April 2016
Kings of Gamification, Wearable Technologies, Digital Health Initiatives, Robotic Drones,
Technology and Society, Creative Industry Roadmaps, Upcoming Conferences

 

Welcome to the GAETSS April 2016 E-Newsletter. Those of you who have seen my presentations on Gamification or attended any of my workshops on implementing Gamification in your own context, whether that be as part of an educational strategy, for corporate development or simply to achieve personal goals, will perhaps remember that I have often cited Jose Mourinho as an example of a “Gamification Master” or “King of Gamification”. Mourinho has achieved significant sporting success over many years, largely because of his ability to apply games psychology and mechanics in his domain of football management.

I am happy to report that Jose, the former King of Gamification no longer occupies his position on the throne, not just because of his demise at Chelsea but because a new and, in my eyes far more worthy King has emerged in the shape of Claudio Ranieri. My absolute delight at this change in affairs is only in part because I have spent the majority of my life in Leicester and Leicestershire where Claudio’s Leicester City are on the verge of one of the most remarkable success stories in sporting history.

In my opinion, Claudio Ranieri’s use of Gamification to achieve success could not be more of a contrast to Mourinho’s approach which events have shown to be motivated by self-interest and a grossly inflated opinion of himself as “The Special One”. Where once I admired Mourinho for his achievements at Chelsea, I now abhor his Machiavellian and subversive actions in trying to get one of his fellow managers (Louis Van Gaal) the sack for his own benefit.

Not only is Ranieri a very personable and seemingly honourable man, he has proved that it is possible to break the mould of the accepted wisdom that big money alone can win success. Ranieri’s Leicester City’s success is built on great teamwork between players who are not big names and previously have not known the kind of achievement which is now within their grasp. It is credit to Ranieri and his players and a great source of satisfaction to me that virtually all neutral supporters are willing Leicester to win the Premier league against all the odds.

For me, it is evidence that Gamification, applied ethically and not for personal glory or benefit, is a transformational phenomenon that we can all learn from in our personal and/or professional lives. Whether you are a manager, a teacher, a leader or a coach, you can use gamification strategies to positively influence the lives of those around you.

The King is Dead, Long Live the King !!!

 

In this Edition (To view the full Newsletter with images in a web Browser click HERE)

 

·       Developments in Wearable Technologies

·       East Midlands Medilink Digital Health Special Interest Group (SIG)

·       Robotic Drones

·       Immersive Camera Technologies

·       Technology and Society Conference

·       Creative Industries Roadmap

·       Ted-X Leicester

·       Review of Recent Conferences and Exhibitions

o   Medicon 2016 Pafos, Greece

·       Featured Upcoming Events

o   April 21/22 Asia Pacific Medical Simulations 2016, Kuala Lumpur

o   April 27-29 Bangkok International Digital Content

o   June 17-19 6th Annual Digital Medicine Academic Meeting of Chinese Medical Association

o   July 7/8 International Symposium on Digital Earth (ISDE)

o   July 28/29 Thaisim

o   Sept 7/9 VS Games 2016

o   Sept 23/24 Singapore Health and BioMedical Congress

o   Nov 28/Dec 1st SEANES 2016 Ergonomics and Human Factors Conference

·       Calls for Papers

·       Recent Articles and Presentations

·       Future Events Listing

Developments in Wearable Technologies

The Wearable Technologies Show at Excel in London in March provided a fascinating insight into the latest developments in wearable technologies and gadgets that are beginning to become mainstream items across multiple sectors. I had anticipated that the majority of the event’s focus would be on fitness trackers but I was surprised and impressed by the wide range of devices and applications on display and being presented in all the seminar rooms. The application areas covered at the exhibition included :-

·       Internet of Things (IOT)

·       Augmented and Virtual Reality

·       Smart Homes and Connected Living

·       Healthcare and Digital Apps

·       Mobile Payments and Retail Apps

·       Smart Textiles and Sensors

·       Performance Sports and Fitness

In addition to the various panel discussions and keynote presentations, there was also an area for showing developers how to create apps using connected devices.

I have uploaded a collection of images from both the presentation sessions and the exhibition booths onto the GAETSS Flickr archived images at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/albums/72157663675407963

What caught my eye in particular as trends to watch out for were the large number of exhibitors showing smart clothing or textiles with embedded sensors. The applications being developed around smart textiles not only included health tracking but also environmental sensing to enable smart adaptation of the clothing to specific conditions or events.

