Citizen science has increasingly enabled citizens to collect large volumes of hyperlocal urban and environmental data through low-cost sensors, mobile applications, and DIY technologies. However, a critical gap persists between data generation and meaningful civic action: while citizens contribute data, they often lack access to the advanced tools required to interpret, contextualize, and act upon it. This gap is further amplified by the growing role of Artificial Intelligence in urban decision-making, where opaque, expert-driven AI systems risk marginalizing citizen agency and local knowledge.

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) plays a crucial role in shaping collective identity and everyday practices, yet its preservation remains challenging due to its informal, evolving, and often undocumented nature. Unlike material heritage, such as paintings or monuments, ICH is in fact rooted in living practices that change over time across communities and geographic locations. Digital twins have been proposed as a promising paradigm for cultural heritage, enabling visual and interactive representations that support the remote exploration and analysis of artefacts and sites. However, most existing digital twins for cultural heritage focus on statically reproducing tangible artefacts, offering limited support for capturing how intangible heritage evolves through practice and participation.

Climate change poses a growing threat to biodiversity, particularly in fragile ecosystems such as wetlands and coastal regions. The Po Delta, one of Europe’s most significant wetland systems, is particularly vulnerable due to rising sea levels, changing salinity levels, and habitat loss. Within this context, the DISCOV.ER project aims to enhance public awareness and promote sustainable tourism by combining digital innovation and citizen science. This paper presents the DISCOV.ER mobile application, a prototype designed to engage both tourists and locals in exploring the Po Delta natural and cultural heritage in a gamified way, while participating in citizen science activities that help in monitoring the park’s ecosystem. The application merges location-based interactive quests, AI-assisted storytelling elements and collectible strategies to motivate users. We briefly describe the design process, which was carried out through participatory methods, and illustrate the application’s architecture and key features. Finally, we report on preliminary user testing, highlighting the strengths, challenges, and lessons learned in developing an AI-powered application for engaging and educational citizen science experiences that foster biodiversity awareness and monitoring.

Abstract As data visualizations become increasingly central to communication, analysis, and decision-making across a variety of fields, the need to ensure their accessibility becomes critical. Visual representations, such as charts, graphs, and infographics, are effective tools for conveying complex information; however, they often present significant barriers for individuals with various types of impairments. This paper explores the potential of Machine Learning (ML) to enhance the accessibility of data visualizations. Specifically, we present a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) that investigates how ML techniques have been applied to make visual data more inclusive. The review considers both visualization-related aspects (such as visualization types and source, target user, and evaluation) and ML-related factors (including data formats, preprocessing, and model types and evaluation). Our findings reveal that only a limited number of studies directly address the use of ML for improving visualization accessibility, and there is a lack of standardized solutions or frameworks in this area. Our contribution focused on the identification of a conceptual framework based on nine key open challenges that highlight the lack of consideration for infographics, particular types of charts, printed chart, different kind of impairments, involvement of users, accurate interpretation of complex visual data, real-time support, standard benchmarking, the potential bias and, hence, the need for continued research and development at the intersection of data visualization and machine learning, with a strong focus on accessibility and inclusivity.

Figure 1: Kids by the Mar Menor sketched their hopes for the lagoon and its sea life.One jellyfish journeyed from paper to interactive visualization, bringing their creative vision to life and calling to protect the lagoon's ecosystem.

Urban environments face significant challenges due to deteriorating road pavements, affecting all transportation modes' safety and comfort. Traditional methods of road assessment are costly and infrequent, but advancements in mobile technology and crowdsensing offer real-time, large-scale data collection solutions. This paper introduces “ShakeSensing”, a mobile application that uses Android device sensors to measure vibrations experienced by cyclists and scooter users, providing insights into road quality. The collected data, analyzed to assess road conditions, can benefit both users and municipal authorities, promoting safer and more comfortable travel.

Educating children and teenagers on environmental issues is crucial, as they not only internalize the importance of ecological preservation but can also share this knowledge at home, spreading awareness within their families and communities about these delicate matters. In this work, we introduce an innovative approach to raising awareness of environmental challenges faced by the Mar Menor lagoon by blending children’s art with conversational artificial intelligence. We built an interactive narrative visualization where users can learn about the ecosystem while exploring related drawings created by children and engaging in voice conversations with a chatbot powered by generative AI. To validate our approach, we conducted a preliminary evaluation of the prototype during the European Researchers’ Night 2024 where we gathered positive feedback through user tests and questionnaires, proving the potential of combining children’s creativity and AI technology to foster environmental stewardship and raise awareness about fragile ecosystems.

