Curiosity, as a strong motivator for exploration and discovery, has long been an underexplored but important emotional response in relation to technology. This research considers that it has great potential to improve many aspects of the user experience, especially in today’s screen-saturated context. However, engaging curiosity by novelty and uncertainty may exhaust attentional strength and challenge usability. Thus, the purpose of this research is to find ways to foster the human trait of curiosity and avoid its negative effects. To gain an in-depth understanding of curiosity, the first chapter reviews cross-disciplinary literature to expand its role in improving user experience. This ranges from serving as an attention grabber to including the values that contribute to human survival, thriving, emotional resilience, and personal development. The second chapter identifies problems in the current curiosity-provoking design methods. The chapter also emphasises design for supporting active curiosity and avoiding the creation of purely novel stimuli. This approach is to encourage active curiosity to develop. To this end, the research proceeds to conduct observational studies at a museum to broaden our understanding of factors that influence people’s curiosity and exploration within a screen-mediated context. Based on these observations, I identified that there are three conceptual elements: sociability, embodiment, and playfulness. Through theoretical discussion and reflection upon the design examples, subsequent three chapters explore the relationship between curiosity and each conceptual element. The chapters also suggest several design approaches that embrace curiosity in relation to its social, embodied, and playful nature. These include creating a sense of co-curiosity, allowing the use of covert and overt curiosity-satisfying strategies, increasing bodily exploration affordances of the screen for linking curiosity with embodiment, using metaphors of the body-screen relationship, and developing possibilities and adding enchanting effects for eliciting playfulness to enrich curiosity. In essence, this research enhances our understanding of the user experience from the perspective of curiosity, and these design suggestions also help to embrace users’ active curiosity in developing sociable, embodied, and playful well-being in the age of ubiquitous screens.

The grotesque has long been utilized in literature as a means for subverting societal constraints and inverting constructions of normalcy. Unfortunately, in many instances, it has been constructed at the expense of disabled characters using their embodiment as metaphorical plot devices rather than social and political agents. Criticism of the grotesque’s use of bodily difference has prompted this analytical project in order to rethink disability as socially and politically positioned within texts, rather than simply aesthetics for symbolic means. The aim of this paper is to explore the ways the literary grotesque can be reread using queer theory and crip theory as frameworks for constructing agential disabled embodiments in Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love. Ultimately, the potential of queer and crip interventions necessitates an examination of the systems of power disabled subjects operate within in these narratives.

Este trabalho objetiva discutir aspectos culturais do processo de significação, analisando a linguagem de conversas com indígenas Kaiowá do Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil. O ponto central da tese é discutir as diferenças culturais do processo de significação. Para desenvolver o trabalho, foram coletadas falas de indígenas identificados como representantes da cultura kaiowá, ou seja, indígenas reconhecidos por seus pares por possuírem conhecimentos tradicionais e habilidades de liderança. As falas foram coletadas em dez diferentes lugares e tematizaram o tekoha [teko’ha] - espaço genericamente definido como o lugar onde vivem os Kaiowá segundo seu modo de ser. Dessas conversas, delimitou-se um corpus que foi analisado com base em perspectivas teóricas desenvolvidas no âmbito da Linguística Cognitiva pensadas e aplicadas por Lakoff (1987), Lakoff; Johnson (2003), Fauconnier (1994, 2002), Kövecses (2005) e outros. A interpretação do corpus permitiu demonstrar traços comuns a todos os entrevistados, evidenciando características da cultura kaiowá. As análises das conversas permitiram refletir sobre o jeito kaiowá de conceptualizar e simbolizar elaborado na experiência desse grupo étnico pelo mundo, configurando-se como uma maneira específica de construir entendimentos da realidade e de elaborar e utilizar uma linguagem para evocar e reatualizar esses entendimentos. Dessa maneira, este trabalho corrobora a tese da Cognição Corporificada, ou seja, de que a elaboração de significado institui-se no contato do corpo com o meio. Esse processo é determinado por forças biológicas, mas é elaborado nas experiências dos grupos sociais com seu meio ambiente. Os diferentes grupos sociais vivenciam experiências diferentes em ambientes diferentes, o que suscita diferentes culturas, isto é, diferentes maneiras de produzir a vida, de perceber, conceptualizar