over mobile networks, when educational content consists of multimedia files. The proposed solution adapts the multimedia content by changing the bit rate. In order to validate the proposed solution, a preliminary study has been performed. The results of the study show that in average a decrease of 79% in size was obtained for the multimedia content involved in the study. This results in a decrease of the price the learner has to pay for downloading the multimedia content. When the subjects are not provided with any information regarding the quality of the video or the cost of transmission the same number of subjects proffered the original version as the ones who prefer the lower quality version. In the case when the size of the multimedia clips, and the cost of delivery over mobile networks are provided, the number of subjects who preferred the adapted versions increased to 95.44%.
One of the challenges that mobile services face is the high cost of data delivery over cellular n... more One of the challenges that mobile services face is the high cost of data delivery over cellular networks. This problem is further aggravated with the use of multimedia type content (understood in the context of this research as video in combination with audio and possible text) that can lead to congestion and higher bills. Although higher cost might not be a problem for everyone, there are people who would not like to pay that much. This paper proposes delivering personalized content that is cost effective for the user considering the user attitude towards risk. A novel model is proposed to assess the user risk attitude by taking into account the user self-assessment, his/her age and gender. Based on this information, a personalized mechanism for delivering adaptive multimedia content can be achieved. The proposed user model was validated through a series of case studies.
Smart cities aim to increase citizens’ quality of life by employing technology. Education is one ... more Smart cities aim to increase citizens’ quality of life by employing technology. Education is one of the areas of focus in smart cities and in this context, smart education is a term used to refer to education provided by smart cities. As research in this area has expanded recently as shown by the number of literature reviews in a smart city context, a review could help summarize existing directions focusing in this case on education in the smart cities context. As our understanding on negative consequences is limited, this research will address this knowledge gap by concentrating on challenges and difficulties when it comes to education in smart cities. The articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science were review and a qualitative analysis of the articles fitting our research criteria was done. Three themes were identified: shortcomings on the existing educational initiatives to address the needs of smart cities, negative consequences of smart city education in other areas and problems that arise as a result of employing technology in education.
Although recent advancements in technology have led to major transformations in healthcare servic... more Although recent advancements in technology have led to major transformations in healthcare services, the use of tele-monitoring in patient care is yet an emerging occurrence. This study examines factors that affect the adoption of video based remote treatment of senior patients in a tele-glaucoma project in a large hospital in Greece. Several themes emerge from the study encapsulating technical, usability, process, institutional, ethics and privacy, clinicians’ behaviour and patients’ demography related factors. The findings of the study showed that while the benefits of tele-monitoring service adoption were of foremost importance for doctors, usability and connectivity for enabling remote services was critical for its success.
International Journal of Information Management , 2019
Unlike e-business few studies have examined how information is generated and exchanged between st... more Unlike e-business few studies have examined how information is generated and exchanged between stakeholders in an e-government service chain to generate value for citizens. This case study applies the concept of service chains to empirically explore: a) how internal and external business activities in local government authorities (LGAs) contribute to electronic service delivery, and b) the impact that internal and external stakeholders have on these activities. The case study found that the diversity of stakeholders involved and lack of appropriate mechanisms for information exchange and collaboration are posing the biggest challenges for efficient local e-government service delivery.