Recent research has identified the detrimental consequences stemming from the pervasive and excessive use of digital devices, prompting the emergence of the concept of digital wellbeing. This workshop serves as a platform for both researchers and practitioners to convene and delve into discussions surrounding the imperative task of educating young generations on digital wellbeing. Participants will engage in a collaborative exploration of innovative strategies and tools aimed at fostering a more mindful and conscious engagement with digital platforms. Through shared insights and collective expertise, the workshop aims at paving the way for a healthier and more balanced relationship with technology among today’s teenagers.

Although it is increasingly common to use digital games for the cognitive training, to date there is still a need for more studies of the effectiveness of neuropsychological treatments based on digital games, especially for populations with Specific Learning Disorders (SLDs). This study aims to present the effectiveness of Eye-Riders, a serious game developed to train executive functions in neurodiverse children. A group of 41 children (age range 7–9 years) participated in the study: 13 with SLDs and 28 with typical development. The training consisted in playing Eye-Riders in 9 sessions of 20 minutes each, with a frequency of 3 times a week for three weeks. The effectiveness of the training was assessed by means of the Nepsy-II battery of executive and attentional function scales, administered before and after the training. The gaming style was measured by Gaming Style Questionnaire (GSQ). The results showed significant improvement in the skills of Auditory Attention, Visual Attention, Inhibition and Switching in both groups. These results had a positive impact in reading abilities. In addition, the results reveal that in children with SLD, the improvement achieved in visual attention skills can be attributed to the improvement in game performance. In conclusion, Eye-Riders is an effective video game to of executive functions in neurodivergent children.

Coastal lagoons serve as highly productive ecosystems, delivering essential ecosystem services contributing to human welfare and well-being. Unfortunately, these intricate systems are particularly vulnerable to climatic and anthropogenic pressures, such as intensive agriculture and extensive urbanization. This paper presents a Digital Twin prototype of the Mar Menor lagoon in Spain, that utilizes environmental data collected from sensors and predicted data generated through machine learning algorithms. It covers the prototype's architecture, the corresponding API layer designed for interoperability with other systems, and its data visualization dashboard aimed at enhancing decision-making processes.

In clinical practice, the use of cognitive training based on video games and gamification strategies is becoming increasingly widespread, especially for populations with neurode-velopmental disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), or Specific Learning Disorders (SLDs). This paper aims to present Eye-Riders, a serious game for enhancing executive functions, targeting children with specific learning disabilities. In particular, in this paper, we focus on describing the design of a procedural level generator based on the Model Synthesis algorithm that we developed to address cognitive training exploiting in the Eye-Riders game.

Virtual tours are tools that could be effectively used in many different contexts. The COVID-19 pandemic has let emerge how they can be useful and efficacy in those situations where it is not possible to access physical places and attend events. Besides that, they can be used for several goals in different contexts. In fact, in simple words, virtual tours are essentially based on using 3D images and videos, letting the users interact with the virtual environment and its points of interest through them, emphasizing the need for navigation and orienteering mechanisms within the virtual environment. Due to these characteristics, virtual tours represent digital barriers affecting users with disabilities, in particular those people with visual impairments. This paper presents an innovative solution we have adopted by designing and developing a prototype devoted to exploring a University Campus, with accessibility in mind. A preliminary evaluation has been conducted, and the obtained results are presented in the paper, which discusses some potentialities and limitations that emerged,

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, digital technologies impact the way humans experience places and spaces in (smart) cities. To some extent, these smart technologies are intertwined with the urban living enabling the augmentation of the city’s space and creating new opportunities for playful urban engagement. Moreover, touristic cities are becoming the arena of novel hospitality services, emerging from the widespread use of digital technologies and internet-based platforms. At the same time, visitors look for increasingly “authentic” travel experiences that provide meaningful interactions with locals. New business models, such as those emerging from the sharing economy, flourished in response to these fresh needs and opportunities. However, establishing points of dialogue that bring benefits to both residents and tourists is a complex task that still needs inquiry. Here we extend on previous efforts by proposing a playful immersive experience that focuses on creating an esthetically engaging environment for direct information exchange between locals and visitors. We investigate how technology can mediate and augment such information sharing, engaging tourists in a playful and immersive experience. Results of an experiment with 15 users are analyzed and presented to provide new insights to the HCI community.