e representar as experiências sócio-históricas. Os resultados do trabalho demonstraram a importância de se compreender os aspectos cognitivos, linguísticos, sociais e históricos das culturas bem como as premissas básicas que as alicerçam. Levar em consideração todos esses aspectos possibilitou demonstrar a complexidade e o engendramento do significado de tekoha e o entrelaçamento desses aspectos no processo de construção e reatualização desse significado. A análise dos dados possibilitou ainda refletir sobre a cultura kaiowá como um ninho de pertença, uma possível maneira de estabelecer uma verdade, um conjunto de premissas e valores que garante e justifica a existência desses indígenas. Por meio desse tipo de análise, foi possível demonstrar como o significado de tekoha, fora do frame cultural kaiowá, pode ser compreendido de maneira muito superficial, o que reforça a tese da importância do contexto cultural para a compreensão de categorias e conceitos. A realização do trabalho permitiu concluir que o método de coleta de dados, com destaque para a etnografia semiestruturada, a perspectiva teórica e a abordagem interdisciplinar foram fundamentais para atingir os objetivos estabelecidos. A perspectiva teórica da Linguística Cognitiva mostrou-se um importante aporte teórico para discutir a significação e compreender as questões indígenas, podendo auxiliar, inclusive, em discussões sobre diálogo intercultural. Por fim, as reflexões realizadas neste trabalho podem servir de base para se pensar projetos de pesquisa, de ensino e métodos de ensino a serem aplicados em escolas indígenas diferenciadas. Pode ainda, contribuir com discussões que pautem as relações interétnicas, sobretudo as relações entre não índios e os Kaiowá. / This work aims at discussing the cultural aspects of the signification process, by analyzing the language used in talks with Kaiowá people from Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Its central point is to discuss cultural differences in the signification process. To develop the work, conversations with Kaiowá members considered being cultural examples by their peers, for having traditional knowledge and leadership traits were recorded and analyzed. The conversations were recorded in ten different places and approached the theme tekoha [teko’ha], generically defined as a place where the Kaiowá people live according to their way of living. With the recordings, a corpus was formed and analyzed on the basis of theoretical perspectives developed within the Cognitive Linguistics framework, as thought and applied by authors like Lakoff (1987), Lakoff; Johnson (2003), Fauconnier (1994, 2002), Kövecses (2005), and others. The corpus interpretation permitted to demonstrate common traits among all people interviewed, evidencing Kaiowá cultural characteristics. The corpus analyses revealed these cultural traits as well as reflected the Kaiowá way of conceptualizing and symbolizing. These traits have been constructed based on their experience in the world, becoming a specific way of constructing world understandings and of elaborating and applying a language to evoke and update them. In this way, this work corroborates the Embodied Cognition Hypothesis, according to which meaning elaboration takes place in the interaction between body and environment, a process determined by biological forces, but elaborated in the experience of social groups in a determined place, which comes up with different ways of perceiving, conceptualizing and representing social-historical experiences. The analyses demonstrated the importance of understanding cognitive, linguistic, social, and historical aspects as well as the basic premises that mix up to form cultures. Taking into account all these aspects made possible to demonstrate the complexity and the engendering of the meaning of tekoha, as well as to show how they are all interconnected in the process of meaning building and updating. The data analyses reflected how the Kaiowá people have built their culture as a belonging nest, a possible way of engendering truth and a set of premises and values whereof they ensure and justify their existence. By using this kind of analysis, it was possible to demonstrate how the meaning of tekoha, out of this cultural frame, might sometimes be understood very superficially, which reinforces the thesis of the importance of the context for the comprehension of categories and concepts. The research has led to conclude that the data collection method, by means of semi structured ethnography, as well as the theoretical perspective and the interdisciplinary approach were suitable so as to achieve the established objectives. The Cognitive Linguistics theoretical perspective proved to be an important theoretical support to understand not only the signification process in academic terms but also to discuss indigenous issues contributing to understand intercultural dialog. At last, the reflections carried out in this work can inspire research and teaching projects and also be used as a support for teaching methods at indigenous schools. It can still contribute for discussions on interethnic relations, especially on relations between the non-indigenous and the Kaiwoá people.

