Leonardo de Araújo | Universität Bremen (original) (raw)

Papers by Leonardo de Araújo

Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning: Learning in the Synergy of Multiple Disciplines, 2009

In an one year lasting project at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven a digital lea... more In an one year lasting project at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven a digital learning game for the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven was developed. It is targeted to school pupils in the age between 10 and 14 and should explain the importance of the cog for trading activities between Hanse cities in the 14th century. More detailed learning objectives were defined through a survey with history teachers from Bremen. The historical research was done in cooperation with the museum. Another key-interest was the design and building of an easy-to-use and attractive computer terminal including a special control-interface for the game. The resulting game is evaluated in an user-test with 29 school pupil. It shows that the game makes fun and is easy to understand. Approx. 50% of the pupils achieved all learning objectives.

EDULEARN12 Proceedings, 2012

Audio guides are a convenient way to convey additional information about artworks in museums. At ... more Audio guides are a convenient way to convey additional information about artworks in museums. At the same time, games are powerful strategies to motivate individuals to actively accomplish certain tasks. In this paper we present the master thesis " Game Based Audio Guide for Museums " which looked into merging both audio guides and games in an attempt to improve interpretation in the museum by driving the visitor to explore its space and its collection in a motivating and playful manner, and, after that, apply the information acquired. The game-based audio guide developed is supported by state of art technologies such as the iPhone and Computer Vision Libraries that open new possibilities concerning HCI which are not only able to provide visitors with more intuitive ways to operate the machine, but also liberate the graphic interface and the user to accomplish tasks such as recognizing artefacts in the museum. On top of that, a balanced and organized distribution of visual and auditory outputs reduce cognitive load, which leads to faster and easier understanding of the interface, and game mechanics as well as its content. The guide makes use of object recognition technology as a mean to induce the user to pay attention to artefacts and take advantage of human gestures, which have proven educational advantages in the learning process. The game concept is based on " spot the difference " style, in which the visitor has to look for missing objects by comparing pictures of the museum environment with absent items and the actual site with all objects on display. The results of usability testes carried at the museum ship Dar Pomorza in Gdynia, Poland, indicate that the game presents advantages over regular audio guides in providing a more organized, active and motivating museum experience to the visitor. Stating correctly the number of artefacts mentioned in narrations and remembering a greater number of objects by their names were signs from tested users that the experience was in indeed more effective, because the information about the artefacts was better structured within the game. Also, photographing objects was an active action required in the game that played an important role in organizing the experience by promoting a more effective location awareness regarding the museum space and its artefacts. The game obtained better ratings than the regular audio guide regarding the overall experience.

Handbook of Research on Serious Games as Educational, 2012

In contrast to developing home versions of educational games, the development of games for museum... more In contrast to developing home versions of educational games, the development of games for museums and exhibitions is faced with specific limitations and requirements. Thus, the game designer has to consider restrictions concerning not only its content and learning objectives, which need to be related to the exhibition, but also the limited time available for playing and for understanding its mechanics, as well as restrictions due to the game’s location in the exhibition. Furthermore, typical problems related to serious games must be considered, such as creating both an educational and engaging experience for players. The authors’ recommendations presented in this chapter refer to experiences made in two case studies performed by Digital Media Master’s students of the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven, Germany. Relevant design decisions of these two projects are illustrated and discussed, especially with respect to the limitations of exhibition environments. Authors conclude that if digital technologies are well balanced with the physical environment, a profitable combination between an interactive game and a traditional exhibition can enrich the overall visitor experience.

Proceedings of the International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, 2010

In this paper we present the project of developing a digital educational game for the German Mari... more In this paper we present the project of developing a digital educational game for the German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven (GMMB). The game is related to the main exhibit " Hanseatic Cog " and the medieval exhibition about " Hanseatic Times ". The goals of the project are not only to enhance museum visitors' experiences by making them aware of certain exhibits, stimulating them to explore the environment and offering them new information, but also to gather knowledge about integrating serious games beyond the limits of the private sphere. Not only typical problems of serious games had to be solved, i.e. making the play an engaging and educational experience, but also specific demands of the museum regarding the time available for the visit, the flow and number of visitors, information displayed and duration of the game had to be taken in to consideration. In order to increase " fun " during the play, we chose an explorative game type of " learning by acting " (action learning). In the role of a sailor and trader, the player has to apply his acquired knowledge by acting in the game rather than just answering simple quiz questions. However, sometimes quizzes were necessary during certain parts of the play in order to make information explicit and faster to be grasped. In several development cycles, game prototypes were tested by school children also inside the museum and optimized according to the evaluation results. The results of the usability tests showed that an educational game for a museum context needs to be highly self-explaining, using clear instructions and clear metaphors. After testing the final prototype, we are confident that it engages visitors for the exhibition topic and improves learning effects.

Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Games Based Learning, 2010

In contrast to developing educational games e.g. for schools, the development of games for museum... more In contrast to developing educational games e.g. for schools, the development of games for museums has to meet even more limitations and specific requirements. These limitations concern the character of the game, its content, its location in the exhibition, its design and interface. In our paper, we present and discuss our experiences and drawbacks in developing an educational computer-based game for the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, a game dealing with the Hanseatic League and the old Hanseatic cog. This game was developed by Digital Media master students of the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven in close cooperation with the responsible museum expert. Demanding a certain amount of the visitors' time and attention, a game risks competing with the exhibition rather than being part of it. Due to this context, the game design has to consider specific requirements and restrictions, concerning not only the game content that has to be (of course) true and serious but also the limited time available for playing, the flow and number of people as well as restrictions on size, sound and its location in the exhibition. Furthermore, a terminal game-in contrast to an exhibition guide-needs to be flexible enough to provide additional value for visitors at different phases of their museum visit: It needs both to engage visitors in applying knowledge acquired in the exhibition as well as to stimulate them exploring the environment more carefully after playing. Trying to master these challenges the game in this project was created in several development cycles, where game prototypes were reviewed by museum experts, tested by school children and optimized according to the evaluation results.

Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, 2017

Graph organizers are powerful tools for both structuring and transmitting knowledge. Because of t... more Graph organizers are powerful tools for both structuring and transmitting knowledge. Because of their unique characteristics, these organizers are valuable for cultural institutions, which own large amounts of information assets and need to constantly make sense of them. On one hand, graph organizers are tools for connecting numerous chunks of data. On the other hand, because they are visual media, they offer a bird's-eye view perspective on complexity, which is digestible to the human eye. They are effective tools for information synthesis, and are capable of providing valuable insights on data. Information synthesis is essential for Heritage Interpretation, since institutions depend on constant generation of new content to preserve relevance among their audiences. While Mind Maps are simpler to be structured and comprehended, Knowledge Maps offer challenges that require new methods to minimize the difficulties encountered during their assembly. This paper presents strategies based on manual and automatic tagging as an answer to this problem. In addition, we describe the results of a usability test and qualitative analysis performed to compare the workflows employed to construct both Mind Maps and Knowledge Maps. Furthermore, we also talk about how well concepts can be communicated through the visual representation of trees and networks. Depending on the employed method, different results can be achieved, because of their unique topological characteristics. Our findings suggest that automatic tagging supports and accelerates the construction of graphs.

Kultur und Informatik: Hybrid Systems, 2018

Interpreting heritage by means of Cultural Institutions' datasets presents a variety of education... more Interpreting heritage by means of Cultural Institutions' datasets presents a variety of educational opportunities and technical challenges. In this regard, the collaborative online platform Artfacts was designed to support institutions and their constituents to reuse and recontextualize digital assets as lightweight semantic data structures that can be easily integrated in third-party applications. This paper presents a case study conducted during the 2017 edition of the Hackathon Coding da Vinci. The study was designed to identify ideal use cases and analyze the effectiveness of Artfacts in interdisciplinary, competitive, and creative working environments. As part of the study, the chatbot Marbles of Remembrance was conceptualized and implemented. Not only details in regard to the technical development are discussed, but also observations that concern the employment and deployment of storytelling with Artfacts.

Books by Leonardo de Araújo

Hackathons were originated from both the evolution of and revolution caused by personal computers... more Hackathons were originated from both the evolution of and revolution caused by personal computers. Initially, they have been implemented as a collaborative method for solving computer-related problems or conceptualizing new possibilities based on specific infrastructures. Only later on, when Cultural Institutions had undergone intensive digitization, Hackathons started to be part of their repertoire. Because of the special nature of Cultural Institutions, Hackathons for Cultural Heritage cannot be understood in the same way as their counterparts happening in a purely engineering domain. Problem solving and conceptualization through collaborative programming are entangled with the significance of the content matter they intend to deal with: the institutionsa collections. Based on these considerations, this thesis aims at explaining the underlying principles, interactions, and infrastructures of the Hackathon as a method for Heritage Interpretation. Moreover, the thesis also proposes a Fast-speed IT Platform, which was designed within the context of the Two-speed IT infrastructure, where a foundational, stable, and slow infrastructure is complemented by an additional creative, experimental, and agile infrastructure, which is capable of promptly responding to the needs of communities. The platform is an effort to implement strategies for interpreting, recontextualizing, and telling stories with Digital Collections. In addition, the platform aims at mitigating problems concerning technical knowledge that is usually required for taking advantage of the affordances of Digital Collections as a creative material.

Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning: Learning in the Synergy of Multiple Disciplines, 2009

In an one year lasting project at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven a digital lea... more In an one year lasting project at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven a digital learning game for the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven was developed. It is targeted to school pupils in the age between 10 and 14 and should explain the importance of the cog for trading activities between Hanse cities in the 14th century. More detailed learning objectives were defined through a survey with history teachers from Bremen. The historical research was done in cooperation with the museum. Another key-interest was the design and building of an easy-to-use and attractive computer terminal including a special control-interface for the game. The resulting game is evaluated in an user-test with 29 school pupil. It shows that the game makes fun and is easy to understand. Approx. 50% of the pupils achieved all learning objectives.

EDULEARN12 Proceedings, 2012

Audio guides are a convenient way to convey additional information about artworks in museums. At ... more Audio guides are a convenient way to convey additional information about artworks in museums. At the same time, games are powerful strategies to motivate individuals to actively accomplish certain tasks. In this paper we present the master thesis " Game Based Audio Guide for Museums " which looked into merging both audio guides and games in an attempt to improve interpretation in the museum by driving the visitor to explore its space and its collection in a motivating and playful manner, and, after that, apply the information acquired. The game-based audio guide developed is supported by state of art technologies such as the iPhone and Computer Vision Libraries that open new possibilities concerning HCI which are not only able to provide visitors with more intuitive ways to operate the machine, but also liberate the graphic interface and the user to accomplish tasks such as recognizing artefacts in the museum. On top of that, a balanced and organized distribution of visual and auditory outputs reduce cognitive load, which leads to faster and easier understanding of the interface, and game mechanics as well as its content. The guide makes use of object recognition technology as a mean to induce the user to pay attention to artefacts and take advantage of human gestures, which have proven educational advantages in the learning process. The game concept is based on " spot the difference " style, in which the visitor has to look for missing objects by comparing pictures of the museum environment with absent items and the actual site with all objects on display. The results of usability testes carried at the museum ship Dar Pomorza in Gdynia, Poland, indicate that the game presents advantages over regular audio guides in providing a more organized, active and motivating museum experience to the visitor. Stating correctly the number of artefacts mentioned in narrations and remembering a greater number of objects by their names were signs from tested users that the experience was in indeed more effective, because the information about the artefacts was better structured within the game. Also, photographing objects was an active action required in the game that played an important role in organizing the experience by promoting a more effective location awareness regarding the museum space and its artefacts. The game obtained better ratings than the regular audio guide regarding the overall experience.

Handbook of Research on Serious Games as Educational, 2012

In contrast to developing home versions of educational games, the development of games for museum... more In contrast to developing home versions of educational games, the development of games for museums and exhibitions is faced with specific limitations and requirements. Thus, the game designer has to consider restrictions concerning not only its content and learning objectives, which need to be related to the exhibition, but also the limited time available for playing and for understanding its mechanics, as well as restrictions due to the game’s location in the exhibition. Furthermore, typical problems related to serious games must be considered, such as creating both an educational and engaging experience for players. The authors’ recommendations presented in this chapter refer to experiences made in two case studies performed by Digital Media Master’s students of the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven, Germany. Relevant design decisions of these two projects are illustrated and discussed, especially with respect to the limitations of exhibition environments. Authors conclude that if digital technologies are well balanced with the physical environment, a profitable combination between an interactive game and a traditional exhibition can enrich the overall visitor experience.

Proceedings of the International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, 2010

In this paper we present the project of developing a digital educational game for the German Mari... more In this paper we present the project of developing a digital educational game for the German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven (GMMB). The game is related to the main exhibit " Hanseatic Cog " and the medieval exhibition about " Hanseatic Times ". The goals of the project are not only to enhance museum visitors' experiences by making them aware of certain exhibits, stimulating them to explore the environment and offering them new information, but also to gather knowledge about integrating serious games beyond the limits of the private sphere. Not only typical problems of serious games had to be solved, i.e. making the play an engaging and educational experience, but also specific demands of the museum regarding the time available for the visit, the flow and number of visitors, information displayed and duration of the game had to be taken in to consideration. In order to increase " fun " during the play, we chose an explorative game type of " learning by acting " (action learning). In the role of a sailor and trader, the player has to apply his acquired knowledge by acting in the game rather than just answering simple quiz questions. However, sometimes quizzes were necessary during certain parts of the play in order to make information explicit and faster to be grasped. In several development cycles, game prototypes were tested by school children also inside the museum and optimized according to the evaluation results. The results of the usability tests showed that an educational game for a museum context needs to be highly self-explaining, using clear instructions and clear metaphors. After testing the final prototype, we are confident that it engages visitors for the exhibition topic and improves learning effects.

Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Games Based Learning, 2010

In contrast to developing educational games e.g. for schools, the development of games for museum... more In contrast to developing educational games e.g. for schools, the development of games for museums has to meet even more limitations and specific requirements. These limitations concern the character of the game, its content, its location in the exhibition, its design and interface. In our paper, we present and discuss our experiences and drawbacks in developing an educational computer-based game for the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, a game dealing with the Hanseatic League and the old Hanseatic cog. This game was developed by Digital Media master students of the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven in close cooperation with the responsible museum expert. Demanding a certain amount of the visitors' time and attention, a game risks competing with the exhibition rather than being part of it. Due to this context, the game design has to consider specific requirements and restrictions, concerning not only the game content that has to be (of course) true and serious but also the limited time available for playing, the flow and number of people as well as restrictions on size, sound and its location in the exhibition. Furthermore, a terminal game-in contrast to an exhibition guide-needs to be flexible enough to provide additional value for visitors at different phases of their museum visit: It needs both to engage visitors in applying knowledge acquired in the exhibition as well as to stimulate them exploring the environment more carefully after playing. Trying to master these challenges the game in this project was created in several development cycles, where game prototypes were reviewed by museum experts, tested by school children and optimized according to the evaluation results.

Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, 2017

Graph organizers are powerful tools for both structuring and transmitting knowledge. Because of t... more Graph organizers are powerful tools for both structuring and transmitting knowledge. Because of their unique characteristics, these organizers are valuable for cultural institutions, which own large amounts of information assets and need to constantly make sense of them. On one hand, graph organizers are tools for connecting numerous chunks of data. On the other hand, because they are visual media, they offer a bird's-eye view perspective on complexity, which is digestible to the human eye. They are effective tools for information synthesis, and are capable of providing valuable insights on data. Information synthesis is essential for Heritage Interpretation, since institutions depend on constant generation of new content to preserve relevance among their audiences. While Mind Maps are simpler to be structured and comprehended, Knowledge Maps offer challenges that require new methods to minimize the difficulties encountered during their assembly. This paper presents strategies based on manual and automatic tagging as an answer to this problem. In addition, we describe the results of a usability test and qualitative analysis performed to compare the workflows employed to construct both Mind Maps and Knowledge Maps. Furthermore, we also talk about how well concepts can be communicated through the visual representation of trees and networks. Depending on the employed method, different results can be achieved, because of their unique topological characteristics. Our findings suggest that automatic tagging supports and accelerates the construction of graphs.

Kultur und Informatik: Hybrid Systems, 2018

Interpreting heritage by means of Cultural Institutions' datasets presents a variety of education... more Interpreting heritage by means of Cultural Institutions' datasets presents a variety of educational opportunities and technical challenges. In this regard, the collaborative online platform Artfacts was designed to support institutions and their constituents to reuse and recontextualize digital assets as lightweight semantic data structures that can be easily integrated in third-party applications. This paper presents a case study conducted during the 2017 edition of the Hackathon Coding da Vinci. The study was designed to identify ideal use cases and analyze the effectiveness of Artfacts in interdisciplinary, competitive, and creative working environments. As part of the study, the chatbot Marbles of Remembrance was conceptualized and implemented. Not only details in regard to the technical development are discussed, but also observations that concern the employment and deployment of storytelling with Artfacts.

Hackathons were originated from both the evolution of and revolution caused by personal computers... more Hackathons were originated from both the evolution of and revolution caused by personal computers. Initially, they have been implemented as a collaborative method for solving computer-related problems or conceptualizing new possibilities based on specific infrastructures. Only later on, when Cultural Institutions had undergone intensive digitization, Hackathons started to be part of their repertoire. Because of the special nature of Cultural Institutions, Hackathons for Cultural Heritage cannot be understood in the same way as their counterparts happening in a purely engineering domain. Problem solving and conceptualization through collaborative programming are entangled with the significance of the content matter they intend to deal with: the institutionsa collections. Based on these considerations, this thesis aims at explaining the underlying principles, interactions, and infrastructures of the Hackathon as a method for Heritage Interpretation. Moreover, the thesis also proposes a Fast-speed IT Platform, which was designed within the context of the Two-speed IT infrastructure, where a foundational, stable, and slow infrastructure is complemented by an additional creative, experimental, and agile infrastructure, which is capable of promptly responding to the needs of communities. The platform is an effort to implement strategies for interpreting, recontextualizing, and telling stories with Digital Collections. In addition, the platform aims at mitigating problems concerning technical knowledge that is usually required for taking advantage of the affordances of Digital Collections as a creative material.