Sharing economy and contemporary tourism are two emerging concepts that urge to be investigated together with new ubiquitous and immersive technologies, in the tourism and hospitality sector. In this rich scenario, we designed and implemented ShareCities, a platform to foster remote direct information exchange and meaningful interactions among tourists and locals. Exploiting ShareCities we here present an extended analysis on the opportunity to use people-to-people recommendation criteria based on proximity. We hence defined three criteria which drove our analysis: i) profile similarity, ii) geographical proximity, and iii) random exploration. Through an online questionnaire, we collect answers from 126 young-adult students, obtaining a general positive interest in the three criteria but also concerns in terms of privacy, trust, and feeling of disorientation.

Abstract Transitioning to and through University is a delicate period for students’ well-being. Moreover, the recent COVID-19 pandemic added a further toll through the various challenges related to studying, socializing, community-building, and safety. These challenges inspired the design of a mobile application, called Tecnico GO!, to support university students’ well-being and academic performance. This paper presents the design rationale and evaluation of the app conducted during the academic year 2021-2022. Findings cluster around three themes: i) students studying needs; ii) building a sense of community; iii) gamification strategies. The discussion elaborates on the student’s perceptions of well-being during pandemics. Students’ perception of the app is positive, appreciative of the crowdsensing features, supporting learning goals, community building, and safety. On the other hand, the gamification features, as currently deployed, do not achieve the expected goals.

Abstract Incidental learning is a human learning paradigm that takes its form as a response to unplanned initiatives, potentially occurring at any time and at any place. It is emerging as very promising in the case of learning a second language, as it multiplies the occurrence of unexpected and unintentional learning situations. Still open, and subject of debate, is the issue of which is the right methodology to be applied when mobile computer-based technologies are exploited to provide support to such kind of a learning paradigm. Drawing on the results of an international Project (ILOCALAPP), in this paper we provide our reflections on a specific incidental learning methodology we have adopted, based on the use of a mobile application (the UniOn! App) that was developed at the University of Bologna to support mobility students in their daily activities. Our main goal was to understand if such an approach was effective to let individuals incidentally learn the Italian language and culture driven by our mobile application, while conducting informal and daily activities. Specifically, we aimed to measure how much students have learned Italian, by means of self-evaluation and self-assessment tools and statistical analysis, involving 95 students who incidentally improve their Italian language skills, supported by the app. In particular, we adopted a quasi-experimental design, and we focused our investigation on four different dimensions: target users, users’ language background, duration and frequency of use, context of use. The 95 participants were grouped into 5 case studies, based on the four different dimensions. After having used the app, the participants were asked to answer a survey. The obtained results confirm the viability of our approach, showing that incidental learning is enhanced if certain conditions (i.e., integrated guidance) are met, where more than 55% of the participants reported to be more confident about their acquired skills.

Gamification has been widely and often successfully exploited in several educational environments at different levels. In this study, we detail the use of Gamification mechanisms within a university course about web technologies, with the aim of increasing the students’ involvement in the study of the course subject. We designed different Gamification strategies based on group or individual activities. The study has been carried out over five academic years. Based on our findings, we can conclude that, under the defined conditions, the employed Gamification mechanisms had a positive impact on the students learning experience.

Children’s independent mobility has proved to have a tremendous positive impact on their well-being, social and cognitive development, and spatial understanding. However, children’s independent mobility is declining in several countries although the increasing number of investments in urban mobility and the incentives for sustainable adoption of public transport and shared mobility. Concurrently, ownership of mobile devices is growing, opening up compelling opportunities for location- and map-based applications and services designed for and with children. This article investigates the needs and concerns in the design of child-targeted locative systems addressing children’s independent mobility while considering caregivers’ approval and fears. We present a study with seven families (nine children, 8-13-year-old, and seven adults) by taking an interdisciplinary approach. Inspired by scenario-based design, we invited the participants to imagine themselves in independent mobility scenarios (e.g., daughter and father negotiating a school path) and tell what design choices they would make. Our results indicate that the design of a child-targeted locative system should enhance physical safety on the road and enhance online safety.

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, emerging and innovative sensing technologies are shaping the future of agriculture, with a special focus on sustainability-related issues. In this context, we envision the possibility to exploit Social Internet of Things for sensing of environmental conditions (solar radiation, humidity, air temperature, and soil moisture) and communications, deep learning for plant disease detection, and crowdsourcing for images collection and classification, engaging farmers and community garden owners and experts. Through, data fusion and deep learning, the designed system can exploit the collected data and predict when a plant would (or not) get a disease, with a specific degree of precision, with the final purpose to render agriculture more sustainable. We here present the architecture, the deep learning model, and the responsive Web app. Finally, some experimental evaluations and usability/engagement tests are reported and discussed, together with final remarks, limitations, and future work.

