Several studies assess the benefits, for mental and physical health, of accessing blue and green spaces. Some of these studies also suggest particular relevance for elders, with estimated benefits that also may include protection against degenerative diseases. Unfortunately, in many circumstances, people live in unhealthy conditions, separated from nature. Additionally, despite social initiatives aimed at bringing people into contact with green and blue spaces, in some cases, it is not possible to move seniors from their residences. This work describes an attempt to leverage technology to address these situations, giving seniors the opportunity to experience immersion in a marine natural environment through 360 videos. An initial pilot study, conducted in collaboration with a local association that manages retirement homes, outlines strengths and weaknesses that can inform a replicable setup and protocol for supporting social inclusion and mental health in retirement houses or similar contexts.

This paper describes the motivation, the conceptual structure, the initial contributions, and the expected results of a workshop organized in the context of the AVI ’26 Conference in Venice and targeted to critically discuss the possible role of digital tools within the context of citizen-Nature (in terms of blue spaces) reconnecting process. Blue spaces, like rivers, lakes, and seas, have accompanied human civilization as shelters, defense from dangers, and communication paths. Yet their value is bigger than that and relates to the connection of humans with the natural environment and the species inhabiting it. Recent studies suggest that this connection brings huge benefits for well-being as well as mental and physical health. Unfortunately, in many circumstances, this connection is lost, for different reasons, ranging from the urban structure of the cities, organizational needs, life choices, opportunities, and other issues. The workshop explores how digital technology, which in many circumstances has contributed to the disconnection itself, can support a process of reconnection with these spaces. In line with the approaches related to situated design, the workshop will be held on an old fishing boat that will travel through the lagoon of Venice, literally immersed in the environment that is the target of the study and design activities.

We consider the problem of quantification of uncertainty in the framework of evidence theory. A large number of uncertainty measures have been proposed in the last 40 years to perform this task, and contributions, albeit numerous, are scattered in the literature, and it is difficult to have an idea of how many measures exist, let alone to know their formal definitions and their evolution in time. In this article, we provide a self-contained exposition of 65 uncertainty measures—out of which 43 were proposed in the last decade—and then we consider their development from the temporal point of view, as well as the lineage of each one from previous ones. These two analyses help us see that 2016 was anannus mirabilis, since the three measures proposed in that year would later on become extremely influential. Moreover, our analysis offers at least three insights that may hopefully open the floor for future research. First, the recent proliferation of uncertainty measures has not always been accompanied by sufficiently deep analyses on their formal properties. Second, the widely accepted behavioral requirement that the total uncertainty must be the sum of the contributions of non-specificity and conflict appears questionable in light of its necessary conditions. Third, and last, the choice of the most suitable measure cannot be detached from the interpretation that is given to the belief function.

This paper presents the results of a design activity targeted to create urban experiences based on the use of augmented reality and focused on the domain of digital humanities. While augmented reality provides the opportunity to link physical context to digital content and services, with benefits in terms of engagement and lower cognitive loads, it reduces easy access to content. The exploration of the alternatives to permitting users to access content, while maintaining a strong link with the context, led to a possible solution which may represent the core of a multifaceted approach useful for a large number of user experiences, increasing the number of situations where content can be communicated and services accessed. The final part of the paper, starting from the current design results, discusses some directions for offering comprehensive solutions targeted to improve the accessibility of urban user experiences for different categories of users.

This paper describes the development of Remembering the City, a digital and public humanities project on an urban scale, which takes advantage of augmented reality techniques in order to bring memories of the Holocaust victims to the surface of the urban fabric. The project has been built in conjunction with the Stolpersteine (Stumbling Stones), the largest decentralized monument in Europe dedicated to the Holocaust, allowing for the first time a contextual access to information related to the stones. The paper describes the conceptual design of the project, the technical challenge of tracking bi-dimensional objects in the outdoors and the ethical concerns. The iterative development led to prototypical implementations that were tested with two evaluation studies, performed respectively with 10 volunteers aged between 30 and 50 and 22 students from a local high school. Both studies provided valuable feedback and directions for future development.