Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T14:24:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Karol Garcia.pdf: 7463469 bytes, checksum: ade0cddebacb9c80089e4497d04093c5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-26 / Qu il s agisse d articles publiés dans la presse ou bien d études plus approfondies, dans les textes sur le film Avatar (CAMERON, 2009) le mot « utopie » est récurrent. Ce long métrage propose aux spectateurs et aux lecteurs du XXème siècle, habitués à la lucidité et au pessimisme caractéristiques de la littérature dystopique, l image optimiste d un ailleurs. Cela nous a poussée à nous interroger sur la présence, l absence et la variation des traits constitutifs de l utopie dans Avatar. Pour ce faire, dans le premier chapitre nous nous pencherons d abord sur le concept d utopie tel que l envisagent notamment Karl Manheim (1972) et Paul Ric ur (1997). Pour ensuite examiner l Utopie sur deux aspects: l apparition du genre dans la littérature et la figure de l île. Les réflexions autour du concept d utopie et ses caractéristiques selon les trois auteurs cités nous conduiront à l étude du film. Les chapitres trois e quatre sont consacrés à l apresentation de l oeuvre cinematografique atravers sa critique et à l analyse de deux séquences d Avatar. / No início de 2010, jornalistas e acadêmicos, motivados pelo lançamento do filme Avatar (CAMERON, 2009), publicaram uma série de textos nos quais circulou a palavra utopia . Após o século das distopias o vinte a recorrência de tal vocábulo suscitou a dúvida quanto à mudança de perspectiva na observação da sociedade. Isto é, o cinema voltou à projeção positiva do alhures enquanto ainda recebíamos a lucidez e o pessimismo da literatura distópica. A partir dessa hipótese, estudamos a presença, ausência ou variação de características de utopia na película de James Cameron. Para tanto, introduzimos esse conceito no capítulo I, utilizando os teóricos Karl Mannheim (Ideologia e utopia, 1972) e Paul Ricoeur (Ideologia e utopia, 1997). Dedicamos o capítulo II à discussão da Utopia (1516), de Thomas More, sob duas óticas: o surgimento do gênero na literatura e a imagem da ilha. As reflexões sobre o conceito de utopia através de Mannheim e Ricoeur e as características do gênero apresentadas por More possibilitam o estudo do filme. Os capítulos III e IV são destinados, respectivamente, à apresentação da película e à análise de duas sequências de Avatar.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 danielledemacedoleite.pdf: 1371333 bytes, checksum: 45e61c159067157d80a719dca2c175bc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-25 / Este trabalho conceitua o processo narrativo autobiográfico dentro dos jogos digitais. Atualmente, os jogos têm apresentado histórias nas quais cada vez mais os jogadores têm a possibilidade de alterar a sequência e o desfecho. Essa característica permite ao jogador construir a sua identidade ao longo do jogo, sentindo-se imerso neste espaço e atraído pelas diversas possibilidades de saciar desejos e prazeres. Com base nisso, o objetivo é buscar os elementos e ferramentas que permitem essa “imersão identitária” do jogador no jogo, analisando a formação dos avatares e as histórias criadas pelos personagens a partir do gênero autobiográfico. O jogo The Sims 3 foi escolhido por ser um jogo digital de simulação da vida cotidiana com um variado leque de opções de interação com outros avatares e personificações. A hipótese é: todas as histórias e avatares criados no The Sims 3 apresentam elementos autobiográficos, mesmo se passando em ambientes não reais e não cotidianos dos jogadores. Para analisar as histórias e os avatares a partir do gênero autobiográfico, escolhemos as ferramentas do jogo como opção de carreira, aspiração ou desejos. A verificação de como se dá a interação com essas opções no jogo será feita em vídeos que os jogadores postam no Youtube. Foram selecionados dez jogadores e cinco vídeos de cada um deles, com cerca de 30 minutos de duração, totalizando 50 vídeos. Concluindo, percebe-se que o gênero autobiográfico veio se modificando com o passar dos anos e a evolução tecnológica. Os primeiros conceitos sobre a autobiografia o relacionavam com o simples contar de histórias pessoais através da escrita. Hoje, observa-se, que a autobiografia passou a ser criada através da representação de si, através de avatares, sem necessidade de ter que escrever sobre si para que os outros identifiquem a sua personalidade. / This work defines the autobiographical narrative process within digital games. Currently, the games have presented stories in which more and more players have the ability to change the sequence and the outcome. This feature allows the player to build their identity throughout the game, feeling immersed in this space and attracted by the various possibilities of satisfying desires and pleasures. Based on this, the goal is to seek the elements and tools that allow this "identity immersion" player in the game, analyzing the formation of the avatars and stories created by the characters from the autobiographical genre. The game The Sims 3 was chosen because it is a digital simulation game of everyday life with a wide range of interaction options with other avatars and impersonations. The hypothesis is: the whole history and avatar created in The Sims 3 have autobiographical elements, even if not passing in real environments and not everyday players. To analyze the stories and avatars from the autobiographical genre, choose set tools as a career option, aspiration or desire. The check how is the interaction with these options in the game will be videos that players post on Youtube. We selected ten players and five videos of each of them, about 30 minutes long, totaling 50 videos. In conclusion, one can see that the autobiographical genre came to changing over the years, and technological developments. The first concepts of the autobiography related with the simple tell personal stories through writing. Today, it is observed that the autobiography has become created by representing themselves through avatars, without having to write about yourself for others identify your personality.

