International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=247&year=2009&vol=1&issue=4 Inderscience Publishers Ltd en-uk International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism 1753-5212 1753-5220 © 2009 Inderscience Publishers Ltd editor@inderscience.com https://www.inderscience.com/images/files/coverImgs/ijdcet_scoverijdcet.jpg http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=247&year=2009&vol=1&issue=4 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=25353 The integration of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) within the cultural domain creates what is commonly known as e-culture. The need to create an e-culture environment arose from the undeniable fact that the cultural heritage of a nation defines it and, therefore, should be disseminated to all, regardless of their location and their disability. This article discusses an e-culture portal, which presents to any interested users, information regarding a significant number of Greek and Cypriot museums and galleries as well as their exhibits. The e-culture environment offers user-friendly navigation techniques and contemporary multimedia tools and services for the better presentation and visualisation of the e-material to the users-visitors, paying particular attention to both common citizens and to disabled individuals, in order to offer them equal access to cultural heritage information. This environment is an inter-disciplinary application, combining the ICTs, cultural and e-inclusion domains (electronic support for disabled people). An e-culture – e-museums environment for common citizens and disabled individuals
Athanasios Drigas, Leyteris Koukianakis, John Glentzes
International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 267 - 279
The integration of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) within the cultural domain creates what is commonly known as e-culture. The need to create an e-culture environment arose from the undeniable fact that the cultural heritage of a nation defines it and, therefore, should be disseminated to all, regardless of their location and their disability. This article discusses an e-culture portal, which presents to any interested users, information regarding a significant number of Greek and Cypriot museums and galleries as well as their exhibits. The e-culture environment offers user-friendly navigation techniques and contemporary multimedia tools and services for the better presentation and visualisation of the e-material to the users-visitors, paying particular attention to both common citizens and to disabled individuals, in order to offer them equal access to cultural heritage information. This environment is an inter-disciplinary application, combining the ICTs, cultural and e-inclusion domains (electronic support for disabled people).

]]> 10.1504/IJDCET.2009.025353 International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 267 - 279 Athanasios Drigas Leyteris Koukianakis John Glentzes Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications, Net Media Lab, NCSR Demokritos, Terma Patriarchou Grigoriou & Neapoleos 27, Agia Paraskevi, 153 10, Athens, Greece. ' Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications, Net Media Lab, NCSR Demokritos, Terma Patriarchou Grigoriou & Neapoleos 27, Agia Paraskevi, 153 10, Athens, Greece. ' Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications, Net Media Lab, NCSR Demokritos, Terma Patriarchou Grigoriou & Neapoleos 27, Agia Paraskevi, 153 10, Athens, Greece e-culture environment cultural heritage information technology communications technology ICT digitisation user-centred systems knowledge society strategies design for all visually impaired users digital inclusion e-museums information for all disabled individuals web portals digital culture online museums electronic museums Greece Cyprus multimedia visualisation. 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 267 279 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=25355 A holistic airline site evaluation framework (ASEF) from the customer's point of view is presented. ASEF is specific-oriented towards the airlines' websites. Designers and developers of airlines' websites would use it as a guide in order to improve their websites considering multiple quality criteria. In addition, the websites of 30 major airlines are evaluated using ASEF. Most airlines' websites presented inefficiencies with respect to supporting persons with special abilities. Few websites supported e-communities enabling the user's participation. The websites would use Web 2.0 social networking tools to attract and retain customers. Furthermore, the websites should increase the flexibility of their services to match the personal needs of their customers. Also, each website should support a reliable internal search engine. Finally, governments should ensure that personal data could not be used by others without the person's authorisation. User-centred evaluation of airlines' websites
Anastasios A. Economides, George Apostolou
International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 280 - 301
A holistic airline site evaluation framework (ASEF) from the customer's point of view is presented. ASEF is specific-oriented towards the airlines' websites. Designers and developers of airlines' websites would use it as a guide in order to improve their websites considering multiple quality criteria. In addition, the websites of 30 major airlines are evaluated using ASEF. Most airlines' websites presented inefficiencies with respect to supporting persons with special abilities. Few websites supported e-communities enabling the user's participation. The websites would use Web 2.0 social networking tools to attract and retain customers. Furthermore, the websites should increase the flexibility of their services to match the personal needs of their customers. Also, each website should support a reliable internal search engine. Finally, governments should ensure that personal data could not be used by others without the person's authorisation.

