BU Research Blog

The BU Game Analytics Platform (BUAP) is now made available for researchers and  developers, teams or companies to use (https://bu-games.bmth.ac.uk/home).

BUAP is an analytics platform for digital games, gamification, virtual reality (VR) and augmented applications (AR) or indeed any interactive multi-modal applications .  It is the first platform specifically designed to address the need of inter-disciplinary projects, which gives researchers and developers an easy access to powerful analytics tools without the learning curve. BUAP has been evolved from the beginning as a research project into a fully-fledged research led service product.

BUAP offers researchers and developers  an intuitive, flexible and powerful framework to evaluate various design and research aspects of their projects using a data-driven approach.  BUAP is applicable to a wider range of application:

• Using BUAP in games and gamification apps to track users usage and engagement, effectiveness of the game structure and game mechanics
• Using BUAP in VR and AR applications to assess Human Computer Interaction (HCI) design and evaluate the human aspect of HCI
• AR developers can use BUAP to collect physical geolocation data
• Research teams can use BUAP for user studies and evaluations to collect, analytics and generate comprehensive report.

BUAP has been developed by Professor Wen Tang, Victor Leach and Karsten Pedersen in the Centre for Games and Music Technology Research at Bournemouth University. Developed by researchers for researchers, BUAP’s innovation lies in bridging powerful analytic tools to everybody including all the industries.

There are a  set of unique features that separate BUAP from commercial and mainstream analytics tools.

• BUAP provides a variety of simple drop in plugins for common programming languages (C++, C#, JavaScript, Python, Java, and Swift) and game engines (Unity and Unreal Engine 4) to aid the application development process
• BUAP allows uploading of schema-less and nest-able documents for complex data structures to be represented without hassle. Adding additional document fields at a later date is also seamless and requires no back end changes
• BUAP has no restrictions on data types, which mean a great flexibility for various types of projects in different disciplines
• With all the heavy lifting being taken care of by the BUAP framework, research teams and independent developers can forget about network communication, database management and sever hosting. Data is always encrypted while traveling across the internet and researchers can be sure it stays private
• The end user orientated design of the BUAP platform means that researchers can run experiments with ease and test different gameplay variables in no time. All developers need to do is to conduct experiments and watch the data appear on BUAP’s web interface
• BUAP allows data exporting for people who wish to use other data visualization tools.

BUAP has been used in a number of research projects led by Professor Tang .

• PLUS is a scenario based training system for police. We have used BUAP to collect data on playtime sessions, dialogue interactions, player actions and many more.
• MathRun is a 3D runner game designed for 7-11 years old children to practice mental arithmetic. We are using BUAP to evaluate procedural generated math questions with children’s play experience and leaning engagement.
• Magic Land is a 3D farming game for children to learn algebra. It is a fully functional game that implements the National Key Stage 2, Year 3 maths curriculum in England. We use BUAP to analysis the effectiveness of motivational game design patterns to engage children with algebra concepts in a fun way.

Research teams, individual developers and companies can use BUAP via different models:

• Analytics System Only Model: If your team already has digital game or VR expertise or existing games, BUAP team can work with you on the design of game data types or even implement the data types in your applications using the BUAP API.
• Game, VR and AR Research Collaboration Model:  If your research projects require digital game and VR expertise, the BUAP team can help with the game and VR development as well as the data analytics design and the integration with the BUAP platform.
• Game Analytics Training Course: You can sign up our short training module to gain in depth knowledge and practical skills on how to use BUAP in your projects and the general knowledge of game analytics

For more details on research collaborations with the BUAP team, please visit https://bu-games.bmth.ac.uk/home/apply.

Festival of Learning: Migrant and refugee leisure and wellbeing

On Saturday 8th July, as part of the Festival of Learning 2017, we invite you to join a socially-engaged art event entitled: ‘Shahre Farang: Memories made real’ organised by our community partner b-side (local art organisation). An interactive discussion session accompanies this art event, this discussion will explore ‘Migrant and refugee leisure and wellbeing’.

Both events encourage audience members to think about the places, spaces and people they can no longer visit.

Migrant and refugee leisure and wellbeing:

Existing academic research indicates that leisure activities and spaces can be positive experiences for groups and individuals who feel marginalised in society. Research findings show that migrant and refugee groups value a range of leisure, including sport, arts, culture and heritage. To date, we know very little about leisure behaviours of migrant and refugee groups living in Dorset. We will discuss these aspects more fully in this one-hour interactive session. Individuals, community groups and charities, and schools and colleges are invited to attend and contribute to this BU research project on leisure and migrant and refugee wellbeing.

Date: Saturday 8 July
Time: 11am – 12pm
Location: Talbot Campus

For more information: https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/migrant-and-refugee-leisure-and-wellbeing/

Shahre Farang: Memories made real:

“If you could never return home, what would you do and where would you go if you were granted just one minute to be there?”

Iranian photographer Farhad Berahman presents the memories of 20 Iranian asylum seekers who are unable to return home. Look into the beautiful Shahre Farang (an Iranian peepbox used by wandering storytellers) and see their memories made real. Meet the artist and join in with discussion and activities led by Counterpoint Arts.

Date: Saturday 8 July
Time: 11am – 4pm
Location: Talbot Campus

For more information: https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/shahre-farang-memories-made-real/

We look forward to welcoming you and interacting with you at our events!

