Interactive interface for stress relief

• Author(s): Abreu, Pedro Vicente de
• Date: 2009
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/58
• Origin: DigitUMa - Repositório da Universidade da Madeira
• Subject(s): Ubiquitous computing; Nurturant technologies; Stress; Relaxation; Visualization; Interaction design; Interactivity; Centro de Ciências Exactas e da Engenharia
• Document Type: Master Thesis
• Language: English

Description

Every time more we hear in our everyday statements like "I'm stressed!", "Don´t worry me more than I am." But in what sense can we use technology to combat these congestions that we deal with daily? Well, one way would be to use technology to create objects, systems or applications that can spoil us and preferably be imperceptible by the user and, for this we have the ubiquitous computing and nurturant technologies. The ubiquitous computing is increasingly discussed as well as ways to make your computer more subtle in the view of the user, which is subject of research and development. The use of technology as a source of relaxation and spoil us is a strand that is being explored in the context of nurturant technologies. Accordingly, this thesis is focused on the development of an object and several applications with which we can interact. The object and applications have the purpose to spoil us and help us relax after a long day at work or in some situation more stressful. The object developed employs technologies like the use of accelerometers and the applications developed employs communications between computers and Web cameras. This thesis begins with a brief introduction to the areas of research and others that we can include in this thesis, such as ubiquitous computing and the nurturant technologies, providing yet general information on stress and ways to mitigate it. Later is described some of the work already done and that influenced this thesis as well as the prototypes developed and the experiences performed, ending with a general conclusion and future work. Orientador: Pedro Campos