Introduction

Every year in Ireland accidents occur in or near water. Some of these result in fatalities. To reduce the number of water-based accidents, it is important that many of the community are trained in water safety in general, and life-saving techniques in particular. This training for the general public and for lifeguards is carried out by the Water Safety Section of the National Safety Council.

Life-saving Tutorial using Multimedia

A final-year student on the UL Computer Systems Degree course developed a prototype tutorial which supports the teaching of life-saving techniques using computers and making use of multimedia.

Multimedia systems allow developers to combine audio (sound, music, voice), images, video, graphics, and text on computer systems. They also include interactivity, where, for example, a user can play a video, possibly pause at a particular point, and zoom into a section of the frame being displayed. Text may be displayed on the screen, with music in the background, or, if the user chooses, they can have the text read to them by the computer.

This life-saving tutorial allows the water safety student to scroll through the exam syllabus. For each life-saving technique, they can view the script, look at the individual steps, watch a video clip, and examine photographs. The system is backed by sound, describing the technique that is being viewed, which the student can switch on / off at any time during the lesson. They can also scroll backwards and forwards through the lesson.

Combination of Training and Multimedia

At each level of water safety training, there is a very specific syllabus, which can be broken down into different techniques. For example, at Intermediate level, a student is expected to release themselves when they are caught in various holds (neck holds, wrist holds, body holds) and to carry the subject to shore in a variety of carries (hair carry, cross-chest carry, head carry). They are also taught how to turn a subject with a suspected spinal injury, and to carry out resuscitation both in water and on land. Students must also be capable of effecting simple rescues, for example by using a ring buoy.

Even within the individual movements, there are positions which must be observed. For the hand position for the grip in Figure 1(b), it is important that the thumb is on the inside of the elbow, resting on the pressure point. Multimedia is an ideal way to allow the user to view ‘close-ups’ in a system. The prototype that has been developed includes animation, sound, video clips, and photographs for the Intermediate exam syllabus, and for three levels of resuscitation. It is hoped to expand the system to include all sections of the water safety syllabus.

Ita Richardson lectures with the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems. Her research interests include Information Systems in Manufacturing and Quality Function Deployment. She is also a Water Safety Examiner with the National Safety Council.
Conor O'Connell, who developed the prototype, is now a programmer with Energy Services International in Bray, Co.Wicklow.


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Last updated 13th March 1996 by Stephen Childs