Professor Irving Kirsch is Associate Director of the Program in Placebo Studies at Harvard Medical School and is noted for his work on placebo effects, antidepressants, expectancy, hypnosis and the originator of response expectancy theory, is coming to give a talk at Bournemouth University. His influential book “The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth” was shortlisted for the 2010 Mind book of the Year award and was the central premise of a CBS 60 Minutes documentary. His work has changed how anti-depressants are prescribed in the UK. He will be giving a public lecture on the “Wonderful Word of Placebo” on Wednesday the 21st of June at 6.30pm in the Allesbrook LT. I have created an Eventbrite registration page (https://thewonderfulworldofplacebo.eventbrite.co.uk) should you want to attend this.  Professor Kirsch will also be giving a talk that will be more directly about his book on Friday the 23rd of June at 12.30pm in the Lawrence LT. The abstracts for both talks are also below.

Wonderful Word of Placebo

Wednesday 21st of June 2017 18:30 in the Allesbrook LT

Abstract

There is not just one placebo effect; there are many placebo effects. Placebo effects can be powerful or powerless depending on the color, dose, strength of the active treatment, branding, price, mode of administration, and the condition being treated. Psychological mechanisms underlying the placebo effect include Pavlovian conditioning, expectancy, and the therapeutic relationship. Because the placebo effect is a component of the response to active treatment, these mechanisms can be used to enhance treatment outcome. Also, contrary to received wisdom, placebo treatment can produce meaningful effects even when placebos are given openly without deception.

The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth

Friday 23rd of June 2017 12:30 in the Lawrence LT

Antidepressants are supposed to work by fixing a chemical imbalance, specifically, a lack of serotonin or norepinephrine in the brain.  However, analyses of the published and the unpublished data that were hidden by the drug companies reveal that most (if not all) of the benefits are due to the placebo effect, and the difference in improvement between drug and placebo is not clinically meaningful.   Some antidepressants increase serotonin levels, some decrease serotonin, and some have no effect at all on serotonin.  Nevertheless, they all show the same therapeutic benefit.  Instead of curing depression, popular antidepressants may induce a biological vulnerability making people more likely to become depressed in the future.  Other treatments (e.g., psychotherapy and physical exercise) produce the same short-term benefits as antidepressants, show better long-term effectiveness, and do so without the side effects and health risks of the drugs.

Following on from the successful Service Excellence Conference held in April, we are holding a further event to build on the theme of kindness. If you are an academic interested in kindness or undertaking research which is linked to kindness please come along to a follow up event on 7^th June 10-3 to share your interests and to explore ways in which we can work across the university to develop the theme of ‘kindness’ further.

The event will explore kindness and self-kindness and will include a holistic appreciation of self and others. Alongside practical sessions to explore the concepts of kindness and self-kindness, the day will provide a creative space for academics and professional service staff to come together to explore synergies in research and practice development activities linked to kindness. We hope the event will provide a springboard for future co-creation around kindness across the university.

To book your place, please contact od@bournemouth.ac.uk

Thank you to those that attended the first ADRC Research Meeting in May. We kicked off with three interesting and humorous presentations (the ignite style moving the slides on so quickly was very entertaining) from our theme leaders:

• Ageing and Dementia Friendly Environments – Prof Jan Wiener
• Nutrition and Well-being – Prof Jane Murphy
• Activity and Social Inclusion – Dr Ben Hicks

We continue with the next ADRC Research Meeting taking place at 11.15am, on 8th June 2017 in F111 (Fusion, Talbot Campus). We welcome Dr Ellen Seiss, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Bournemouth University to talk about her research in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Ellen conducted her PhD in sensorimotor function in Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. Her other research focuses on other disorders such as OCD and stroke, and an interest in the effect of glucose on cognitive function.

Ellen is currently involved in an m-health related EU Horizon 2020 project with Parkinson’s disease patients (called PD Manager) and was a co-chair for the Surrey Parkinson’s disease Research Collaboration (SPaRC) between 2012 and 2015. SPaRC’s aim was to stimulate research between two university hospitals and two universities. She also leads the ageing and neurodegenerative disorders unit in the MSc in Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Ageing and Dementia Research Centre

The Fair Access Research (FAR) team have been working with students to explore what it means to be a non-traditional student at university through the student voice, using photovoice, a participatory photographic and story technique.

The undergraduates involved in the research, who were from widening participation (WP) backgrounds, became research co-creators. They took photographs to represent their experiences of being a non-traditional student in higher education which they shared within their group then explored and analysed further together. The students then wrote short excerpts relating to their individual photographs.

The stories and photographs were then shared at a workshop as part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science held at BU.  Academics and WP practitioners from a variety of different universities attended the workshop to interpret and explore the impact of the students’ stories. Participants engaged in co-creation, listening to students’ voices, learning from their stories, hearing about the photovoice research method and working together to develop practical responses to some of the challenges which the stories presented.

The themes which emerged through an analysis of the research data include the concepts of transition, connectedness and the journey.  The images and associated stories told by the students were then shared with a group of BU media students who created the video montage above.

One of the central tenets of the photovoice method is that the participatory approach is used to inform policymakers so that meaningful policy changes can be shaped in unison with the lived experiences of the communities the policies are intended to serve.  Listening to students’ voices and hearing students’ own stories of their lived experiences of university can help ensure that policies are developed and implemented that work with the lives and needs of non-traditional students. ​

The video has been posted on the ESRC website and on the BU YouTube channel

Part of the ‘Experience’ theme, one of five themes in the Fair Access Research project.

The PIER partnership (Public Involvement in Education and Research) are hosting a sandpit event with RKEO on 20th June 9.30-4pm to bring together service users, carers and researchers to explore and generate ideas for user led and user generated research.  Speakers confirmed from Involve and the Patients Association. There are just 6 places left for academics who are keen to explore research ideas with service users and to help us to develop ways of supporting user led research. If you would like to be involved, please contact Dr Mel Hughes, Academic lead for service user and carer involvement mhughes@bournemouth.ac.uk