Info I399 Student Research Projects, Fall 2013

Abstract:
Our research group, Assisted Independence, used the research we have conducted to design and create a technological device that will assist our subject in being independent. Our research question is as follows: “What technologies could help a dependent elderly woman become more independent?” Our subject family consists of an elderly woman, our primary participant, and her two daughters, who serve as her caregiver and are our secondary participants. The mother depends on her daughters to bring things to her, fill her pill boxes, and take her places outside of the home. However, both the mother and her daughters are looking for a way to allow the mother to be more independent. This pursuit of independence is a very important issue to almost everyone as they age. We go through most of our lives being independent and doing things for ourselves, but that decreases as we age and endure disabilities. Our team realizes this as not only an issue for the elderly and disabled, but also an opportunity to design and create a technological device to meet the unique needs of our participant. Fortunately, the technologies capable of prolonging our independence are available and feasible with simple designs. During the design phase of our project, collaboration among our team produced an effective design, using elements from all of our ideas. Impacts from this project’s success could be very beneficial, not only for the mother, but it could also turn out to serve as something useful for other older adults struggling with their independence.

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
Research Question: Why are locally developed South Korean video-sharing sites used instead of video-sharing sites designed for global use (such as YouTube)?

This project is significant for cross-cultural technology design and the research within it. We began our research by looking for culture to be a primary reason for why some video-sharing site users in other countries, such as South Korea, still choose to use niche video-sharing websites as opposed to exclusively using YouTube (which was designed for global use). We focused on South Korean video-sharing websites in particular because of the unusually low market share of YouTube there. Despite being one of the top video-sharing websites in the world, YouTube has struggled with obtaining users in Korea6. Through our research, we have determined that culture is not the primary reason for the use of niche video-sharing websites. While culture is not the central finding from our research, it does play a part in the content contained within these websites, and that specific culture-derived content is what users search for.

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
Facial recognition software is pervasive in modern society with everything from social networks like Facebook to local security systems collecting and analyzing images of us at an alarming rate. This software is applied in many diverse domains, but what they all come down to is analyzing pictures to discover the identity of the people in them. Some places in the world are more strict about security with this software than others, just as some people care more about being “watched” than others do. Our paper will focus on not only ways to beat the facial recognition software but also why it is important to be able to beat it. In this study, experiments will be done to observe what effect various image modifications have on the accuracy of these softwares. Doing this research will possibly help facial software recognition companies to identify users even with photo modifications by making their algorithms more robust, as well as, help privacy concerned individuals better block these approaches. Our research question is, What are the effects of photo manipulation to beat facial recognition software?

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
Research question: How does Google Glass affect people’s perception of privacy infringement in an academic community?

Technology is constantly changing. New products are emerging everyday, and most are making people more available to each other through social media. Products such as Google Glass allow users to consistently capture pictures and videos and upload them to Facebook or Twitter. However, unlike smartphones, it can be difficult for one to tell that a user is taking a picture with Glass because it can all be done via voice command. That being said, our research question is: How does Google Glass affect people’s perception of privacy infringement in an academic community? We have had in the past other forms of social interactions through technology but nothing to this scale. These products are still in their infancy making the social impact of the technology unknown. This research will be beneficial in shaping the way people design their products or help to provide new policies for the government to help regulate products of this kind.

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
It is important to protect the data stored on our mobile devices from what are known as malicious applications. Such applications are capable of stealing information from our smartphones that can be dangerous in the hands of the wrong people. The purpose of our research was to find a way to detect malicious activity within a mobile phone application. We began by downloading malicious applications and studying how they interacted with their respective host servers. Using a virtual machine we observed those interactions so we could better understand what data packets are being sent over the network, and if the packets could potentially be malware. As a team, our hope was to find ways to secure mobile phones from malicious applications by monitoring the device’s network traffic. The research question we focused on answering was, “Can we determine if an application is malicious based on network traffic on the device?”

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
How can we benefit smartphone users by implementing interactive tutorials? This is the question that our team has set out to answer. Today, there are many functions and features that numerous smartphones have to offer but the general user won’t come across them or learn how to use them effectively as well as efficiently. This is an important question to consider as phone companies spend time and money designing and developing these unique features into their phone products. However, if they aren’t being used or are hard to find, then it is money wasted. We also have to keep the user experience in mind. If someone who has never used a smartphone before goes out and buys their first smartphone, they will more than likely be overwhelmed by the many features that are presented before them. We know that there are online tutorial videos as well as user guides; however, our research experiments have shown that those aren’t efficient learning methods that lead to users being able to use all of the features of a smartphone to their maximum potential and efficiency. This is why we have researched into ways of implementing interactive tutorials that will take the user through all of the functions and features of the smartphone when they turn it on for the first time. We want this to be an interactive experience so that it increases the learning and retention that the user will receive versus watching a 30 minute video. The user will be able to follow along and do what the tutorial teaches them to do in real time. By successfully implementing these interactive tutorials we will be able to increase the user experience and benefit everyday users with the convenience of knowing how to use their smartphone to its potential. The smartphone industry is a relatively new industry and it is growing at a rapid pace, making this a very important question to research and answer. This will affect not only the phone companies but every person who uses a smartphone as well. This will also expand knowledge in knowing how to design effective interactive tutorials that increase user retention and maximize learning potential.

