Positive Technology Journal

Google has launched a dedicated portal of Google services for non-profit organizations.

Google for Non-Profits offers “a one-stop shop for tools to help advance your organization’s mission in a smart, cost-efficient way.” This site includes ideas and tutorials on ways Google tools can be used to promote non-profits, raise money and operate more efficiently.

The Aerospace Psychology Research Group, School of Psychology, Trinity  College Dublin, is part of a large EU Research Consortium, and they are currently looking to hire a researcher in the area of VR/Human Factors/HCI.

The main work of the group concerns carrying out research into the human and organisational factors which underlie safety, reliability and change in complex safety-critical industries like aviation and the 
process industries. This particular project will concentrate on Process Engineering Simulation. The work will include VR and HCI/Human Factors

The position is available immediately and will require one month in Milan. The basic salary ranges between 30K-35K Euro (negotiable depending upon experience and qualifications).

If you would like to know more contact:

Alison Kay on 00353 (0) 87 2635673 or at kayam AT tcd.ie

http://www.tcd.ie/Psychology/aprg/home.html

Mind Gym Psychology Prize is a new prize for psychological research worth £10,000 that is being given for published or unpublished reports of well-founded, practical and imaginative research that explores or suggests ways to enhance psychological capability in the general population.

The scope of the competition covers what is loosely called 'practical psychology' and includes, for example, work on social influence, stress, creativity, optimism, time management and relationships.  There is, of course, a very
large overlap with positive psychology.

The prize is sponsored by The Mind Gym Ltd, a human resource development company.  The prize will be judged by The Mind Gym's academic board, which is comprised of Fellows of the British Psychological Society.

In addition to the prize money, the winner and runners-up will be invited to present their findings at a special event at the Royal Society of Arts in London, and will have their research publicised in a national newspaper, almost certainly 'The Times'.

The deadline for submissions is 1 MARCH 2007

 
The details and rules are available here

Sant'Anna School of Advanced and Universitary Studies in Pisa offers the opportunity to undertake in-depth research on Presence and Advanced Robotics technologies for the interaction in Virtual Environments and Teleoperation.

The proposed research applications deals with the cognitive aspects of human multimodal interaction based on the act of doing and thus are strictly related to the ongoing activities carried out in the ENACTIVE Network of Excellence.

For more information go here

Multimedia Interaction and Smart Environments group (MISE), CREATE-NET research institute, Trento, ITALY.

Position Description

A full-time two year post-doctoral research position in Human Computer Interaction is available starting on January 2007. The research and development activity will be conducted within the IST European project SAMBA on Interactive Digital Television (iDTV) in collaboration with both European and Brazilian partners.

SAMBA is a two year International Cooperation project led by CREATE-NET and has the objective of creating a framework for allowing local communities and citizens (including low income population) to access community-oriented content and services by means of iDTV channels. SAMBA will also explore the potentials of utilization of iDTV within mobile virtual communities and its possible impact for the creation of future services and business models related to fixed and mobile iDTV market. In its activity, SAMBA will be particularly careful in analyzing Human Factors and usability issues during its whole duration and will set up real on the field experiments which will allow evaluating users' experiences and their social inclusion.

The post-doctoral researcher is expected to be involved in or responsible of the following:

- Research activities related to user centered design and user interface prototyping.
- Usability evaluation and testing
- Presentation of research results in the form of journal publications, conference presentations and project reports etc.
- International collaboration with the other European and Brazilian research groups involved in the project.

Qualifications

Successful candidates should have a Ph.D. in Human Computer Interaction or related fields with interest in iDTV. In particular, research experience in user centered design, user requirements definition, user acceptance analysis and/or on usability testing are required. Applicants must also have the ability to work independently and interact with other member of the team. Strong interpersonal skills, good writing and oral communication skills are also required.

Please send electronically your resume and publication list to:
Oscar Mayora: oscar.mayora@create-net.org

I write this post from the cold (well, not so cold as I expected) Helsinki, where I am attending the “Information Society Technology 2006” conference.

The exhibition contains quite a lot of interesting stuff this year, from portable brain-computer interface (project PRESENCCIA) to 3D television.

Beyond applications, I am learning a lot about the opportunities for funding offered by the 7th framework program, the EU's chief instrument for funding scientific research and technological development over the period 2007 to 2013.

The good news is that the EU plans to invest over €9 billion in research on information and communications technologies. This is, by far, the largest single budget item in FP7 programme. 

If you want to discover more about the ICT research to be funded under the Seventh Framework Programme you may visit the dedicated website just launched on the CORDIS platform.

A further interesting initiative is Living Lab, which aims to set up a new European innovation infrastructure where users play an active role in the innovation. The initiative was launched yesterday in Espoo, Finland.

From the infosociety website:

(20/11/2006) Living labs move research out of laboratories into real-life contexts to stimulate innovation. This allows citizens to influence research, design and product development. Users are encouraged to co-operate closely with researchers, developers and designers to test ideas and prototypes.

