Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2007. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-65). / The societal problem of physical abuse persists in part because of isolation and concealment. Emerging technologies have been adapted by abusers for methods of control and by victims for methods of resistance. This project examines the intimate position wearable technologies have with our bodies and explores the design of a wearable computer system that could record and document physical forces to the body in an effort to quantify the physical abuse. The system could potentially assist the victims in the process of self-realization by confronting them with the cumulative history of their experienced abuse, while anonymous publishing of this information could lead to more supportive communities for them. The proposed system is in the form of apparel or smart clothing utilizing large area, fabric-based pressure sensors to categorize and measure the intensity and patterns of forces to the wearer's body. The work of this thesis is to develop and to characterize the use of the garment to assess what data it can provide. As textile-based user interfaces find their way into clothing, the opportunity for computers to identify physical abuse will become apparent. Although a computer system cannot understand the feeling of pain or the emotional suffering a victim feels, it should be aware of the presence of physical abuse for medical, legal or therapeutic reasons. This thesis will function both as a proof of concept and as a surveying stake to demonstrate a possible field of future investigation. / by Adam M. Whiton. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, February 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74). / Great strides have been made in the use of computers to create, edit, filter, and present information, particularly since the tremendous growth in the mainstream popularity of the World Wide Web. The presence of a computationally rich environment at all stages of the news distribution channel provides a unique opportunity to use these tools to improve the reader experience. Information provided for a general audience from a general source can be combined with small amounts of information specific to a reader to improve the reader's understanding of, connection to, and engagement with the news provided. Time Frames discusses the extraction of time information from news articles and explores the possibilities for improving the reader experience by augmenting news articles through combining this time information with limited information about the user. / Douglas Branch Koen. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-72). / Can we use technology to build and strengthen bonds within communities? Can we build technology that will help to elaborate and preserve the shared history of a community? Can we make the technology easy to use, even for beginning computer users? Community Memory is an attempt to answer those questions. It is a Web-based environment where a community can collaborate to build an electronic scrapbook. Narrative expression, both as stories and as photographs, is the tool with which the communities elaborate their shared history and identity. Two communities, an extended family and a high school reunion class, have begun using the tools, and data was collected on their interactions during a period of several months. The communities were given an email list to use as well as the Web-based tools of the scrapbook. The data show that communities approach the project quite differently and that strong preferences emerged both between the two groups and within one of the groups for different modes of communicating their stories. / by Ingeborg Loni Endter. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-63). / Llifelog is a web platform for discovering, evaluating, and exchanging research projects among students and researchers from both academia and industry. The goal of Llifelog is foster a community of critique among students and researchers in a project market. Those who engage in the market answer the call "find out how your work, projects, and ideas are valued in the community." The unique contribution of the Llifelog system lies in designing market-based mechanisms that stimulate the project exchange while maintaining information confidentiality, and devising a peer-to-peer, direct communication channel between project creators and project viewers. In this thesis, I explain how such market mechanism results more objective evaluation compared to other existing rating mechanisms online. A virtual credit system, Truons, is used in this web platform to facilitate the project evaluation and exchange. The website was built using Java, MySQL, Apache Tomcat, HTML, CSS, and Javascript and hosted on an Ubuntu server. It also uses a Natural Language Processing engine, AlchemyAPI, and various image processing techniques. The platform was tested among about 305 users with 74 projects within 3 weeks. User feedback was also gathered after the testing to further understand the context and rationale for user behavior on the web platform. / by Li Bian. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-202). / This dissertation explores how technology-infused learning environments can be designed to support the development of empathy for others, and contains contributions across the theoretical, design, and empirical dimensions. From a theoretical perspective, Empathy Development Environments have been defined as technology-infused learning environments to support the cultivation of empathy. I have also developed a framework called Trajectories of Awareness that can be used as a guide for structuring activities to cultivate empathy through the simultaneous exploration of emotion and identity within a learning environment. This exploration takes place by first focusing on self and eventually moving into an understanding of others. From the design aspect, a model Empathy Development Environment called Beyond the Looking has been created in order to operationalize the conceptual foundations. Further, a platform called Affect as Index has been envisioned and implemented for supporting conversations around emotion that were previously intangible. Empirically, three iterations of a design-based research study have been carried out as a means to flesh out a set of guidelines for the implementation of Empathy Development Environments. For each of the three iterations, challenges to the implementation were utilized to refine the design of the model environment to progress to the next iteration. These three iterations are analyzed based on a framework proposed for the design and analysis of Empathy Development Environments. Analysis revealed that the environment supported participants in establishing a community that allowed them to practice the skills of empathy. / by Shaundra Bryant Daily. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M. in Media Technology)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-60). / If one thinks of a television set as a window into another world, then whatever one sees through it could be assumed to continue past the edges of the TV. If the TV shows a forest scene, then to the sides of the TV one should be able to find the continuation of this forest, meaning more trees and perhaps a stream, a path and even some birds and squirrels. This thesis describes a novel system that situates the viewer at the center of a surround space. The system proposes that the main program be augmented with content that is specifically created for spatial continuity or other perceptual effect, and that the viewer use a hand-held navigational device with a viewing screen to access this secondary source of information, even while keeping an eye on the main screen. This navigational paradigm begs for new storytelling conventions and presents new storytelling challenges. The thesis describes a working prototype, three types of footage used to test the system in various scenarios and a user study that provides initial understandings of the effects of this system on the audience. This thesis explores how a system that enables exploratory interaction with the contents on the TV will affect both the industry and experience. / by Santiago Alfaro. / S.M.in Media Technology

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-145). / by Eric Métois. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-151). / by Aaron Andre Brandes. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-72). / This thesis presents two experiments designed to test the effect of different modalities when used as interruptions. A multimodal interface explores the use of ambient displays in the context of interruption where visual and thermal ambient displays acted as external interruption generators. This works shows and demonstrates that interruption modalities are perceived differently, trigger different reactions and have a different disruptive effect on memory. The thermal modality produced a larger decrease in performance than the visual modality. Disruptiveness and performance measures agree that heat causes more of a detrimental effect on performance than light when used as an interruption. This thesis proposes to use users' physiological responses as feedback for a computer interface. Experiments in this thesis set the initial point for understanding how to build interfaces that use modalities appropriately by looking at the effect of different modalities when used as interruptions. Interruptions are disruptive and inherent to current computer interfaces. Properly selecting interruption modalities can control their disruptive effects. / by Ernesto Arroyo Acosta. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-103). / I have designed and implemented a software environment, a Windows application called Hyperscore, that presents a novel, easy-to-learn interface for composing richly textured music through line gestures. The program allows the user to command a set of music-manipulation algorithms written by Mary Farbood [Farbood, 2001]. The interface is both compelling and interesting for musically untrained users, and rich enough that such users, after sufficient practice, can create music that professional musicians find to be of high quality. While many musical composition programs geared for musically untrained users exist, it is its unique user interface, its use of freely drawn line-gestures, zooming navigation, and simple symbolic icons, that helps make this program unique. The program was designed to enable musically untrained children, ages ten or older, to compose three-minute pieces for a string orchestra, given only a week or so of two-hour daily workshops. The program succeeded in this, and has been presented to audiences in Berlin, Dublin, and Glasgow as a part of Toy Symphony. The program has also been made available for download. / by Egon Pasztor. / S.M.