Browsing by Author "Marcelino, Luís"
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- Assistive Mobile Applications for DyslexiaPublication . Madeira, Jorge; Silva, Catarina; Ferreira, Paula Cristina; Marcelino, LuísThe ability to read is one of the main skills of a human being. However, some of us have reading difficulties, regardless of social status, level of intelligence or education. This disorder is the main characteristic of dyslexia and is maintained throughout life,requiring early and specialized intervention. Dyslexia is defined as a learning disturbance in the area of reading, writing and spelling. Although the numbers of prevalence rely heavily on the type of investigation conducted, several studies indicate that up to 17% of the world population is dyslexic, and that men have greater prevalence. In this work we will address the use of assistive mobile applications for dyslexia by analyzing possible solutions and proposing a prototype of a mobile application that can be used by dyslexic and whilst giving feedback both to the dyslexic him/herself and to the assisting technician or teacher. The implemented prototype focuses the Portuguese language and was tested with Portuguese students with ages between 10 and 12 years old. Preliminary results show that the proposed gamified set of activities, allow dyslexics to improve multisensory perception, constituting an added value facilitator of adaptiveness and learning.
- Assistive mobile software for public transportationPublication . Silva, João De Sousa E; Silva, Catarina; Marcelino, Luís; Ferreira, Rui; Pereira, AntónioThe need of mobility on public transport for persons with visual impairment is mandatory. While traveling on a public transport, the simple ability to know the current location is almost impossible for such persons. To overcome this hurdle, we developed an assistive application that can alert its user to the proximity of all public transportation stops, giving emphasis to the chosen final stop. The application is adjustable to any transportation system and is particularly relevant to use in public transports that do not have any audio system available. The developed prototype runs on an Android OS device equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS). To ensure the highest possible level of reliability and to make it predictable to users, the application's architecture is free of as much dependencies as possible. Therefore, only GPS, or other localization mechanism, is required. The interface was designed to be suitable not only for talkback (Android's inbuilt screen-reader) aimed at blind users, but also for people with low vision that can still use their sight to check the screen. Thus, it was meant to be graphically simple and unobtrusive. It was tested by visual impaired persons leading to the conclusion that it demonstrates an existing need, and opens a new perspective in public transportation's accessibility.
- Citizens@City Mobile Application for Urban Problem ReportingPublication . Ribeiro, António Miguel; Costa, Rui Pedro; Marcelino, Luís; Silva, CatarinaUrban problems, such as holes in the pavement, poor accesses to wheelchairs or lack of public lighting, are becoming pervasive. Despite the fact that most of these problems directly affect life quality and sometimes even safety, not everyone has the readiness or initiative to report them to the proper authorities. This fact makes these “black spots” difficult to identify and the repairing process slow. Citizens@City is an Android mobile application that allows the general population to play a more active role in the identification of these problems by reporting them to the proper authorities in a simple and fast way. Moreover, citizens will have the possibility to follow the identification and repairing processes, and know at a given moment its status (e.g. identified, repairing scheduled, solved). Additionally, it will also allow the proper authorities to identify and manage the reported problems, from their identification until they are solved.