Eat, cook, grow: Ubiquitous technology for sustainable food culture in the city. Raising people's awareness of healthy and ecological food options with nutritional data and educational information does not foster a sustained practice towards a more environmentally friendly food culture. This study seeks to develop a better understanding how to go beyond just informing and into supporting and sustaining action and change. Drawing on interaction design, ubiquitous computing and real- time informat ....Eat, cook, grow: Ubiquitous technology for sustainable food culture in the city. Raising people's awareness of healthy and ecological food options with nutritional data and educational information does not foster a sustained practice towards a more environmentally friendly food culture. This study seeks to develop a better understanding how to go beyond just informing and into supporting and sustaining action and change. Drawing on interaction design, ubiquitous computing and real- time information, the study will deliver research findings that inform viable new design approaches and information interfaces which will strengthen Australia's position to resolve the problems of obesity, malnutrition and ecological issues of mass food processing, and contribute to the sustainability of life in Australian cities.Read moreRead less
Humanising the Convergence of Information and Communication Technology. The convergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) enables delivery of multiple services by a single mobile device. Frequently ICT convergence is driven by the capabilities of the technology. However, if technologies are to be appropriated, that is enter into long-term use, they must be compatible with that use.
The University of Melbourne and Novell will establish a way of identifying opportunities f ....Humanising the Convergence of Information and Communication Technology. The convergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) enables delivery of multiple services by a single mobile device. Frequently ICT convergence is driven by the capabilities of the technology. However, if technologies are to be appropriated, that is enter into long-term use, they must be compatible with that use.
The University of Melbourne and Novell will establish a way of identifying opportunities for ICT convergence based on an understanding of appropriation. Our research project will examine the social and personal use of mobile ICTs by young people 16 to 22 years as the basis for understanding the human drivers of convergence.
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An Empirically Derived Experimentally Validated Framework for Interactions in Information Environments. This project will investigate and design ways of interacting with the information infrastructure that maintain natural social interactions, take advantage of physical space and utilise our extensive human abilities to recognise and manipulate physical objects.
Expected outcomes include:
? a theoretical framework that describes the range of possible interactions that mediate information b ....An Empirically Derived Experimentally Validated Framework for Interactions in Information Environments. This project will investigate and design ways of interacting with the information infrastructure that maintain natural social interactions, take advantage of physical space and utilise our extensive human abilities to recognise and manipulate physical objects.
Expected outcomes include:
? a theoretical framework that describes the range of possible interactions that mediate information between the physical and virtual worlds.
? a prototype instrumented information environment that demonstrates and validates naturalistic information transactions identified in the framework.
This research is highly innovative in its field. It will use an iterative cycle of video observation, interaction analysis, user-centred device design, deployment and evaluation.
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Ambient nature network: new technologies to connect people to nature. This project aims to reconnect people with nature through new technology. Events in nature occur at times, places and scales that are hard to witness, leading to human disconnection from nature. This project proposes to address this issue by researching and designing new low-cost devices that combine environmental sensors with new interfaces to reveal local nature in parks and gardens in calm, engaging ways within and between ....Ambient nature network: new technologies to connect people to nature. This project aims to reconnect people with nature through new technology. Events in nature occur at times, places and scales that are hard to witness, leading to human disconnection from nature. This project proposes to address this issue by researching and designing new low-cost devices that combine environmental sensors with new interfaces to reveal local nature in parks and gardens in calm, engaging ways within and between homes in medium and high density environments. Outcomes will include new connected devices, playful interfaces and social sharing mechanisms, an evaluation with local groups, and a new theory of technology supported human-nature interaction. Benefits will include better community connection to nature, engagement in local citizen science, environmental initiatives and novel monitoring services and products.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100479
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$427,116.00
Summary
A Unified Framework to Rapidly Fabricate Individualised Activity Sensors. This proposal aims to develop a unified computational framework which enables non-expert users to co-design and fabricate specialised physical activity sensors to address individualised sensing problems in applications such as rehabilitation, age-care and sports. Specifically, we will develop an analytical framework to classify complex sensing problems into fabricable primitive classes, namely i) conditional – limits of ac ....A Unified Framework to Rapidly Fabricate Individualised Activity Sensors. This proposal aims to develop a unified computational framework which enables non-expert users to co-design and fabricate specialised physical activity sensors to address individualised sensing problems in applications such as rehabilitation, age-care and sports. Specifically, we will develop an analytical framework to classify complex sensing problems into fabricable primitive classes, namely i) conditional – limits of activity, ii) differential – frequency of activity and iii) integrational – cumulative activity. And a co-design interface to synthesize them into complex activity sensors to fit individualised needs. Finally, we will evaluate the framework by deploying the created sensors in real-world settings and gathering data.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100687
