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Die praktische Laborlehre an der Fachhochschule St. Pölten ist seit Aufkommen der Covid-19-Pandemie von situationsbedingten Problemen betroffen. Zusätzlich zu dem durch einzuhaltende Abstandsregeln entstandenen Platzmangel und erweiterten Zutrittsbeschränkungen zur Benutzung der Labore kommt es zu kurzfristigen Umplanungen bzw. Umstellungen der Lehreinheiten von Präsenz- auf Hybrid- oder Onlinelehre. Aufgrund der eingeschränkten Nutzungsmöglichkeiten der Laborinfrastruktur, startete daher das Projekt Lab4home mit dem Ziel, neue didaktische Szenarien zur Durchführung von Distanz-Laborlehreinheiten zu entwickeln. Dabei steht eine gemeinsame Konzeption von didaktischen Elementen der Vermittlung, Aktivierung und Betreuung im Einklang mit technisch und finanziell realisierbaren Möglichkeiten. Dieser Beitrag soll nun anhand von zwei Praxisbeispielen zeigen, wie aktuelle Virtual-Reality-Technologien in Form von interaktiv aufbereiteten 360°-Bildmaterialien in didaktische Szenarien eingegliedert wurden. Beantwortet wird dabei, welche Entscheidungen es benötigte, um in Anlehnung an bereits erprobte Gestaltungsprinzipien und Theorien diese Technologie in der Online-Laborlehre einzusetzen. Im Einsatz der entwickelten Szenarien zeigten sich dann zuvor nicht bedachte Auswirkungen auf die Lehre und die infrastrukturelle Organisation. In Form von didaktisch geplanten Panoramafotos wurden den Lernenden beispielsweise Inhalte zur 3D-Druck-Technologie aus wenig bekannten Blickwinkeln (Innerhalb eines 3D-Druckers) vermittelt, wobei bereits medientechnische Grundkenntnisse ausreichten, um die Lernmaterialien zu entwickeln. Das erhobene Feedback der Studierenden zeigt, dass die inhaltliche Erweiterung der Distanz-Laborlehre positiv wahrgenommen wird. Die aus der Umsetzung der ersten beiden Praxisanwendungen entstandenen Erkenntnisse dienen nun zur Entwicklung und Durchführung einer weiterführenden Feldstudie.

Jugendliche beziehen eine Vielzahl an gesundheitsbezogenen Informationen von digitalen Technologien und aus sozialen Medien, wodurch wiederum ihr Gesundheitsverständnis beeinflusst wird. Sicherlich besitzen digitale Gesundheitstechnologien das Potential, Gesundheitsrisiken entgegenzuwirken. Allerdings wird darin oftmals ein eindimensionaler Gesundheitsbegriff gezeichnet, der Gesundheit auf wenige zu optimierende Körperfunktionen reduziert, um normativen Gesundheits- und Schönheitsidealen zu entsprechen. Da Jugendliche sich in einer besonders prägenden Phase ihres Lebens befinden, ergibt sich diesbezüglich eine pädagogische Verantwortung, die es auch im Setting Schule und insbesondere im Unterrichtsfach Sport wahrzunehmen gilt. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird in diesem Beitrag der Ansatz einer ganzheitlichen und kritischen digitalen Gesundheitsbildung vorgeschlagen und begründet. Bildung wird dabei nach Klafki als Fähigkeit zur Selbstbestimmung, Mitbestimmung und Solidarität verstanden. Fragestellungen im Zusammenspiel von Bildung, Healthismus und Computational Empowerment werden skizziert, die für einen partizipativen Forschungsansatz nutzbar gemacht werden könnten, um Jugendliche zur reflexiven Gestaltung digitaler Gesundheitstechnologien zu ermächtigen. (DIPF/Orig.)

Our research project was aimed at teaching high-school pupils game design skills and raising their awareness for the subject area “informatics and society.” A project-based-teaching approach enabled us to incorporate social learning by having teams of pupils work on informatics-and-society topics and subsequently design their own games. The focus of this article is an online survey conducted twice, at the beginning and end of the pupils’ project participation, showing if and how the participants’ attitudes towards and awareness of informatics and society changed during this school year. We discuss the most important survey results, also in relation to studies on internet use of adolescents in the German-speaking countries. Additionally, an evaluation group discussion with the involved teachers provides expert validity. We found that our project-based and social-learning approach was successful in raising awareness for informatics and society as well as in teaching game design.