This study examines how adding avatars, personal visual representations of the user, on online forms impacts self-reported willingness for behavioral change, when considering health habits. Avatars are a gamification element proposed to have a positive impact on behavioral change. No earlier research has examined the distinction between the effects of the contemplation that occurs when acquiring an avatar and those of the actual avatar. This distinction was explored with a randomly controlled trial in the form of three questionnaires (pretest, self-reflection, posttest), distributed to a control group and an intervention group. 37 participants (20 women, 17 men, M = 33.4 years, age span 29–38 years) completed the study. The pretest consisted of questions about their current health situation, followed by the self-reflection task. The posttest measured the outcome variable: ”How willing are you to make a change in your everyday life in order to improve or maintain your general health?”. For the intervention group, the self- reflection and posttest were accompanied by an avatar. The results were analysed with a Mann- Whitney’s U-test, which showed that the avatar groups' self-reported willingness for behavioral change was higher compared to the control group. The effect was statistically significant. We discuss the applications and practical and ethical implications of avatars for increasing motivation. Further research should be done to replicate these findings to further examine the mechanics of the avatar representation. / Denna studie undersöker hur tillägget av avatarer, en personlig visuell representation av användaren, i webbformulär kan påverka självrapporterad villighet för beteendeförändring kopplat till hälsovanor. Avatarer är ett spelifieringselement som föreslås kunna ha en positiv påverkan på beteendeförändring. Ingen tidigare forskning har gjorts på distinktionen mellan effekter av självreflektion som sker vid förvärvandet av en avatar och den faktiska avataren. Den här distinktionen undersöktes genom en randomiserad kontrollerad studie i form av tre enkäter (förtest, självreflektion, eftertest) för en kontroll- och interventionsgrupp. 37 deltagare (20 kvinnor, 17 män, M = 33.4 år, åldersspann 29–38 år) slutförde studien. Förtestet bestod av frågor om deltagarnas nuvarande hälsa, följt av självreflektionen. Eftertestet innehöll utfallsmåttet: “Hur villig är du att göra en förändring i din vardag för att förbättra eller bibehålla din generella hälsa?”. För interventionsgruppen ackompanjerades självreflektionen och eftertestet av en avatar. Resultaten analyserades med ett Mann-Whitneys U-test, som visade att avatargruppens självskattade villighet för beteendeförändring var högre jämfört med kontrollgruppen. Effekten var statistiskt signifikant. Vi diskuterar tillämpningar samt praktiska och etiska implikationer av avatarer för att öka motivation. Vidare forskning bör göras för att replikera dessa fynd för att ytterligare undersöka mekaniken bakom avatar-representation.

No / This work aims to develop a personalised avatar based virtual environment for motivating weight loss and weight management. Obesity is a worldwide epidemic which has not only enormous resource impact for the healthcare systems but also has substantial health as well as a psychological effect among the individuals who are affected. We propose to tackle this issue via the development of a personalised avatar, the form of which can be adjusted to show the present and the future self of the individual. For the avatar design and development phase, we utilise a parametric based mathematical formulation derived from the solutions of a chosen elliptic partial differential equation. This method not only enables us to generate a parameterised avatar model, but it also allows us to quickly and efficiently create various avatar shapes corresponding to different body weights and even to different body postures. / This research was funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Programme (project reference PB-PG-1215-20016).