]]> 10.1504/IJDCET.2009.025355 International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 280 - 301 Anastasios A. Economides George Apostolou Information Systems and Economics Departments, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Avenue, Thessaloniki, 54006, Greece. ' Information Systems and Economics Departments, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Avenue, Thessaloniki, 54006, Greece accessibility airlines e-booking e-ticketing privacy social networks travel portals trust usability Web 2.0 airline websites online booking online ticketing electronic booking electronic ticketing website evaluation. 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 280 301 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=25357 The paper presents an ontological approach for enabling semantic-aware video retrieval framework facilitating the user access to desired contents. Through the ontologies, the system will express key entities and relationships describing videos in a formal machine-processable representation. An ontology-based knowledge representation could be used for content analysis and concept recognition, for reasoning processes and for enabling user-friendly and intelligent multimedia content retrieval. Ontology-based video retrieval
Antonella Carbonaro
International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 302 - 311
The paper presents an ontological approach for enabling semantic-aware video retrieval framework facilitating the user access to desired contents. Through the ontologies, the system will express key entities and relationships describing videos in a formal machine-processable representation. An ontology-based knowledge representation could be used for content analysis and concept recognition, for reasoning processes and for enabling user-friendly and intelligent multimedia content retrieval.

]]> 10.1504/IJDCET.2009.025357 International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 302 - 311 Antonella Carbonaro Department of Computer Science, University of Bologna, Mura Anteo Zamboni, 7, Bologna, Italy semantic web applications semantics e-learning portals video annotation video retrieval ontology electronic learning online learning knowledge representation multimedia. 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 302 311 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=25358 Since mobile TV represents a new paradigm for interaction design, many different candidate solutions of interaction can be possible. Following this concept, a study was accomplished with the objective of finding a better interaction solution for an application of mobile digital TV. Three executable prototypes of an application of mobile TV were built. A multicriteria model of verbal decision analysis was applied to those three alternatives by aiming at investigating the favourite characteristics of each prototype based on user's experience and their intentions of use. This model resulted in a method that supports designers in the qualitative analysis of alternatives and collaborative conception of the best solution of interaction to innovative products. A co-evolutionary interaction design of digital TV applications based on verbal decision analysis of user experiences
Marilia Mendes, Ana Lisse Carvalho, Elizabeth Furtado, Placido Pinheiro
International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 312 - 324
Since mobile TV represents a new paradigm for interaction design, many different candidate solutions of interaction can be possible. Following this concept, a study was accomplished with the objective of finding a better interaction solution for an application of mobile digital TV. Three executable prototypes of an application of mobile TV were built. A multicriteria model of verbal decision analysis was applied to those three alternatives by aiming at investigating the favourite characteristics of each prototype based on user's experience and their intentions of use. This model resulted in a method that supports designers in the qualitative analysis of alternatives and collaborative conception of the best solution of interaction to innovative products.

]]> 10.1504/IJDCET.2009.025358 International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 312 - 324 Marilia Mendes Ana Lisse Carvalho Elizabeth Furtado Placido Pinheiro Graduate in Applied Computer Science (MIA), University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR), Av. Washington Soares, 1321 – Fortaleza, Ce, Brazil. ' Graduate in Applied Computer Science (MIA), University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR), Av. Washington Soares, 1321 – Fortaleza, Ce, Brazil. ' Graduate in Applied Computer Science (MIA), University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR), Av. Washington Soares, 1321 – Fortaleza, Ce, Brazil. ' Graduate in Applied Computer Science (MIA), University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR), Av. Washington Soares, 1321 – Fortaleza, Ce, Brazil digital TV DTV digital television mobile interaction design ZAPROS multicriteria modelling human-computer interaction HCI interaction projects user experience mobile TV mobile communications. 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 312 324 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=25359 Tourism presents quite an important industry that needs to evolve so that it conforms to changes occurring on a global scale. In order for this enhanced flexibility to be possible in the tourist sector, an approach providing an integrated tourist product combining all the different characteristics of a tourist destination should be provided. Clustering of both tourist enterprises and other local enterprises affecting the overall tourist product could play an important role towards this direction. This paper presents such an approach leading to inter-enterprise integration through appropriate semantics. Furthermore, the utilisation of semantics allows the implementation of a mediator portal enhanced with intelligent and adaptive mechanism for retrieval of cluster information. Semantically-supported information retrieval in inter-enterprise cluster for the tourist sector
Christos E. Alexakos, Athanasios P. Kalogeras, Panagiotis Konstantinopoulos, Kostas Charatsis, Stavros Koubias, Vasiliki Tomara
International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 325 - 345
Tourism presents quite an important industry that needs to evolve so that it conforms to changes occurring on a global scale. In order for this enhanced flexibility to be possible in the tourist sector, an approach providing an integrated tourist product combining all the different characteristics of a tourist destination should be provided. Clustering of both tourist enterprises and other local enterprises affecting the overall tourist product could play an important role towards this direction. This paper presents such an approach leading to inter-enterprise integration through appropriate semantics. Furthermore, the utilisation of semantics allows the implementation of a mediator portal enhanced with intelligent and adaptive mechanism for retrieval of cluster information.

