Catia Prandi | Università di Bologna (original) (raw)

Papers by Catia Prandi

Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Dec 31, 2023

The City Project, Oct 9, 2023

The growing availability of data gathered by people via personal sensing and crowdsourcing is cha... more The growing availability of data gathered by people via personal sensing and crowdsourcing is changing the way data are collected, provided and perceived. Information is becoming too much to actually make sense and this leads to an increasing demand of Smart Data. We can intend Smart Data as information obtained by large data and extracted by intelligent algorithms to meet people needs. This concept easily matches with well-known accessibility issues, solutions and techniques. Moreover, Smart Data is an emerging solution to prevent the large amount of data from becoming a new challenge in the e-accessibility field. In this context, my research is devoted to apply Smart Data to improve e-accessibility in a mobile crowdsourcing and sensing application designed to support users with disabilities in avoiding urban accessibility barriers.

With an increasing number of people who live in cities, urban mobility becomes one of the most im... more With an increasing number of people who live in cities, urban mobility becomes one of the most important research fields in the so-called smart city environments. Urban mobility can be defined as the ability of people to move around the city, living and interacting with the space. For these reasons, urban accessibility represents a primary factor to keep into account for social inclusion and for the effective exercise of citizenship. In this thesis, we researched how to use crowdsourcing and participative sensing to effectively and efficiently collect data about aPOIs (accessible Point Of Interests) with the aim of obtaining an updated, trusted and completed accessible map of the urban environment. The data gathered in such a way, was integrated with data retrieved from external open dataset and used in computing personalized accessible urban paths. In order to deeply investigate the issues related to this research, we designed and prototyped mPASS, a context-aware and location-base...

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering

Climate change is one of the main problems currently strongly conditioning ecosystems all over th... more Climate change is one of the main problems currently strongly conditioning ecosystems all over the world. Coastal lagoons are amongst the most vulnerable habitats, and they are undergoing extensive human impact due to their high production rates and the close proximity of urban and agricultural centers. The Mar Menor, the largest saltwater lagoon in Europe, is an example of a highly impacted ecosystem. In December 2016 and September 2019, climate change-induced DANA (upper-level isolated atmospheric depression) flooding events took place there, temporarily altering the lagoon oceanographic properties. Data gathered throughout the lagoon (11 stations inside and 1 outside the lagoon) from 2016 to 2021 were analyzed in order to assess the variability of seawater parameters: salinity, density, chlorophyll-a, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen, due to DANA events. Results showed a change in seawater parameters that were reestablished at different rates, 4 and 10 months in 2016 and 2019, res...

Multimedia Tools and Applications, Jul 22, 2016

This paper presents a study on urban data crowdsourcing driven by Geo-Zombie, a multimedia mobile... more This paper presents a study on urban data crowdsourcing driven by Geo-Zombie, a multimedia mobile application we designed and developed to engage pedestrians in taking note of urban architectural impediments and facilities by documenting them through pictures and multimedia data. Geo-Zombie aims at transforming the civic activity of contributing into a virtual gamified experience where players attempt to escape from horrific situations in which zombies are ready to cannibalize unsuspecting walkers. In some sense, walkers that kill zombies deeply reconnect with the concept of imminent danger which can be fought resorting to appropriate civic actions. To challenge our initial hypotheses we conducted a design process, starting with a concept generation where three different concepts were discussed which gave rise to five different multimedia mobile apps including the one with zombies. Then, focus group, experience prototyping, application design and implementation, and finally field trials were exploited to refine the design and to select the best apps out of the five that better responded to the need of involving common people in collecting urban accessibility data. It is worth noting that the experiences of use with 50 avid walkers have demonstrated that a multimedia mobile app with maps and zombies can be a concrete step towards a social inclusion strategy while inviting new reflections and discussions on the issue of urban data crowdsourcing.

