One can argue that embracing technological models may produce students who are illiterate in the "proper" methods of communication. With rapid technological change, some fear traditions in their "original" form may be lost. Practices such as trying to recapture the artist's intent should be abandoned as a way of opening up literacy discourse to multiple narratives. Failing to critically explore the possibilities of emerging models of thinking, teaching, and learning in a technological culture can produce a loss equal to the loss of tradition. An a/r/tographer works toward a fluid practice between the domains of artist, researcher, and teacher in order to negotiate emerging forms of visual/tactile/auditory communication which include the body as a networked organism situated recursively within the larger structure of society. This study occurred during two separate semesters of an art education course for pre-service elementary teachers. Through interaction with hypermedia, social networking, installation art, and mash-ups, the teacher and students became artists, researchers, and teachers in a community of practice. A new form of teaching practice was envisioned that opens the possibility for both collective and individual understandings in the formation of curricula. A set of guiding principles was invented through practice as a way of producing a deeper understanding of culture and self. The following principles were derived from engagement with emerging technologies: In<SCRIPT>ion, Flip the Script, (H)Activation, Sample, (Re)mix, and Avatar. (H)Activation produces a learning environment that disrupts the flow of teaching, learning, literacy, art, technology, etc., as a way of programming practice for the inclusion of multiple narratives. Utilizing bricolage or a Do It Yourself approach, an apparatus for programming emerged, "image"/"i"/"nation". The term "image"/"i"/"nation" is a play on the concept of the imagination. Through reflexive application the imagination is split allowing connections and disconnections through practice. By engaging in its application the teacher and students became better able to formulate new ways of negotiating curricula, literacy practice, and artistic production.

Embodiments are virtual personifications of the user in real-time distributed groupware. Many embodiments in groupware are simple abstract 2D representations such as avatars and telepointers. Although current user embodiment techniques can reveal information related to position and orientation, they show far less than what is available in a face-to-face situation, and as a result, collaboration can become more difficult. The problem addressed in this research is that it is difficult for groupware users to recognize and characterize other participants using only their embodiments. The solution explored in this thesis is to provide more information about groupware users by enriching their embodiment. This scheme encodes state and context variables as visual augmentations on the embodiment. Providing information about characteristics such as skill, expertise, and experience can be valuable for collaboration; increasing the information in visual embodiments makes it easier and more natural for collaborators to recognize and characterize others, and thus coordinate activity, simplify communication, and find collaborators.<p> Rich embodiments were tested in three separate experiments. The first experiment showed that users are able to recall a large number of variables displayed on embodiments, and are able to accurately determine the values of those variables. The second study showed that rich embodiments are useful in terms of collaboration and interaction in an actual groupware context a multiplayer game. The final study further examined information-rich embodiment in a shared drawing task, and further revealed the potential of increasing awareness using embodiment.

Embodiments are virtual personifications of the user in real-time distributed groupware. Many embodiments in groupware are simple abstract 2D representations such as avatars and telepointers. Although current user embodiment techniques can reveal information related to position and orientation, they show far less than what is available in a face-to-face situation, and as a result, collaboration can become more difficult. The problem addressed in this research is that it is difficult for groupware users to recognize and characterize other participants using only their embodiments. The solution explored in this thesis is to provide more information about groupware users by enriching their embodiment. This scheme encodes state and context variables as visual augmentations on the embodiment. Providing information about characteristics such as skill, expertise, and experience can be valuable for collaboration; increasing the information in visual embodiments makes it easier and more natural for collaborators to recognize and characterize others, and thus coordinate activity, simplify communication, and find collaborators.<p> Rich embodiments were tested in three separate experiments. The first experiment showed that users are able to recall a large number of variables displayed on embodiments, and are able to accurately determine the values of those variables. The second study showed that rich embodiments are useful in terms of collaboration and interaction in an actual groupware context a multiplayer game. The final study further examined information-rich embodiment in a shared drawing task, and further revealed the potential of increasing awareness using embodiment.