Moving around a university campus may seem an activity of little importance: students are young, they walk and run without problems, with a simple glance they know where they are and where to go, they understand where a lesson is held, when a teacher is available or where to go when they are hungry. Activities that millions of students do every day. But what about students with some form of physical impairments? For them, moving around a university campus is a daily challenge. Can conversational interfaces improve the accessibility of a University campus? is the research question we address in this study. We involved students (with and without disabilities) in the development and evaluation of a skill for the Amazon Alexa platform. Results show that conversational interfaces are highly appreciated by most of the participants and confirm that such interfaces might improve the daily experience of users within a university campus.

Humans generally spend more than 90% of their time in indoor environments. Such value can reach 100% due to the restrictions and limitations we are experiencing because of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, monitoring the indoor air quality (IAQ) becomes strategic to prevent and limit risks and adverse effects on building occupants’ health, comfort, and well-being. To reduce one of the variables impacting the IAQ, i.e. CO2, indoor plants can be exploited. In this paper, we present the low-cost prototype of a system we designed with the intent to foster user’s awareness about IAQ exploiting an IoT-enabled home gardening system, able to sense information about the ambient conditions and plant health.

Millions of people use mobile map applications like Google Maps on a regular basis. However, despite these applications' ubiquity, the literature contains very little information about how these applications are used in the real world. As such, many researchers and practitioners seeking to improve mobile map applications may not be able to identify important challenges and may miss major opportunities for innovation. To address this paucity of usage information, we collected and analysed data during unsupervised usage of Google Maps by replacing the standard application with a wrapped version called MapRecorder. In two studies we recorded data from locals and tourists using our application and collected over 580 minutes of actual application usage from 34 users, spanning 555 unique sessions. We identify typical usage scenarios, observe a large amount of map exploration and elucidate generalisable interaction patterns.

In a world that is getting increasingly digital and interconnected, and where more and more physical objects are integrated into the information network (Internet of Things, IoT), Data Visualization can facilitate the understanding of huge volumes of data. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a testbed where IoT and Data Visualization have been exploited to increase the sustainability and safety of the Cesena (Smart) Campus. In particular, we detail the overall system architecture and the interactive dashboard that facilitates the management of the campus premises and the timetabling. Exploiting our system, we show how we can improve the campus sustainability (in terms of energy saving) and safety (considering the COVID-19 restrictions and regulations).

In this paper, we present design implications for the creation of digital maps in the context of wayfinding systems for children. In the process, we engaged 70 children in drawing the cognitive maps of their journey from home to school. Conducted in 2017, the study involved fifth-grade students (9-12 years old), at three different public schools in Funchal, Portugal. This paper offers reflections on their drawings and the resulting implications for the design of geographic technologies for children. Our contribution consists in highlighting ten types of landmarks extracted from children's 'maps' clustered into four categories, namely: Newness, Cultural personalization, Infrastructure, and Natural Landscapes.

The spoken language is the most natural interface for a human being and, thanks to the scientific-technological advances made in recent decades, nowadays we have voice assistance devices to interact with a machine through the use of natural language. Vocal user interfaces (VUI) are now included in many technological devices, such as desktop and laptop computers, smartphones and tablets, navigators, and home speakers, being welcomed by the market. The use of voice assistants can also be interesting and strategic in educational contexts and in public environments. This paper presents a case study based on the design, development, and assessment of a prototype devoted to assist students' during their daily activities in a smart campus context.

The paper presents a participatory platform designed and implemented with the aim of fostering dialogue between locals and tourists. The platform exploits the crowd-sourcing paradigm to collect the voice of the locals in order to provide tourists with authentic experiences. The system was designed as an immersive visual storytelling experience, to let the user discover the locals' story in an interactive rich environment. The insights that emerged during a preliminary evaluation with users point out that the system is able to deepen the relationship between locals and tourists while interacting with the platform.

Indoor wayfinding systems are still presenting challenges and open issues in providing accurate directions while navigating complex and large buildings. When considering users who are experiencing any kind of vision loss, these issues can become really serious to tackle. To facilitate users (both visually impaired people and people without disabilities) in navigating an indoor environment, we designed and implemented a pervasive system taking advantage of the beacon technology and an accessible mobile application. In this paper, we present the system design issues and implementation challenges we addressed to provide user-friendly services in indoor contexts, exploiting the Proximity technique.