Strategic Management and Innovative Applications of E-Government, 2019
Usage of technology to support the government services, electronic government (e-government), has... more Usage of technology to support the government services, electronic government (e-government), has been introduced with the aim of increasing the efficiency of e-government, improving transparency, citizens involvement and quality of citizens lives and reducing costs. E-Government projects have been undertaken across the world both in developed and developing countries, however, not all of them have been successfully adopted. This book aims to provide an overview of the existing work in the area with the aim of better understand: the current state of the art, novel application of technology and government services, identify the factors that lead to the successful adoption of the existing services and provide workable solutions for strategic management for e-government projects. These topics have received a lot of interests both from the governments globally but also from the research community. As a research field, e-government is well known to be widely multidisciplinary (Das et al., 2017; Molnar et al., 2015; Scholl et al., 2014), drawing from several fields, and the chapters from this book highlight this multidisciplinary nature. TARGET AUDIENCE This book is of relevance to the following readers: • Students and researchers in the field of e-government and strategic management • Practitioners and professionals in e-government • Project managers of e-government services • Decisions makers in the government and public services • General public interested in innovation in e-government. xii
Effective administration of government and governmental organizations is a crucial part of achiev... more Effective administration of government and governmental organizations is a crucial part of achieving success in those organizations. With the widespread knowledge and use of e-government, the intent and evaluation of its services continue to focus on meeting the needs and satisfaction of its citizens.
Strategic Management and Innovative Applications of E-Government is a pivotal reference source that provides organizational and managerial directions, applications, and theoretical and philosophical discussions on current issues relating to the practice of electronic government. While highlighting topics such as citizen trust in government and smart government, this publication explores electronic government technology adoption, as well as the methods of government social media practices. This book is a vital reference source for policy makers, IT specialists, government professionals, academicians, researchers, and graduate-level students seeking current research on e-government applications.
This paper proposes the use of high definition video to video as a means to facilitate the adopti... more This paper proposes the use of high definition video to video as a means to facilitate the adoption of public services. High definition video can be delivered over the public Internet infrastructure by using a Right of Way platform that guarantees no interference from unwanted traffic. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of using high definition video to video communication in the public sector to facilitate services such as health, education and city experience/administration. Drawing from the dominant theories on Information Communication Technology we then propose a framework of reference to evaluate user experience of such services based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (Venkatesh et al., 2012), the Information Systems success model (DeLone & McLean, 1992) and inclusion of the perception on information privacy.
This paper examines the process of developing key performance indicators (KPIs) for evaluating th... more This paper examines the process of developing key performance indicators (KPIs) for evaluating the use of high definition video (HD) to video (V2V) communication for tele-monitoring patients in a healthcare setting. The research is performed in the context of the European Commission funded LiveCity project and uses as a case study the monitoring of glaucoma patients using V2V technology. Initially, a set of KPIs are defined for V2V use in eHealth services based on literature and secondary research and these KPIs are then refined based on interviews with medical staff involved in the treatment of glaucoma patients. The obtained KPIs are used to analyse the potential of using V2V services in the context of tele-monitoring glaucoma patients.
The adoption of public services that have been delivered electronically are not necessarily unifo... more The adoption of public services that have been delivered electronically are not necessarily uniformly accepted. This paper argues that the diffusion of high definition video communication as a complimentary mechanism for service delivery could not only alleviate this existing gap in adoption and diffusion of government services but also significantly improve services and save cost for governments. This paper introduces a holistic perspective on how video technology could be integrated in existing services using examples of health, education, and municipality services. This paper introduces a taxonomy of criteria that characterises high definition video communication for diffusing public services by examining the associated benefits, cost and risks.
The adoption of innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in public services i... more The adoption of innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in public services in general, and in education in particular has intensified in the last few years. Although electronic services in learning has been used in primary, secondary and higher education for some years, the use of live video technology to facilitate public services has rarely been explored before. In this paper, we focus on the adoption of high definition video-to-video (V2V) communication in the context of public sector primary education. This paper examines how V2V technology can be utilised in encouraging collaborative learning initiatives among different schools. Results of a preliminary case study are presented highlighting some of the technical and users criteria required to ensure a successful adoption of video-to-video communication in the context of education.
