While online video communication has become a part of many people's lives, it still lacks an important aspect of human interaction – eye contact. Conventional technology does not provide the ability to share eye contact online. The NUNA machine is a unique communication unit that enables this shared virtual eye contact (VEC). The aim of this study was to explore how people experience VEC in a virtual therapeutic setting, specifically in a Motivational Interview (MI). This experience was specifically juxtapositioned to an in-person setting as it provides eye contact as a natural part of the conversation. Research questions included how participants would experience eye contact in a MI setting in 1) a video conference with shared eye contact and 2) an in-person conversation, how participants would make sense of the perceived differences between the settings, and which value participants saw in VEC. In the MI, participants first spoke to each other using the NUNAs and then seamlessly continued their conversation in-person. After this exposure, they took part in qualitative interviews sharing their experience and how they made sense of it. These qualitative interviews were then analyzed by conducting qualitative content analysis. In total, 10 university students, approximately in their 20s, were interviewed. The results suggest that VEC acts as an antagonist to the disembodiment that is inherent to virtual interactions by providing connection and increasing the degree of realness with which the vis-à-vis is perceived. It further revealed that the NUNA setting provided a focused environment in which participants felt like they could work on their emotions and feel validated by and committed to their vis-à-vis. Thus, VEC may strengthen therapeutic alliance and be a promising tool for online psychotherapy by providing a higher degree of realness as would be natural for in-person conversations. / Videokommunikation online har blivit en del av många människors liv, men det saknas fortfarande en viktig aspekt av mänsklig interaktion - ögonkontakt. Konventionell teknik ger inte möjlighet att ha ögonkontakt online. NUNA-maskinen är en unik kommunikationsenhet som möjliggör denna delade virtuella ögonkontakt (VEC). Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka hur människor upplever VEC i en virtuell terapeutisk miljö, särskilt i en motiverande intervju (MI). Den här upplevelsen var särskilt jämförbar med en personlig miljö eftersom ögonkontakt är en naturlig del av samtalet. Forskningsfrågorna omfattade hur deltagarna skulle uppleva ögonkontakt i en MI-miljö i 1) en videokonferens med ögonkontakt och 2) ett personligt samtal, hur deltagarna skulle förstå de upplevda skillnaderna mellan miljöerna och vilket värde deltagarna såg i VEC. I MI-miljön talade deltagarna först med varandra med hjälp av NUNA och fortsatte sedan sömlöst sitt samtal i en personlig konversation. Efter denna exponering deltog de i kvalitativa intervjuer där de delade med sig av sina erfarenheter och hur de tolkade dem. Dessa kvalitativa intervjuer analyserades sedan med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Sammanlagt intervjuades 10 universitetsstudenter, ungefär i 20-årsåldern. Resultaten tyder på att VEC fungerar som en antagonist till den kroppslöshet som är inneboende i virtuella interaktioner genom att tillhandahålla anslutning och öka graden av realitet med vilken motparten uppfattas. Vidare framkom att NUNA-miljön skapade en fokuserad miljö där deltagarna kände att de kunde bearbeta sina känslor och känna sig bekräftade av och engagerade i sin samtalspartner. VEC kan således stärka den terapeutiska alliansen och vara ett lovande verktyg för psykoterapi på nätet genom att ge en högre grad av realitet, vilket vore naturligt vid personliga samtal.