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$364,446.00
Summary
Fostering making practices in people from low socio-economic backgrounds. This project aims to foster Do-It-Yourself (DIY) practices among people from low socio-economic (LSE) backgrounds in Australia by understanding existing practices at four diverse makerspaces and enabling LSE members to co-design technological prototypes that fit their own needs. Through a set of in-depth ethnographic studies and workshops, this research seeks to develop theories of creative collaborations (informed by empi ....Fostering making practices in people from low socio-economic backgrounds. This project aims to foster Do-It-Yourself (DIY) practices among people from low socio-economic (LSE) backgrounds in Australia by understanding existing practices at four diverse makerspaces and enabling LSE members to co-design technological prototypes that fit their own needs. Through a set of in-depth ethnographic studies and workshops, this research seeks to develop theories of creative collaborations (informed by empirical data), methods, and prototypes for engaging LSE members in DIY practices. This project will make our culture more inclusive, harness the strengths of LSE members, increase their community engagement, and raise their economic prospects.Read moreRead less
Cooperation and reciprocity at the local scale enabled by social and mobile technologies: an empirically derived theoretical framework. The project aims to build new theories, design tools and social and mobile information technologies to support sharing of resources in local communities. Designs developed through agile software development will be built in communities to support new forms of community communication, agile ride sharing and distributed energy generation and use.
Constrained numerical optimisation techniques for automatic graph drawing. Network visualisation (graph drawing) is an enabling technology that is valuable to many important Australian interests. This project aims to develop new techniques that are more easily adapted to specific applications than current methods. There are a range of benefits in developing this technology including but not limited to: improved mapping of terrorist networks that can aid early identification of security threats ....Constrained numerical optimisation techniques for automatic graph drawing. Network visualisation (graph drawing) is an enabling technology that is valuable to many important Australian interests. This project aims to develop new techniques that are more easily adapted to specific applications than current methods. There are a range of benefits in developing this technology including but not limited to: improved mapping of terrorist networks that can aid early identification of security threats; improved design and analysis of communication networks, either for the telecommunications industry or for emergency and disaster management scenarios such as bushfires; improved access to biological network databases used in the study of metabolic processes critical to drug development and genetic research.Read moreRead less
Remote presence for guidance on physical tasks. This project aims to transform remote collaboration on physical tasks. Current systems for remote collaboration on physical tasks are not as effective as working face-to-face. This could be overcome by sharing non-verbal cues, designing systems to account for cultural issues, and using a new model of communication. This project will develop theories and interaction methods for remote guidance based on natural non-verbal communication cues and cultu ....Remote presence for guidance on physical tasks. This project aims to transform remote collaboration on physical tasks. Current systems for remote collaboration on physical tasks are not as effective as working face-to-face. This could be overcome by sharing non-verbal cues, designing systems to account for cultural issues, and using a new model of communication. This project will develop theories and interaction methods for remote guidance based on natural non-verbal communication cues and cultural issues. This project is expected to benefit industries with widely distributed multi-cultural workforces such as mining, defence and medicine.Read moreRead less
Integrating human operators into large-scale sensor networks. Information awareness is critical in many applications of national importance: from bush fire fighting and defence to transportation and health care. These applications involve tasks in which timely delivery and fusion of heterogeneous information streams is of critical importance. They can all benefit from the use of robotic and embedded sensor networks considered in this project. Human operators, acting as users or supervisors, will ....Integrating human operators into large-scale sensor networks. Information awareness is critical in many applications of national importance: from bush fire fighting and defence to transportation and health care. These applications involve tasks in which timely delivery and fusion of heterogeneous information streams is of critical importance. They can all benefit from the use of robotic and embedded sensor networks considered in this project. Human operators, acting as users or supervisors, will remain at the centre of these systems. The technology and algorithms developed in this project will efficiently structure information exchange between humans and sensor networks. Establishing Australian leadership in this fast-evolving high-technology field will spur growth and job creation.Read moreRead less