16 posts tagged with "paper"

People nowadays have access to Digital Self-Control Tools (DSCTs) that can help them manage their technology use. These tools offer features such as timers and the ability to disable distracting functionalities like recommendations and newsfeeds. However, researchers have identified several limitations with existing DSCTs, ranging from theoretical gaps to an overreliance on users' self-monitoring abilities.

In our work, we tried to overcome such limits and effectively support people in regaining control over smartphone use in the long term, focusing on teaching users how to relate better with technology, so that they can break unwanted smartphone habits and establish alternative behaviors without being forced to use a supportive tool forever.

Specifically, we designed, implemented, and evaluated StepByStep, a novel mobile DSCT that proactively assists users in learning how to regulate smartphone use.

By monitoring user's behavior, the app suggests new personalized learning paths composed of adaptable and continuously variable interventions to reduce and change unwanted behaviors with the smartphone. These paths can be at phone or app-level, and may be used to shape different behaviors, from avoiding using the smartphone in specific circumstances to using an app for an established amount of time. The main idea behind a learning path, in particular, is to progressively reduce the degree of support of the tool - i.e., the intensity of the associated intervention - based on user's achievements, until the user acquires a sufficient level of independence, i.e., it is able to sustain the new behavior without the help of the tool. To this end, StepByStep follows a gamification approach through which the intensity of an intervention is divided into four different levels. Users can gain points and advance in levels, i.e., by receiving less support, if they consistently respect the intervention with its current intensity for a sufficient amount of time. However, they can also lose points and downgrade to previous levels, i.e., by receiving more support, if they consistently fail to respect the intervention with its current intensity.

Luca Mannella has recently co-authored a new research article titled "Security at the Edge for Resource-Limited IoT Devices", in the special issue "Emerging IoT Technologies for Smart Environments, 3rd Edition" of MDPI Sensors. This research is a collaborative effort with Daniele Canavese (Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse), Leonardo Regano (Università degli Studi di Cagliari), and Cataldo Basile (TORSEC research group, DAUIN, Politecnico di Torino).

The proliferation of IoT devices (14.4 billion active endpoints at the end of 2022) has introduced security vulnerabilities stemming from limited computing power, absence of timely security updates, and intrinsic design flaws. This paper aims to improve the security of IoT devices presenting the IoT Proxy, a modular component crafted to enhance security in resource-limited IoT scenarios. At its core, the IoT Proxy is crafted to externalize security-related functions from IoT devices, mitigating limitations arising from constrained computing power. This is achieved through a secure network gateway equipped with diverse Virtual Network Security Functions (VNSFs), allowing for adaptability and scalability.

On September 6-8, 2023, the e-Lite group will attend (in person) the 3rd International Conference on Information Technology for Social Good (GoodIT 2023) in Lisbon, Portugal. Alberto Monge Roffarello will present the regular paper "Nudging Users or Redesigning Interfaces? Evaluating Novel Strategies for Digital Wellbeing Through inControl" on Wednesday, 6 September at 13:30 (Session 2).

On June 26-30, 2023, the e-Lite group participated (in person) in the 15th ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS 2023) in Swansea, United Kingdom.

Our participation proved to be a fruitful engagement, full of insightful discussions, critical feedback, and opportunities for growth. Here, we discuss the responses to our presentations and the constructive criticism we have garnered for future improvements.

Juan Pablo Sáenz and Tommaso Calò each presented a paper, while Tommaso also discussed his doctoral research during the Doctoral Consortium.

The first paper introduces an innovative conversational agent that captures a developer's reasoning and motivations during the coding process. The second paper, on the other hand, presents a visual programming tool enabling the design, training, and evaluation of deep learning models without the need for specific programming languages. Tommaso Calò's Doctoral Consortium research discusses how AI can bring changes to human experiences during design and creative processes.

On June 21st, 2023, Luca Mannella presented the paper "A Gateway-based MUD Architecture to Enhance Smart Home Security" at SpliTech 2023 (The 8th International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies).

The paper was presented during the Special Session on CyberSecurity and IoT, chaired by Luca. The special session was held within the International Symposium on Internet of Things.

On June 26-30, 2023, the e-Lite group will participate (in person) in the 15th ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS 2023) in Swansea, United Kingdom.

Juan Pablo Saenz and Tommaso Calò will each present a paper, while Tommaso will also discuss his doctoral research during the Doctoral Consortium.

The first paper introduces an innovative conversational agent that captures a developer's reasoning and motivations during the coding process. The second paper, on the other hand, presents a visual programming tool enabling the design, training, and evaluation of deep learning models without the need for specific programming languages. Tommaso Calò's Doctoral Consortium research discusses how AI can bring changes to human experiences during design and creative processes.

From the 20th to the 23th of June, the e-Lite research group will participate to the 8th International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech 2023). The conference will be held in Croatia, in Split, and in Bol (Brač island).

On the 21st of June, Luca Mannella will chair the Special Session on Cybersecurity and IoT within the The International Symposium on Internet of Things.

During the special session, Luca will also present his last paper, co-authored with Prof. Fulvio Corno, entitled: "A Gateway-based MUD Architecture to Enhance Smart Home Security".

The last few years have seen the flourishing of Digital Self-Control Tools (DSCTs) both in academia and as off-the-shelf products. These tools allow users to self-regulate their technology use. The two screenshots, for example, are taken from Apple Screen Time, an app available on every iOS smartphone. It allows users to monitor time spent and smartphone pickups, with the possibility of defining interventions like usage timers and lock-out mechanisms for specific applications.

While these emerging technologies for behavior change hold great promise to support people’s digital wellbeing, we still have a limited understanding of their real effectiveness, as well as of how to best design and evaluate them.

To close these gaps, we conducted a systematic literature review and a meta-analysis of current work on tools for digital self-control. Our analysis was published on the ACM Trasactions on Computer-Human Interaction, and surfaced motivations, strategies, design choices, and challenges that characterize the design, development, and evaluation of DSCTs.

On June 6-8, 2023, the e-Lite group will attend (in person) the 9th International Symposium on End-User Development (IS-EUD 2023) in Cagliari, Italy.

Alberto Monge Roffarello and Tommaso Calò will present two papers (one regular and one short) on June 7, while Luigi De Russis will chair the "Demo and Work-in-progress" session on June 8 (15:20-16:35).

The regular paper presents a voice-based approach to define trigger-action rules in smart environments. The short paper, instead, is on end-user website generators through Large Language Models (LLMs).

On April 26, Mauricio Verano and I presented our work "The Art of Creating Code-Based Artworks" in the Late-Breaking Work session at ACM CHI (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) 2023, the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction.

Our work stems from the fact that software has become an artistic medium, and programming with artistic purposes has been portrayed under the umbrella term Creative Coding: a discovery-based process consisting of exploration, iteration, and reflection, where code is used as the primary medium to create a wide range of media artifacts designed for an artistic context. Concerning traditional programming, Creative Coding has a different development process and poses distinctive challenges, technically and conceptually.