Submitted by Diana Alves (ppgdancaufba.adm@gmail.com) on 2014-11-25T14:15:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Jussara Braga.pdf: 1324181 bytes, checksum: 29abe43776c3f3d8d7d97c6b134fbd8e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Alda Lima da Silva (sivalda@ufba.br) on 2014-12-02T19:26:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Jussara Braga.pdf: 1324181 bytes, checksum: 29abe43776c3f3d8d7d97c6b134fbd8e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-02T19:26:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Jussara Braga.pdf: 1324181 bytes, checksum: 29abe43776c3f3d8d7d97c6b134fbd8e (MD5) / CAPES / Em um ambiente profissional de uma Cia de dança contemporânea que trabalha com coreógrafos não residentes, o contato com diferentes características de movimento e propostas em dança é bastante comum. Os dançarinos que atuam neste ambiente profissional necessitam se relacionar com diferentes qualidades de movimentos a cada trabalho coreográfico. Buscamos investigar questões pertinentes ao processo de negociação e adaptação corporal entre os hábitos de movimento de dançarinos profissionais e movimentações ainda não habituais, as quais esses profissionais precisam se relacionar a cada composição coreográfica. Buscamos também, averiguar e tecer relações entre o preparo corporal diário da Cia e seu fazer cênico, no intuito de investigar as estratégias utilizadas para lidarem com diferentes propostas coreográficas. Assim, tornou-se pertinente averiguar qual é o entendimento de corpo e de técnica em dança que habita esses ambientes profissionais, problematizando questões emergentes ao se pensar a técnica na dança contemporânea. Para travarmos discussões sobre como o corpo aprende e se relaciona com novos aprendizados, nos valemos do fenômeno embodiment, que nos explica que a cognição acontece no e pelo corpo e que o movimento é condição primeira para o processo cognitivo. Nos apoiamos na Teoria Geral dos Sistemas, segundo VIEIRA, 2008, BITTENCOURT, 2007, PRIGOGINE, 1996, para situarmos a dança enquanto processual, sistêmica e dinâmica, sob uma visão evolutiva de corpo enquanto corpoambiente, onde o mesmo é entendido como resultante processual co-evolutiva com o ambiente (QUEIROZ,2009, BRITTO, 2008). Também nos valemos da Teoria Corpomídia, que nos apresenta o corpo e suas relações enquanto processos comunicacionais e entende que o corpo é mídia de si mesmo, apresentando mídia como o processo corporal seletivo das informações que vão construindo o corpo de maneira evolutiva (KATZ e GREINER, 2005). Defendemos que o corpo vive em estado de constante fluxo de informações com o meio e, assim, se modifica e modifica seu entorno. Fomos a campo através de três Cias de dança que trabalham com coreógrafos não residentes: Grupo Êxtase de Dança, de Viçosa- MG, Balé Teatro Guaíra, de Curitiba-PR e Cia de Danças de Diadema, de Diadema-SP, direcionando a pesquisa para as três principais vertentes da nossa discussão: o dançarino profissional, o diretor da Cia e o coreógrafo não-residente. Pudemos averiguar que as Cias possuem a técnica clássica como principal direcionamento do trabalho corporal diário dos dançarinos, mesmo não sendo essa a linguagem trabalhada cenicamente por elas. Entre as dificuldades enfrentadas, o tempo de montagem coreográfica parece agravar o processo de adaptação corporal dos profissionais, que, por sua vez, buscam estratégias conjuntas e individuais para superarem dificuldades e possíveis obstáculos de adaptação corporal em seu cotidiano de trabalho.

