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Based on a 3-year ethnographical study, this paper discusses the prolonged use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools by approximately 400 older people in an adult education centre in Barcelona (Spain). Contrary to oversimplified views of older people as ICT users, this paper shows that they make a very rich use of CMC tools. Relevant elements of this use are their permanent desire to feel and be included, social, independent and competent ICT users. Despite the numerous interaction issues they face when using ICT, some are constant across different tools. Difficulties due to cognition limit their interactions more severely than those problems due to perceiving visual information or using the mouse. By examining the longitudinal aspect of the study, this paper addresses the evolution of technology use and whether the interaction issues that most of the current older people exhibit will be relevant when today's more ICT literate young adults grow older. Interaction issues due to cognition are time-persistent, and independent of both experience and practice with ICT. Difficulties reading from the screen or using input devices are overcome with ICT experience. The strategies adopted by older people for coping with all these interaction issues are always targeted at feeling and being included, social, independent and competent ICT users. The results deepen current understanding of tools use in connecting older people with their social circles and the interaction issues most of them encounter when using ICT. The results also suggest that cognitive-related problems will be the most important ones in our work with the next generation of older people. ; We are indebted to Àgora and all our participants for allowing us to be part of their lives and share their experiences of using ICT with the rest of the world. We are also very grateful to Paula Forbes for improving our English and ideas, and the reviewers and editor of this journal for their careful, detailed and stimulating reviews. We also acknowledge the support from the Commission for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia.

We claim that local e-services benchmarking studies summarized in indexes do little to enhance city managers' and academics' understanding of actual e-government performance, or to improve the e-services offered by cities. We undertook a different benchmarking approach, focused on learning best practices among cities, in late 2008 and early 2009. A benchlearning methodology (BLM) was developed, and a pilot study with 15 European cities was carried out. In this paper, we present the actual impact of the benchmarking study with respect to improvements in services, as the effectiveness of e-government benchmarking has rarely been evaluated. We discuss and analyse the results of a survey carried out in the same 15 cities four years after the pilot study. This paper presents evidence that BLM helped cities to identify good practices that they could learn from, and that some e-services were subsequently improved. The survey reveals that some changes are needed in the benchmarking methodology. The main one is the updating of the BLM bottom-up e-services catalogue, which is deeply discussed within the changing context of Smart Cities, especially the enlargement of the ecosystem of e-services to include citizens, the third sector, entrepreneurs, companies and other actors. A second one is the measurement of the adoption of e-services by citizens, also rarely assessed.

Despite the widespread popularity of smart cities in policy and research fields, and the ever-increasing ageing population in urban areas, ageing issues have seldom been addressed in depth in smart city programs. The main focus has hitherto been on making physical environments 'older people friendly'. We review studies in environmental gerontology, policies and HCI that show the multifaceted relationship between ageing and cities. We discuss two case studies with scenarios of engagement of older people in urban areas we undertook in the past 4 years. By drawing upon the results, we propose a vision of smart city that conceives of older people as embedded in intergenerational urban communities and capable of creating new engagement situations by reconfiguring IT-driven scenarios to their interests and social practices. This paper aims at expanding the current visions of smart cities for older people by building along three main dimensions: technology, agency and community. ; This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (TIN2011-28308-C03-03), the EU through Life2.0 (CIP ICT PSP-2009-4-270965), FGSIC and OSC through WorthPlay and supported by the A-C-T (Ageing-CommunicationTechnology) network funded by the Canadian SSHRC. ; info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PN/TIN2011-28308-C03-03

A growing ageing population and an increasing reliance on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to conduct activities associated with daily living means that addressing how older people learn to use ICT is timely and important. By drawing on a 4-year ethnographical study with 420 older people in two different environments, this paper shows that they adopt three strategies to become successful ICT learners, whilst at the same time dealing with the effects of age-related changes in fluid memory: (i) linking learning to real-life needs, (ii) learning collaboratively and informally, and (iii) adopting appropriate memory aids. This paper also addresses the question of how valid these results will be when today's ICT-literate adult people grow older. The longitudinal aspect of the data gathered shows that older people become confident ICT learners over time, the learning strategies and cognitive-related difficulties are mostly time-persistent, and their life experience is always important in learning transfer. Implications for providing older people with a more integrated approach to ICT learning are discussed. ; We also acknowledge the support from the Commission for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, and the ESRC's New Dynamics of Ageing Programme (Grant Number RES-353-25- 0008).

