Special issue of Entertainment Computing
“Fun and Engaging Computing Technologies for Health”
BACKGROUND
Health technologies and systems have been changing significantly in the last few years. There has been a transition from clinical and institutionally centralised scenarios to a more and more personalized and ubiquitous approach that uses joyful and engaging experiences to foster patients and caregivers acceptance and adoption. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these systems, the way in which to better design, develop, and evaluate them, and how different, and sometimes opposite needs – fun and health – can be managed throughout its development. The main goal of this special issue is to investigate these topics, the design and development of fun and engaging health systems, and the diverse aspects surrounding them, to enable a better understanding of the area, as well as to identify new avenues of research in the field.
This special issue is interested in original, practical, and theoretical work, reporting on existing examples, impacts and acceptance, as well as processes, methodologies, and frameworks to support the design of systems to support health related fields that take a fun, joyful, and light approach to promote rehabilitation, quality-of-life, and behaviour change.
TOPICS
For this special issue, topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Studies documenting the design, development, or use of fun and engaging health systems
- Studies on the effectiveness, and acceptance of health and entertainment systems and their impact on health and wellbeing
- Methodologies and frameworks for the design, development, and evaluation of playful health systems
- Design principles and guidelines for special user populations and specific diseases
- Insights on how to leverage these systems to the medical care and attract health professionals into the design and development
SUBMISSIONS
Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Submissions should be prepared according to the author instructions available at http://www.elsevier.com/journals/entertainment-computing/1875-9521/guide-for-authors.
Manuscripts should be submitted at: http://ees.elsevier.com/entcom/ (Please make sure to select ” SI: Fun&Engaging Tech 4 Health” as article type at the first step of submission). Relevant papers of the ACE 2014 Workshop on “Designing Systems for Health and Entertainment: what are we missing?” may be invited to be revised and extended for this special issue. The papers with provenance in this workshop must have at least 30-40% new material, be accompanied by a document explaining how the previous reviewers’ comments and recommendations were dealt with and will be subject to further peer review.
EDITORS
Paula Alexandra Silva (paula.alexandra@nuim.ie), National University of Ireland in Maynooth Francisco Nunes (francisco.nunes@igw.tuwien.ac.at ), Vienna University of Technology
IMPORTANT DATES
- Submission deadline: April 17th, 2015
- Initial feedback to authors: July 17th, 2015
- Final decision to authors: January 17th, 2016
- Expected Publication of the Special Issue: March 2016