Issue 8 of Lychnos, Notebooks of the Fundación General CSIC, published in March 2012, presents the results of the survey on R+D & ageing conducted by Fundación General CSIC, and features a description of the 5 projects awarded with funding in Proyectos Cero 2011 en Envejecimiento, promoted by Fundación General CSIC, with the support of La Obra Social “la Caixa”.

The WorthPlay project, coordinated by GTI-UPF, is presented by Josep Blat, Josep Lluís Arcos (IIIA-CSIC) and Sergio Sayago (DMAG-UoD), and can be read (in Spanish, online at: http://www.fgcsic.es/lychnos/es_ES/publicaciones/lychnos_num_08

The paper by Yuji Yoshimura, Fabien Girardin, Juan Pablo Carrascal, Carlo Ratti and Josep Blat, New Tools for Studying Visitor Behaviours in Museums: A Case Study at the Louvre, has been accepted for the 19^th International Conference on Information Technology and Travel & Tourism ENTER 2012 as an invited research paper. Our paper is ranked among the Top 10 submissions of ENTER 2012 and published in Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012, Proceedings of the International conference in Helsingborg (ENTER 2012).

The paper presents a new method to understand in detail visitor movements in a museum, Le Louvre in Paris, France, which needs to overcome eventual problems of hypercongestion, that degrade the visitor’ experience. A Bluetooth proximity detection approach is proposed to gather empirical data from the approximately 7% of the visitors with their Bluetooth devices on. This approach complements the more traditional methods: observation, and interview-based surveys and shows that more objective, precise quantitative results on the flows of visitors and occupancy levels in key areas of the museum can be obtained. The initial findings suggest that the methodology proposed has a great potential to clarify the features of the space and its use by visitors in small spatiotemporal scales with unprecedented accuracy. The dynamic estimation of the density and flow of visitors in and between nodes could be associated with the indicator of the relation between pedestrian flow and its density for more dynamic crowd management. Additionally, the understanding of the patterns in visitors’ behaviour and its prediction provide new information to optimize the spatial layout of objects, human resources and facilities, including advertising and visitor information points, to respond to the increasing tourism demand. It could become a strong management tool not only for museums but also for urban environments in the tourism flourishing age.

Here you have the abstract of the paper:

In this paper we discuss the exploitation of data originated from Bluetooth-enabled devices to understand visitor’s behavior in the Louvre museum in Paris, France. The collected samples are analysed to examine frequent patterns in visitor’s behaviours, their trajectory, length of stay and some relationships, offering new details on behavior than previously available. Our work reinforces the emergence of a new methodology to study visitors. It is part of recent lines of investigation that exploit the presence of pervasive data networks to complement more traditional methods in tourism studies such as surveys based on observation or interviews. However, most part experiments have explored quantitative data coming from mobile phones, GPS, or even geotagged user generated content to understand behavior in a region, or a city, at a larger scale than that of our current work.

Citation:

Yoshimura, Y., Girardin, F., Carrascal, J.P., Ratti, C., and Blat, J. (2012). New Tools for Studying Visitor Behaviours in Museums: A Case Study at the Louvre. In Fuchs, M., Ricci, Francesco., Cantoni, L. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012. Proceedings of the International conference in Helsingborg (ENTER 2012). Mörlenback: Springer Wien NewYork.

The paper by Mar Pérez-Sanagustín, Patricia Santos, Davinia Hernández-Leo and Josep Blat, 4SPPIces: a case study of factors in a scripted collaborative-learning blended course across spatial locations, has been accepted for publication at the International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Journal (http://ijcscl.org/). The paper presents a conceptual model that defines four factors to be considered when addressing the desing of Computer Supported Collaborative Blended Learning (CSCBL) Scripts and of the technological systems for supporting their enactment. The four factors are: the space, the pedagogical method, the participants and the history (what we called the 4SPPIces factors). This paper presents a CSCBL script called Discovering Barcelona that was designed according to the 4SPPIces factors and evaluated at the High School IES Duc de Montblanc (http://www.ducdemontblanc.cat/) (Rubí, Spain).

The research described in this paper has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation in the Learn3 project (http://gti.upf.edu/learn3/) (TIN2008-05163/TSI). Also, all these work was possible thank to the enthusiastic and motivated practitioners from the IES Duc de Montblanc Pilar Sanagustín Viu, Francesc Santolaria and Tònia Boqué.

Here you have the he abstract of the paper:

Computer-Supported Collaborative Blended Learning (CSCBL) scripts are complex learning situations in which formal and informal activities happening in different spatial locations are coordinated and integrated into one unique learning setting through the use of technology. We define a conceptual model identifying four factors to be considered when addressing the design of these CSCBL scripts and of the technological system for supporting their enactment: the space, the pedagogical method, the participants and the history (4SPPIces factors). This paper presents and evaluates a CSCBL script designed according to the 4SPPIces factors. The script is proposed for extending the learning of geographic fieldwork in a geography course at a high school. In this script, students reflect about the urbanism and the socio-geographic characteristics of a Barcelona neighborhood. The script blends individual and collaborative activities supported by mobile and computer-based technologies conducted in the classroom, home and city. The script is evaluated in a case study involving 34 students and two teachers. The case study reports: (1) the CSCBL script designed with the teachers, considering the 4SPPIces factors and the associated technological environment and (2) the results of enacting the script in the actual learning context and analyzing whether it fulfils the targeted learning objectives. The results from this case study show the impact of considering the 4SPPIces factors to enhance a real practice providing new learning and motivational benefits. The CSCBL script presented is an example that can encourage other practitioners and researchers to adopt the 4SPPices factors in similar educational situations.

Citation:

Pérez-Sanagustín M.; Santos P.; Hernández-Leo D.; Blat J.; 4SPPIces: A case study of factors in a scripted collaborative-learning blended course across spatial locations. International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, (In press, 10.1007/s11412-011-9139-3).

The paper by Valeria Righi, Sergio Sayago and Josep Blat, Towards understanding e-government with older people and designing an inclusive platform with them – preliminary results of a rapid ethnographical study, has been accepted for publication at the International Journal of Public Information Systems. The paper describes the results of a rapid ethnographical study conducted in Àgora, an adult association in Barcelona, and points out the attitudes of older people towards e-government services.

The work described in this paper has been conducted whithin the Life 2.0 EU-project.

The abstract of the paper:

The ageing population and the growing importance of e-government reinforce the need for further e-government research with older people. We have conducted a rapid ethnographical study aimed at understanding attitudes of older people towards e-government related activities and Information and Communication Technologies. We present initial results derived from our study and discuss a potential scenario for supporting information sharing and promoting a more active and dynamic participation of older people in their neighborhood, which we consider a relevant aspect of e-government with older people. Our initial findings suggest that a variety of inclusive aspects, such as socialization, face-to-face contact, or mutual support impact the use and adoption of e-services by older people.

Citation: V. Righi, S. Sayago, J. Blat. 2011. Towards understanding e-government with older people and designing an inclusive platform with them: preliminary results of a rapid ethnographical study. International Journal of Public Information Systems, 3: 131-142

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