Structured and sufficient training is a key factor for successful fitting of an upper limb prosthesis. This is especially true for more advanced myoelectric control strategies, or for individuals with comorbidities that require additional treatment. With advances in technology, not only have the control strategies become more complex, but also possibilities for more tailored rehabilitation have increased. Novel rehabilitation technologies include virtual and augmented reality systems, as well as training systems relying on computers and smartphone apps. These technologies can be used within the clinical setting, enable telerehabilitation, and/or can support unsupervised home training. While most experts agree that novel rehabilitation technologies can be a good supplement for conventional therapy, one of the greatest challenges is to transfer the progress achieved in the technology-assisted realm into real-world situations and actual prosthetic function.

Living and learning in digital contexts have become ubiquitous and pervasive, and it has had impacts on many aspects of the lives of adolescents and young citizens all over the world (Miller et al. 2016). Especially young students and apprentices depend on teaching and learning infrastructures in state-organized—mostly non-digital—settings, but increasingly, they spend their leisure time on activities with and within digital environments like social media, computers, and online gaming. This kind of contradiction has been addressed in two of our research projects, in which we attempted to uncover distinct digital practices, expectations, and desires of youths in Vienna in both immigrant and non-immigrant milieus. Our focus was social learning within games, creating games using project-based learning, and addressing the Internet as a playground for adolescents’ social and private activities. Society has changed in Vienna over recent decades as immigrants and refugees have moved in, and as a result, challenges of and questions about social participation, acculturation, and integration have emerged. The traditional school system, youth centres, and social workers must manage multiple expectations and demands in this regard. Our projects were undertaken to address and to intervene in these integration processes under the premise of technology assessment, i.e., to adjust imbalances in both societal and school-learning processes.

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Die Kontrolle einer myoelektrischen Prothese erfordert ein umfangreiches rehabilitatives Training, welches auf repetitiven Übungen basiert, angeleitet unter physiotherapeutischer Aufsicht. Doch zuhause fehlt vielen Patienten die Motivation, die Übungen aus der Physiotherapie weiterzuführen. Mobile Spiele auf dem Smartphone können zu einer Langzeit-Motivation beitragen, das Heimtraining mit der notwendigen Intensität fortzuführen. Patienten und Methodik Wir entwickelten ein Trainingssystem, welches aus einer spielbasierten mobilen Rehabilitationsanwendung besteht, die mit dem Muskelsignal des Patienten gesteuert wird, außerdem einem Tablett zum Spielen der App, einem Elektrodenarmband und einem Handbuch. Bisher haben zwei Patienten an dieser Studie teilgenommen. Sie wurden gebeten die App für 4 Wochen zu Hause, 5 Mal pro Woche, für 10 bis 15 Minuten zu benutzen. Gemäß eines Prä- und Post-Test-Designs wurden die neuromuskulären Parameter der Patienten vor und nach dem mobilen Training untersucht. Evaluiert wurden u. a. die maximale Kontraktionskraft, Muskelseparation, proportionale Ansteuerung und Muskelausdauer, sowie die Nutzerstatistiken während der App-Benutzung. Resultate Nach dem Training mit der App konnte eine signifikante Verbesserung (p Conclusio Die Trainings-App „MyoBeatz“ bietet nicht nur Anleitung und Feedback zur korrekten Ausführung von myoelektrischen Kommandos, sondern erhält auch die Motivation des Patienten durch verschiedene Spielmodi und Feedbackelemente. Durch eine Übersicht des Trainingsfortschritts in Form von Nutzer-Statistiken und Highscores kann der Rehabilitationsprozess überwacht und verglichen werden. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass Patienten mit Amputation der oberen Extremität nach der Nutzung der spielbasierten App ihre neuromuskuläre Kontrolle, Kraft und Koordination signifikant verbessern konnten, so dass sie das Potential einer myoelektrischen Prothese voll ausschöpfen können.

A lot of work required for physiotherapy is done between the actual therapy sessions. Patients receive instructions for exercises to be practiced on a daily basis to regain mobility in their injured joints. These exercises are often tedious and uncomfortable, hence motivation for daily repetition is sought-after. Games may be an answer to this challenge, however, they need to be well-designed as to not support incorrect execution of exercises and at the same time be engaging enough to keep up long-term engagement. In this paper we discuss guidelines for designing game mechanics aimed at increasing compliance in physiotherapy and for encouraging physical activity for older adults.

