Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are considered a powerful tool for economic development and the growth of societies. However, instead of helping overcome society's inequalities caused by the digital era, they have instigated an increase of the people that rested aside of the information age. The digital divide refers to the difficulty info- excluded people have in keeping up with technological advances. This phenomenon was triggered by the rapid growth and dissemination of technological equipment, as a portion of society did not have the proper time or knowledge to adjust. This paper sets forth a new approach to help fight the Portuguese digital divide by presenting new ways of interaction. Resorting to multi-touch technology, we examine how this new natural interaction paradigm can have a positive influence in the struggle against info-exclusion. For this purpose, we present a multi-touch game envisioned to encourage and teach digitally excluded people on how to use an important and needed everyday equipment – the ATM (Automated Teller Machine) – as it is still avoided by some. We believe that our pilot case study can show preliminary results on how natural user interfaces may be beneficial to help overcome some difficulties enforced by the digital divide. We consider that our findings may be valuable to show a possible path of how the new natural user interfaces can help bring technology and people closer. After being asked about their user experience, the participants of this exploratory study agreed that the game encouraged them to explore more about new technologies

In recent years there has been a boom of different natural interaction paradigms, such as touch, tangible or gesture-based interfaces, that make better use of human's innate skills rather than imposing new learning processes. However, no work has been reported that systematically evaluates how these interfaces influence users' performance with regard to their level of digital literacy or even age. Furthermore, it is also important to understand the interaction paradigms' impact when performing basic operations, such as data selection, insertion and manipulation, and which interface could be the most efficient for each task. This paper reports the first step of an exploratory evaluation about the relationship between different interaction paradigms and specific target-audiences: dealing with a selection task. We conducted an experiment with 60 subjects to evaluate how different interfaces may influence the performance of specific groups of users. Four input modalities are evaluated in a selection task and results for these different user groups are reported in terms of performance, efficacy (error rate) and user preference. For each group of users, we determined there was a statistically significant difference between the mean time taken to complete the task in each interface. Also, the one input modality every user was accustomed with (the computer mouse) was the one that showed the most discrepancy regarding performance between the groups. We believe that this study raises new issues for future research.

The recent advances made in human-computer interaction have allowed us to manipulate digital contents exploiting recognition-based technologies. However, no work has been reported that evaluates how these interfaces influence the performance of different user groups. With the appearance of multiple sensors and controllers for hand gesture recognition, it becomes important to understand if these groups have similar performance levels concerning gestural interaction, and if some sensors could induce better results than others when dealing with users of different age brackets. In this respect, it could also be important to realize if the device's sensor accuracy in terms of hand / full body recognition influences interaction performance. We compare two gesture-sensing devices (Microsoft Kinect and Leap Motion) using Fitts' law to evaluate target acquisition performances, with relation to users' age differences. In this article, we present the results of an experiment implemented to compare the groups' performance using each of the devices and also realize which one could yield better results. 60 subjects took part in this study and they were asked to select 50 targets on the screen as quickly and accurately as possible using one of the devices. Overall, there was a statistically significant difference in terms of performance between the groups in the selection task. On the other hand, users' performance showed to be rather consistent when comparing both devices side by side in each group of users, which may imply that the device itself does not influence performance but actually the type of group does.

The widespread adoption of digital technologies in educational systems has been globally reflecting a shift in pedagogic content delivery that seems to fit modern generations of students while tackling relevant challenges faced by the current scholar context, e.g., progress traceability, pedagogic content fair access and intuitive visual representativeness, mobility issue mitigation, and sustainability in crisis situations. Among these technologies, augmented reality (AR) emerges as a particularly promising approach, allowing the visualization of computer-generated interactive data on top of real-world elements, thus enhancing comprehension and intuition regarding educational content, often in mobile settings. While the application of AR to education has been widely addressed, issues related to performance interaction and cognitive performance are commonly addressed, with lesser attention paid to the limitations associated with setup complexity, mostly related to experiences configurating tools, or contextual range, i.e., technical/scientific domain targeting versatility. Therefore, this paper introduces ARPocketLab, a digital, mobile, flexible, and scalable solution designed for the dynamic needs of modern tutorship. With a dual-interface system, it allows both educators and students to interactively design and engage with AR content directly tied to educational outcomes. Moreover, ARPocketLab’s design, aimed at handheld operationalization using a minimal set of physical resources, is particularly relevant in environments where educational materials are scarce or in situations where remote learning becomes necessary. Its versatility stems from the fact that it only requires a marker or a surface (e.g., a table) to function at full capacity. To evaluate the solution, tests were conducted with 8th-grade Portuguese students within the context of Physics and Chemistry subject. Results demonstrate the application’s effectiveness in providing didactic assistance, with positive feedback not only in terms of usability but also regarding learning performance. The participants also reported openness for the adoption of AR in pedagogic contexts.