2021 IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps), Dec 1, 2021

Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) is a novel research field that opens up the possibility of embeddi... more Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) is a novel research field that opens up the possibility of embedding local intelligence into frugal objects thus creating new opportunities for building "networks of collective intelligence". Energy consumption reduction is probably the main reason why TinyML deserves attention in terms of sustainability, but it is not the only one. The low costs of the hardware and the possibility to increase the level of data security and user privacy are outstanding reasons as well. In this work, we present the results of a sensitivity analysis we have conducted to evaluate the performance of a Random Forest with data collected by a state-of-the-art hardware device. We focused on assessing the sensitivity of the detection of sounds, colors, and vibrations patterns. Results show that TinyML can be absolutely used to properly discriminate among several ranges of sounds, colors, and vibrations patterns, paving the way for the development of new promising sustainable applications.

Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Information Technology for Social Good

Communications of The ACM, Mar 19, 2022

key insights ˽ The time has come to revolutionize current educational systems, which are too rigi... more key insights ˽ The time has come to revolutionize current educational systems, which are too rigid and cannot adequately support students who have work commitments, family obligations, financial constraints, and physical impairments.

Monitoring environmental conditions can provide great benefits, allowing users to be aware of amb... more Monitoring environmental conditions can provide great benefits, allowing users to be aware of ambient parameters, such as temperature, humidity, pressure, lights, pollution, etc. Collecting and measuring such kind of information means that, after adequate analyses, specific actions can be decided and applied by policymakers in urban scenarios and in public smart buildings, with the aim of improving humans' comfort. Observing and keeping environmental conditions in a specific range is fundamental also for the conservation and the preservation of goods, such as cultural heritage, pieces of art, and also papery documentations. Hence, IoT and smart objects can play a strategic role in equipping smart buildings with systems devoted to such monitoring activities. In this paper, we present an experiment we have conducted with the aim of comparing sensed data obtained with different assessment scenarios, applied in a library storage within a university campus. We have monitored the indoor environmental conditions for three days for each assessment scenario, collecting data about temperature, relative humidity, pollutants. To do that, we have exploited a low-cost multi-sensor platform, named Canarin II, applying the IoT paradigms. We here discuss the results we have obtained, reflecting on the pros and cons of each sensor configuration in the library storage, for a better preservation of its books and papery documents.

One of the main global challenges to cope with for a sustainable development is transport and mob... more One of the main global challenges to cope with for a sustainable development is transport and mobility. They are undisputed key issues of modern life affecting people's well-being and quality of life, which are significantly impacting the environment. In this scenario, innovative self-driving car technologies and electric solutions, emerging sensing technologies, and interconnected infrastructure can lead to more efficient transport systems and innovative mobility services, keeping into account the urgent need to foster a sustainable development. This workshop aims to gather practitioners with different background and different perspective from both Academia and Industry to further the knowledge in the area of emerging smart technologies and infrastructures for Smart Mobility and Sustainability.

IEEE Conference Proceedings, 2016

This work presents mPASS (mobile Pervasive Accessibility Social Sensing), a system that exploits ... more This work presents mPASS (mobile Pervasive Accessibility Social Sensing), a system that exploits data crowdsourcing and crowdsensing to support urban accessibility. The system aims providing users with personalized paths, computed on the basis of user profiles and of the accessibility facilities/barriers present in the location. To perform this task, mPASS needs a set of georeferenced data dense enough and trustworthy enough to avoid false positives and negatives. With these needs in view, mPASS combines data gathered by users and sensors, with information produced by disability organizations and local authorities. In this paper, we propose a method to evaluate trustworthiness of data provided by the system, taking into account characteristics of the different data sources. We conducted a set of simulations on credibility of sources, obtaining positive results.

Smartphones contain a myriad of personal information and, due to their ubiquity and the possibili... more Smartphones contain a myriad of personal information and, due to their ubiquity and the possibility to access the Internet through wireless networks, our privacy might be constantly at risk. In this study, we formulate two hypotheses: (H1) users ignore the relationship between authorization requests and privacy and this lack of knowledge affects their perception towards privacy; (H2) users install applications that access sensitive data that are not necessary for their correct functioning. To investigate H1, we developed a questionnaire and we submitted it to 150 volunteers using a within-subject approach where the controlled variable is the knowledge about possible abuses of smartphone data. Results show that ignorance influences the privacy perception. To investigate H2, we analyzed more than 800 apps installed on the smartphone of 30 volunteers and we found a widespread abuse of data related to location, contacts, camera, Wi-Fi network list, running apps list, and vibration. The outcome reveals that some features are more relevant to groups of users with specific characteristics. By identifying such features, our study might be considered the first step towards a more secure smartphone usage, as such features might work as expedients to attract users' attention on privacy issues.