Based on a 3-year ethnographical study, this paper discusses the prolonged use of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) tools by approximately 400 older people in an adult education centre in Barcelona (Spain). Contrary to oversimplified views of older people as ICT users, this paper shows that they make a very rich use of CMC tools. Relevant elements of this use are their permanent desire to feel and be included, social, independent and competent ICT users. Despite the numerous interaction issues they face when using ICT, some are constant across different tools. Difficulties due to cognition limit their interactions more severely than those problems due to perceiving visual information or using the mouse. By examining the longitudinal aspect of the study, this paper addresses the evolution of technology use and whether the interaction issues that most of the current older people exhibit will be relevant when today's more ICT literate young adults grow older. Interaction issues due to cognition are time-persistent, and independent of both experience and practice with ICT. Difficulties reading from the screen or using input devices are overcome with ICT experience. The strategies adopted by older people for coping with all these interaction issues are always targeted at feeling and being included, social, independent and competent ICT users. The results deepen current understanding of tools use in connecting older people with their social circles and the interaction issues most of them encounter when using ICT. The results also suggest that cognitive-related problems will be the most important ones in our work with the next generation of older people. ; We are indebted to Àgora and all our participants for allowing us to be part of their lives and share their experiences of using ICT with the rest of the world. We are also very grateful to Paula Forbes for improving our English and ideas, and the reviewers and editor of this journal for their careful, detailed and stimulating reviews. We also acknowledge the support from the Commission for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia.

Comunicació presentada al congrés Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine que va tenir lloc el 7 i 8 de setembre a Bremen, Alemanya. ; Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a broadly used therapy in patients that suffers from heart failure (HF). The positive outcome of CRT depends strongly on the parameters criteria used to select patients and a lot of research has been done to introduce new and more reliable parameters. In this paper we propose an interactive tool to perform visual assessment and measurements on cardiac ultrasound images of patient with cardiac dyssynchrony. The tool is developed as a web application, allowing doctors to remotely access images and measurements. ; The authors acknowledge the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration (VP2HF FP7-2013-611823 and MEDIA FP7- HEALTH- 2010-261409), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (TIN2012-35874) and the Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Programme (MDM-2015-0502).

One of the most relevant difficulties faced by first-year undergraduate students is to settle into the educational environment of universities. This paper presents a case study that proposes a computer-assisted collaborative experience designed to help students in their transition from high school to university. This is done by facilitating their first contact with the campus and its services, the university community, methodologies and activities. The experience combines individual and collaborative activities, conducted in and out of the classroom, structured following the Jigsaw Collaborative Learning Flow Pattern. A specific environment including portable technologies with network and computer applications has been developed to support and facilitate the orchestration of a flow of learning activities into a single integrated learning setting. The result is a Computer Supported Collaborative Blended Learning scenario that has been evaluated with first-year university students of the degrees of Software and Audiovisual Engineering within the subject Introduction to Information and Communications Technologies. The findings reveal that the scenario improves significantly students' interest in their studies and their understanding about the campus and services provided. The environment is also an innovative approach to successfully support the heterogeneous activities conducted by both teachers and students during the scenario. This paper introduces the goals and context of the case study, describes how the technology was employed to conduct the learning scenario, the evaluation methods and the main results of the experience. ; This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation in the Learn3 project TIN2008-05163/TSI and by the Madrid regional Government in the e-Madrid project S2009/TIC-1650. The work of the author Ramirez-Gonzalez has been also supported by the SOLITE CYTED Program 508AC0341 and the Universidad del Cauca where he is a professor with a commission of Doctoral studies O.J. 118-2006. ; Publicado

Portable and interactive technologies are changing the nature of collaborative learning practices and open up new possibilities for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Now, activities occurring in and beyond the classroom can be combined and integrated leading to a new type of complex collaborative blended learning scenarios. However, to organize and structure these scenarios is challenging and represent a workload for practitioners, which hinder the adoption of these technology-enhanced practices. As an approach to alleviate this workload, this paper proposes a proof of concept of a technological solution to overcome the limitations detected in an analysis of an actual collaborative blended learning experiment carried out in a previous study. The solution consists on a Unit of Learning suitable to be instantiated with IMS Learning Design and complemented by a GenericService Integration system. This chapter also discusses to which extent the proposed solution covers the limitations detected in the previous study and how useful could be for reducing the orchestration effort in future experiences. ; This work has been partially funded by the Project Learn3 (TIN2008- 05163/TSI) from the Plan Nacional I+D+I and "Investigación y Desarrollo de Tecnologías para el e-Learning en la Comunidad de Madrid" funded by the Madrid Regional Government under grant No. S2009/TIC-1650.