In her book How We Became Posthuman (1999), Katherine Hayles analysed the process through which the conception of the liberal humanist subject led the way to the posthuman subject, a subject who lives in complete entwinement with the digital. This process, however, was not innocuous: it made the (fallacious) perception that information could do without material instantiation pervasive within many fields of knowledge, a process that Hayles contends originates in the Macy Conferences and the evolution of cybernetic theory. This research identifies an analogous process within the artistic realm: when Clement Greenberg delineated the concepts of opticality and colour field as the main characteristics that “defined” Modernist painting, he conceived of these in a purely disembodied subject (Krauss 1993). In this context, this work proposes to consider that the actual overcoming of modernism comes along with the advent of the posthuman, tracing its origin to Marcel Duchamp and his invention of the readymade, and not with postmodernism, the theoretical consistency of which, at least in the artistic field, this research will question. A first aim of this work will be to unify the main concepts and theories of the artistic field with those of cybernetics, to bring together ‘Turing land’ and ‘Duchamp land’ (Manovich 1996). For achieving this, digitalisation processes are not to be understood as representations of some material reality, but rather as ontological repetitions through which difference is conveyed. This is why the consideration of the temporal dimension of the archive as event is fundamental for understanding that the archive can only exist in its change, in its movement, in its action, in its metamorphosis, and thus the relevance of digitalisation processes in this regard becomes evident. Therefore, the archive is not only an issue of memory, but also a question yet to come, of conformation both of the future and subjectivities (Derrida 1967b, 1995). In this context, the present work advances the emergence of a digital subject with the emergence of new media, and theorises that the constitution of this subject happens by assuming a ‘point of view’ (Deleuze 1988) in the technological unconscious (Vaccari 1979). Reflecting upon the effects of digitalisation and actualisation (Deleuze 1968) on the subject, on how the digitised artwork and event affects, and changes, the subject observing and interacting with it, the present research will demonstrate that it is pertinent to talk about a subject who is embodied in the digital. In this sense, if the digitised artwork in the archive needs a subject to be actualised, this process also has its consequences for the subject. Therefore, the digital subject is the possibility of actualisation of the archive, and at the same time changes with it: she assumes an always-different ‘point of view’ constituted for her by the floating signifier in the technological unconscious. All these theories, which are part of the posthuman, are presented as the actual overcoming of modernism to show that the readymade as medium is, at the same time, both one of the points of rupture and the key link to bring back new media and art theory as art at large.

Doctor of Philosophy / Environmental Design and Planning Program / Robert J. Condia / The unique contribution of Vision and the Experience of Built Environments is its specific investigation into the visual processing system of the mind in relationship with the features of awareness and embodiment during the experience of architecture. Each facet of this investigation reflects the essential ingredients of sensation (the visual system), perception (our awareness), and emotions (our embodiment) respectively as a process for aesthetically experiencing our built environments. In regards to our visual system, it is well established in neuroscience that human vision divides into the central and peripheral fields of view. Central vision extends from the point of gaze (where we are looking) out to about 5° of visual angle (the width of one’s fist at arm’s length), while peripheral vision is the vast remainder of the visual field. These visual fields project to the parvo and magno ganglion cells which process distinctly different types of information from the world around us and project that information to the ventral and dorsal visual streams respectively. Building on the dorsal/ventral stream dichotomy, we can further distinguish between focal processing of central vision and ambient processing of peripheral vision. Thus, our visual processing of, and attention to, objects and scenes depends on how and where these stimuli fall on the retina. Built environments are no exception to these dependencies, specifically in terms of how focal object perception and ambient spatial perception create intellectual and phenomenal experiences respectively with architecture. These two forms of visual processing limit and guide our perception of the built world around us and subsequently our projected and extended embodied interactions with it as manifested in the act of aesthetic experience. By bringing peripheral vision and central vision together in a balanced perspective we will more fully understand that our aesthetic relationship with our built environment is greatly dependent on the dichotomous visual mechanisms of awareness and embodiment.