Gameplay experience is shaped by players' expectations towards the game and how game features are presented to them. We created two modified versions of the classic TETRIS game: one that adapts game difficulty based on players' performance and one that additionally adapts to players' eye movements. An initial analysis of exploratory study results indicates that eye-movement-based adaptive difficulty in TETRIS might not affect player performance and that framing the use of adaptive difficulty might only have a limited influence on both players' game experience and perceived competence.

This paper discusses the course 'Gameful Design' held as part of the computer science master curriculum at Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). We argue that the challenge of meaningfully teaching serious game design and gamification design is not solved by solely imparting design guidelines. It is a matter of conveying a method of how to engage with a real-world problem, how to ideate and explore, and how to iterate and reflect on gameful design. We describe the three methodological cornerstones the course is built on - research-based teaching, design thinking and explorative design - and outline the format of the course. From a relective practice perspective, we give structured tangible advice how to run such a course in the form of guidelines and we describe the impact it had on our own research.

Inclusive education deals with the participation of vulnerable and marginalised - especially disabled - people in learning and with reducing exclusive aspects within and from education. Communication skills under an inclusive perspective are to be understood as more than spoken or written word. Levels of languages used and alternative modes of communication are to be explored and harnessed. However, game complexity and technical constraints hamper the seamless integration in real world environments, especially when addressing groups aside from the mainstream. Building on four design challenges, we aim to develop an independently usable, user-friendly and user-oriented, technically low-threshold game called Cologon that fosters communication skills and takes into account the players diverse (dis)abilities, needs, and preferences - in simple terms: an inclusive game. In this paper we present our iterative participatory design process and the conceptual prototype. The results of an evaluation of this prototype in a participatory game design workshop point to unique insights: participants prioritised visual and audible cues above any use of language and one-device-per-player combined with the choice of roles was a challenge for all participants and created a creative communication experience.

The control of a myoelectric prosthesis requires extensive rehabilitative training based on repetitive exercises. But at home, many patients lack the motivation to continue the physiotherapy exercises. Mobile games on a smartphone can contribute to a long-term motivation to continue home training with the necessary intensity. The patients control the game with their muscle signals, exactly how they would control their actual prosthesis. In this study, we examined the usability of the gaming system, its functionality and subjective quality. It was rated highly in all aspects by both experimental groups, with the patient group consistently rating higher than the able-bodied group. Although highly rated, results showed detailed potential for improvement regarding the aesthetics of the app and provided information in-app. The mobile training app not only provides feedback on the correct execution of muscle activation, but also maintains the patient’s motivation through various feedback elements. In a clinical pilot study, three upper limb amputees trained their neuromuscular control over the course of four weeks while playing the game and clinical parameters important for prosthetic control have been evaluated pre and post intervention. Significant improvements could be seen in all assessed parameters which supports the thesis that a game-based mobile app can be used to train EMG motor signals for prosthetic control.

THE PAPER DEALS WITH DEVELOPING LEARNING GAMES IN THE AREA OF INFORMATICS AND SOCIETY IN AN INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION OF RESEARCHERS, UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA. IN THIS PROJECT, WE APPLY MIXED METHODS TO ENSURE MEANINGFUL RESULTS. PLAYING RESEARCH AND GAME ANALYSIS ARE SUPPOSED TO PREPARE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR THE TASK OF DESIGNING AND CREATING LEARNING GAMES IN A PARTICIPATORY SETTING, USING EXPLORATIVE DESIGN AND DESIGN THINKING. THE STUDENTS ARE SUPPORTED IN DOING SO BY THE ACADEMICS. THE RESEARCHERS WILL ALSO EVALUATE THE OUTCOMES. THE PAPER PRESENTS THE FIRST EXAMPLES OF INFORMATICS AND SOCIETY LEARNING GAMES AND USE THE FOLLOWING APPROACHES TO TRIGGER LEARNING EXPERIENCES: HUMOR AND EXAGGERATION, SHIFT OF PERSPECTIVE, THE PRESENTATION OF FACTS, AND TRIAL AND ERROR. THESE RESULTS FROM THE EARLY STAGES OF THE PROJECT ARE ENCOURAGING AND HINT AT THE POSSIBLE SUCCESS OF PLAYFUL PARTICIPATION IN THE FIELD OF GAME-BASED LEARNING.

