Search

The present paper presents the preliminary results of an ongoing research programme carried on at the Politecnico di Milano in the INDACO department in collaboration with a non-governmental organization called Sim-patia. The Sim-patia organization is in charge with the management of a rest house for people suffering from physical and cognitive pathologies that reduce their motion capabilities and self support in the daily activities. The ongoing research employs user-centred techniques to investigate the physical and cognitive needs of the patients in residence. Preliminary results of the experiments showed the effectiveness of the video communication solution developed for a particular physical environment. This experience is quite significant for our national context since up to now no similar cases have been published in Italy. The present paper illustrates the design approach, the first results of the research project and the evaluation activities performed on the prototyped solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a novel type of persuasive system aimed at orienting a group conversation in a casual setting. The system is based on a tabletop display complemented by a limited speech recognition system (a word spotter). It affects group behavior indirectly by presenting on the shared interface contextually appropriate visual material in a way reminiscent of the tradition of advertising: attention-catching, evocative, and cognitively stimulating. The system is meant to be used in the context of a museum visit. The purpose is to influence a group of friends so that they discuss their museum experience, while sitting at the museum café after the visit. Results show the system in the current version has a moderate effect on group behavior and provide indications for promising improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-production, or co-creation, is becoming the cornerstone of marketing and design practices and a sort of managerial mantra that is rapidly gaining momentum both at professional and academic level. Despite a growing interest for this topic, there seems to be a lack of researches investigating the level of interest and participation of customers in co-creation activities and the drivers and motivations that might trigger co-production. This paper presents the results of a research run by Politcnico di Milano School of Management in collaboration with AC Nielsen, Nielsen Online and Connexia in 2007 among Italian consumers to determine the size and characteristics of the co-creation phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]