Romanian Journal of
Human - Computer InteractionVol.7, No.3, 2014
ISSN 1843-4460
Contents
Using social networks among Romanian students – variable, advantages and limits.
Dragoş Daniel Iordache
195 - 208 The modeling, analysis and classification of conversations in collaborative environments.
Alexandru Bardaş, Mihai Dascălu, Ştefan Trăuşan-Matu
209 - 224 A short classification of audio games in the context of improving interaction and accessibility for visually impaired people.
Oana Bălan, Alin Moldoveanu, Florica Moldoveanu, Oana-Maria Ferche
225 - 238 Practical implementation of a hand gesture recognition application for use in human-computer Interaction.
Bradi Rareş, Dorian Gorgan
239 - 258 Beta testing of a dynamic language identification software component - preliminary results.
Costin Pribeanu, Paul Fogarassy-Neszly
259 - 272
Abstracts
Using social networks among Romanian students – variable, advantages and limits
Dragoş Daniel Iordache
Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare în informatică – ICI Bucureşti
Bd. Mareşal Averescu, Nr. 8-10, 011455, Bucureşti
E-mail: iordache@ici.ro
Abstract. Social Networking Sites (SNSs) allow people to present themselves, join interest groups and establish or maintain connections with others. Most social networks are for teenagers and adults, although some have no lower age limit. These sites can be oriented towards work-related contexts (LinkedIn.com), connecting users with common interests or for university students (original destination of Facebook.com). The goal of this paper is to identify the main factors that motivate students in Romania to use various social networks, the people encouraged to use them as well as the limits and possible risks associated with use of SNSs. Results are based on content analysis of the responses to the open questions of the instrument applied to 172 students from the University of Bucharest and Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.
Keywords: Social Networking Sites, students, advantages, limits, determinants.
Cite this paper as:
Iordache, D.D. Using social networks among Romanian students – variable, advantages and limits. Revista Romana de Interactiune Om-Calculator 7(3), 195-208, 2014.
The modeling, analysis and classification of conversations in collaborative environments
Alexandru Bardaş1, Mihai Dascălu1, Ştefan Trăuşan-Matu1,2
1University "Politehnica" of Bucharest, Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers
313 Splaiul Independentei, 060042, Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: alex.bardas@gmail.com, mihai.dascalu@cs.pub.ro
2Artificial Intelligence Research Institute
13 Calea 13 Septembrie, Bucharest, 050711, Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: stefan.trausan@cs.pub.ro
Abstract. The classification of conversations in collaborative environments is needed for a better understanding of discussed subjects. Ontologies represent an efficient and representative method of conceptualising a domain. Starting with a predefined set of ontologies for multiple domains, a precise conversation classification between multiple members is wanted. To facilitate this process, the language in which the messages are written must be detected and there should be as little grammatical errors as possible. In this manner, the keywords used by the conversation’s participants can be found among the concepts from the ontologies, while the dominant and central concepts determine the domains on which the conversations are classified. For doing this analysis, we built a web collaborative platform that enables realtime communication between users, the visualisation of keywords within ontologies using radial graphs and the transcript export in an accessible format for further analysis. The platform is accessible on any type of device, being capable of displaying the minimal needed information for a mobile device and automatically rescaling on a bigger screen. In this paper we provide details regarding the application’s implementation, the advantages of using it and its classification system, as well as the benefits of integrating it in different educational contexts.
Keywords: instant messaging, conversation, collaboration, classification, spell checking, ontology.
Cite this paper as:
Bardas, A., Dascalu, M., Trausan-Matu, S. The modeling, analysis and classification of conversations in collaborative environments. Revista Romana de Interactiune Om-Calculator 7(3), 209-224, 2014.