Although established as a mainstream mechanism for delivering public services, the adoption of el... more Although established as a mainstream mechanism for delivering public services, the adoption of electronic government (e-government) has not been uniform. One of the problems mentioned in prior research relates to the fact that e-government services are perceived as being distant and impersonal from a user or citizen perspective. In this paper, the authors argue that complementing existing e-government services through the use of a video-to-video platform could alleviate this problem. This paper presents the concept of the LiveCity project which proposes the delivery of high definition video over existing Internet infrastructure to enhance public services. The potential benefits of overlaying video on top of e-government applications are examined through use case scenarios
In emergency situations, communication between the ambulance crew and an emergency department in ... more In emergency situations, communication between the ambulance crew and an emergency department in the hospital can be crucial in determining the best decision for a patient's health. Currently, when an ambulance crew reports at an emergency, paramedics use voice communication from scene of emergency to the hospital. In critical life threatening situations, use of high quality visual images and live video streaming can allow paramedics on the scene of an emergency to take better informed decisions by liaising with expert consultants in the hospital emergency department. This paper proposes the relay of high definition video between the ambulance crew and the hospital using public Internet infrastructure through utilising a virtual path slice controller. The paper also proposes a set of criteria for evaluating the use of video in emergency scenarios taking into account technical, user, application and process requirements together with an overview of the benefits, risks and ethical issues.
This research seeks to measure citizen satisfaction with the electronic Prescription Prepayment C... more This research seeks to measure citizen satisfaction with the electronic Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC) offered by National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom (UK). The paper reports on the findings of a survey of over 500 users of the NHS PPC service. Satisfaction is measured using the four dimensions from the COBRA framework (Osman et al. (2011) [1]) which comprise the cost, opportunity, benefits and risk assessment constructs. This is the first study to measure citizen satisfaction with the electronic PPC in the UK across these constructs. The results show that most citizens using the PPC electronic service are satisfied with this service and that the service meets their essential needs. The paper also presents the results of qualitative feedback obtained from the participants that can be used to determine the areas that need further improvement in the current electronic PPC service and potential influence on user satisfaction.
19th Americas Conference on Information Systems, 2014
Despite the fact that governments continue to push the use of Information and Communication Techn... more Despite the fact that governments continue to push the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in public service provision, their adoption rate has not always been as high as expected. In this research, we focus on indicators that could lead to the adoption of video-to-video communication in education. With this aim we organized three focus groups with teachers from Ireland and Greece and one interview with the principal head teacher from an Irish primary school with the aim of understanding the most important criteria necessary for the adoption of video-to-video communication for collaborative education in primary and secondary schools. The paper presents the technical (network and application) and user (user experience and pedagogical) criteria that were identified through these focus groups.
Twentieth Americas Conference on Information Systems, 2014
This research seeks to measure citizen satisfaction with the electronic London Congestion Chargin... more This research seeks to measure citizen satisfaction with the electronic London Congestion Charging (LCC) payment system offered by Transport For London (TFL) in the United Kingdom (UK). The paper reports on the findings of a survey of 500 users of the TFL LCC online payment system. Satisfaction is measured using the four dimensions from the COBRA framework 0that comprise the cost, opportunity, benefits and risk assessment constructs. The results show that most citizens using the LCC electronic service are satisfied with the service and that the service meets their essential needs. The paper also presents the results of qualitative feedback obtained from the participants that can be used to determine the areas that need further improvement in the current electronic LCC electronic-service (e-service) system and potential influences on user satisfaction.
In e-government there is an ongoing debate about the theoretical foundations and the typical e-go... more In e-government there is an ongoing debate about the theoretical foundations and the typical e-government specific challenges that are encountered. This article aims to provide a better understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of e-government and the challenges that research in e-government encounters. It also aims to determine strategies for creating stronger links to the foundations of the various disciplines and therefore to foster learning from each other. In doing so we present the results of analyzing the discussion of a plenary panel (Evaluating the Multidisciplinary Characteristics of E-Government: Finding the Roots of E-Government) organized during one of the Annual International Conferences on Digital Government Research [17]. The results show the diversity of the topics tackled and theories used by the community. Understanding the context and socio- technical views is considered as key in a field in which political, public administration, information systems and computer science aspects are blended.