]]> 10.1504/IJDCET.2009.025359 International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 325 - 345 Christos E. Alexakos Athanasios P. Kalogeras Panagiotis Konstantinopoulos Kostas Charatsis Stavros Koubias Vasiliki Tomara Industrial Systems Institute, Patras Science Park Building, 26504 Platani, Patras, Greece. ' Industrial Systems Institute, Patras Science Park Building, 26504 Platani, Patras, Greece. ' Industrial Systems Institute, Patras Science Park Building, 26504 Platani, Patras, Greece. ' Industrial Systems Institute, Patras Science Park Building, 26504 Platani, Patras, Greece. ' Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, RIO 26500, Patra, Greece. ' Dept. of Business Administration, University of Patras, RIO 26500, Patra, Greece electronic tourism e-tourism enterprise clusters enterprise interoperability intra-enterprise integration ontologies knowledge management semantics information retrieval semantic web tourist destinations. 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 325 345 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=25360 Cameras can provide integrated GPS and compass technology which makes them a powerful sensor for geographical context related images. They allow wireless connection to computers and the images can be automatically transferred to a PC or can be integrated into a GIS system. In this paper, we present an approach for personalised spatial information retrieval and visualisation for picture databases using ontologies and semantic maps. Ontologies are used in our case to describe domain knowledge in relation to spatial coordinates, to enhance image annotation, search capability and information visualisation. Individuals from the ontologies are represented by their footprint in semantic maps. Personalised semantic maps are constructed selecting ontologies, concept types or individuals that reflect the interests of the user. We describe a developed prototype system with a database design for ontologies and semantic maps. We demonstrate the automatic image annotation and the visualisation of the spatial queries. An application of the system targets the area of culture and tourism and provides a user friendly interface. Personalised spatial knowledge management for pictures using ontologies and semantic maps
Stavros Christodoulakis, Michalis Foukarakis, Lemonia Ragia
International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 346 - 356
Cameras can provide integrated GPS and compass technology which makes them a powerful sensor for geographical context related images. They allow wireless connection to computers and the images can be automatically transferred to a PC or can be integrated into a GIS system. In this paper, we present an approach for personalised spatial information retrieval and visualisation for picture databases using ontologies and semantic maps. Ontologies are used in our case to describe domain knowledge in relation to spatial coordinates, to enhance image annotation, search capability and information visualisation. Individuals from the ontologies are represented by their footprint in semantic maps. Personalised semantic maps are constructed selecting ontologies, concept types or individuals that reflect the interests of the user. We describe a developed prototype system with a database design for ontologies and semantic maps. We demonstrate the automatic image annotation and the visualisation of the spatial queries. An application of the system targets the area of culture and tourism and provides a user friendly interface.

]]> 10.1504/IJDCET.2009.025360 International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2009) pp. 346 - 356 Stavros Christodoulakis Michalis Foukarakis Lemonia Ragia Laboratory of Distributed Multimedia Information Systems and Applications, Technical University of Crete (MUSIC/TUC), Chania, Crete 73100, Greece. ' Laboratory of Distributed Multimedia Information Systems and Applications, Technical University of Crete (MUSIC/TUC), Chania, Crete 73100, Greece. ' Advanced Systems Group, Centre Universitaire d'Informatique, University of Geneva, 24 rue General-Dufour, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland ontology semantics image retrieval spatial search database design automatic image annotation tourism applications semantic maps knowledge management personalisation cameras visualisation picture databases culture. 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 346 356 2009-05-19T23:20:50-05:00