 

East Midlands Medilink Digital Health Special Interest Group

The Medilink East Midlands SIG on Digital Health was launched at a workshop in Loughborough which featured keynote presentations from Dr Dale Esliger of The NIHR Leicester-Loughborough Diet, Lifestyle and Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit and Dr Jonathan Tedds who is based at Health and Research Data Informatics at Leicester University. Dr Esliger is a Canadian expert in wearable sensors and his presentation of the various advanced biomedical sensors either available today as consumer items or likely to become mainstream in the near future was an eye-opener. Dale’s presentation demonstrated a genuine understanding of the potential impact of wearable technologies upon lifestyle behaviours and the importance of gamification strategies linked to real world data. In particular, Dale recognises the need to be able to relate the lifestyle data such as pulse rate, blood pressure, weight and body mass index to demonstrable short term results. One of the major problems with the applications for health and wellbeing is that, especially in young people who are generally naturally fitter because of their age, the impact of poor lifestyle choices in diet and exercise is not felt until years later so the motivation to change and/or the ability to see the benefits of good habits are limited. I am aiming to collaborate closely with Dale and his team in Loughborough.

Dr Jonathan Tedds presented on BRISSKIT – Biomedical Research Software as a Service. His passionate interest is the use of open source big data to analyse and interpret the vast amounts of information delivered by the sensor devices, especially those involved in real time monitoring of health parameters.

For more information on the Medilink Digital Health Special Interest Group contact Costa Philippou at Medilink East Midlands using costa@medilinkem.co.uk 

Robotic Drones

My latest technology acquisition is a 3DR drone with a gimbal and a GoPro Hero 4 Black camera. I was prompted by seeing a selection of drones at my local PC World retail centre to do some research into what was available and their functionalities. I eventually chose to buy a 3DR drone and accessories, primarily because of its use of smart technologies to enable a novice user like myself to take good quality aerial pictures and video safely and with minimal training.

The 3DR drone uses smart robotic technologies to build in both safety and usability. It is a very light device that takes only a few minutes to set up. I am fortunate to live in a village with open countryside so my first outing took place in a paddock near where I live. The 3DR comes with a controller and a holder for my iPhone. The 3DR software application on my phone wirelessly connects to the controller and the drone itself allowing me to control the drone and camera from the phone as well as view and capture live images from the drone camera at a distance of up to half a mile.

Amongst the impressive functionality of the 3DR is the ability to make a single selection to bring the drone back to its original take off point. I have uploaded a selection of the images and videos I have taken at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/albums/72157667034740842

I am now offering to supply 3DR drones and provide training to anyone interested – please contact me at david@gaetss.com.

Immersive Camera Technologies

360 degree digital image of Boston Stump Church and Market Place

Another new immersive technology which has captured my attention is the Theta S camera which can take videos and images in a total 360 degree range. An image of Boston Stump and market place was one of the very first I took after I got the camera which, like the 3DR drone, is able to be controlled from my iPhone using the Theta S app. To view images and videos in true interactive 3D, you need to either look at them on your phone or PC or on the Theta S web site which can host all the images.

To see an example of a true interactive 360 degree image taken in the “Tomb of the Kings” in Pafos, Cyprus, go to the Theta web site at https://theta360.com/s/pLGruKSolxRDsiN6lV9kOQBkG

The images taken with the Theta S camera are also compatible with Google Streetmap.

 

Technology and Society Conference Buenos Aires

In Buenos Aires, I presented the latest results from the European DOREMI and Pegaso projects as part of a conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society. My presentation focused on the need to not only empower citizens with the tools for better personal health management but also shift some of the responsibility for public health back to the citizen.

The presentation looked at the potential approaches to be taken to address the issue of lifestyle related conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cardio-vascular problems and COPD together with solutions such as those being researched for teenagers in the Pegaso project (http://www.pegasof4f.eu/) and for the elderly in the DOREMI project (http://www.doremi-fp7.eu/)

The presentation generated some controversy amongst the participants who felt that it was wrong to expect citizens to change lifestyle behaviours to avoid public health resource problems. My presentation can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.slideshare.net/dwortley/lifestyle-technologies-and-society

 

Creative Industries Roadmap EU Project

The final report of the CRe-AM Creative Industries Adaptive Roadmap project is due to be presented in Luxembourg on April 28th. In addition to the Games Industry Roadmap, the final project report will include some recommendations for exploiting the results of the roadmapping exercise for all the creative sectors involved including art, design, architecture, media and e-publishing and video games.