Conversational interfaces are making web accessibility studies obsolete. Long-time has passed since the introduction of graphical interfaces. They revolutionized the way people used the computer. The desktop metaphor popularized and made easy access to the software but did not consider the specific needs of people with some form of sight and/or motion impairments. Accessibility, at that time, was a minor issue. The web changed everything and empathized the need to include people. Researchers from around the world began working on accessibility, which is still an issue on the agenda of many scientific labs. Despite this, we observe that today, with the diffusion of conversational interfaces, there is less need to bother about colors, fonts, size and many other visual features. Indeed, people might access to web contents through voice interaction. No need to see the graphic interface or to use input devices requiring the use of hands. The voice is everything you need, and accessibility has never been easier. Conversational interfaces are about to revolutionize accessibility and in this provocative paper, we show benefits, problems, and open issues that happen when these interfaces meet accessibility requirements.

"Covid-19 is a virus developed to rule the world" is just one of the many fake-news published on the Web. In this pandemic period, the Web is flooded with real news, allegedly true or blatantly false. To understand how fake news is affecting the Covid-19 perception, we selected 40 news (either true or fake) related to the origin, diffusion, treatment and effects of Covid-19 and we asked 293 volunteers to express their opinion on the truthfulness of the news. Then, we propose an Awareness index to compute knowledge degree of the volunteers. The results highlight a large ignorance on medical news, ignorance that goes beyond educational background. The study highlights the need for Health Institution to enter social media platforms in order to clearly explain what is true and what is false on Covid-19.

Sentiment analysis, social networks analysis, and social media sensing are becoming important tools to extract meaningful information from text, adopted in several contexts, ranging from social interactions, touristic activities, shopping and e-commerce, to name a few. In particular, the current CoVid-19 quarantine the world is witnessing has shown the potential of such tools as a way to monitor and understand people’s mood and feelings, in a time where people are resorting, more than ever, to social networks to engage and communicate with others. Indeed, when performing social network content analysis, privacy is a major concern. On the one hand, privacy issues and international laws and acts drive such analysis (e.g., GDPR), with the aim of protecting persons’ privacy and security. On the other hand, these can limit somehow such activities. Hence, a precise and accurate identification of the strategies to adopt should be done to balance privacy issues and sentiment analysis activities. Taking into account the requirements of a Urban Innovation Action project, which is based on the active involvement of citizens, this work aims to describe limitations and potentialities of social networks monitoring and analysis to understand users’ mood about the project actions adopted in the city of Ravenna (in Italy) to improve specific districts.

In this paper, we present a real-world study where a community-based tracking infrastructure has been put to good use for understanding human mobility during the COVID-19 outbreak, in order to contrast its diffusion. In particular, the infrastructure, deployed in 81 points of interests (POIs) across the Madeira Islands (Portugal), can collect a massive amount of spatio-temporal data, that can be enriched with potentially independent data sources of additional values (such as the official number of people affected by the coronavirus disease), and crowdsourced data collected by citizens. These enriched hyper-local data can be manipulated to provide i) stakeholders with a visual tool to contrast COVID-19 diffusion through human mobility monitoring, and ii) citizens with an interactive tool to visualize, in real-time, how crowded is a POI and plan their daily activities, and contribute to the data acquisition. Here we present the deployed community-based infrastructure and the data visualization interactive web application, designed to extract meaningful information from human mobility data during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Inspired by HCI research advocating for the inclusion of children in the design process, this pictorial provides a qualitative case study on children's perceptions of urban landscapes. Our goal is to create digital maps in the context of locative systems and wayfinding for children. For this purpose, we engaged 70 students from the city of Funchal (Portugal) in the drawing of a cognitive map of their journey from home to school in the Fall of 2017. These children (9-12 years old) also replied to a brief survey, and 31 out of 70 responded to a face-to-face interview in the Spring of 2018. This pictorial offers an analysis of the drawings as well as providing highlights of the children's own account of their maps. Our work generates a set of 10 themes related to landmarks and design ideas for the creation of digital maps for children.

This pictorial summarizes a qualitative study of children's perceptions of mobility through their own cognitive map drawings of the journey from home to school. We engaged 27 sixth-grade students (11 to 12 year-old) from Lisbon, Portugal, and analyze their drawings extracting 12 different design recommendations. We use these recommendations to provide design suggestions in terms of i) existing functionalities of mapping applications (that can be re-used); ii) improvements for existing map and wayfinding systems; iii) children's original design suggestions. The qualitative study reported here provides contributions that could help promote sustainable mobility for children in particular, with regards to innovation but also autonomy and supervision by caregivers.