abstract: No Doors: A Personal Exploration of Movement and Technology, details the interdisciplinary strategies that were used in the making of a series of interactive/reactive/immersive (IRI) installations that drew audiences into an experience and encouraged active observation and/or participation. The interdisciplinary IRI installations described in this document combined movement, sculpture, production design, and various forms of media and technology with environments in which participants had agency. In the process of developing this work, the artist considered several concepts and practices: site-specific, various technologies, real-time processing, participant experience, embodied exploration, and hidden activity. Throughout the creative process, the researcher conducted a series of four focus labs in which a small audience was invited to engage with the work as a way of gathering data about the effectiveness of the installations in facilitating active audience observation and/or participation. The data collected after each focus lab informed the revision of the work in preparation for the next focus lab, with the ultimate result being the production of a final exhibition of five interdisciplinary IRI installations. The installations detailed in this document were loosely based on five elements: water, fire, air, earth, and spirit. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Dance 2018

Cette recherche analyse trois projets de recherche dans lesquels des technologies sont portées sur le corps et productrices d'informations sur celui-ci. Au carrefour de la sociologie du corps et des techniques, nous interrogeons des formes de couplage qui ne sont jamais données a priori mais sont en constantes négociations. La situation d'expérimentation se révèle en tant qu'épreuve pour le corps comme pour la technique. L'un et l'autre transportent un véritable réseau socio-technique d'objets, de lieux, d'expériences, de personnes, de routines et d'expertises ; leur confrontation fait émerger des définitions multiples du corps et de la technique. Nous montrons comment l'expertise corporelle, cette intime connaissance de son propre corps et de celui des autres, cette profonde expérience de l'interaction et de la médiation, resurgit dans l'action comme autant de résistances. L'expertise corporelle arbitre ces définitions parfois concurrentes. Nous analysons alors ces épreuves et la façon dont elles questionnent le corps et le processus de conception technologique. / This work focuses on three research projects in which technologies are worn on the body and produce information about it. At the crossroads of sociology of the body and sociology of technology, we investigate forms of coupling that are never taken for granted but constantly evolving. The experimental situation is like a trial for the body and for technology. They both carry a socio-technical network of objects, places, experiences, people, routines and expertise; their confrontation reveals multiple definitions of the body and of technology. We show how bodily expertise – an intimate knowledge of one's own body and that of others, a profound experience of interaction and mediation – reappears as a resistance within action. Bodily expertise arbitrates these sometimes contradictory definitions. Therefore, we analyse these trials and how they question the body and the technological design process.

La culpabilité est une émotion introspective résultant de la réflexion sur l'association entre le soi et ses propres torts. Parce que la culpabilité montre les aspects probablement désagréables du soi, les individus sont motivés à se déculpabiliser. D'après les théories traditionnelles de la culpabilité, la culpabilité vient de processus cognitifs de haut niveau et son intensité dépend du niveau d'attribution de la faute au soi. Ces théories, fondées sur les théories standards de cognition, soulignent les aspects intellectuels et rationnels de la culpabilité. Les théories de l'embodiment rejettent la séparation entre les états corporels et situationnels et la connaissance. Les stimuli sociaux peuvent produire des états somatiques et susciter des réponses dans le soi. Les états corporels et viscéraux du soi peuvent susciter des états affectifs. Selon les théories personnifiées, la culpabilité doit aussi être influencée par des états corporels et situationnels. Nos études ont visé à comprendre les influences des facteurs corporels et contextuels sur la culpabilité et la déculpabilisation. Une première étude (N=65) a comparé l'efficacité de l'observation et de la personnification de nettoyage sur la déculpabilisation. Les résultats ont montré que (a) l'observation de nettoyage a pu déculpabiliser les individus et les conduire à se comporter moins prosocialement mais qu'elle était moins efficace que la personnification de nettoyage ; (b) la personnification du