After the review meeting in Luxembourg at the end of this month I hope to be able to make the final report available to anyone interested. If you would like access to a copy, please email me at david@gaetss.com.

 

TED-X Leicester

TED-X Leicester held an event entitled “Health of the Nation – Should we care?” on April 4th. I was asked to speak at this event but unfortunately the date clashed with the Medicon 2016 conference in Pafos but I hope to become more involved in future events. For details of TEDxLeicester, visit http://tedxleicester.com/.

 

Review of recent Conference and Exhibitions
Medicon 2016 Pafos, Cyprus

The Medicon 2016 Conference in Pafos was the 14th Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biomedical Engineering and Computing. Held from March 31st to April 2nd, Medicon 2016 was a very technical conference covering a very wide spectrum of medical applications and disciplines. Representing Milan based serious games specialists, Imaginary, with whom I co-wrote the paper and presentation on the topic of “Gamified Wellbeing for all Ages” my session was part of the Rehabilitation Technologies/Systems track.

The presentation included details of Imaginary’s European projects Rehab@Home, Pegaso and DOREMI. You can access and /or download a copy of the presentation from http://www.slideshare.net/dwortley/gamified-wellbeing-for-all-ages and find more details about the Medicon 2016 conference at http://www.medicon2016.org/

I have also uploaded a gallery of images from the conference and the gala dinner at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/albums/72157664464600494

 

Featured Upcoming Events

April 21/22 Asia Pacific Medical Simulations 2016, Kuala Lumpur

The Asia Pacific Medical Simulations 2016 conference takes place at the New World Renaissance Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on April 21/22. My presentation at the conference is on “Medical Simulations Past, Present and Future” and I will be describing how medical simulation technologies have evolved over the last 10 years, influenced by advances in enabling technologies and the involvement of multi-disciplinary skills and technologies from the games industry.

I will be sharing my thoughts on the future of medical simulations and the likely impact of wearables, IOT and big data.  I plan to publish my presentation and images from the conference in the next e-newsletter.

For more details of this event go to http://www.mnmconferences.com/Asia-Pacific-Healthcare-Simulation-Conference-20161

April 27-29 Bangkok International Digital Content

Bangkok IDC and Business Matching event takes place in Bangkok at the end of this month and, like last year, provides an opportunity to meet up with some of the most innovative digital media companies in Thailand and Asia through the business matching event where I aim to provide mentoring advice and network connections to aspiring and talented local companies.

If you are interested in collaboration, outsourcing or market development in Thailand or Asia generally, please email me at david@gaettss.com with an outline of your interests and I will seek out potential opportunities

For more details of this event, go to http://www.bangkokdc.com/

June 17-19 6th Annual Digital Medicine Academic Meeting of Chinese Medical Association

The 6th Annual Digital Medicine Academic Meeting of the Chinese Medical Association takes place in June in Nanjing, China from June 17-19. I have been invited to speak at this conference which boasts a very large international selection of speakers. My presentation will focus on the impact of wearable technologies on personal health management.

For more details of this event go to http://www.bitcongress.com/nccsdm2016/

July 7/8 International Symposium on Digital Earth (ISDE)

The International Symposium for Digital Earth 6th Summit takes place in Beijing from July 7-8. The theme of this year’s summit is Digital Earth in the era of Big Data.

For details of this event go to http://isde2016summit.org/

July 28/29 Thaisim

The theme of this year’s annual Thaisim conference which is being held at Sripathum East University, Chonburi in Thailand is “The power of games, simulations and debriefing to teach more in less time”. Thaisim conferences are always memorable events not only for their content and networking opportunities but also for the wonderful hosting.