This paper presents a mobile application designed in collaboration with an association devoted to facilitating the enjoyment of tourist services by visually impaired people (including low vision and blind users). In the design process, we performed a questionnaire to collect requirements and feedback from users. The outcome (100 answers) drove the design of mockups, and then, of the final application. Moreover, to make the application more appealing, we implemented gamification mechanism (to motivate the user in contributing to the application) and recommendation strategies (to assist users in choosing the tourist services). Some preliminary tests showed that the application results compliance with the most used screen readers and that users appreciated the provided functions.

Industry 4.0 is world wide recognized as the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies, driving companies and manufacturing activities in the so-called “smart factory” scenario. In this context, human workers are playing an important role, exploiting their skills and capabilities, acting as creative problem solvers. This means that adequate users interfaces and innovative workers' enabling services and functionalities have to be defined, letting humans effectively understand, monitor, and control the automated processes of Industry 4.0. In this paper, we propose a video monitoring multi-dimensional architecture, in the context of predictive maintenance of machinery monitored by means of smart cameras. Some preliminary tests conducted with the aim of evaluating proper configuration are presented and discussed.

Mosquitoes are considered one of the more severe worldwide health hazards. Their populations vary heterogeneously in urban and rural landscapes, and fluctuate with seasonal or climatic trends and human activities. Thus, frequent widespread high-resolution surveillance of mosquitoes is essential for both understanding their complex ecology and behavior, and also predicting disease risk and formulating effective control strategies against mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and Zika. To this end, in this paper, we present LOCOMOBIS, a LOw-COst MOsquito BIoacoustic Sensor where the wingbeat sounds produced by mosquitoes in flapping-wing flight are used to identify different species automatically. The sensor has been deployed and tested in a real field deployment and our results demonstrate the practical feasibility of this low-cost nonintrusive approach for monitoring mosquitoes in places requiring vector monitoring aimed at mosquito control or eradication. Moreover, to make the system more ubiquitous and easy to interact with, we implemented a web-based application where it is possible to check the collected data and the automatic species and gender classification.

Monitoring environmental conditions can provide great benefits, allowing users to be aware of ambient parameters, such as temperature, humidity, pressure, lights, pollution, etc. Collecting and measuring such kind of information means that, after adequate analyses, specific actions can be decided and applied by policymakers in urban scenarios and in public smart buildings, with the aim of improving humans' comfort. Observing and keeping environmental conditions in a specific range is fundamental also for the conservation and the preservation of goods, such as cultural heritage, pieces of art, and also papery documentations. Hence, IoT and smart objects can play a strategic role in equipping smart buildings with systems devoted to such monitoring activities. In this paper, we present an experiment we have conducted with the aim of comparing sensed data obtained with different assessment scenarios, applied in a library storage within a university campus. We have monitored the indoor environmental conditions for three days for each assessment scenario, collecting data about temperature, relative humidity, pollutants. To do that, we have exploited a low-cost multi-sensor platform, named Canarin II, applying the IoT paradigms. We here discuss the results we have obtained, reflecting on the pros and cons of each sensor configuration in the library storage, for a better preservation of its books and papery documents.

In this paper, using Reddit, we investigated on the efficacy of using an AI-based mood analysis methodology to understand how the prescription of different prenatal diagnostic tests (invasive vs non-invasive), and their corresponding outcomes, may have an impact onto the mood of parents-to-be. We found an interesting causal relationship between tests and mood that deserves a deeper comprehension by means of healthcare professionals. We have also demonstrated that combining AI-based dialogue analysis methodologies with advanced statistics may bring to a smart model, suitable for transforming a large amount of empirical data into correct medical interpretations.

One of the main global challenges to cope with for a sustainable development is transport and mobility. They are undisputed key issues of modern life affecting people's well-being and quality of life, which are significantly impacting the environment. In this scenario, innovative self-driving car technologies and electric solutions, emerging sensing technologies, and interconnected infrastructure can lead to more efficient transport systems and innovative mobility services, keeping into account the urgent need to foster a sustainable development. This workshop aims to gather practitioners with different background and different perspective from both Academia and Industry to further the knowledge in the area of emerging smart technologies and infrastructures for Smart Mobility and Sustainability.

