COSY Research Areas and Current Thesis/Praktikum-Topics

• Human Factors and Interaction Design of ICTs
• Usability, Usable Security, User Research, (Participatory) ideation and iterative prototyping
• Social Computing, Technology and the cultural domain - “Culture over IP”
• Ubiquitous and mobile HCI
• Computer Supported Cooperative World - Social Computing/Social Informatics, Cooperative Systems

• Internet of Things / Internet of People
• AAA - Authentication, Authorization, Accounting in IoT ecosystems
• Decentralized security mechanisms (blockchain, trust, transparency, privacy)
• (Computer) Networks --- design, operation, and use

Opera.Guru is an application suite to provide subtitles for live opera performances. (see www.opera.guru for details) The existing application contains a smartphone app (Android/iOS) and a web-based CMS. The task of this thesis is to develop a new web app in addition to the existing smartphone app. The goal of this extension is to use the Opera.Guru application suite for events other than opera and to access new user groups as well as new application scenarios. Basic programming skills and knowledge with mobile, web and server applications (Xamarin for Android/iOS apps, IIS) are recommended. The work for this thesis will include a user study to evaluate the web app.

See the project's website for further information and finished theses about opera.guru.

The current prototype of the SANDRA project is implemented as a display mounted inside a real bass drum. The display is powered by a Raspberry Pi mini computer that runs a Python program for the visualization. It is connected to the drum kit controller via an Arduino microcontroller that handles the communication using the MIDI standard. Several “sets” containing different visualizations can be selected using a custom interface that is also showing the current set number to the drummer. The visualizations are hard coded into the software at this point.

Further work will include making the software more modular to enable the drummer to easily create new visualizations and sets. A communication form between the Raspberry Pi and the microcontroller will be needed to update its functionalities without having to flash the ROM for every change in the sets. The hardware may also be updated to be redundant as a measure of fault tolerance.

To work within this project is possible as theses (bachelor or master) or praktika (P1 or P2) which can be discussed with the supervisor. Further information is available on the project's website.

Im Rahmen der Entwicklung hin zu einer "Hochgeschwindigkeitsdemokratie" arbeiten wir an einer eParticipation-Plattform mit, die zur vermehrten Einbindung interessierter BürgerInnen in politische, insbesondere parlamentarische Prozesse führen soll. Das Spektrum reicht dabei von Ideenfindungsprozessen bis hin zur Kommentierung von Gesetzesvorlagen. Besonders interessant sind dabei Konzepte zur nachhaltigen Beteiligung und zur Überwindung der Schwelle zwischen physischer und Online-Diskussion.

The CoConUT project (http://coconut.cosy.wien) features smartphone apps which collect sensor data (location, speed, noise, nearby Bluetooth devices, heart rate, etc.) for each participant during mobile field studies. Result is a time series which shows information about the context and possibly interesting events the field study participants encountered („Why did the participant slow down on the corner?“, „Why were so many people present nearby during this time period?“, etc.). The data sets hereby consist of sensor data collected during a field study on the participants' smartphones. These time series data should be visualized in a web app and enriched by meaningful analyses to enable exploration and potentially reasoning.

Requirements: You have already attended either the Vis and/or the HCI lecture and had good grades. You are fit in Android programming. You don't shy away from statistics.

The CoConUT project (http://coconut.cosy.wien) features smartphone apps which collect sensor data (location, speed, noise, nearby Bluetooth devices, heart rate, etc.) for each participant during mobile field studies. Result is a time series which shows information about the context and possibly interesting events the field study participants encountered („Why did the participant slow down on the corner?“, „Why were so many people present nearby during this time period?“, etc.). The data sets hereby consist of sensor data collected during a field study on the participants' smartphones. These time series data should be visualized in the smartphone app itself and enriched by meaningful analyses to enable exploration and potentially reasoning. Focus hereby lies on the visualization for small device screens (smartphone / tablet).

Requirements: You have already attended either the Vis and/or the HCI lecture and had good grades. You are fit in Android programming. You don't shy away from statistics.