For more details go to http://www.thaisim.org/ts16/ts2016.html

Sept 7/9 VS-Games 2016

The VS-Games 2016 conference in Barcelona is the 8th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications. Topics for this year’s conference include :-

·        Alternate reality games

·        Virtual environments

·        Augmented reality

·        Game design

·        Animation for serious games and virtual worlds

·        AI applications for serious games

·        Serious games methodologies

·        User-modelling in serious games

·        Pervasive gaming

·        Interactivity issues

·        Visualisation techniques

·        Human-computer interaction

·        Mobile games

·        Education and learning

·        Multimedia gaming

·        Case studies in serious games and virtual worlds

·        Gamification

For more details go to http://vsgames2016.com/

 

Sept 23/24 Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress

The Singapore Health and BioMedical Congress is flagship international event with top class international speakers which this year will include James Kinross from Imperial College. The theme of this year’s conference is “Forging a Sustainable Relationship-Based Healthcare System”.

For full details of the event go to  http://shbc.com.sg/

 

Nov 28/Dec 1st SEANES 2016 Ergonomics and Human Factors Conference

The 4th SEANES 2016 Ergonomics and Human Factors conference in South East Asia will be held in Bandung Indonesia. The theme of this year’s event will be:- “Green Ergonomics: Sustainability, Productivity, and Well-being”. Within this theme, SEANES 2016 Conference supports and expands the application of human factors and ergonomics with regards to recent local and global needs. This international conference aims to enhance the awareness of the importance of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in various human activities and application domains, including product design, learning, communication, healthcare, transportation, defence and security.

For more details of the event go to  https://seanes2016.org/

Calls for Papers

Below is a selection of current calls for Papers, Posters and Articles that may be of interest :-

………….……………..

The Thirteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society to be held at University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada from 26-28 May 2017  is seeking proposals for papers and presentations.

If you are interested, visit the web site at http://techandsoc.com/2017-conference/call-for-papers

……………………………

The 1st Call for papers for ESM'2016 - The 30th annual European Simulation and Modelling Conference SIANI - Universidad de Las Palmas Gran Canaria - Spain October 26-28, 2016 has been released.

 

For details of this CFP go to http://www.eurosis.org/cms/?q=taxonomy/term/383

 

 ……………………………………

Recent Articles and Papers

A comprehensive list of archived articles, presentations and videos can be accessed at my website – http://www.davidwortley.com/listing.html

The most recent updates are shown below :-

Date

Article/Presentation Title

Comments

March 2016

Technology, Knowledge and Society Presentation from Buenos Aires.

View the presentation here

View conference images here

The Technology, Knowledge and Society Conference covered a broad range of topics which examined the positive and negative aspects of technology on the future of society

April 2016

Gamified Wellbeing for all Ages Paper and Presentation for Medicon 2016

View the paper here

View the presentation here

View the conference images here

The Medicon 2016 Conference provided an opportunity to meet academics and practitioners involved in a broad range of biomedical technologies and applications

 

Upcoming Events Listing

 

Below is a list of forthcoming conferences – also accessible at http://www.davidwortley.com/events.html

 

Date

Event Name / Description

Location

Web URL

April 21/22

Asia Pacific Medical Simulations 2016

Kuala Lumpur

http://www.mnmconferences.com/Asia-Pacific-Healthcare-Simulation-Conference-20161

April 27-29

Bangkok International Digital Content

Bangkok

http://www.bangkokdc.com/

June 17-19

6th Annual Digital Medicine Academic Meeting of the Chinese Medical Association

Nanjing

http://www.bitcongress.com/nccsdm2016/

Jul 7-8

ISDE Symposium – Digital Earth

Beijing, China

www.isde2016summit.org

Jul 28-29

Thaisim – Games and Simulations for Learning

Bangkok, Thailand

http://www.thaisim.org/ts16/ts2016.html

Sept 7-9

VS Games 2016

Barcelona, Spain

http://vsgames2016.com/

Sep 23-24

Singapore Health and BioMedical Congress

Singapore

http://shbc.com.sg/

Nov 28 – Dec 1st

SEANES 2016 Ergonomics and Human Factors

Bandung, Indonesia

https://seanes2016.org/

 

If you would like any presentations, videos or documents circulated to my network, I am happy to provide this service free of charge for any material relevant to readers of this newsletter. If you are interested, contact me at david@davidwortley.com.

 

Best Wishes for a Better Future for all Mankind

 

David Wortley FRSA

Founder and CEO

GAETSS – Gamification and Enabling Technologies Strategic Solutions

Shaping the Future of Business and Society through Human Development and Motivation

Mobile Phone : +601123180284 (Malaysia) +447896659695 (UK)

Email : david@gaetss.com

Skype: davidwortley

Web: http://www.gaetss.com

 

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