Functioning as Public-Private Partnerships, especially at regional and local level, living labs provide some advantages over "closed labs": They stimulate new ideas, provide concrete research challenges and allow for continuous validation of research results. At a pan-European level, a large-scale network of living labs could become a strong tool for making the innovation process of industry more efficient and dynamic by stimulating the involvement of citizens of differing cultures and societal backgrounds who can provide rich feedback in context on the use and impact of the technologies being researched.

The European Network of Living Labs is launched just as a large group of experts gathers in Finland for the IST Event 2006. Several conference sessions will explore in detail the living labs approach, and offer researchers across Europe the opportunity to become involved.

The concept has already been embraced by industry and other stakeholder organisations. Concrete examples of living labs already operating include the Helsinki Living Lab (in Arabianranta), Mobile City Bremen in Germany, the Botnia Lining Lab in Sweden and Freeband in the Netherlands.

 

Launching Event

Speech of Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen

IST 2006 Networking session

Latest news

Via Usability News 

Deadine: 7 November 2006
CENTRE FOR HCI DESIGN, CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

Researcher in Human-Computer Interaction
Fixed term for three years

23.5K - 27K pounds pa inc

Closing date for applications: 7th November 2006.

We are seeking a researcher with a background in computing and human-computer interaction to join a 3 year EPSRC-funded research project that will investigate handover in healthcare settings. This is an
exciting opportunity to get involved in a major study of clinical handover and to contribute to the design of innovative technological solutions to enhance the efficacy of handover. The researcher will be primarily
responsible for implementing novel interactive systems to support handover using technologies such as PDAs, telemedicine and interactive whiteboards.


Clinical handover is the handing over of responsibility and care for patients from one individual or team to another. It has been shown to make a vital contribution to the safety and effectiveness of clinical work, yet current practice is highly variable. Handovers are often
impromptu, informal and supported by ad hoc artefacts such as paper-based notes. While there have been small-scale studies of clinical handover in specific settings, there is a lack of basic research. We will address this by conducting extensive field studies of handover in a range of healthcare settings, by developing a generic model of handover and by designing and prototyping novel software and hardware solutions to support handover.

Candidates should have a good BSc in a computing discipline with a significant HCI component. An MSc in a relevant discipline and research experience in HCI are desirable. Experience in designing and implementing interactive systems on a range of software and hardware platforms is essential. Candidates should also have a keen interest in healthcare issues and an awareness of current IT developments for healthcare.


This post is based in the Centre for HCI Design (HCID) at City University London, an independent research centre in the School of Informatics. HCID has an international reputation in human-computer interaction and software engineering research, including studies of work and human-system interaction, usability evaluation, accessibility, requirements engineering, and system modelling.

In return, we offer a comprehensive package of in-house staff training and development, and benefits that include a final salary pension scheme.

Actively working to promote equal opportunity and diversity.

For more information and an application pack, visit www.city.ac.uk/jobs or write to Recruitment Team, HR Department, City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, quoting job reference number BD/10514.

Via Interactive Multimedia Technology

Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning: MacArthur Foundation, private grantmaking institution focused on human and community development, global security and sustainability, launches a $50 million Digital Media and Learning initiative:

"The MacArthur Foundation launched its five-year, $50 million digital media and learning initiative in 2006 to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to developing educational and other social institutions that can meet the needs of this and future generations. The initiative is both marshaling what is already known about the field and seeding innovation for continued growth"

Re-blogged from Neurodudes

We seek to hire a full time Research Assistant/Programmer or Postdoctoral Fellow to work on computer programming projects developing and testing neurocomputational models of the brain circuits for learning and memory, especially the basal ganglia, frontal cortex, and hippocampal region.

The applicant should be prepared and capable of working on applications of these models to two projects: (1) Applying these models to understand and predict the nature of memory and cognitive dysfunction in clinical brain disorders including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, and stroke/amnesia; (2) Applying models to a broad range of applied engineering and Artificial Intelligence applications in control and cognition, to compare them to alternative computing methods for solving problems in robotic-control and pattern recognition.

We are open to hiring either a post-BA who would work for at least two years before going on to graduate school or a postdoctoral fellow with a PhD. In either case, it is desirable that the person have (1) very strong computer programming skills, (2) prior experience with mathematical and computational neural-nework models of brain and/or behavior, preferably with exposure and experience with neural-network models, and (3) strong English-language writing and speaking skills.

We are located in Northern New Jersey, less than twenty minutes by train from midtown Manhattan. If interested, please email me a letter of interest summarizing your background, training, computer modeling skills and experience, previous publications and presentations of research, and future career goals. Also indicate your current location, citizenship, and Visa/workpermit status in the US.

Lab: http://www.gluck.edu
Memory Loss & Brain Newsletter: http://www.memorylossonline.com

Via Brain Blog

The US National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have launched a new initiative, called Cognitive and Emotional Health Project. The goal of the initiative is to evaluate the state of the art in research on demographic, social and biologic determinants of cognitive and emotional health in aging adults.

From the website

Nicholas (Pasta and Vinegar) has announced that two postdoc positions are available at CRAFT (EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne):