Special Issue Advanced Interaction in Cultural Heritage

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is an interdisciplinary area that focuses on computer design and user experience covering disciplines from computer science, cognitive psychology, behavioural science, and design. Advanced HCI combines human senses, requiring new strategies for the design of user experiences. This special issue focuses on HCI for covers both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Tangible cultural heritage covers material culture and the production of physical artefacts, their maintenance and transmission in a society. Intangible cultural heritage includes the evolving knowledge and skills which is transmitted through learning and tradition.

The goal is to collect original and high-quality research articles as well as review papers focused on the theoretical and practical aspects related to advanced interaction in cultural heritage. Exceptional contributions that extend previously published work will also be considered, provided they contribute at least 40% new results. Authors of such submissions will be required to provide a clear indication of the new contributions and explain how this work extends the original contributions. The aim of this special issue is to address, but not limited to, a niche area of advanced human computer interaction and user interfaces on tangible and intangible cultural.

More information:

https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/advanced-interaction-cultural-heritage/

Conductive and Elastic Nanomembrane for Skin Electronics

Skin electronics require stretchable conductors that satisfy metal-like conductivity, high stretchability, ultrathin thickness, and ease of patternability, but it is challenging to achieve these characteristics simultaneously. Researchers developed a new float assembly method to fabricate a nanomembrane that satisfies all these requirements simultaneously. The exceptional material properties are attributed to its unique cross-sectional structure in which a monolayer of compactly assembled nanomaterials is partially embedded in an ultrathin elastomer membrane.

The implications of this study may go well beyond the development of skin electronics. While this study showcased a composite material consisting of silver nanowires within styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS) rubber, it is also possible to use the float assembly method on various nanomaterials such as magnetic nanomaterials and semiconducting nanomaterials, as well as other types of elastomers. Therefore, it is expected that the float assembly can open new research fields involving various types of nanomembranes with different functions.

More information:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210826170133.htm

Mindfulness VR Puzzle Game

Skybinder is a meditative VR experience where the core gameplay mechanics are relatively simple. Each puzzle is filled with dots that contain a number. That number corresponds with how many times a line must connect with that specific dot. As you connect lines to dots, the number will decrease. Your goal is to create a series of triangles that make up the shape of the final object.

However, once a dot has been zeroed out, you can’t connect a line to it, which means you may have to delete a line entirely to complete the puzzle. Skybinder is a single-player game with 20 puzzles that get progressively more difficult as you work your way through them, but the developers are exploring possible ways to update the game.

More information:

https://vrscout.com/news/find-mindfulness-in-this-whimsicle-vr-puzzle-game/