Dr Jorge Goncalves
The Ubiquitous Computing thought leader I have chosen to speak about is Jorge Goncalves. Jorge Goncalves is an associate professor in Human-Computer Interaction Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. He has received a PhD with distinction in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Oulu, and a BSc/MSc in Computer Science and Engineering from the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute at the University of Madeira. Dr Goncalves’s research is focused on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and ubiquitous computing, and in this article, I would like to discuss some of his research that I found interesting. This will include his research regarding digital emotion regulation, using thermal imaging to assess hand hygiene, and using AI to improve smartphones.
Digital Emotion Regulation
One area that Dr Goncalves’s research covers is the phenomena of digital emotion regulation. I found this topic interesting because I regularly use my devices to relieve stress and sometimes avoid issues that elicit negative emotions. Dr Goncalves’s research investigating the relationship between people’s technology usage and their emotions suggests that many people use their digital devices as emotional outlets. Our seemingly unproductive technology use such as playing video games, watching TV shows or YouTube videos, and using social media may serve as a tool for emotional regulation. By using your smartphone or computer to relieve stress or to distract yourself from negative thoughts, you are actively attempting to change your emotions through tech, which is “digital emotion regulation”. Digital emotion regulation is particularly powerful because you can engage in it from anywhere at any time as long as you have a working device.
One of the research studies measured the influence of people’s emotions on app use, and vice versa. This study found that the “types of app used influenced the emotions people experienced.” The researchers also found that the reverse was true, where the emotions that people experienced influenced what types of apps they used for emotional regulation. For example, sad people tended to turn to entertainment apps. The study participants reported that they were aware of the influence that emotions and app usage had on each other. Measuring this relationship between technology use and emotions could be useful in creating and improving digital wellness features on our devices. We could possibly train AI to assist people in creating healthier phone habits by suggesting personalized alternatives to digital emotional regulation.
Thermal Imaging and Hand Hygiene
Another area of Dr Goncalves’s research that I found interesting was his work on using thermal imaging to measure the quality of hand hygiene. The research was conducted to determine the feasibility of using thermal cameras to detect hand coverage of an alcohol-based solution like hand sanitizer after someone rubbed it on their hands. The amount of coverage would tell the researchers the quality of the hand washing. The researchers found that their results were promising, and thermal imaging had the potential to be used to accurately monitor and assess the quality of hand hygiene.
I find this research interesting because of how it could be used in professional and personal settings. I believe an AI model could be trained using thermal images to detect inadequate hand hygiene and give feedback to the hand washer. For example, if you worked in a hospital or restaurant, hand hygiene would be very important for everyone’s safety. If there was a thermal camera at the hand washing stations that gave a real-time cleanliness score, workers could use it to make sure they had washed effectively. I could also see this working for people at home. Getting a cleanliness score could help kids learn how to wash their hands effectively. The system could even highlight the specific areas on the hand that need more attention. I think the tech is interesting and there’s room to build off of it.
Using AI to Make Your Smartphone Smarter
The third research topic that I found interesting was the use of AI to improve the overall smartphone experience. The AI could be used to reduce interruptions and inconveniences that people often experience when using their phones. Examples include slowdowns due to large downloads while the user is engaging in a different activity, system updates interrupting phone use, and low battery life due to frequent data fetching. If the phone was trained to learn the user’s patterns of behavior, it could avoid inconveniencing them by doing most of the work when the user isn’t on the phone. These improvements would be a welcome change to the smartphone experience, widespread adoption would make device usage more convenient for all.
I believe Dr Goncavles’s work on these projects, and on human-computer interaction in general, is important because it gives us insight into how technology use affects us, how we use it, and how tech can be improved upon to fit our needs better. HCI research and ubiquitous computing go hand in hand because the interactions have to be valued enough for the tech used to become ubiquitous. With other projects like Mitigating Cyberbullying on Instagram and embedding interactive information in 3D prints, I think Dr Goncalves’s work at the University of Melbourne will continue to be interesting and I look forward to seeing what’s in store.
References
The University of Melbourne. Jorge Goncalves. 2023. <https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/803639-jorge-goncalves>.