Kundtjänster har länge drivits av människor, under de senaste åren har det övergått till att utvecklas till en mer teknikdriven process. För många organisationer är virtuella chatbotar det första steget i interaktionen med en kund vilket gör att det blir viktigt att förstå hur chatbotarna påverkar användaren. Nya psykologiska hinder har tillkommit och användarna upplever ofta chatbotar som opersonliga och att de brister i att ge en känsla av mänsklig kontakt. Chatbotar behöver utvecklas och kommunicera mer som människor om de ska kunna nyttjas till sin fulla potential. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka identifierade designelement som stödjer känslan av mänsklig kontakt hos chatbotar. Studien genomfördes med en designorienterad forskningsansats där tre stycken centrala kategorier av mänskliga egenskaper identifierades; personlighet och förmågan att uttrycka känslor, utseende och kroppsspråk samt användandet av språk. Dessa i sin tur utvecklades till elva designelement som kunde undersökas med hjälp av en prototyp. Studiens bidrag har resulterat i totalt sju stycken designförslag som utvecklare rekommenderas att följa om de vill stödja känslan av mänsklig kontakt hos chatbotar. / Customer service has long been operated by humans, but in recent years it has become more dependent on technology driven processes. For many organizations, virtual chatbots are the first step of interaction with a customer, which makes it important to understand what impact the chatbot has on the user. New psychological barriers have been added and users often perceive chatbots as impersonal and they lack a sense of human contact. Chatbots need to communicate more like humans if they are to be used to their full potential. The purpose of this study is to investigate which of the identified design elements enhances the feeling of human contact in chatbots. The study was carried out with a design-oriented research approach where three central categories of human characteristics were identified; personality and the ability to express emotions, appearance and body language as well as the use of language. These in turn resulted in eleven design elements that could be examined with the help of a prototype. The final contributions of the study are seven design suggestions that chatbot developers are advised to follow if they want to support the feeling of human contact in chatbots.

Karaktärskapande är en viktig del i RPG/MMORPG-spel då det går ut på att skapa en egen avatar att rollspela som i spelets öppna värld. Det finns dock begränsningar i karaktärskapandet, då alla alternativ är hårt knutna till könsroller och tillåter inte spelaren att göra könsöverskridande val. I arbetet dekonstrueras könskonstruktionen i karaktärskapandet och ställer frågan om hur spelaren kommer att interagera med ett karaktärskapande som inte är låst vid kön och vad för kombinationer som kommer att skapas. En artefakt i form av klippdocklek skapades, där det var möjligt att kombinera olika kroppsdelar, kläder samt tilldela könsidentitet hur spelaren ville. Artefakten speltestades på sex informanter i en fältobservation och triangulerades med en semistrukturerad intervju. Slutresultatet var att både icke-heteronormativa och heteronormativa avatarer skapades beroende på informanternas motivation och relation mellan sin egen könsidentitet och avatarens.

Corporations and government agencies that use Avatars claim there are substantial benefits for using them in their respective organizations; including 24/7 service availability, quick answers without a phone queue, and improved consistency in the responses provided. “There are also potential cost savings by having an Avatar answering questions compared to using personnel” (Lind and Salomonson, 2006). However, these benefits may not be great enough as the lack of possible human communication may lead to alienation between individuals and organisations. Furthermore, a robot may “miss out” on business opportunities that a human would act on. A robot will not hear and understand nuances in speech, with the risk that a potentially problematic situation may not be adequately resolved, leading to dissatisfaction with products and services delivered. Many companies measure the satisfaction with Avatars by analysing question and answer logs to see if the Avatar appears to give satisfactory answers. Few of these companies have actually asked their customers (e.g. IKEA and SAS until recently) what they really feel about the quality of the answers they receive. User Centered Design, Participatory Design and other methods are the preferred ways of developing such systems, but these do not include all stakeholders. This thesis addresses this exclusion of all stakeholders by applying a co-design research approach for developing avatars for e-Services.Case studies from Mark Municipality, Sweden and Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS) are presented in this thesis showing how improvements of service quality aspects with Avatars can be managed by applying a four-step Co-Design research approach. From the first step of Co-Design, through interviews, log analysis and a channel survey, findings show that the failed dialogues with Avatars Eva (SAS) and Elin (Mark) are mainly concerned with five factors: interactivity; dialogue capability; consistency; knowledge; and synonyms. In the second step of carrying out customer workshops, a number of ideal scenarios are suggested for the Avatars to perform better. In the third step, SAS decision makers decided to implement the first three scenarios: Eva’s synonyms, knowledge and consistency. Mark decision makers decided to shut down their Avatar Elin, as they did not believe they had the necessary resources. In the fourth step, another channel survey was carried out for SAS as well as a new log analysis in order to know the impact of the redevelopment of the above three scenarios. An important result of the study was that the company adopted the continuous use of Co-Design as an approach to continuous improvement of the service quality performed by the Avatar Eva. This, for example, led to an increase of 14 percentage points on the users overall satisfaction level. The results also open a new set of questions framing the relation and transformation between Co-Design as a research approach for knowledge creation and Co-Design as a method for innovation and service quality improvements. This thesis also presents an Extended Co-Design Model, which illustrates how Co-Design inspires SAS staff. In addition, the staff of the supplier of the Avatar use it for other functions within and without SAS.