Proceedings of: 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems (INCOS 2010): Second International Workshop on Adaptive Systems for Collaborative Learning (IWASCL-2010). Thessaloniki, Greece, 24‐26 November, 2010. ; The introduction of portable devices in education opens up new possibilities for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning by providing advanced learning scenarios with activities in different spatial locations. However, organizing and structuring collaborative learning adaptive flows in these innovative scenarios represents also a workload for practitioners, which hinder the adoption of these technologies. As a step forward to alleviate this workload, this paper analyzes the limitations and bottlenecks detected in an actual collaborative blended learning experience carried out in a previous study and proposes a technological solution for solving them. The resulting solution is presented as a concept proof consisting of a Unit of Learning suitable to be instantiated with IMS Learning Design and complemented by a Generic Service Integration system. The paper also discusses to which extent the proposed solution covers the limitations detected in the previous study and how useful could be for reducing the orchestration effort in future experiences. ; This work has been partially funded by the Project Learn3 (TIN2008-05163/TSI) from the Plan Nacional I+D+I, the Spanish National Project FLEXO (TSI-020301-2008-19, www.ines.org.es/flexo) and "Investigación y Desarrollo de Tecnologías para el e-Learning en la Comunidad de Madrid" funded by the Madrid Regional Government under grant No. S2009/TIC-1650. ; Publicado

One of the most relevant difficulties faced by first-year undergraduate students is to settle into the educational environment of universities. This paper presents a case study that proposes a computer-assisted collaborative experience designed to help students in their transition from high school to university. This is done by facilitating their first contact with the campus and its services, the university community, methodologies and activities. The experience combines individual and collaborative activities, conducted in and out of the classroom, structured following the Jigsaw Collaborative Learning Flow Pattern. A specific environment including portable technologies with network and computer applications has been developed to support and facilitate the orchestration of a flow of learning activities into a single integrated learning setting. The result is a Computer-Supported Collaborative Blended Learning scenario, which has been evaluated with first-year university students of the degrees of Software and Audiovisual Engineering within the subject Introduction to Information and Communications Technologies. The findings reveal that the scenario improves significantly students' interest in their studies and their understanding about the campus and services provided. The environment is also an innovative approach to successfully support the heterogeneous activities conducted by both teachers and students during the scenario. This paper introduces the goals and context of the case study, describes how the technology was employed to conduct the learning scenario, the evaluation methods and the main results of the experience. ; This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of/nScience and Innovation in the Learn3 project TIN2008-05163/TSI and by the Madrid regional Government in the e-Madrid project S2009/TIC-1650.

Comunicació presentada a: 2010 International Conference on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems celebrat del 24 al 26 de novembre de 2010 a Tessalònica, Grècia. ; The introduction of portable devices in education opens up new possibilities for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning by providing advanced learning scenarios with activities in different spatial locations. However, organizing and structuring collaborative learning adaptive flows in these innovative scenarios represents also a workload for practitioners, which hinder the adoption of these technologies. As a step forward to alleviate this workload, this paper analyzes the limitations and bottlenecks detected in an actual collaborative blended learning experience carried out in a previous study and proposes a technological solution for solving them. The resulting solution is presented as a concept proof consisting of a Unit of Learning suitable to be instantiated with IMS Learning Design and complemented by a Generic Service Integration system. The paper also discusses to which extent the proposed solution covers the limitations detected in the previous study and how useful could be for reducing the orchestration effort in future experiences. ; This work has been partially funded by the Project Learn3 (TIN2008-05163/TSI) from the Plan Nacional I+D+I, the Spanish National Project FLEXO (TSI-020301- 2008-19, www.ines.org.es/flexo) and "Investigación y Desarrollo de Tecnologías para el e-Learning en la Comunidad de Madrid" funded by the Madrid Regional Government under grant No. S2009/TIC-1650.