85385 - Information Technology for Wellbeing

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course the student acquires knowledge about information and communication technologies, aimed at improving/enhancing various aspects of psycho-physical wellness.

Course contents

From Sullivan:

Design Follows Technology (ch. 1); Activity Trackers (ch. 2); Cognitive Wearables (ch. 6); Service Design (ch. 7); Embodiment and Perception (ch. 8)

From Aukstakalnis:

Introduction to Augmented and Virtual Reality (Part I); Understanding the Humand Senses and Their Relationship to Output/Input Devices (Part II); Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality: Health and Medicine (ch. 16)

From Dix et al

Design rules (ch. 7); Evaluation techniques (ch. 9).

Lab hours: application of human-computer interaction evaluation techniques; analysis of existing mobile applications and virtual reality applications.

Readings/Bibliography

Sullivan, S. (2016). Designing for Wearables: Effective UX for Current and Future Devices. " O'Reilly Media, Inc.".

Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory Abowd and Russule Beale, Human Computer Interaction, Third Edition, Pearson - Prentice Hall, ISBN-13: 978-0-13-046109-4 ISBN-10: 0-13-046109-1

Aukstakalnis, S. (2016). Practical Augmented Reality: A Guide to the Technologies, Applications, and Human Factors for AR and VR. Addison-Wesley Professional.

Estrin, D. (2014). Small data, where n= me. Communications of the ACM, 57(4), 32-34.

Teaching methods

Lectures, lab and office hours.

Assessment methods

Project discussion and oral examination based on the course material.

The project requires the creation of an interface for a Wellbeing-focused application. The project requirements are the following:

- A ten page document and a ten slides powerpoint or prezi presentation to illustrate the motivations, ideas, technologies and choices and their scientific justifications at the basis of the proposed solution/application;

- A prototype implemented using inVisionApp or Adobe XD;

- A brief presentation (using Powerpoint for example) in which an evaluation of the interface, according to the methodologies presented in class, is illustrated.

Teaching tools

Computer lab and video projector.

Office hours

See the website of Gustavo Marfia