Università degli Studi di Padova - UP (Assistant Contractor - Italy - Associated to Partner 1)     Contact person for the project: Prof. Mantovani Giuseppe     The role of the Department of General Psychology, Università degli Studi di Padova, in the Consortium is to offer the ergonomical and psychological contents required for the development of the tools. In particular Department of General Psychology: - will help the consortium in defining and in developing the different virtual environments; - will test the psycho-social characteristics of the developed modules with end-users; - will provide guidelines for improving the usability of the final tools. The orientation in research and didactic activities of the Department of General Psychology is typical of an academic institution involved in applied psychology. Its specific approach is directed towards cognitive and social issues of the introduction of technology in the assumption that system success is dependent upon contextual issues. Social, cultural and organizational issues needs specific attention according to the situation and the object of the research process. Research activities of the Department of General Psychology, span through interdisciplinary fields related to systems design and use, in particular the following are covered: -Human Computer Interaction (HCI) -Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) -Virtual Reality (VR)   -Artificial Intelligence (AI)       The distinctive approach of the Department of General Psychology, is based upon the intention to go beyond the functional aspects of the interface and to grasp at what level of understanding a comprehension of the interacting activities is reached by users. Following this approach, the user is required to "frame" the system activities with the notion of what his goal was, what tasks needed to be accomplished and how the system could have fulfilled his expectations. Terms like "affordance", "mapping", "feed-back of the artefact", "conceptual model", "system's image" are an attempt of giving shape and attention to these aspects related to the users'cognitive awareness over the artefact: in this case the Virtual Reality Intelligent Interface. Artifact potentials (what the system can do for you) depends on what the users perceive possible in term of functionalities and all these aspects are part of the Department of General Psychology concern. Another relevant aspect distinctive of the proposed approach is analysis of the symbolic meaning of the communication process wherby the users, actions, tasks and goals are not present in a void but in a cultural and social context which gives meaning to their interaction. The result of this effort leads researchers in the collection of operative data which is intended to inform system design from the prototyping phase to its final implementation and maintenance plan. This approach provides to the different roles and actors involved in the project vital in depth understanding of contextual issuess affecting the conceptualization and use of interfaces. Head of the Department of General Psychology is Professor Giuseppe Mantovani, Full Professor of the Chair of Psychology of Attitudes at the University of Padova. Other key researchers involved in the projects are Prof. Antonella Carassa, Prof. Sergio Roncato, Dr. Lucio Gamberini and Dr. Anna Spagnolli. Key technicians involved in the project are Martinelli Massimilano and Varotto Diego.     Recent papers     Mantovani, G., (1994), Was der Computer Mit Uns Macht - SozialPsychologische Aspekte der Communication mit und durch den Computer, (What the computer does with us, Social Psychology Aspects of Communication with and through Computers). Mainz, Matthias-Grunewald. Mantovani, G., (1995), Virtual Reality as Communication Environment: Consensual Hallucination, Fiction and Possible Selves, Human Relations, Vol. 48, 669-683. Mantovani, G., (1996), New Communication Environments: from Everyday to Virtual. Francis & Taylor, London, UK. Mantovani, G. (1996). Social context in human-computer interaction: A new framework for mental models, cooperation, and communication. Cognitive Science, 20, 237-269. Mantovani, G., Riva G. "Real" presence: How different ontologies generate different criteria for presence, telepresence, and virtual presence. Presence, Teleoperators, and Virtual Environments 1999; 8:538-48. Mantovani, G. (2000). Exploring borders. Understanding culture and psychology. Routledge. London.