concept de nettoyage a pu apaiser les jugements moraux sévères. Deux études (N=393) ont ensuite exploré l'effet de l'approbation sociale sur la déculpabilisation au moyen de la personnification du concept de la propreté. Les résultats ont montré que l'approbation sociale était un facteur important dans la personnification du concept de la propreté et qu'elle a pu modérer l'effet du concept de propreté sur la déculpabilisation. Deux études (N=141) ont enfin analysé l'effet de l'épuisement et de la restauration d'énergie sur la culpabilité et la déculpabilisation. Les résultats ont montré que l'épuisement a diminué le sentiment de culpabilité puis le comportement prosocial, et que la restauration d'énergie a pu restaurer la capacité d'éprouver de la culpabilité. Nos travaux montrent que, la culpabilité est une émotion morale et prosociale qui est dépendante de facteurs corporels et situationnels. Des changements de statuts corporels et contextuels peuvent contribuer à déculpabiliser les individus. / Guilt is an introspective emotion resulting from the reflection on the association between the self and one's own wrongs. Because guilt shows the undesirable aspects of the self, people are motivated not to feel guilt. According to traditional theories of guilt, guilt comes from high-level cognitive processes and its intensity depends on the extent to which the fault is attributed to the self. These theories, which are based on standard theories of cognition, emphasize the intellectual and rational aspect of guilt. Embodied theories reject the separation between situational and bodily states and knowledge. Social stimuli can produce somatic states and elicit responses in the self. The visceral and bodily states in the self can generate affective states. According to embodied theories, guilt could also be influenced by bodily and situational states. Our research aimed to understand the influences of bodily and contextual factors on guilt and reducing guilt. One study (N = 65) compared the efficacy of observation of cleansing and the embodied cleaning on reducing guilt. The results showed that the observation of cleaning could make people feel less guilty and lead them to behave less prosocially. But it was less effective than embodied cleansing. Two studies (N = 393) explored the effect of social approval on reducing guilt through the embodiment of the concept of cleanliness. The results showed that social approval was an important factor in embodiment of the concept of cleanliness and it could moderate the effect of the concept of cleanliness on removing guilt. Two studies (N = 141) studied the effect of depletion and restoration of energy on guilt and reducing guilt. The results showed that depletion could reduce guilt feelings and subsequent prosocial behavior and that restoration of energy could restore the ability to feel guilt. In conclusion, guilt is a moral and prosocial emotion which is dependent on bodily and situational factors. Changes in bodily and contextual states can cause people to feel less guilty.

A dissertação é o resultado do entrecruzamento de três categorias artísticas: dança, artes plásticas e literatura. Ela tem início através do embate com a performance Outdoor Piece, do artista plástico Tehching Hsieh, feita idealizável quando comparada à questão do movimento bem como a outros artistas e obras literárias. Sempre a partir da proposta feita ao movimento impulso a pesquisa propõe a aceitação do ceticismo em relação à abrangência da linguagem artística, declinando o declínio do conceito Dança. O impulso é pensado como palavra de movimento, transitória e trivial, que recepciona as imagens do mundo. Enquanto ação andarilha, propõe o estado de trânsito como argumento para a arte e sua história. Através da vivência de seu experimento a arte encontra a condição anacrônica, revelando a tolerância da artisticidade para com as imagens do mundo e com a própria história da arte; o impulso apresenta o ordinário como condição artística. / The dissertation is the result of the intersection between three different artistic categories: dance, visual arts and literature. It originates from the confrontation with the performance Outdoor Piece, by the visual artist Tehching Hsieh, which was made ideal when compared to the movement issues as well as to other artists and artworks. Always stemming from the proposal of movement as impulse, the research sustains the argument of skepticism in relation to the art languages as a possibility of the survival of Dance as a concept. The impulse can be thought of as a trivial and transitory word movement used to translate the images of the world. The wanderer attitude is the argument presented to art and art history when they can reveal themselves more tolerant to the world and historical images and more anachronous. The impulse presents the ordinary as an art condition.