While being on the move the error rate for smartphone usage presumably is higher. But which kinds of errors occur and when do they occur? Do they occur at home, at one's workplace, while being in transit? Is there a difference whether the user is stressed or relaxed? This thesis will explore the aforementioned questions for a specific usage scenario. For example by means of an enhanced Open Source keyboard for Android a deeper look at typing errors on the go could be made. Several other scenarios are possible: mobile security (e.g. while entering the locking pattern), navigation, and so on.

Requirements: You are fit in Android programming. You don't shy away from statistics.

There are several frameworks which try to automatically assess the context and activity of the user (e.g. the Google Activity framework), but automatically detecting current context and activity remain a challenge. One possibility is to ask the user via notifications and obtain contextual data on a subjective basis, which is highly obtrusive, but quite correct. Another way is using Machine Learning or heuristics to determine the circumstances by automatically evaluating data on the smartphone itself.

In this work, you will explore options to assess information about the user's context and activities.

Requirements: You are fit in Android programming. You don't shy away from statistics. This preferably is either a P1/P2 or master thesis topic, but it's also possible to take this as an highly ambitious bachelor thesis topic.

Requirements: You have already attended the HCI lecture and had good grades. You are fit in Android programming. You don't shy away from statistics.

• Visualisization and analysis of the gathered time-series data (visualization / statistics / potentially mathematics)
• Enhancing the sensing and recording capabilities of the CoConUT app (Android development / hardware tinkering)
• Inspecting interesting use cases with CoConUT-ical capabilities (conducting HCI field tests for prototypical use cases)
• Adding long-term recording capabilities to the CoConUT app (Android development)
• ... and many more things!

This is an umbrella topic for several works potentially possible in the scope of the CoConUT framework. If you're interested in working on the project, or have some great ideas yourself, please contact Svenja Schröder (Svenja.schroeder@univie.ac.at).

Diese Bachelorarbeit ist eine Zusammenarbeit mit einem Studierenden der klinischen Psychologie. Gegenstand ist die Entwicklung und Evaluation einer Smartphone-Applikation, die mithilfe einer Kombination verschiedener psychologisch erprobter Methoden die mentale Gesundheit bei Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen verbessern soll. Während der klinisch-psychologische Teil der Bachelorarbeit sich mit den klinisch-psychologischen Konzepten und der Durchführung der Evaluation auseinandersetzt, wird der informatische Teil die Entwicklung eines motivationalen Konzeptes (Serious Gaming) und die Umsetzung der App mittels eines User Centered Design Cycles umfassen. In einem iterativen soll die Usability der App schrittweise verbessert werden, sodass am Ende des gemeinsamen Aufwandes ein funktionierender App-Prototyp steht.

Voraussetzungen: HCI-Vorlesung muss besucht worden sein, Kenntnisse in Programmierung für Android erforderlich

"Develop mobile application that enables control, monitoring and analytics in the Smart-Home secured with ABAC".

Make use of the existing solution Smart-Home in COSY:Lab to develop novel mobile application and improve usability of the already integrated sensors and actuators - DHT, Philips Hue...

This thesis will have two main aspects:

• Security - evaluation and development of mechanisms for successful access control over information during system's lifetime
• HCI - design and development of the intuitive, easy-to-use application for Smart Home management

Testing and verification will be conducted in the COSY:Lab using existing equipment and development and verification environment.

This topic aims at utilizing a chatbot-type agent to interact with users of a Smart-Home environment. A conversation-based interaction/service design is to be designed to support Smart-Home-related tasks, such as (1) adding and removing IoT-devices to the Smart Home, (2) effective management of access and security policies (ABAC), (3) everyday usage.

Your task is to create a chat-bot interaction/service design with regard to usability-related qualities (simplicity, usable and understandable security features) and meaningful features, and make use of the existing Smart-Home setting of COSY:Lab to develop a chat-bot prototype for this context. A small user trial should then collect feedback and test for conceptual feasibility and usability.

This thesis is about interaction design and prototypical implementation of a chat-bot which supports a healthy lifestyle. A prototype exists already, and your core job is to incorporate motivational design, e.g. by means of gamification, in order to support the user with finding meaningful fitness goals. To achieve this, you can make full use of the existing prototype feature-set (already integrated APIs: Google Calendar, Fitbit, Recipe API, Work-Out API) and extend it if necessary.