Children who are treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are hospitalized for many weeks or even months. Discharge to home is important but sufficient home care is essential. Beside regular physical and laboratory checks in the outpatient clinic, information on the daily health status is mandatory for early detection of possible life threatening complication. The conventional practice is writing reports into a paper diary. This approach became unattractive for many computer-oriented children and often the compliance decreased over the long recovery time (more than 2 years). Thus we designed a game-based system to track medical data of these children. We present the results of a three-stage method where we compare the data from sick children with data from healthy children. We describe an explorative design approach and evaluate gaming preferences through a survey and an art-based drawing approach. The results show a preference of animal and fantasy characters and a majority of children illustrate a nature environment in their drawings. The most appealing game elements are “exploration”, “adventure”, “fighting” and “action”, partly with gender differences. We further reflect on the chosen array of design research methods and the use of proxies for sick children.

In the presented study, the informative content of health data of a handwritten health diary was compared with health data submitted through a serious game. Physicians are able to derive a better and more complete health status of patients with higher informative content in health reports. The serious game was implemented in the project Interacct, in which patients submit health data through a mobile app on a daily basis to receive in-game rewards. The main hypothesis is, that the informative content of health data, which was submitted through a serious game, is higher than the informative content of hand written health diaries. Statistical results confirm this hypothesis significantly. This is especially important for young and adolescent cancer patients, where the results were even more conclusive than in the control group of students. Considering positive side effects of the serious game (such as high engagement, compliance and pleasure reporting health data through a serious game), the proposition of the authors is to conduct further studies and experiments regarding this topic.

Historically, audiences have had various ways to participate in live music performances, including clapping, dancing, swaying, whistling, and singing. More recently, mobile and wireless devices, such as smartphones have opened up powerful new opportunities for audience participation. However, design for technology-mediated audience participation (TMAP) can be challenging: musicians and audiences have different demands, as does the coherence of the music, and group needs can vary widely. Thus, effective TMAP design requires the balancing of knowledge from diverse perspectives and must take into account the needs of diverse roles in creating and supporting performances. This chapter focuses on the process of creating and evaluating a set of design cards to support the interaction design and evaluation of TMAP systems. The cards are based on a previously created descriptive framework for supporting interaction design and evaluation in this challenging area. We discuss the conception and development of the TMAP design cards in some detail, and present an empirical study to evaluate their practical usefulness. Particular attention is paid to the ability of the cards to support finding ideas, changing ideas, and examining ideas from different perspectives.

We present a study and reflection about the role and use of smartphone technology for a large-scale musical performance involving audience participation. We evaluated a full design and development process from initial ideation to a final performance concept. We found that the smartphone became the design tool, the technical device and the musical instrument at the same time. As a technical device that uses ultrasound communication as interaction technique, the smartphone became inspirational for the artist's creative work. In aiming to support the artist, we observed pervasive importance of retaining artistic control to realise artistic intent. This concerns the co-design process and the resulting concept of audience participation and supports recommendations for such participatory work.

While studies point to the positive potential of games for health to increase patient engagement and to a need to consider longer-term perspectives, there is a lack of more tangible knowledge on how to design for long-term engagement in games for health. This paper makes a contribution in this space by drawing a reflective arc across three games for health projects from areas such as rehabilitation, prevention and chronic disease. We discuss the projects using a research through design lens and reflect on user research data and design artifacts from the perspective of the involved game designers. The results are design considerations towards long-term engagement in games for health. These considerations present a body of intermediate-level knowledge [19] oriented towards maximising the potential of the design space in early stages of games for health projects. The considerations are structured into those relevant to gameplay, research design and application context.

This article discusses the use of game design as a method for interdisciplinary project-based teaching in secondary school education to convey informatics and society topics, which encompass the larger social context of computing. There is a lot of knowledge about learning games but little background on using game design as a method for project-based teaching of social issues in informatics. We present the results of an analysis of student-created games and an evaluation of a student-authored database on learning contents found in commercial off-the-shelf games. We further contextualise these findings using a group discussion with teachers. The results underline the effectiveness of project-based teaching to raise awareness for informatics and society topics. We further outline informatics and society topics that are particularly interesting to students, genre preferences, and potentially engaging game mechanics stemming from our analyses.

