Exploring Liminal Practices in Art, Technology, and Science

This chapter interrogates the notion of the liminal in relation to the virtual and the imaginary through a consideration of the field of art, science, and technology and current creative practices in virtual worlds and avatar-mediated space. In particular, the art project Meta-Dreamer (2009) is considered through the manifestation of the avatar as digital object. In its attempt to explore the experience of “living between worlds,” it reflects the concerns of contemporary arts practice exploration of time and space relationships. The art project is re-examined in light of key arguments in the provocative text Liminal Lives (Squier, 2004) that advocates a new approach to the liminal in light of current biomedicine and the shifting and emergent qualities of contemporary human life.

Future Direction of Gamification Within Higher Education

This chapter provides a critical pathway for the uses of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) within Gamification. The chapter starts with an introduction to gamification, AR and VR. It follows with different explorations of AR and VR, on where different research is heading and the benefits they are having on the learner, educator and the learning environment itself. Finally, the chapter critically analyses future possible directions gamification can have within Higher Education.

The Impact of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Study Material in the Future of Learning

Mobile augmented reality offers important opportunities for learning. Moreover, it may represent new challenges for teachers and researchers. Implementing an augmented reality (AR) or a virtual reality (VR) learning experience involves the exploration of unusual pedagogical and technological boundaries. According to recent studies, it would be more productive to consider the augmented reality as a concept rather than an educational technology (Guazzaroni, 2015; Wu et al., 2013). This chapter is devoted to analyze a high school class of 23 students invited to use AR and VR tools to create their own study material. They are about 16-year-old attending Istituto Tecnico Tecnologico “Eustachio Divini” in San Severino Marche, Italy. The basic idea of the trial is to create a short printed document augmented with the technologies of AR and VR. The experience is evaluated using tests and direct observation. The aim is to observe the impact of augmented mobile learning and to demonstrate that AR and VR study material may represent a new communication object adequate to teach future students.

Focus on Patient in Virtual Reality-Assisted Rehabilitation

Since several years scientists are carrying on research about innovative systems, based on robotics, mechatronics devices and IT tools – especially the graphical ones – to support patients in rehabilitation programs for rescuing from various brain damages due to adverse events as stroke. Training sessions with a combination of robot and virtual reality (VR) lead to better rehabilitation outcomes than using only a robot and evidence from the field proved the importance of the use of VR interfaces in rehabilitation. The main aim of such a kind of environments is to monitor, motivate and drive the patient during the rehabilitation sessions. These systems mainly provide motor guidance and multimedia communication channels also measuring patients' performance and other observable variables. The approach implemented is usually based on gaming, where the patient has the key role to perform certain tasks or movements for controlling the game in the correct way and exercise the injured part. According to daily experience from physiotherapists, different aspects related to the physical and self-perceived patients' state revealed to have a fundamental role in influencing the rehabilitation session. Indeed, the treatment result depends not only on motor skills but also on patient's personal behavior and feelings that are not directly investigable, observable and measurable from outside. In other words this kind of elements can only be assessed by subjective measurements (as questions, interviews, narratives) revealing the point of view of the patient. Moreover, the emotional state has implications at different levels: on one hand, it is important to evaluate if the single rehabilitation session affects the emotional state of the patient, on the other, if the performance was influenced by this state. Some answers of a questionnaire administrated to post-stroke patients in a previous study underlined also the need for the patient to focus his/her attention on the trained body portion and the relevance of a visual feedback on movements to increase self-awareness on the action performed, avoiding any possible distraction derived from other kind of tasks and related visual/auditory stimuli. Patient-centered models of care are actually becoming increasingly common among rehabilitation clinical settings. They help to focus the therapy on improving the treatment of those deficiencies that most influence the quality of life of the patient. Another important aspect is represented by the relationship with the caregiver that in virtually assisted rehabilitation would not be direct anymore and will need to be mediated without completely loosing natural interaction. According to this patient centered vision, and in order to reduce possible side effects related to semi-automatic rehabilitation systems, it has been studied and developed a system which has not the aim of merely entertain the patient but to focalize the rehabilitation on him/her as a proactive character aware of what is happening and of the quality of the work performed.

