Thesis (M.S.E.C.E.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-73).

In this dissertation I describe the analysis of two types of electronic devices. The first is an image intensifier/photomultiplier combination used in a laser communications receiver. The second type is high resolution display monitors to be used in digital radiology. The analysis of these devices centered on the influence of noise on their performance though I also measured other device characteristics. I present here a method of characterizing noise that can be used for a variety of detector and display devices; however, I concentrated my analysis on an optical communication receiver by ITT and high resolution display monitors by MegaScan, Tektronix and US Pixel. The optical receiver is called a hybrid device because it combines an image intensifier (II) and a photomultiplier tube. The II has a large active area and its specially processed photocathode gives it an extended red response. The photomultiplier tube (PMT) provides a high gain, low noise and low dark current. The hybrid tube had a maximum gain of 8 x 10⁶, a noise factor of 1.64 and an information capacity of 1.3 x 10⁶ bits per second. The high resolution monitors we examined were black and white monitors with a pixel matrix of at least 1024 x 1536 pixels and 256 grey levels. The maximum luminance from the monitors was 88 ft-Lamberts (for the US Pixel monitor) and a maximum information capacity of 8.9 x 10⁶ bits (for the MegaScan monitor). We measured spatial and temporal noise for the monitors. Spatial noise was the dominant noise, except at low grey levels. Veiling glare was evident in all three monitors and dramatically reduced the dynamic ranges of the monitors.

In the hectic world of an IT helpdesk with an ever increasing number of applications and tasks on the go, managing the intricacies of how to navigate these is a cause of frustration for helpdesk workers. I had noticed while working on a helpdesk that the workspace area - particularly the monitor setups that IT helpdesk workers have to use - makes doing their job difficult. The number of applications open, the number of tasks on the go at once and the added pressure of customer contact, all call for applications and data to be accessed quickly - but the set up of the users workspace generally does not allow for this. The main objective of this research is to compare the difference between the use of a single screen, a dual screen and the new Multi-Layer Display (MLD) and the complications of having multiple applications and multiple monitors operating at one time for IT Helpdesk Workers. This research looked at how the users' monitor setup influenced the performance, efficiency, satisfaction, ergonomics and learning of the participants.The research showed that there was a clear dislike of the current set up of single screens; all participants felt that the single screen setup limited what they could do at once and it rated the least favourite of all. The dual and MLD screens showed positive outcomes for increasing multi-tasking abilities and raising users' perceived performance and satisfaction levels. The added screen real estate of both the dual and MLD over the single screen meant that users consistently had more information available to them 7which enabled them to complete tasks quicker, monitor other applications for incoming jobs, easily transfer data from one application to another and multi-task more effectively. While there were some minor ergonomic concerns and learning difficulties with the unique features and utilities of the both the dual and MLD monitors, participants still preferred to use these setups over the single screen.

In the hectic world of an IT helpdesk with an ever increasing number of applications and tasks on the go, managing the intricacies of how to navigate these is a cause of frustration for helpdesk workers. I had noticed while working on a helpdesk that the workspace area - particularly the monitor setups that IT helpdesk workers have to use - makes doing their job difficult. The number of applications open, the number of tasks on the go at once and the added pressure of customer contact, all call for applications and data to be accessed quickly - but the set up of the users workspace generally does not allow for this. The main objective of this research is to compare the difference between the use of a single screen, a dual screen and the new Multi-Layer Display (MLD) and the complications of having multiple applications and multiple monitors operating at one time for IT Helpdesk Workers. This research looked at how the users' monitor setup influenced the performance, efficiency, satisfaction, ergonomics and learning of the participants.The research showed that there was a clear dislike of the current set up of single screens; all participants felt that the single screen setup limited what they could do at once and it rated the least favourite of all. The dual and MLD screens showed positive outcomes for increasing multi-tasking abilities and raising users' perceived performance and satisfaction levels. The added screen real estate of both the dual and MLD over the single screen meant that users consistently had more information available to them 7which enabled them to complete tasks quicker, monitor other applications for incoming jobs, easily transfer data from one application to another and multi-task more effectively. While there were some minor ergonomic concerns and learning difficulties with the unique features and utilities of the both the dual and MLD monitors, participants still preferred to use these setups over the single screen.

Thesis (M. S.)--Literature, Communication, and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Mazalek, Ali; Committee Member: Bolter, Jay David; Committee Member: Do, Ellen Yi-Luen; Committee Member: Nitsche, Michael; Committee Member: Winegarden, Claudia R.

As an object at the boundary between virtual and physical reality, the screen exists both as a displayer and as a thing displayed, thus functioning as a mediator. The screen's virtual imagery produces a sense of immersion in its viewer, yet at the same time the materiality of the screen produces a sense of rejection from the viewer's complete involvement in the virtual world. The experience of the screen is thus an oscillation between these two states of immersion and rejection. Nowadays, as interactivity becomes a central component of the relationship between viewers and many artworks, the viewer experience of the screen is changing. Unlike the screen experience in non-interactive artworks, such as the traditional static screen of painting or the moving screen of video art in the 1970s, interactive media screen experiences can provide viewers with a more immersive, immediate, and therefore, more intense experience. For example, many digital media artworks provide an interactive experience for viewers by capturing their face or body though real-time computer vision techniques. In this situation, as the camera and the monitor in the artwork encapsulate the interactor's body in an instant feedback loop, the interactor becomes a part of the interface mechanism and responds to the artwork as the system leads or even provokes them. This thesis claims that this kind of direct mirroring in interactive screen-based media artworks does not allow the viewer the critical distance or time needed for self-reflection. The thesis examines the previous aesthetics of spatial and temporal perception, such as presentness and instantaneousness, and the notions of passage and of psychological perception such as reflection, reflexiveness and auratic experience, looking at how these aesthetics can be integrated into new media screen experiences. Based on this theoretical research, the thesis claims that interactive screen spaces can act as a site for expression and representation, both through a doubling effect between the physical and virtual worlds, and through manifold spatial and temporal mappings with the screen experience. These claims are further supported through exploration of screen-based media installations created by the author since 2003.