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
NCAA College Basketball is one of the most worldwide recognized sports today. College students, fans, and players go crazy over how competitive the sport of basketball is between every single college. Whether you are a fan of a small college like George Mason or a big school like Indiana University, everything about your team's success comes down to wins and making it to NCAA tournament championship. To get to and win the NCAA championship, you need outstanding players and a good rank in order to greater the odds due to the tournament having sixty-four teams. With that being said, our main goal in this research project is to present the correlation between how incoming recruitment is affected by a college team's previous NCAA rank. Therefore, the question we want to answer is, "Does a team's previous NCAA Rank affect whether a recruit goes to a certain college to play basketball?"

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
Human factors are the weakest link in computer system security. Alpha- numeric passwords have been used since the 1960s. These passwords have a history of being insecure. Early on users created simple short passwords that could easily be guessed with a few attempts. User’s accounts were easily compromised, making passwords useless. Systems then began to implement password requirements. They included character lengths, the use of both numbers and letters, the use of both lower and upper case letters, and not being related to the user (name, birthdays, anniversary, etc.). Users found ways to meet these requirements and still have simple passwords like “Password1.” Users create simple passwords so that they do not continually forget them. The simpler the password the easier it is to remember, with the result being the account is not secure. The more difficult the password the harder it is for the user  to remember the password, but the more secure it is. The integration of a graphical password would solve this issue. Humans live in an environment where their sense of sight is most important for several activities. Our brains are capable of processing and storing large amounts of graphical information with ease. It is able to remember faces, places we’ve been, or things we’ve seen easily, while it is difficult for the brain to remember a long string of characters. With this knowledge our team asks, how can a system utilize images to create a virtual password that is just as, if not more secure than an alphanumeric password, while being easier for the user to remember?

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
Our topic deals with social media so we decided that we wanted to do extensive research on the popular social media sites Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn for the age groups from young adults to senior citizens. With these age groups, we captured college age students, young professionals who are just out of college and starting their career, people who who have been working for years and have establishes lives, and seniors who may be retired. We wanted to take each of these sites and find out what users used the most and used the least and combine that knowledge to create a template for a better social media site. We believed that if we could research what makes each of these four social media sites popular, then we could create a social media platform that will serve as a one stop social media site with features that each age group would find appealing. We thought that if we could create a few suggestions for the most popular site it would help keep users on the site longer. We assumed many social media users have accounts for multiple sites so we wanted to find out what drives them to use each. However, due to time, if we could not make a full physical template, so we provided results that would help us to improve the current features for the users and benefit their experience. Our research question presented the question of: What social media site is most popular among all ages and what features do users like the most or the least? How do we create suggestions based on users responses to create a better experience for all?

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
In this current “information age” that we live in, acquiring various types of data is easier than ever before. However, making sense of data and visualizing it is another, much more difficult task entirely. Network data is inherently voluminous and difficult to interpret, derive information from, and present as knowledge. Many examples of network visualizations are massive webs of interconnecting nodes that show the relationships between them, a somewhat haphazard way of organizing the information that causes difficulty when attempting to make sense of the image given the large amount of data that is being shown. What our research examines is how the ability to interact with a network visualization affects the user’s comprehension and understanding of the information contained within it. More specifically the ability to manipulate a time selection bar within a dynamic node-link diagram. In order to more thoroughly understand our field of study, first we will cover two areas that will provide a foundation of information visualization research knowledge on which to better understand our study; the first being in the field of cognitive science, and the second being a basic overview of network visualizations themselves.

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.

Abstract:
Our research question is dealing with the design of Microsoft’s latest creation Windows 8. This iteration of their popular operating system is incredibly different than all of their past designs and has raised eyebrows from their users. Most of the past designs for Windows have stayed very similar and have had safe and familiar features for the user. The transformation era between Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 was quite significant. Windows 3.1 users found difficulties to use Windows 95 at first because it was a new operating system. It was first time for users to use the start button, upgraded internet explorer, and multi-media programs. However, Windows 95 eventually became the world’s most dominant operating system. In the same manner, there are many people who question whether or not Windows 8 is a good operating system. Microsoft users have grown up using Windows and have remembered how to do everything the same way regardless if it was Windows 95 or all the way up to Windows 7. This applies to all college aged students, but it also relates to the older generation because they too have used the same operating system for most of their time using computers. The designs have all been familiar and have been incredibly popular with the public because they are the same general look. This popularity can be shown through the fact that as of 2010 the market share between Windows and Mac was 92.21% Windows compared to 5.11% Mac OS (iTOK blog 2011). This new design however is not the same and does not have the same feature that Microsoft users are used to. Is Windows 8 user friendly for new users? What parts of it work well for new users, and which do not work well?

For more information, see: poster, video, website, or final paper.