This paper addresses many concepts and concerns related to the previously underexplored topic of CGI and narrative in Hollywood children’s films. Through an analysis of scenes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Inkheart it demonstrates that CGI spectacle does not exist in opposition to narrative progression as some scholars have suggested. Instead, by drawing on theorists like Lefebvre and Furstenau (2002), this investigation asserts that belief in fictional realism is paramount to spectatorship. It is shown that CGI can be used in a way that respects realism in the Bazin tradition and continuity editing in order to allow the spectator to believe in the fictional reality of narrative events. This belief is then connected to the emotional engagement of the spectator by drawing on ideas from Smith’s (1994) structure of sympathy. The ultimate goal of this paper is to present a conceptualization of CGI that creates a stronger distinction between reality and film realism than previous literature has suggested.

Problem Funktioner i tunga fordon går allt mer från att vara mekaniska till att styras med hjälp av elektroniska signaler. För att förstå hur komponenter och system fungerar och ska repareras har mekanikerna Verkstadshandboken till sin hjälp. Från tryckt media har Verkstadshandboken övergått till digital publicering i visningsprodukten Scania Multi.   Scania Multi var inledningsvis ett program för reservdelsinformation och har en navigeringsstruktur som är anpassad efter komponenternas placering på fordonet. Det är inte logiskt att hitta information om hur system och komponenter fungerar och ska lagas när man följer en navigeringsstruktur som från början är avsedd för reservdelar, det märks. Mekanikerna som använder Verkstadshandboken i Scania Multi har klagat över att information för reparationer och funktionsbeskrivningar inte finns. Ofta visar det sig att informationen faktiskt finns där men har varit svår att hitta. Metod Vilka risker och hinder finns det som påverkar om man vill eller orkar ta del av information? Olika signaler från vår omgivning påverkar våra val och beteenden och avgör om ett budskap når fram eller inte. Signalerna inverkar alltså på de val vi gör när vi ställs inför en ny situation.   För att budskapet ska nå ända fram måste signalen vara rätt, ren och stark. Inom området informationsarkitektur pratar man om hur olika sorters design påverkar våra val och handlingar när vi ska interagera med ett digitalt informationsmaterial. Här pratar man om grafisk, informations- och interaktionsdesign. Jag har kopplat de olika typerna av design med de tre olika signalerna.   Utifrån resonemanget om att rätt, ren och stark signal kan jämställas med informationsarkitekturens olika sorters design, gjorde jag en prototyp. Prototypens informationsdesign bygger på att jag har använt och strukturerat informationen med hjälp av den del i ISO standarden STEP som kallas Product Life Cycle Support. När jag sorterade informationen inom de olika avdelningarna använde jag mig av Information Mapping metoden.   Prototypen har en fysisk och en funktionell vy som ska stödja mekanikernas behov när de använder Verkstadshandboken. För att ta reda på hur signalerna i prototypen fungerade testade jag den på sju yrkesverksamma mekaniker. Användningstestet byggde på två scenarion med tillhörande uppgifter där syftet var att få återkoppling på prototypens design och hitta förbättringspunkter. Slutsats Användningstesterna fokuserade framförallt på prototypens informationsdesign men berörde även prototypens grafiska design och gav vägledning om interaktionsdesignen var på rätt väg. Med hjälp av användningstesterna kunde jag analysera resultatet för att se vad som borde förbättras.   Eftersom mekaniker inte har fått vara med och kravställa designen fick de interagera med en produkt som inte var optimal för deras behov. Mekanikerna är vana vid strukturen i nuvarande Verkstadshandboken i Scania Multi. Den nya strukturen tar hänsyn till fordonets funktionalitet på ett sätt som inte presenteras i dagens system.   Det var fyra avsnitt där mekanikernas återkoppling på prototypens design var extra tydlig: -       Det var svårt att se knappar och klickbara länkar. -       Designen uppfattades som rörig. -       När man väl hade förstått informationsdesignen var det lätt att se att den skulle kunna vara till stor hjälp vid exempelvis felsökning. -       Uppdelningen av informationen upplevdes positivt när man hade vant sig vid de olika vyerna.

