No abstract

Cooking is a daily activity for many people. However, traditional text recipes are often prohibitively difficult to follow for people with language disorders, such as aphasia. We have developed a multi-modal application that leverages the retained ability of aphasic individuals to recognize image-based representations of objects, providing a presentation format that can be more easily followed than a traditional text recipe. Through a systematic approach to developing a visual language for cooking, and the subsequent case study evaluation of a prototype developed according to this language, we show that a combination of visual instructions and navigational structure can help individuals with relatively large language deficits to cook more independently.

This paper describes a current and ongoing research project being conducted at the University of British Columbia, Canada. The paper begins by briefly describing past anthropological and sociological culture research. This research will inform our current exploration into the issues surrounding culture and its role in Global Software Development efforts. It then clarifies why this research is particularly important. The paper continues with a description of the current phase of this research, which is an exploratory qualitative approach rooted in Grounded Theory, and of the next phase, which will be a more quantitative approach looking at specific "problem areas" that were identified during the first phase.

This paper introduces and discusses Virtual Family (VF): A gender-neutral game-based software that introduces Java programming. VF provides a completely fimctioning game that students extend and enhance via programming. We discuss the background and context within which Virtual Family was developed and other available multimedia resources for teaching programming. The paper then goes on to describe Virtual Family's concept and design. Finally, feedback received from Virtual Family teaching workshops is related, as well as preliminary results from using VF in high-school teaching units. Virtual Family is under development in a research lab at the University of British Columbia and is an initiative of Supporting Women in InFormation Technology (SWIFT). SWIFT is a five-year research action and implementation project to increase the participation of women in Information Technology. Virtual Family is available free of charge to anyone interested in using it for teaching or outreach purposes, to order email .