New USI website

The University of Lugano has a new website. A joint project by the TEC-LAB (Technology-enhanced Communication Laboratory), USI Web and Graphic Design Service and a team of the Politecnico of Milan, the website brings novelty as it pays particular attention to the needs of various user categories (gives personalized access paths) and to the visually-impaired.

Mauricio’s thesis: low-cost IET with impact on visitors

Well-presented, well-researched subject, Mauricio’s defense was great to attend from beginning to end. His theme was low-cost technologies and cultural heritage diffusion. He tried to determine how the IET (interactive educational technologies) currently used by museums have an impact on the visitors/users’ learning curve and whether/to what extent these are more effective than educational resources used traditionally. Mauricio used his practical experience gained while conducting his curricular internships – one at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where he is working at the present and the second one at the San Francisco MOMA. He drew research data from the survey conducted at the MOMA – user observation and self-administered questionnaires for the “Anselm Kiefer: Heaven and Earth” exhibition; he evaluated how visitors perceived the impact of interactive technologies vs. traditional educational resources. The research results were proven solid by a sound methodology and a good interdisciplinary sense in the analysis - thanks also to Mauricio's academic background in psychology.
And congratulations for his re-consideration of established patterns of targeting: “of course youngsters are more drawn to technologies, but aged people have the time and the resources and the interest in arts and culture. They take computer classes and are eager to learn how to use technologies. Therefore this target should not be overlooked when designing interactive educational technologies for museums”. (inexact quote from his oral presentation, we all loved that!)

See pics (last in the set)

Second Life and Libraries - UC Berkeley

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Visit to exhibition "Urban Manners" next week

This year, as part of the course on museum scenography, held by prof. Sabelli, we are going to visit the exhibition Urban Manners at Hangar Bicocca in Milan. The exhibition displays the works by 15 contemporary artists from India - sculptors, painters, video-artists; the thematic revolves around the contradictions present in the contemporary Indian society. The visit is planned for next Sunday, December 16th.

Further readings for prof. Slavko Milekic's seminar

Here are some further readings for the seminar "Alternative interfaces for cultural heritage information" held this week at TEC-CH by prof. Slavko Milekic.
Here you find a list of publications. Recommended papers:
- intention-based interface using gaze-tracking,
- tangible interfaces .
- magic and multimedia.
More info about KiddyFace, the child-friendly tangible interface.

HCI contest for students

Hi guys,
there is a contest for students at the HCIEd 2008
"The contest aims not only to select the best design proposals stimulated by the design brief of the contest, but also to identify the best design proposals resulting from the use of best practices, methods, tools and process within a collaborative international and cross-cultural environment."

I think is quite interesting and I would suggest to participate,
elisa

European DMCA

We're beginning to hear a bit in the States about the European version of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The U.S. version of the law, passed some years ago, has been criticized as being ineffective, confusing, and overly restrictive; and for creating a "chilling effect" in the online/developers environment--discouraging competition, supporting closed-source, proprietary software solutions instead of open-source, interoperable ones.

The E.U. version of the act, the European Union Copyright Directive, is being formalized into law in some countries. In Switzerland, the law was passed on October 5; however, a petition that is in circulation calls for a referendum and public discussion of the pros and cons of the law. Consider reading up on this important topic and, if you choose, signing the petition for referendum: http://no-dmca.ch/index.en.html. The link to the Ars Technica posting on the right-hand side of this page provides a useful summary.