Vertical displays and smartphones for strengthening local communities: a case study in a jogging track

• Grant number: 13/04306-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: August 01, 2013
• End date: April 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computer Systems
• Principal Investigator: Maria da Graca Campos Pimentel
• Grantee: Diogo de Carvalho Pedrosa
• Supervisor: Khai N. Truong
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Toronto (U of T), Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/01510-0 - Iteraction techniques between users and distributed multimedia applications based on multiple devices, BP.DD

Abstract

Many people enjoy jogging with others for social and motivational reasons. However, a challenge for social jogging is finding a partner who runs at the same pace and lives nearby. A jogging track is a place where people from a local community go for exercises. A system composed by mobile phones, to allow interaction in this nomadic situation, in conjunction with public displays, to allow a better usability and support collaborative tasks, could be used by people in the search of partners that go regularly to the same jogging track. The display can be located in a covered area near a park entrance and also near the jogging track, to allow both identification of arriving people and display of statistics and presence of joggers. This system may offer many functionalities focusing on helping people to find partners. However, the the interaction with large screens via smartphones offers many challenges and has been investigated by researchers. We are interested in developing interaction techniques that facilitate the interaction of people with a system involving a situated display and portable devices. We will apply this in a system that aims to develop and to strengthen local communities, in particular, regular visitor of a jogging track. (AU)