Since lack of movement constitutes a risk factor for dementia, increasing mobility of older adults is important. We present three technological prototypes, which gear towards increasing mobility, while considering issues such as privacy, autonomy, daily routines, accessibility and shared responsibility, raised in a series of workshops. An expert review of the prototypes especially highlights the importance of considering privacy and autonomy and the need for a holistic perspective when designing technology for older adults with dementia as well as their relatives and other caregivers.

Background Prosthetic motor rehabilitation usually relies on the highly repetitive training of movements. Patients might drop out of training because the rehabilitation process is long and often discouraging. Game-based interventions provide a potentially useful alternative to standard myoelectric (electromyographic [EMG]) training and can increase engagement with training. Objective To assess the short-term impact of a game-based rehabilitation protocol on parameters for EMG control, evaluate how game-based interventions affect patient motivation, performance, and effort, and compare the game-based intervention with a standard tool in rehabilitation (MyoBoy). Design This randomized controlled trial included 2 patient groups and 1 control group. After establishing a baseline, the 2 patient groups received different interventions that were compared with each other and with the able-bodied control group. Setting University hospital-based study. Participants Fourteen patients with traumatic transradial or transhumeral upper extremity amputation and 10 able-bodied participants. Methods For the game-based intervention, EMG proficiency was assessed before and after playing the games and 2 days later as follow-up to measure retention rate. EMG proficiency was measured using maximum voluntary contraction, proportional precision control, signal separation, and muscle endurance. Questionnaires for rating the game-based intervention and intrinsic motivation were provided after the intervention. Outcomes Outcome measures for EMG proficiency were provisional maximum voluntary muscle contraction, precise proportional control, electrode separation, and muscle endurance. Quantitative outcome measures for participant experience were intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, pressure, exerted effort, and usefulness of the intervention. The qualitative outcome measure was the surveyed attitude toward the game-based intervention. Results Results showed an overall improvement in EMG control, fine muscle activation, and electrode separation. Patients stated that racing games provided slightly more fun, but rhythm-based games were considered to provide better challenges for EMG control. Conclusion Game-based interventions provide a useful addition to standard EMG training and can achieve better results in clinical outcome measures. The racing and music game genres provide solid starting points for interventions. Further studies can look at a wider range of genres and identify more specific game mechanics suitable for training. Level of Evidence I

Zusammenfassung Der vorliegende Beitrag befasst sich mit einigen Aspekten einer im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts „Serious Beats“ durchgefuhrten Langsschnittstudie mit zwei Erhebungswellen uber Wiener Jugendliche mit ArbeiterInneneltern verschiedener ethnischer/kultureller Herkunft. 51 Jugendliche wurden interviewt und ein Teil von ihnen eingeladen, das von den ForscherInnen eigens entwickelte Spiel YourTurn auszuprobieren. Die qualitativen Interviews inkludierten unter anderem Fragen nach Identitat sowie kultureller Vielfalt und verweisen auf Uberschneidungen der Diskriminierungskategorien „race“ und „class“ im Leben unserer InterviewpartnerInnen. YourTurn! Das Video-Spiel kann interkulturelles Verstandnis sowie Reflexion von Alltagserfahrungen und Medienkompetenz fordern, wie unsere Aktionsforschung gezeigt hat. Daher eignet sich das Spiel auch gut als Instrument fur die Auseinandersetzung mit Vielfalt, Kommunikation sowie diversen Inhalten in der Jugend- und sozialpadagogischen Arbeit. Schlagworte: ArbeiterInnenkinder, Identitat, Diversitat, Medienkompetenz, Aktionsforschung ----- Your turn! Playfully changing the world? A qualitative longitudinal study and play intervention dealing with classism and racism among Viennese working-class teenagers Abstract This paper deals with certain issues of a longitudinal study of Viennese adolescents with working-class parents of different ethnic/cultural backgrounds that has been conducted in two waves as part of the research project “Serious Beats”. The researchers interviewed 51 teenagers and invited a part of them to give the game YourTurn a try, which had been developed specifically for this purpose. The qualitative interviews include, inter alia, questions about identity as well as cultural diversity and the results relate to intersections of race and class as reasons for discrimination in our interviewees’ lives. Our action research has shown that YourTurn! The video game can support intercultural awareness as well as reflection on everyday experiences and media literacy. Hence, the game is an effective tool for dealing with diversity, communication and diverse contents in youth work and social pedagogy. Keywords: Working class, identity, diversity, media literacy, action research ----- Bibliographie: Schwarz, Vera/Gotzenbrucker, Gerit/Kayali, Fares: Du bist dran! Spielerisch die Welt verandern?, Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 4-2015, S. 83-97. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v10i4.21169

