No abstract

We present ReHoblet; a physical rehabilitation game on tablets, designed to be used in a residential setting. ReHoblet trains two gross motor movements of the upper limbs by lifting (up-down) and transporting (leftright) the tablet to control a simple platform game. By using its accelerometers and gyroscope, the tablet is capable of detecting movements made by the user and steer the interaction based on this data. A formative evaluation with five Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients and their therapists showed high appreciation for ReHoblet. Patients stated they liked ReHoblet not only to improve their physical abilities, but to train on performing technology-related tasks. Based on the results, we reflect on tablet-based games in home-based rehabilitation.

The use of handheld computers as a tool to enrich the museum experience has found its way into many museums, opening up new possibilities to increase the attractiveness of museum visits, especially for youngsters. We developed a mobile guide framework that supports the creation of mobile guides and adheres to social-constructivist principles of learning. The mobile museum game we created with this framework aims at developing the social, cognitive and technical skills of the users. Large scale evaluations show the potential power of our approach to stimulate interaction between youngsters and to create a playful learning experience.

During a museum visit, social interaction can improve intellectual, social, personal and cultural development. With the advances in technology, the use of personal mobile handheld devices – such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) – that replace the traditional paper guidebooks is becoming a common sight at various heritage sites all over the world. This technology often leads to problems such as isolating visitors from their companions and distracting visitors away from their surroundings. We believe careful design of mobile applications and taking advantage of low-cost networking infrastructure can avoid such isolation of the visitor from his or her surroundings and encourage interaction with both surroundings and companions. In this paper, we describe our approach to create a mobile handheld guide that supports the learning process by exploiting social interaction between visitors and subtly matching the content and concepts shown on the hand- held guide with what can be found in the museum.