Studien i denna rapport undersöker huruvida en spelares identifikation med sin spelarkaraktär i ett spel påverkas av att spelaren har möjlighet att utforma sin karaktärs bakgrundshistoria. Studien innefattar en kvalitativ undersökning och fokuserar på västerländska RPG-spel. Frågan undersöks genom att en grupp av erfarna RPG-spelare observeras och intervjuas i samband med att de spelar igenom en kort artefakt. Resultatet av undersökningen visar på att genom att ge spelaren val kring spelarkaraktärens bakgrund ökar chansen för spelaren att uppnå en hög grad av identifikation med sin spelarkaraktär, då denne kan välja karaktärsdrag som uppfyller spelarens egna kriterier.

The Avatar for trumpet and piano by Dr. Steve Rouse is one of the most challenging compositions in the trumpet repertoire. Due to The Avatar's challenges and increasing popularity, a study is necessary to aid its performance. Each movement is performed on a different instrument: Bb piccolo (with an optional A piccolo part) for Nativity, Bb Flugelhorn for Enigma-Release and Bb trumpet for Rebirth. In addition, the performer must convey one of the work's possible programmatic meanings: (1) The Hindu belief of an Avatar and its life cycle, (2) the life of Christ or (3) the human lifecycle. Chapter 1 gives historical information about the work. Chapters 2-4 discuss each movement of The Avatar programmatically and pedagogically. Facets of each movement are analyzed including differences in programmatic choices, rehearsal techniques and sound concepts. Chapter 5 provides recording suggestions, including choosing a recording engineer, preparing and planning for a recording section, choosing a venue and the benefits of hiring a tonmeister.

This study aims to explore the influence of video games on youth identity in 21st century in two aspects, personal identity and social identity. First, through playing video games, young players can create new personal identities and merge their own identity with their avatars’ identity. Second, video games help young players transform from culture receivers to culture producers. Based upon the open coding from the data, two themes are analyzed, which are the awareness of influence on identity and the impact of consoles and other media/devices on the influence of video games. / Graduate / 0515 / 0710 / lxycaesar@gmail.com

Zugl.: München, Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

This dissertation is a postcolonial analysis of four films: The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980), Dances with Wolves (1990), The Last Samurai (2003), and Avatar (2009). While previous scholarship has identified the Eurocentric worldview of early 20th-century ethnographic film, no book-length work has analyzed the time consciousness of turn-of-the-21st century films that feature portrayals of the colonial encounter. By harmonizing film theory with postcolonial theory, this dissertation explores how contemporary films reiterate colonial models of time in ways which validate colonial aggression. This dissertation concludes that the aesthetics of contemporary popular cinema collude with colonial models of time in such a way as to privilege whiteness vis-à-vis constructions of a primitive other. Contemporary primitivism works through the legacy of classical Hollywood style, nostalgia for the western film, the omnipotence of the white male gaze, and a reverence for technology.

No / This paper presents realistic avatar movements using a limited number of sensors. An inverse kinematics algorithm, SHAKF, is used to configure an articulated skeletal model, and a neural network is employed to predict the movement of joints not bearing sensors. The results show that the neural network is able to give a very close approximation to the actual rotation of the joints. This allows a substantial reduction in the number of sensors to configure an articulated human skeletal model.

The topic of this thesis is virtual death in video games. In theoretical part, the concept of avatar (player's agent in the game world) is defined, concerning the relationship between player and avatar as well as the main characteristics of the avatar. The aim of the theoretical core of this thesis is to introduce virtual death; because of various expressions of death in many games, it is difficult to describe virtual death generally. Virtual death, which is compared also to the real death, is revealed as a communication of player's failure. What can not be separated from virtual death is the instant resurrection of the avatar, and also the means how to avoid virtual death. The practical part of the thesis offers a close reading of the computer role-playing game Planescape: Torment, focusing on the theme of death. Unlike most mainstream games, Torment presents the player with sophisticated perspectives on the matters of life, death, immortality and responsibility. Even the high-order goal of the main character (which becomes the goal of the player as well) is to gain knowledge about himself and then willingly die. This stands in a sharp contrast to usual narratives, forcing the player to suppress the life-saving reflex and let his avatar die in the end. The comparative method is used to identify...