The importance of evaluation and optimization of electronic government (e-government) services is... more The importance of evaluation and optimization of electronic government (e-government) services is imperative if the government organisations are to have an effective impact on the success and take-up of the services offered. Transport For London's (TFL) London Congestion Charging (LCC) is one of the innovative electronic services (e-services) introduced by the United Kingdom (UK) government to the citizens. While some studies have addressed the impact of the introduction of the congestion charge there has been a dearth of research performed to address user (citizen) satisfaction of the online LCC system. Therefore, this research seeks to measure the citizen satisfaction of using the LCC online payment system offered by TFL. The citizen satisfaction in this context is measured using the four dimensions from the COBRA framework that comprise the cost, opportunity, benefits and risk assessment constructs. This paper presents the findings of a survey of 500 users of the TFL LCC online payment system. It also reports the qualitative feedback obtained from the participants that can be used to determine the areas that need further improvement in the current LCC e-service and potential influences on user satisfaction.
IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2014
ABSTRACT The usage of video communication in public services can alleviate some of the existing p... more ABSTRACT The usage of video communication in public services can alleviate some of the existing problems these services face in their adoption and also help in increasing the level of outreach to citizens. In this article we focus on the usage of video-to-video (V2V) communication in municipality services for ICT education of senior citizens. For this purpose, our study focuses on determining criteria that are important for both the teachers and citizens in using such an innovative service. This paper reports on the findings from focus group consultations conducted with teachers and students, in this case senior citizens, of a municipality in Spain who was piloting the use of V2V services for adult education. The research identified several criteria relevant for consideration when deploying V2V as part of a local government service portfolio, of which, trust, quality of service and convenience emerged as common for all stakeholders involved.
This research assesses the feasibility of using video communication in an existing local egovernm... more This research assesses the feasibility of using video communication in an existing local egovernment service, which advises entrepreneurs on how to set up a new business. In line with this aim, we conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews with the municipality staff presently advising the entrepreneurs in the current form the service is offered, and citizens (i.e. potential entrepreneurs) using these advisory service to find out more information about their needs and requirements a video communication service should have. The results highlight the necessity of having a good infrastructure, clear communication protocol and the necessity to address trust and confidentiality issues prior to deploying such a service. A key conclusion of this study is that neither the entrepreneurs nor the municipality staff expected the video service fully replacing the face to face communication, but complementing it and providing a better and more flexible access to citizens.
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Papers by Andreea Molnar
The Handbook of Research on Innovations in Information Retrieval, Analysis, and Management explores new developments in the field of information and communication technologies and explores how complex information systems interact with and affect one another, woven into the fabric of an information-rich world. Touching on such topics as machine learning, research methodologies, and mobile data aggregation, this book targets an audience of researchers, developers, managers, strategic planners, and advanced-level students.
This handbook contains chapters on topics including, but not limited to, customer experience management, information systems planning, cellular networking, public policy development, and knowledge governance.
Serious games by Andreea Molnar
The Handbook of Research on Innovations in Information Retrieval, Analysis, and Management explores new developments in the field of information and communication technologies and explores how complex information systems interact with and affect one another, woven into the fabric of an information-rich world. Touching on such topics as machine learning, research methodologies, and mobile data aggregation, this book targets an audience of researchers, developers, managers, strategic planners, and advanced-level students.
This handbook contains chapters on topics including, but not limited to, customer experience management, information systems planning, cellular networking, public policy development, and knowledge governance.
among researchers. Despite the fact that the main focus of this
domain remains on player entertainment and engagement, serious
games have established themselves as an alternative educational
paradigm. However, little interest has been given to investigating
methods for the assessment of their effectiveness. Game
evaluation focus remains on investigating usability and technical
aspects. Those attempting to evaluate the educational impact
typically rely on traditional questionnaires that typically
negatively affecting user immersion and the overall game
enjoyment. Among game genres, Interactive Digital Storytelling
(IDS) is a fast growing genre that merges computer games,
multimedia and cinematic storytelling with entertaining education.