This thesis is about usability evaluation of a chat-bot which supports a healthy lifestyle. Your core job is to conduct a usability study on an existing prototype. This will include group discussions with users and a questinaire-based evaluation of usage practice.

Note: This topic is only available as P1/P2.

This thesis is about interaction design and prototyping of a community platform ("Smart Grätzel") that incorporates IoT devices. This thesis comprises (1) defining a social software concept that supports a given community by incorporating software (e.g. a web-platform, a chat-bot) and IoT devices (e.g sensors or displays), (2) creating a prototype, (3) conducting a small user trial to explore/validate meaning from a user perspective.

This topic is about personalized services. With interfaces getting more and more "smart", possibilities for adaptive functionality and adaptive interaction concepts widen, taking into account the users' preferences, current state or overall personality. This points to the question: Can adapting to situative states and/or personal attributes of a user improve the user experience, usability and overall "successful" usage of a software?

This thesis comprises (1) the identification of a suitable setting for a comparative study (e.g. see Grätzelbot topics, Healthy-Living-Bot topics, or your own topic), (2) the enhancement of the respective user-interface to support adaptive behavior/interaction design, (3) the realization of a comparative usability/user experience study.

Note: This topic is only available as P1/P2 or Master's Thesis.

This topic is about computer-supported community building. Social networks emanate from purposeful social mingling and interaction and can bring about significant positive social change, a process that can be specifically supported and nurtured, e.g. as described by Plastrik and Taylor (1). While the authors have created their framework before there were social networks like Facebook on the Internet, it seems clear that today's technology can add a lot to this effort.

This thesis is about (1) creating a social software concept that supports the building of ad-hoc social communities, following Plastrik and Taylors approach, and investigating how the specific network goals defined by them can be supported by ICT, (2) prototyping this concept and (3) conducting a small user trial to test for conceptual feasibility.

(1) https://networkimpact.org/downloads/NetGainsHandbookVersion1.pdf

Note: This topic is only available as P1/P2 or Master's Thesis.

While social networks are very popular among younger people, none of them have been designed from their perspective, putting them first. This topic is about designing a social network from the perspective of youth/young persons. The thesis comprises (1) the participatory design of a social network concept that is based in the interests, wishes and needs of young persons, (2) the prototypical realization of this concept, (3) conducting a small user trial to validate the prototype.

Note: This topic is only available as P1/P2 or Master's Thesis.

This thesis is about designing and creating a smart phone application that supports activities undertaken by the scouts, a worldwide youth movement. The functionality can focus around different areas: (1) An outdoor, location-based gaming application, (2) a social diary aimed at collecting experiences, (3) an application that supports connecting scouts worldwide, ..

The thesis comprises (1) the design of an application concept (2) the prototypical realization of this concept, (3) conducting a small user trial with members of the scout movement to validate the prototype.

Note: This topic is only available as P1/P2 or Master's Thesis.

This thesis relies heavily on computer networks knowledge, especially in layers 3,4,5 of TCP/IP stack.

Goal of this thesis is to enable access to the services provided in local network to the public IP. Therefore, in scope of this topic you will get very familiar and try out multiple network protocols, such as HTTP, WebSockets, MQTT,AMQP, NAT, UPnP, etc...Or whatever else you find suitable to resolve the given challenge!

This thesis relies on already existing Smart Home framework, developed in the Cooperative Systems research group. The framework - COSYLab, already provides all the required services, such as user and device management, sensing capabilities. Your assignment is "just" to expose these services to be reachable all over the world and adapt existing mobile and web applications to make use of the implemented reachability.

"Define event-based environment for runtime configuration of the Smart-Home and make Smart-Home smarter"

Make use of the collected data from the sensors in the Smart-Home and define events that could be of interest to define optimal behavior of the Smart-Home appliances.

Use defined events and bind them with script language(JavaScript for example) to trigger proper actions and optimise usage of the Smart-Home sensors( disable temperature readings if there isn't any user present in the system).