Machine (learning)-based techniques have made substantial advances recently, and there is a general suggestion that they will drive major changes in health care within a few years. Yet, we all suffer from the lack of precise comparative studies on the accuracy of machine-based interpretations of medical data. To fill this gap, in this paper we investigate on the efficacy of using an automated mood analysis methodology to understand how patients react to the prescription to take different kinds of prenatal diagnostic tests (invasive vs non-invasive) and to the corresponding outcomes, based on conversations developed on Reddit. Our study essentially provides answers to research questions concerning: i) the popularity of prenatal diagnosis, ii) the patients' sentiment about different prenatal tests, iii) the existence of a cause-effect relationship between prenatal testing and patients' mood, and iv) the type of dialogues held by patients and physicians on this topic. Nonetheless, a general result emerging from our research is that a machine-based decision loop for now still needs human involvement, at least to alleviate the tension between empirical data and their correct medical interpretation.

In the context of wayfinding systems, this paper describes the design and development of an augmented smartphone-based navigation system where wearable output devices have been put to good use to improve the mobility experience of people with disabilities. In particular, we developed a system as a proof of concept, exploiting smart glasses and smart bracelets to covey information about the navigated path in an augmented way. We conducted a preliminary field study with a few users with mobility impairments to evaluate the feasibility of our system. Results are really encouraging considering the approach of using different ways to covey notifications related to the direction to follow. At the same time, the outcome reveals that the smart glasses we used in the prototype influenced negatively the perception of the experience.

Supporting high school students in choosing the degree programme that better suits their aspirations and preferences could play a key role in Universities and Colleges strategies, since it could be a crucial element in limiting the students' drop-out phenomenon. With the aim of welcoming freshmen belonging to the digital native generation, we have defined a two-level design framework, by exploiting user-driven innovation and open innovation approaches in a co-design experience. This paper describes such an experience we have conducted by exploring HCI and ICT to design a mobile application that can drive students in choosing the programme that suits their skills and interests, deploying it in the rich scenario of the University of Bologna (Alma Mater Studiorum). The experiment involved 200 high school students and 59 university students in a co-design and open innovation action, resulting in a mobile app.

The paper presents the design and implementation of a low cost and open source assistive system exploiting a wearable device in order to support deaf-blind people in communication using the Malossi alphabet. More specifically, the system, that we called GlovePi, is composed by three main low cost components, such as: (i) a gardener glove; (ii) a Raspberry Pi; (iii) a MPR121 capacitive touch sensor module with expansion board. The MPR121 module works as bridge between the Raspberry Pi and the sensors in the glove, allowing the data transfer. Instead, the Raspberry Pi works as a hotspot wifi and as a server to transfer data to the client, an android application. In this way, the deaf-blind user can use the glove to deliver messages to other users, using the Malossi alphabet. The characters (and phrases) in this way created, will be sent to the android application and displayed or listen. Evaluation tests have been performed to measure the performance on the basis of false positive and false negative, obtaining interesting results in supporting to the feasibility of the here described approach.

This paper presents a preliminary study we have conducted to understand to which extent colors can influence the way we choose urban walking paths beyond the need to move reasonably quick towards our destinations. Building on a mobile application we discuss ColorPath, an application allowing walkers to choose their daily walking routes as a combination of different urban elements to pass through (pleasurable landscapes, historical buildings and monuments, parks and gardens), each corresponding to a specific primary color. After an evaluation campaign with some few avid walkers, we shortly present here our initial findings, showing that emotions and the pleasure enjoyed while walking along particular routes may play a role which is not secondary with respect to the need for speed and accuracy. As our study is still at an initial stage, we took the decision to communicate our first intriguing results through a short paper.

This work presents a study inviting new reflections on our daily walking experiences as mediated by modern GIS-based route-mapping software tools, which has culminated into ColorPath: an app that allows walkers to follow creative urban paths computed on the basis of their walking preferences and expressed under the form of a color. In particular, users may indicate their preference to follow a route as obtained as an urban mix of: pleasurable landscapes (blue), historical buildings and places (red), and parks and gardens (green). ColorPath computes a corresponding path to be followed. Drawing on a new trend that explores the relations between GIS-enabled computerized navigations and sociocultural practices, ColorPath has been built on top of OpenTripPlanner (OTP) and exploits OpenStreetMap (OSM) data. Studies of 10 people’s use of ColorPath propose insights on how walkers reflect on the differences (pros and drawbacks) between “colored” routes and traditional shortest paths computed by routinary route recommendation algorithms.