In this paper, an approach to increase the use of public transportation by tourists, exploiting p... more In this paper, an approach to increase the use of public transportation by tourists, exploiting pervasive technologies and a smart objects infrastructure, is presented. The idea behind our platform is to take advantage of gamification and smart technologies (such as iBeacons technologies and smartphones) to engage users and persuade them to use (more) sustainable means of transport. The Beacons, in fact, acts as a provider of authentic contents related to the story of Madeira, assisting and locating the user in his/her adventure. We carried out a case study on the Madeira island, a well-known touristic destination where several bus lines allow tourists to reach the different sight-seeing places. Moreover, a preliminary usability test and a SUS questionnaire were performed to assess the usability and facility of use of the application.

This paper presents a preliminary experiment done to identify potential problems and issues in se... more This paper presents a preliminary experiment done to identify potential problems and issues in setting up a testbed for air pollution measurement and modeling. Our final testbed, part of a joint research activity between the University of Bologna and the Macao Polytechnic Institute, will be composed of three lines of the air pollution sensors Canarin II and it will be used to produce spatio-temporal open data to test third-party air pollution models. Here, we present a preliminary experiment based on a single line of sensors, showing interesting insights into the actual open challenge of air pollution modeling techniques validation, taking into account the effects of air pollutant emissions sources, meteorology, atmospheric concentrations and urban vegetation.

Network modeling analysis in health informatics and bioinformatics, May 14, 2016

Online medical information prosumerism is supported by search engines, web sites, forums and soci... more Online medical information prosumerism is supported by search engines, web sites, forums and social networks, all tools which provide a timely browsing of the big data of medical information. Reliable medical ecosystems require an assessment of such data, to control its quality from both clinical and patient standpoints. In addition, independent of its scientific accuracy, the full gamut of human experiences and emotions which are shared online in connection to a disease may provide important insights to both communities. Such opportunity may prove of particular interest to chronic disease communities, as chronic patients are expected to devote most of their medical enquiries around the same health topics; nonetheless, the resources that are available online for chronic patients are far from being fully exploited, as well as the behaviors adopted by chronic patients while interacting with such information. This paper sheds light on how a growing community of chronic patients, Crohn's disease patients, employ such tools. The contribution of this work is twofold, as it provides implications for both the computer and medical science communities. In fact, this work performs both an original in-depth and comprehensive analysis, as it concentrates on the online debate concerning the use of a specific drug, Infliximab, by Crohn's disease patients, specifically: (1) utilizing data mining and statistical methodologies to quantitatively assess trends in user posts, and (2) resorting to ethnographic methods to further understand the problems and concerns of patients. Interestingly, the qualitative approach not only corroborates the quantitative one, but also provides novel perspectives for medical research, regarding how Infliximab is administered and perceived by patients.

Multimedia Tools and Applications, Aug 23, 2018

New media and devices are offering huge possibilities for the enhancement and the enrichment of h... more New media and devices are offering huge possibilities for the enhancement and the enrichment of heritage experiences, improving the users' involvement. In particular, tourists equipped with their mobile devices are invading cultural attractions, sharing pictures and comments (together with hashtags and geo-localized positions) on social networks. These represent an unofficial source of data, which can be integrated with the official ones provided by GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) and cultural heritage institutions, enriching them. At the same time, travel planners and mobile applications related to cultural heritage can play an interesting role in the development of smart cities, when they are integrated each other, engaging the user in touristic and entertainment activities, letting him/her be a source of cultural resources. This work focuses on equipping users (citizens and tourists) with a system providing support in computing personalized urban paths across cultural heritage places (monuments, palaces, museums, and other points of interest (POIs) related to cultural heritage in the urban environment) and in sharing multimedia resources about POIs, by exploiting gamification elements with the aim of engaging citizens and tourists. A mobile application prototype has been implemented, showing the feasibility of the proposed approach and exploiting crowdsourcing activities as a source of information for cultural places and works of art.