This thesis explores the use of avatars with facial expressions in social media and e-journalism communication interfaces. This thesis involved three experimental conditions. In the first experimental condition a survey (n=34) and an experiment (n=25) were carried out in order to explore the central problems faced by users during adding and retrieving comments and methods to overcome those problems. The survey intended to find out the position users took towards these metaphors. 25users from the Aljazeera Channel in Doha, Qatar took part. The first experimental condition consisted of two interfaces, TARCS (traditional adding and retrieving comments system) and CMARCS (classification multimodal adding and retrieving comments system). This was carried out in order to assess users' perception of unique text with graphic classification and multimodal in an EARCS (electronic adding and retrieving comments system) interface in the presence and absence of an interactive context. This was implemented in order to assess the role of these unique classification interfaces in a news comment in the term of usability. In the second experiment, forty users evaluated the use of the VARCS (visual adding and retrieving comments system) and MMARCS (multimodal adding and retrieving comments system). Both interfaces evaluated the effect on public opinion as media study and effectiveness, interactivity and user satisfaction in HCI studies. The third experimental condition consisted of one study that investigated the impactbility and usability of facial expressions compared text with graphic and multimodal metaphors. Sixty six users from Al-Arabiya Channel in Dubai, UEA took part in these two experiments. The results obtained show that users had some problems with adding and retrieving comments in social media such as missing data and lack of organisation. Also, the new classification performed better and faster under an interface that implemented avatars with specific facial expressions compared to a textual interface and multimodal. Practical guidelines were also introduced to provide assistance to multimedia designers who use avatars with facial expressions in e-journalism interactive systems as well as its impact on the public opinion.

his thesis consists of an analysis of a classroom simulation using a Second Life (SL) experiment that aims to investigate the teaching impact on smartbots (virtual students) from trainee teacher avatars with respect to interaction, simulated behaviour, and observed teaching roles. The classroom-based SL experiments' motivation is to enable the trainee teacher to acquire the necessary skills and experience to manage a real classroom environment through simulations of a real classroom. This type of training, which is almost a replica of the real-world experience, gives the trainee teacher enough confidence to become an expert teacher. In this classroom simulation, six trainee teachers evaluated the SL teaching experience by survey using qualitative and quantitative methods that measured interaction, simulated behaviour, and safety. Additionally, six observers evaluated trainee teachers' performance according to a set of teaching roles and roleplay approaches. The experiment scenario was set up between smartbots, trainee teacher avatars, and observer avatars in the virtual classroom, where smartbots are intelligent agents managing SL bots, and where groups are similar to one another but are under programming control.

Due to the availability of technology, there has been a shift from traditional assessment methods to e-assessment methods designed to support learning. With this development there is a need to address the suitability and effectiveness of the e-assessment interface. One development in the e-assessment interface has been the use of the multimodal metaphor. Unfortunately, the associated effectiveness of multimodality in terms of usability and its suitability in achieving assessment aims has not been fully addressed. Thus, there is a need to determine the impact of multimodality on the effectiveness of e-assessment and to reveal the benefits, primarily to the user. Moreover, those involved in the development and assessment should be aware of potential impacts and benefits. This thesis investigates the role and effectiveness of multimodal metaphors in e-assessment, specifically; the thesis assesses the effect of multimodal metaphors, alone or in combination, on usability in e-assessment. Usability includes efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfaction. The empirical research described in this study consisted of three experiments of 30 participants each to evaluate the effect of description text, avatars and images individually, avatars, description text and recorded speech in combination with images, and finally, the use of avatars with whole body gestures, earcons and auditory icons. The experimental stages were designed as a progression towards the main focus of the study, which was the effectiveness of full body gesture avatar, considered to be the latest development in multimodal metaphors. The experimentation also assessed the role that an avatar could play as a tutor in e-assessment interfaces. The results proved the positive effectiveness and applicability of metaphors to enhance e-assessment usability. This was achieved through a more effective interaction between the user and the assessment interface. A set of empirically derived guidelines for the design and use of these metaphors to enhance e-assessment is also used in order to generate more usable e-assessment interfaces.