This thesis focuses on the design and evaluation of interactive music systems that enable non-experts to experience collaborative music-making in public set- tings, such as museums, galleries and festivals. Although there has been previous research into music systems for non-experts, there is very limited research on how participants engage with collaborative music environments in public set- tings. Informed by a detailed assessment of related research, an interactive, multi-person music system is developed, which serves as a vehicle to conduct practice-based research in real-world settings. A central focus of the design is supporting each player's individual sense of control, in order to examine how this relates to their overall playing experience. Drawing on approaches from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and interac- tive art research, a series of user studies is conducted in public settings such as art exhibitions and festivals. Taking into account that the user experience and social dynamics around such new forms of interaction are considerably in u- enced by the context of use, this systematic assessment in real-world contexts contributes to a richer understanding of how people interact and behave in such new creative spaces. This research makes a number of contributions to the elds of HCI, interactive art and New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME). It provides a set of de- sign implications to aid designers of future collaborative music systems. These are based on a number of empirical ndings that describe and explain aspects of audience behaviour, engagement and mutual interaction around public, in- teractive multi-person systems. It provides empirical evidence that there is a correlation between participants' perceived level of control and their sense of cre- ative participation and enjoyment. This thesis also develops and demonstrates the application of a mixed-method approach for studying technology-mediated collaborative creativity with live audiences.

Nowadays, mobile devices offer a wide variety of features and sensor capabilitiesthat can be applied into everyday problems. This is being used by the commu-nity in order to provide more intuitive tools that facilitate users to tackle theseproblems. In this thesis, I present my work which aims at providing an afford-able, non-intrusive, easy to use and intuitive tool that enables users withoutany musical background to create music collaboratively and enjoy this activityby using NFC enabled mobile devices and NFC tags. I introduce the "Rela-tive Position Awareness" which is utilized to allow users to create a music piecebased on the relative position of the devices. To do that, I implement a proto-type that includes Near Field Communication (NFC) and study whether NFCis a suitable technology for supporting the positioning awareness system. Inaddition, I also study the interactions that occur while users are collaborativelycreating music pieces. I run several user studies that indicate my prototype issuitable for supporting music creation collaborative activities, that NFC pro-vides a high level of accuracy when it comes to support the relative positioningsystem and that the prototype fosters social interaction among the users. Partof the results from this research effort have been presented in Fifth Workshopon Ubiquitous Music (V UbiMus) and can be found in Exploring the potentialof mobile technology for creating music collaboratively [1]

viii, 77 p. : ill. / The focus of this study was a free site-specific dance and music performance for the general public in Alton Baker Park (Eugene, Oregon), designed to enhance public engagement with the park and with dance. Collaborative processes with participating dancers, composers, and musicians fostered community building between the artists. Informing literature covers the impact of site-specific dance performances on communities, choreographic methodology, the history of site-specific artwork, the impact on, and consideration of, the audience in site-specific projects, and collaboration in the arts. Consideration of the surrounding community and the inherent political nature of site-specific work directly influenced every decision throughout the process. Themes emerged from the focus on building community, engaging the patrons with the site, and investigating process. Themes include the Culminating Performance, Common Values, Collaboration, Audience, Process, Journaling and Research, and a Final Summary. Reflection on the process reveals insights and suggestions for future endeavors. / Committee in charge: Dr. Jenifer P. Craig, Chairperson; Christian Cherry, Member; Walter Kennedy, Member

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-08T17:06:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 122558.pdf: 9851251 bytes, checksum: 8f8793b0940f856eb8b0737c83cb9885 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho se situa no campo de pesquisas sobre práticas criativas na educação musical, focalizando atividades de composição musical com um grupo de idosos, objetivando investigar os significados construídos ao longo de uma experiência de composição musical colaborativa por um grupo de idosas. O trabalho tem como eixo teórico a aprendizagem criativa, enfatizando os processos colaborativos de aprendizagem na elaboração de um re-arranjo. Com abordagem qualitativa, foram combinadas duas técnicas de coleta e produção de dados: observação participante e narrativas. As narrativas foram produzidas oralmente e registradas em diários elaborados pelas senhoras. A pesquisa foi realizada com 16 senhoras integrantes do grupo de canto do Centro de Convivência de Idosos Irmã Clara Kô, da cidade de Maringá- PR. Foi observado o processo de elaboração de uma composição pelo grupo, norteada pela proposta do re-arranjo, de Penna e Marinho (2010). O re-arranjo é uma estratégia criativa planejada que propõe processos de criação, de reapropriação ativa e de ressignificações tendo como ponto de partida uma música já conhecida. A música escolhida pelas participantes da pesquisa foi Felicidade, de Lupicínio Rodrigues (1914-1974). Os resultados apontaram que a realização de uma proposta de composição musical colaborativa permite articular as vivências musicais e as histórias de vida das participantes, ampliando e ressignificando suas experiências musicais. Assim, acredita-se que este trabalho contribui na elaboração, realização e reflexão sobre metodologias para o ensino de música e processos de aprendizagem criativa na educação musical de idosos.

This paper explores the social aspects of a new kind of mobile games where players interact with each other in a shared physical space as well as in-game. As technology spreads throughout layers of culture and everyday life, and gaming becomes increasingly widespread, we see a future in social digital games through the use of smartphones, because of their prevalence and their technical versatility. This poses new challenges for designers. By using the context of music selection in semi-public to public situations and with the help of prototypes, we explore the problems of making selections and connections in large groups as well as delivering feedback. As a result of this project we arrive at elements such as participation, competition, scalability and the importance of social interactions between participants which can be used when designing systems in similar contexts.