Mobility in urban environments is an undisputed key factor that can affect citizens’ well-being and quality of life. This is particularly relevant for those people with disabilities or with reduced mobility who have to face the presence of barriers in urban areas. In this scenario, the availability of information about such architectural elements (together with facilities) can greatly support citizens’ mobility by enhancing their independence and their abilities in conducting daily outdoor activities. With this in mind, we have designed and developed mobile Pervasive Accessibility Social Sensing (mPASS), a system that provides users with personalized paths, computed on the basis of their own preferences and needs, with a customizable and accessible interface. The system collects data from crowdsourcing and crowdsensing to map urban and architectural accessibility by providing reliable information coming from different data sources with different levels of trustworthiness. In this context, reliability can be ensured by properly managing crowdsourced and crowdsensed data, combined when possible with authoritative datasets, provided by disability rights organizations and local authorities. To demonstrate this claim, in this article we present our trustworthiness model and discuss results we have obtained by simulations.

This paper completes an analysis started with two previous contributions, which have first identified Facebook as the most interesting social media for Crohn's disease patients and then Infliximab as the most discussed, both positively and negatively, treatment. In particular, in our second contribution, we concentrated on the satisfaction that emerged from online posts regarding Infliximab and compared it to the body of pertaining medical literature. We here finish off such work, comparing the satisfaction recorded by automatic means through the use of sentiment analysis techniques to the satisfaction recorded by expert physicians. In brief, two results appear to be of particular interest for the Crohn's disease community of patients: (a) physicians tend to classify as neutral many posts that were previously classified as negative, and, (b) posts of patients that have been treated with Infliximab for a long time are never classified as negative by medical examiners. In addition, this short paper sets forth, with strength, a problem of methodological nature: is it possible to effectively analyze the big data of patient online posts without a stronger cooperation between data analysts and medical experts?

This work presents users evaluation of mPASS (mobile Pervasive Accessibility Social Sensing), a system to provide citizens with personalized accessible way finding. mPASS collects data both from crowdsourcing and from crowdsensing, in order to obtain a detailed georeferenced description of the urban environment accessibility. It combines these data with a user profile, with the aim of tailoring paths and maps to users' preferences and needs. To drive the design of our application, we assessed our first proposal through a preliminary questionnaire, showing mPASS mockups to 60 uses with disability and elderly users. On the basis of the results of such questionnaire, we developed a prototype and we tested it with a small group of pilot users. This paper presents results of both the assessments.

The announced availability of new high-performance head-mounted displays is exciting the imagination of the consumer market and suggesting that we may soon have more immersive game playing opportunities. Leveraging on the commercialization of such devices, the expectation to enjoy a new generation of virtual reality-based games relies also on the development of game interfaces suitable to allow players to enjoy an adequate sense of presence and immersion, while playing. This paper shows, with results from field trials with the Oculus Rift head mounted display, that a diegetic game interface may help to enhance the feeling of “being in the flow of the game”, even when it is used to convey to players contextual gaming information (e.g., a game configuration menu). To this aim, a simple diegetic interface has been developed based on the design expedient of incorporating into the virtual game space some virtual devices (such as smart watches and tablets) through which contextual information is displayed to players.

A multimedia application (termed Di Piazza in Piazza) has been designed and developed that allows people to enjoy a narrative experience based on food and culinary traditions. Several kinds of digital content narrating the gastronomic culture of the Emilia Romagna region has been made available through a gestural interface within an installation to be exhibited in public spaces. The idea of using hands to access content came after the consideration that hands play a primary role in the relationship between humans and food. Our multimedia installation has gone on tour through several cities in Italy allowing to gather a huge amount of data whose analysis provides some important results. Among those: (a) the use of hands was mostly appreciated by visitors and (b) regional products and gastronomic traditions raised interest in visitors, thus confirming that a strong cultural relationship exists among people and food, in cultural terms.

This paper presents a mobile serious game, which exploits the Socio-Cognitive Conflict (SCC) by means of a game with the aim of supporting preschool and primary school children in understanding two important concepts: (i) topographical orientation, and (ii) recycling. In fact, an important competency that children deal with is the topographical orientation, particularly as regards the relativity of the objects positions with respect to a specific point. To reach this goal we have designed and developed a serious game for mobile devices (e.g. tablets), where kids need to move a character in a grid, with the aim of helping it in associating specific garbage to the right recycling container (taking into account the relative position of the character and of all the objects in the grid). Such a character represents a humanoid robot named MecWilly. We have conducted a first assessment of our serious game by involving six preschool and primary school kids. The first result we have obtained show that kids were very interested in playing such a game and in experiencing more game levels. Further experimentations have been already planned and will be conducted in three primary schools, stressing the SCC by contrasting the mobile serious game with a similar version of the game played by interacting with humanoid robots.