Breaking the Frame of Digital, Dream, and Waking Realities

Just as our dreaming reality is constructed, our waking reality may also be constructed. While our waking reality influences our lives the most, other constructed realities also have impact. Yet, never before has such a large part of the population been so widely affected by another constructed reality beyond dreaming; specifically, our technologically constructed digital reality through video game play. One potential consequence of video game play is breaking the illusion or ‘frame' of our dreams as reality through various dream experiences. Many of the world's wisdom traditions believe that waking reality is an illusion, and now this idea is supported by modern digital physics. While being aware of the illusory nature of waking reality is difficult, it may be easier to break the framework of perception or ‘wake up' to the true nature of reality in alternative realities, such as digital and dreaming. This chapter will review the evidence collected in the video game and dream laboratory to explore how video game play is breaking the frame within dreaming realities.

Collaboration of Rehabilitation Robot With Virtual Reality Development Engine

Stroke rehabilitation techniques have gathered an immense attention due to the addition of virtual reality environment for rehabilitation purposes. Current techniques involve ideas such as imitating various stroke rehabilitation exercises in virtual world. This makes rehabilitation process more attractive as compared to conventional methods and motivates the patient to continue the therapy. However, most of the virtual reality based stroke rehabilitation studies focus on patient performing sedentary rehabilitation exercises. In this chapter, we introduce our virtual reality based post stroke rehabilitation system that allows a post stroke patient to perform dynamic exercises. With the introduction of our system, we hope to increase post stroke patient's ability to perform their daily routine exercises independently. Our discussion in this chapter is mainly centered around collaboration of rehabilitation system with virtual reality software. We also detail the design process of our modern user interface for collecting useful data during rehabilitation. A simple experiment is carried out to validate the visibility of our system.

Immersive Virtual Reality as a Non-Pharmacological Analgesic for Pain Management

In the 1990s, when immersive Virtual Reality (VR) was first popular, researchers found it to be an effective intervention in reducing acute pain. Since that time, VR technologies have been used for treating acute pain. Although the exact mechanism is unclear, VR is thought to be an especially effective form of pain distraction. While pain-related virtual environments have built upon pain distraction, a handful of researchers have focused on a more difficult challenge: VR for long-term chronic pain. Because the nature of chronic pain is complex, pharmacological analgesics are often insufficient or unsustainable as an ideal long-term treatment. In this chapter, the authors explore how VR can be used as a non-pharmacological adjuvant for chronic pain. Two paradigms for virtual environments built for addressing chronic pain have emerged – Pain Distraction and what we term Pain Self-modulation. We discuss VR's validation for mitigating pain in patients who have acute pain, for those with chronic pain, and for addressing “breakthrough” periods of higher pain in patients with chronic pain.

Augmented Reality in Informal Learning Settings

Cultural heritage sites and museums are faced with an important challenge – how best to balance the needs of engaging visitors in meaningful and entertaining experiences, while at the same time exploiting the affordances of exhibits for instructional purposes. In this chapter, we examine the use of augmented reality in the context of informal learning environments, and how this type of technology can be used as a means to enhance learning about history. The research case studies are reviewed in terms of the use of historical locations, experience mechanics, narrative/plot, and role-playing (the later two representing game-based elements) in the design guidelines of instructional activities and applications (Dunleavy & Dede, 2014). In doing so, we critique the theoretical, methodological, and instructional underpinnings of studies that evaluate augmented reality applications and draw several recommendations for future research in this field.

Know Your World Better

Mobile devices are changing the way people live. Users have everything on their fingertips and to support them, there are scores of application which add to the usability and comfort. “Know your world better” is an Augmented Reality application developed for Android. This application helps the user to find friends and locate places in close proximity. In this paper we talk about an application that describes a method of augmenting Point of Interests (POI's) on a mobile device. User has to move his phone pointing in a direction of his choice and POI's if any are shown in real time. The user's interest with respect to the environment is inferred from speech or by selecting from the choices; this data is used for information retrieval from the cloud. The result of context-sensitive information retrieval is augmented onto the view of the mobile and provides speech output.

Digital Technologies in Architecture and Engineering

This chapter focuses on the development and adoption of new Multimedia, Computer Aided Design, and other ICT technologies for both Architecture and Computer Science curricula and highlights the multidisciplinary work that can be accomplished when these two areas work together. The authors describe in detail the addressed educational skills and the related developed research and highlight the contributions towards the improvements of teaching and learning in those areas. This chapter discusses the role of digital technologies, such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Multimedia, 3D Modelling software systems, Design Processes and its evaluation tools, such as Shape Grammar and Space Syntax, within the Architecture curricula.