A short classification of audio games in the context of improving interaction and accessibility for visually impaired people
Oana Bălan, Alin Moldoveanu, Florica Moldoveanu, Oana-Maria Ferche
POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest, Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers
Splaiul Independenţei 313, Sector 6, Bucureşti
E-mail: oanab_2005@yahoo.com, {alin.moldoveanu, florica.moldoveanu }@cs.pub.ro, oana_maria_f@yahoo.com
Abstract. Making computer games accessible to blind people is a very difficult task. As the majority of computer games available on the market today are graphics-based, the visually impaired part of the population is highly deprived of this useful technological means of entertainment and education. This lack of accessibility has led to the development of adaptable and entertaining audio-based games, since the late 1970s. As hearing is a relatively reliable sense that can, to some extent, replace sight, these ludic virtual environments render their complete experience through auditory cues. Even if at the moment audio games do not draw the attention of developers as much as their video counterparts, we believe that they present obvious advantages. They should be studied more intensively in order to lead to the development of useful and accessible applications that would improve the interaction between the computer and the blind users. This paper aims to present a brief classification of the most significant audio games and to discuss their functional aspects, the most used means of interaction and the best design strategies related to the development of alternative game approaches towards facilitating the connection between the visually-disadvantaged players and the computer.
Keywords: virtual reality, HCI, audio game, 3D sound, visually-impaired people.
Cite this paper as:
Balan, O., Moldoveanu, A., Moldoveanu, F., Ferche, O.M. A short classification of audio games in the context of improving interaction and accessibility for visually impaired people. Revista Romana de Interactiune Om-Calculator 7(3), 225-238, 2014.
Practical implementation of a hand gesture recognition application for use in human-computer Interaction
Bradi Rareş, Dorian Gorgan
Universitatea Tehnică Cluj-Napoca
Str. Memorandumului nr. 28, CP 400114, Cluj-Napoca
E-mail: bradi.rares@gmail.com, dorian.gorgan@cs.utcluj.ro
Abstract. The task of hand gesture recognition is actively researched and challenging because of complex backgrounds, different lighting environments and unpredictable hand movements. This paper presents an analysis along with an implementation of a system that can recognize the hand center, the fingers and the hand wrist. Hand center recognition is done by finding the minimum inscribed circle in the hand contour. Fingers are detected using the k-curvature algorithm. The hands positions along a trajectory are analyzed and based on those a general direction is established. The features are tracked in time using Kalman filter in order to achieve robustness in use and have stability in the features locations. The hand gestures are made out of a desired direction and a certain positioning of the fingers. An analysis is performed on three levels with the purpose of: quantifying the robustness of the system to lighting and background, determining the error rate and the processing rate.
Keywords: gesture recognition, hand gesture, k-curvature, real-time systems, image segmentation, cameras, computer vision, feature extraction, tracking, fingertips.
Cite this paper as:
Rares, B., Gorgan, D. Practical implementation of a hand gesture recognition application for use in Human Computer Interaction. Revista Romana de Interactiune Om-Calculator 7(3), 239-258, 2014.
Beta testing of a dynamic language identification software component - preliminary results
Costin Pribeanu1, Paul Fogarassy-Neszly2
1Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare în Informatică – ICI Bucureşti
Bd. Mareşal Averescu, Nr. 8-10, 011455, Bucureşti
E-mail: pribeanu@ici.ro
2BAUM Engineering
Str. Traian Moşoiu nr. 8, 310175 Arad
E-mail: pf@baum.ro
Abstract. Automatic language identification in a given text belongs to a general category of algorithms of text classifications with many applications. Some recent developments concerns language dependent speech synthesis. For such application, dynamic language identification is required, involving special algorithms, capable to dynamically recognize the language in texts received as a continuous stream of data. This paper presents some preliminary results during the testing of two different versions of the dynamic language identification implementation (alpha and beta), with emphasis on the second one. Two parameters were manipulated during testing: the amount of analyzed text and the inertia in changing the language. The evaluation has been done from a usability perspective with a focus on the effectiveness and efficiency of language identification. Beta testing results are useful to reveal the optimal level of parameters and suggest new directions to improve the method and algorithms.
Keywords: automatic language recognition, dynamic language recognition, beta testing, speech synthesis, usability, assistive technologies.
Cite this paper as:
Pribeanu, C., Fogarassz-Neszly, P. Beta testing of a dynamic language identification software component - preliminary results. Revista Romana de Interactiune Om-Calculator 7(3), 259-272, 2014.