This solution will be integrated with already existing Smart-Home management framework, present on COSY:Lab.

"Manage Access Control policies based on presence of users in the Smart-Home"

Integrate some of the existing technologies for localization and presence detection(RDIF, BLE) with ABAC-enabled Smart-Home management system.

Goal of this thesis is to enable definition and validation of the access policies in Smart-Home that required users' presence events as input and allow/forbid particular actions in Smart-Home based on those events.

This solution will be integrated with already existing Smart-Home management framework, present on COSY:Lab.

"Use blockchain to make services, features and bugs of IoT devices transparent to all users!"

Implement blockchain-based storage for all types of sensors, which are used inside of Smart Home framework.

This storage should contain information on supported functionalities on the devices, combined with firmware versions of sensors. Moreover, this registry should support option of providing client-side feedback on some sensor services and whether they work properly, so that other Smart Home framework users can become more aware of possible malfunctions and/or security breaches inside their Smart Homes.

Ultimate goal is to achieve trust reputation network, which would make perfect match with blochain properties, such as : backward traceability, immutability and transparency.

Excitation with exponentially-swept sines allows for measurements of transfer functions of weakly nonlinear, approximately time-invariant systems. Implement a framework, e.g. in Octave (MATLAB) or NumPy, that streamlines generating the required sweeps, deconvolutions etc., and demonstrate its applicability in a practical study (e.g. room acoustics).

www.nvo.com/winmls/nss-folder/electro1acoustics/Measuring%20impulse%20resp%20and%20distortion%20with%20swept%20sine%201341AES00.pdf

web.uvic.ca/~timperry/ELEC499SurroundSoundImpulseResponse/Elec499-SurroundSoundIR-PreREVA.pdf

This project proposes to develop and investigate methods that allow for simple, repeatable calibration of smartphone sensors using elementary physics and household items. A method should thus require little or no special hardware, apart from what is typically available on/in one's desk, drawers, and kitchen provide intrinsic (or readily procurable) means for comparison measurements, be repeatable easily so that multiple measurements can be taken, facilitating variations of parameters or devices, and statistical analysis of the results. Needless to say, the device under test should not be damaged by an experiment. Potential experiment techniques include Swings, pendulums with controllable physical dimensions (and thus oscillation periods), Springs ,Free fall, throwing; sliding on inclined planes, Rolling (e.g. inside of a can), Comparison measurements with one device attached to another. More notes: https://github.com/SensibilityTestbed/sensibility-testbed/issues/33

The Optimized Link State Routing protocol version 2 (OLSR2 on GitHub, RFC 7188) is a routing protocol for wireless mesh networks. Your task is to automate tests against OLSR2 that try its functionality and check its correct functioning for a variety of valid and invalid inputs, both from the network and from local configuration. Vectors include the syntax and semantics of OLSR2's RFC 5444-encoded messages, but also any config files that the deamon uses, or the operating system's routing tables (see e.g. Routing Tables of Death). Since OLSR2 aims to run on low-power embedded hardware platforms such as WiFi routers, DoS scenarios (memory / CPU / storage exhaustion) are in scope as well. Additionally, glitches should be analysed for their effect on a practical mesh network of ~10 devices. Since OLSR2 is Free, Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS), you should also disclose responsibly and fix any bugs you may find!

Recordings of network traffic play an important role in studying the network behavior of nodes, applications, and users. Unfortunately, these traces also contain quasi-personally identifiable information (PII) which makes sharing or publishing traces problematic. Develop a tool or extend existing ones (libpcap, Wireshark) to anonymize traces to various degrees. For this, identify types of PII found in traces, and evaluate methods to pseudonymize or otherwise scrub the records.

Note: This project is a great start into the world of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS)!

Transmissions over radio may suffer interference both from out-of-band and in-band transmissions. Your task is to choose modulation schemes and develop models for interference for them, both within the same modulation scheme and across schemes. Target metrics focus on the demodulated signal and thus the disturbance that interferences cause in the demodulator: effects on the spectral content, noise floor, transmitter/receiver synchronization, etc. You evaluate your models both in theory and in practice, i.e. mathematically and through an implementation in GNU Radio.