The introduction of digital media into the working practice of artists has produced challenges previously unknown to the field of art. This inquiry follows an atypical model of artist-driven research derived from disciplines such as social science and education. Here, an artwork functions as a model that is self-reflective, integrating methodologies in a form that benefits art and science. Using Naturalistic Inquiry, including semi-structured interviews of fifteen participants, the work illustrates a process of creation, analysis and evaluation that places the values of the artist on equal footing with the needs of science. Recently, artists have begun using video game engines as a tool to produce 3D navigable spaces. Using the hybrid video game/installation Playas: Homeland Mirage as a case study, this research examines the impact of technology on the artwork and identifies a number of key issues related to the function of critical reflection in this environment. Rules-of-play were a fundamental pre-requisite to the stimulation of critically reflective experience. The human interface with software and hardware was also a primary factor in reflective experience. Based on participant evaluation and observation, the interface was altered in response to its effect on critical reflection, illustrating how choices in this area impact aesthetic experience. Those with experience in visual art were more likely to engage the work in a critically reflective manner than seasoned video game players who tended to be more interested in scoring and winning. These findings and others inform our understanding of the stimulation of critical reflection in immersive environments and show how we can sensitively integrate technology with meaningful evaluative methods. By repurposing a video game in this manner, we learn about the nature of the video game and the nature of art. This research enables artists to gain a better understanding of the medium to more fully integrate technology within a meaningful practice. Conversely, other fields will benefit from a better understanding of the stimulation of meaning in immersive spaces and gain a comprehensive view of a work that strives to contribute to our culture on a deeper level than as simple entertainment. Ultimately, more fully understanding critical reflection in virtual environments will enable us to create enriched experiences that transcend space to create “real” or “virtual” place.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 83 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-157). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-157). Also available on the Internet.

This multimedia dissertation, situated in Rhetoric and Composition, Digital Media Studies, and Civic Engagement, articulates a sustainable, agile approach to “wicked problems.” These complex, definition-resistant, interlocking problems (such as racism or climate change) aren’t ultimately solvable; rather than wicked problems being “acted upon,” they can only be creatively and rigorously “responded to” by networks of committed individuals and institutions. This dissertation posits that a wicked problem necessitates a “wicked response”: a sustained, emergent, and fluid strategy that focuses on changing relationships – to people, to space, and to knowledge. In order, to make this argument, I present the case of Mart, a small, formerly prosperous town in East Texas that has been in decline over the last half of a century. Throughout this dissertation, I analyze the ongoing efforts of the Mart Community Project (MCP), a cohort of Mart residents, international artists, and students and instructors from a variety of departments at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the past two years, the MCP has engaged in over twenty-five discrete projects, all with the aim of helping the Mart Community reimagine itself in the face of its primary wicked problem: a lack of civic cohesion. In the first chapter I explore how language fails to define or describe a wicked problem, yet is still necessary in order to transform it. I illustrate this contradiction in part through the Chambless Field mural, a successful MCP community arts project that by “writing community” became a productive response. My second chapter examines service learning and demonstrates how university/community partnerships and “participatory engagement” can be part of a nuanced approach to a wicked problem. Using the work of UT students in design-oriented and civic engagement classes, I demonstrate in the third chapter how “mapping” can be both a savvy pedagogical tool and a key element in reinventing the relationships of people to space and to one another. This dissertation offers up these diverse strategies with the sincere hope that the particulars of the MCP’s wicked response might be productively generalized to aid others participating in similarly challenging civic engagement work on wicked problems.

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The objective ofthe research project is to investigate the use of ArcView-GIS (a Geographical Information Systems software package) to promote cognitive development , at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. To understand the impact of ArcView-GIS as a learning tool will require an understanding ofhow it is used, what learning goals are held by educators and students and the type of assessments used to evaluate student achievement. It is argued that the use of GIS software promotes development of a wide range of skills. A research instrument to measure skills related to visualization, language, mathematics and logics was used to evaluate learners from a number of different groups which included science undergraduates, humanities undergraduates and GIS students (2 groups: one group took the test after the completion and the other group prior to the GIS course). In addition GIS experts and students evaluated the user interface of ArcVIewGIS. Results show that those learners exposed to GIS performed better in all the skills evaluated than any of the other groups. Also, experts and GIS students found the software interface satisfactory. The findings suggest that ArcView-GIS can support higher-order thinking by engaging students in authentic, complex tasks within an appropriate learning context. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

The goal of this research was to conduct a usability study on Digital Innovation’s (DISA) South African Music Archive Project (SAMAP) website. In order to achieve this goal, it was very important to first (1) understand more fully the expectations of potential users and then (2) to identify any mismatches between the proposed Dublin Core system and users’ search techniques. Many researchers have pointed out that a system that is not easy to use, does not match user requirements, and ignores usability studies is likely to fail (Pearrow, 2000; del Galdo & Nielsen, 1996; Shneiderman & Plaisant, 2005; Kuniavsky, 2003). This study was conducted at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College Campus in Durban, South Africa. A qualitative research method was chosen for this study within an eclectic-mixed methods-pragmatic paradigm which favours multiple data collection research instruments to collect data. Data collected was mostly of a qualitative nature and has been interrogated using NVivo™. The patterns that emerged out of this study will establish a better understanding of multi-disciplinary online music archives and website designs. A discussion of the findings and recommendations are presented in the final chapter of this dissertation, but essentially the study demonstrates the need to more fully understand user requirements before development takes place. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2011.