Like any other teaching intervention, educational IDS’s have to be
evaluated against a defined set of Learning Objectives (LOs). In
this paper we present a User-Centred Seamless Evaluation
Framework for IDS games and describe the algorithm for the
integration of knowledge assessment to measure knowledge
improvement against given LOs without affecting player
enjoyment. We implement this algorithm in an educational game
and show that the framework has been perceived by the majority
of the players as a positive enhancement to the game, 94% of the
participants reported preferring this form of assessment as
opposed to the more “traditional” methods. Statistically significant
knowledge improvements were obtained after the game play.
– Multimedia content that is accessible through mobile devices has a larger size than other types of content (e.g. text, images). This may lead to higher prices for accessing the content via mobile devices, as mobile operators are capping mobile data billing plans in an effort to increase their revenues and prevent congestion. This poses problems for the users that are not willing/do not afford to pay the required price but still want to use multimedia content through the mobile networks. A price reduction for the user, as well as minimising bandwidth consumption can be obtained as a trade-off in multimedia quality. However, as previous research shows, not all people are willing to trade-off quality for a lower price; therefore, there is no straightforward approach to this problem. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to present a model of user willingness to pay for multimedia content quality as a function of the user risk attitude with the aim to provide personalised content depending on the user willingness to trade-off price for multimedia content quality.
Design/methodology/approach
– A user model was proposed based on a literature review and an existing data set. A stereotypical approach was used where users are divided in two groups: risk averse and risk seekers. An experimental study involving six scenarios was used to validate the findings.
Findings
– The results of the evaluation show that for the proposed user risk model, risk seekers preferred to pay for multimedia quality, whereas risk adverse users preferred to switch to a lower multimedia quality when monetary cost is involved. However, when the mobile data billing plan had the bandwidth limited, rather than a higher price to be paid when the bundle quantity was exceeded, the risk averse people’s preference for a lower quality still holds, but it does not show that most of the risk seekers prefer to pay for the multimedia quality.
Research limitations/implications
– This paper adds to the state of the art by providing a novel way to model the user preferences for multimedia quality based on their attitude towards risk, age, and gender.
Practical implications
– Mobile data users, content providers (application service providers, over-the-top providers), mobile network operators (MNOs) and internet service providers (ISPs) could benefit from the results of this research. For mobile data users, the outcome of this research could be beneficial, as they can obtain personalised content based on their needs. From the content providers’ point of view, providing personalised content can lead to more satisfied users. It could also reduce the bandwidth consumption and the traffic to the server and/or proxy. Reducing the bandwidth consumption could lead to the possibility to acquire more customers and hence increase the revenues.
Originality/value
– This is among the first studies to assess how the user preference towards multimedia quality if affected by the user attitude towards risk.
Strategic Management and Innovative Applications of E-Government is a pivotal reference source that provides organizational and managerial directions, applications, and theoretical and philosophical discussions on current issues relating to the practice of electronic government. While highlighting topics such as citizen trust in government and smart government, this publication explores electronic government technology adoption, as well as the methods of government social media practices. This book is a vital reference source for policy makers, IT specialists, government professionals, academicians, researchers, and graduate-level students seeking current research on e-government applications.
service, which advises entrepreneurs on how to set up a new business. In line
with this aim, we conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews with the municipality staff
presently advising the entrepreneurs in the current form the service is offered, and citizens
(i.e. potential entrepreneurs) using these advisory service to find out more information about
their needs and requirements a video communication service should have. The results
highlight the necessity of having a good infrastructure, clear communication protocol and the
necessity to address trust and confidentiality issues prior to deploying such a service. A key
conclusion of this study is that neither the entrepreneurs nor the municipality staff expected
the video service fully replacing the face to face communication, but complementing it and
providing a better and more flexible access to citizens.