This paper presents the evaluation of playful technology-mediated audience participation (TMAP) during three music performances in a recent music event. It captures preliminary impressions from a wide range of perspectives and includes critical reflections of music artists, video analysis and qualitative interviews with audience members to cover hypotheses designed to capture both the artists' and the audience's point of view. Results indicate a willingness from both sides to engage in playful TMAP, and a high potential for exploration and playful collaboration within the audience, but the experience is restricted by the need to retain control on the side of artists and the need for clear instructions, feedback and reliable technical systems on the side of the audience.

In order to empower the influence and usage of Serious Games for Health (SGFH) in science as well as application, a decision-support-system (DSS) based approach for interpreting game data should be developed. This DSS would allow users (patients, physicians) to interpret medical data, gathered by various serious games, as well as the game-scores of these games. The usage of DSSs implies the requirement for a standardized data model, for both medical data as well as game-proprietary data, such as meta-data or game-scores. This publication presents a framework proposal, which covers the requirements to interpret data of various health- and game-sources and create recommendations to users. Authors identified challenges and experiments to be done: to provide a ubiquitous data model for SGFH, a set of existing games will be analysed and evaluated. Further, a SDK for game developers will be created. This would enable the developers to gain access to the DSS based approach with reasonable effort. Finally, a DSS, consisting of two sub-DSS, should be implemented on top of the previous results.

Rehabilitation concepts for upper limb amputees traditionally rely on the execution of repetitive movements. Video game-based therapies are a stimulating way to increase patient motivation, effort and performance during those otherwise monotonous neuromuscular exercises. Myoelectric signals needed to control an upper limb prosthesis are intuitively trained and the patient benefits from increased prosthesis usability. In this study, a clinically feasible and entertaining virtual rehabilitation intervention has been developed and evaluated for short-term improvement of EMG control and engaging gameplay elements. Seven upper limb amputees completed the three assessment sessions and the video game intervention. Results show an improvement in overall EMG control, fine muscle activation and electrode separation. Patients report that racing games seem to be slightly superior regarding the fun factor, but rhythm games provide a more challenging EMG control option.

Difficulty in TETRIS is adjusted by adapting the speed with which blocks fall. In this contribution, we describe results of an exploratory study in which we investigated relationships between players' performance and their subjective assessment of difficulty and fun. We tested five different algorithms that, instead of adjusting game speed, adjust difficulty by choosing blocks based on the current game state. With our results, we establish pile height and bumpiness as parameters that indicate the performance of a player during a live game, discuss the inherent difficulty of different block choosing algorithms and show how the relationship between fun and perceived difficulty varies for distinct player groups. With regard to adapting difficulty, we argue that one can still teach an old dog such a TETRIS a lot of new tricks.

We present the INTERACCT system, a smartphone app and a Web page for fostering communication between young patients in aftercare after a stem cell transplantation. In this phase of rehabilitation, daily communication between the patients and their clinicians is key for detecting upcoming possibly deadly crises as early as possible. The app consists of a communication part, a gaming part, a module for daily medicine, and a daily story for further motivation. We describe the system as well as an evaluation of the app with several healthy children.

In this paper we discuss a setup for technology-mediated audience participation using smartphones and high-frequency sound IDs. Drawing from the insights of a research project on audience participation in live music we describe a setup for playful music interaction composed of smartphones. In this setup the audience needs to install a smartphone app. Using high-frequency sound IDs music samples and colors can be triggered on the audience’s smartphones without the need to have an internet connection. The resulting soundscape is determined by the samples and parameters selected by the artist as well as by the location audience members choose in the performance space.

Videogame based approaches are a motivating way to increase entertainment for upper limb amputees during neuromuscular rehabilitation training. Thereby myoelectric signals needed to control the prosthesis are intuitively trained and the functional gain of the prosthesis is increased. This study compares the intrinsic motivation between upper limb amputees and age and gender matched able-bodied participants after playing different videogames. Participants had to fill in two questionnaires in order to evaluate their attitude regarding videogame based rehabilitation and their intrinsic motivation. Results show higher investment of patients during the games and give a suggestion of what the ideal game for neuromuscular prosthetic control training might look like.

