Breadcrumbs: location and context aware mobile platform for story sharing

With the current proliferation of sensor equipped mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, location aware services are expanding beyond the mere efficiency and work related needs of users, evolving in order to incorporate fun, culture and the social life of users. Today people on the move have more and more connectivity and are expected to be able to communicate with their usual and familiar social networks. That means communications not only with their peers and colleagues, friends and family but also with unknown people that might share their interests, curiosities or happen to use the same social network. Through social networks, location aware blogging, cultural mobile applications relevant information is now available at specific geographical locations and open to feedback and conversations among friends as well as strangers. In fact, nowadays smartphone technologies aloud users to post and retrieve content while on the move, often relating to specific physical landmarks or locations, engaging and being engaged in conversations with strangers as much as their own social network. The use of such technologies and applications while on the move can often lead people to serendipitous discoveries and interactions. Throughout our thesis we are engaging on a two folded investigation: how can we foster and support serendipitous discoveries and what are the best interfaces for it? In fact, to read and write content while on the move is a cognitively intensive task. While the map serves the function of orienting the user, it also absorbs most of the user’s concentration. In order to address this kind of cognitive overload issue with Breadcrumbs we propose a 360 degrees interface that enables the user to find content around them by means of scanning the surrounding space with the mobile device. By using a loose metaphor of a periscope, harnessing the power of the smartphone sensors we designed an interactive interface capable of detecting content around the users and display it in the form of 2 dimensional bubbles which diameter depends on their distance from the users. Users will navigate the space in relation to the content that they are curious about, rather than in relation to the traditional geographical map. Through this model we envisage alleviating a certain cognitive overload generated by having to continuously confront a two dimensional map with the real three dimensional space surrounding the user, but also use the content as a navigational filter. Furthermore this alternative mean of navigating space might bring serendipitous discovery about places that user where not aware of or intending to reach. We hence conclude our thesis with the evaluation of the Breadcrumbs application and the comparison of the 360 degrees interface with a traditional 2 dimensional map displayed on the devise screen. Results from the evaluation are compiled in findings and insights for future use in designing and developing context aware mobile applications.

Applying DEMO to model and automate a process in a workflow system: a case study in a city hall

Organizations are Complex systems. A conceptual model of the enterprise is needed that is: coherent the distinguished aspect models constitute a logical and truly integral comprehensive all relevant issues are covered consistent the aspect models are free from contradictions or irregularities concise no superfluous matters are contained in it essential it shows only the essence of the enterprise, i.e., the model abstracts from all realization and implementation issues. The world is in great need for transparency about the operation of all the systems we daily work with, ranging from the domestic appliances to the big societal institutions. In this context the field of enterprise ontology has emerged with the aim to create models that help to understand the essence of the construction and operation of complete systems; more specifically, of enterprises. Enterprise ontology arises in the way to look through the distracting and confusing appearance of an enterprise right into its deep kernel. This, from the perspective of the system designer gives him the tools needed to design a successful system in a way that’s reflects the desires and needs of the workers of the enterprise. This project’s context is the use of DEMO (Design and Engineering Methodology for Organizations) for (re)designing or (re)engineering of an enterprise, namely a process of the construction department of a city hall, the lack of a well-founded theory about the construction and operation of this processes that was the motivation behind this work. The purpose of studying applying the DEMO theory and method was to optimize the process, automating it as much as possible, while reducing paper and time spent between tasks and provide a better service to the citizens.