INTERACCT is a multidisciplinary research project, where a communication tool in form of a serious video game was implemented. Target group are young and adolescent patients which suffered leukaemia or similar diseases that indicate a stem cell transplantation as therapy. After the transplantation, patients are required to stay at home for 12–24 months and report their health status to their after-care medical team. To ease this reporting process, INTERACCT was conceptualized and a prototype was implemented. Through smartphones, tablets or desktop PCs the patients report their data to the medical team, which accesses this data through a newly developed web-system. The system is highly adaptable and customizable, and can be further extended using state-of-the-art technologies like Microsoft KINECT. This paper describes background information, the concept and finally the implementation of the prototype system.

In this paper we present INTERACCT (Integrating Entertainment and Reaction Assessment into Child Cancer Therapy), a multidisciplinary research project aiming at creating a communication tool for pediatric patients after cancer treatment with HSCT (hematopoietic stem cell transplantation) in after care. The communication platform should foster communication between patients and clinicians, but also increase motivation for treatment compliance by using appropriate designs and gamification elements. A state of the art web interface enables the physicians to evaluate data submitted by the patients, joining data from various sources (lab data, survey data, physiotherapy performance) using HL7 and visualizing imporant changes. This contribution outlines the challenges of designing such a system and presents a solution for the medical data interface and evaluation.

In this paper we present results from our user-centered and participative design approach using methods from design thinking and explorative design with school children aged 8 - 14 in context with a game created for children after cancer treatment. After stem-cell transplantation, pediatric patients must remain in aftercare due to a high risk of suffering from a plethora of life threatening organic problems. In this phase, communication with the clinicians is key for an increased survival probability. The multidisciplinary INTERACCT aims at developing a child friendly communication tool based on gamification principles in order to foster this important communication and should stimulate physiotherapy exercises and treatment compliance. Finally, through analyzing gaming scores, INTERACCT should also act as a sensor for detecting problematic phases children are going through. Since the design of INTERACCT is key to its success, the results presented here act as important guidelines for designing the game world. The results of the evaluation are are game characters and story lines, which will provide starting points for creating the INTERACCT game world and which shall be subject to a future validation with sick children.

After stem-cell transplantation, pediatric patients must remain in aftercare due to a high risk of suffering from a plethora of life-threatening organic problems. In this phase, communication with the clinicians is key for an increased survival probability.The multidisciplinary INTERACCT aims at developing a child friendly communication tool based on gamification principles in order to foster this important communication. Additionally, INTERACCT should stimulate exercises and treatment compliance. Finally, through analyzing gaming scores, INTERACCT should also act as a sensor for detecting problematic phases children are going through. Since the design of INTERACCT is key to its success, we present results from our user-centric and participative design approach using methods from design thinking and explorative design with school children aged 8-14. The results are game characters and story lines, which will inspire the game design of the INTERACCT computer games.

This paper describes the design of the learning game Internet Hero, in which the player is transported into a fictional world representing the Internet. The game shall convey learning contents about the technical and social basics of using the Internet. We connect game design to learning principles and evaluate the game through gameplay metrics and interviews with children. We show that we were able to build an engaging game while at the same time building on a strong theoretical foundation on digital game-based learning.

An increasingly older demographic emphasizes the need to deal with a likewise increasing number of people with cognitive disabilities like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. While no cure exists the preventive potential of activities in the areas of reminiscence, cognitive, social and physical activity has been recognized. This paper looks at the possibilities of technological interventions in this field from a game design perspective. The paper follows the core research question “Which elements of play can be used in a playful holistic application combining reminiscence, cognitive, social and physical activities to prevent or postpone the development of cognitive disabilities such as dementia for older adults?” Examples are qualitatively analysed and lead to the identification of the elements auto-biographical play, musical play, kinaesthetic play, object-based play, adaptive play, collaborative play and role playing. The list of these elements is expendable and lays the foundation for a holistic design space.

This contribution describes a series of design sketches for a playful digital application designed to trigger reminiscence in older adults. The goal of the intervention is to be a preventive measure against cognitive disabilities such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Research shows that reminiscence and cognitive activities are beneficial in this area. The presented sketches have been developed as part of a design workshop and are based upon the results of a focus group study which involved older adults, their families, experts and care personnel. The ideas are all rooted within the context of the project which revolves around the playful use of media such as photos, video clips and audio recordings. These personal media artifacts shall trigger reminiscence and engage players cognitively.