During face-to-face meetings, humans use multimodal information, including verbal information, visual information, body language, facial expressions, and other non-verbal gestures. In contrast, during computer-mediated-communication (CMC), humans rely either on mono-modal information such as text-only, voice-only, or video-only or on bi-modal information by using audiovisual modalities such as video teleconferencing. Psychologically, the difference between the two lies in the level of the subjective experience of presence, where people perceive a reduced feeling of presence in the case of CMC. Despite the current advancements in CMC, it is still far from face-to-face communication, especially in terms of the experience of presence. This thesis aims to introduce new concepts, theories, and technologies for presence design where the core is actions for creating presence. Thus, the contribution of the thesis can be divided into a technical contribution and a knowledge contribution. Technically, this thesis details novel technologies for improving presence experience during mediated communication (video teleconferencing). The proposed technologies include action robots (including a telepresence mechatronic robot (TEBoT) and a face robot), embodied control techniques (head orientation modeling and virtual reality headset based collaboration), and face reconstruction/retrieval algorithms. The introduced technologies enable action possibilities and embodied interactions that improve the presence experience between the distantly located participants. The novel setups were put into real experimental scenarios, and the well-known social, spatial, and gaze related problems were analyzed. The developed technologies and the results of the experiments led to the knowledge contribution of this thesis. In terms of knowledge contribution, this thesis presents a more general theoretical conceptual framework for mediated communication technologies. This conceptual framework can guide telepresence researchers toward the development of appropriate technologies for mediated communication applications. Furthermore, this thesis also presents a novel strong concept – presence through actions - that brings in philosophical understandings for developing presence- related technologies. The strong concept - presence through actions is an intermediate-level knowledge that proposes a new way of creating and developing future 'presence artifacts'. Presence- through actions is an action-oriented phenomenological approach to presence that differs from traditional immersive presence approaches that are based (implicitly) on rationalist, internalist views.

Abstracts in Afrikaans and English / Inklusiewe onderrig ondersteun die insluiting van alle leerders met verskillende behoeftes en vaardighede in klaskamers, wat baie keer te groot, of te verskillend vir doeltreffende onderrig is. Beweging as deel van ‘n vroeë leerervaring is noodsaaklik vir optimale neurale ontwikkeling. Dit beïnvloed organisasie en stimuleer die spesifieke neurologiese sisteme nodig vir optimale funksionering en ontwikkeling van die brein. Sensoriese integrasie disfunksie word gesien as die wortel van baie leerprobleme. Die vestibulêre sisteem is direk verbind met die sensoriese en motoriese sisteme. ‘n Sensoriese integrasie disfunksie het ‘n duidelike invloed op die vestibulêre sisteem. Die vestibulêre sisteem het baie interkonneksies met baie dele in die brein, byvoorbeeld propriosepsie en die tassisteem. Doeltreffende funksionering van die sensoriese, motoriese en vestibulêre sisteme word verlang vir ‘n hoë vlak van prestasieverrigting in sport en akademie. Wanneer die vestibulêre sisteem gestimuleer word, het dit ‘n direkte positiewe invloed op die sensoriese en motoriese ontwikkeling van leerders. Die doel van hierdie studie was om te bepaal wat die persepsie van grondslagfase-onderwysers en ouers is oor die rol en voordele wat vestibulêre oefeninge te weeg kan bring in die motoriese en sensoriese ontwikkeling van leerders. Leerders in graad 1 van ‘n privaatskool, asook van grade 2 en 3 van ‘n plaasskool is gekies as deelnemers in die studie. Die keuse van leerders was op grond van die bereidwilligheid van hulle en hul ouers om aan die studie deel te neem. Leerders het ‘n vestibulêre oefenprogram drie maal per week gedoen vir die tydperk van agt weke. Observasie-vraelyste is deur onderwysers en ouers ingevul na afloop van die derde sessie elke week. Vir die vraelys het ouers en onderwysers gekyk na die verbetering in aandagspan, konsentrasie, luistervaardigheid, oogkontak, sosiale interaksie en samewerking. Onderhoude is met ouers en onderwysers gedoen na aanleiding van die observasievraelyste wat vir die agt weke voltooi is. Transkripsies van die onderhoude is gedoen en afleidings is gemaak deur analise van die observasie-vraelyste en die getranskribeerde onderhoude. Al ses die ontwikkelingsareas by beide skole het verbetering getoon oor die agt weke. Dit dui daarop dat vestibulêre oefeninge wel ‘n invloed op die sensoriese en motoriese ontwikkeling het. / Inclusive education promotes the inclusion of learners with different needs and capabilities in classes which are often too big and diverse for effective teaching. Movement as an early learning experience is necessary for optimal neural development. It influences organisation and stimulates the specific neurological systems required for optimal functioning and development of the brain. Sensory integrative dysfunction is believed to be at the root of many learning disorders. The vestibular system is directly connected with the sensory and motor systems. The vestibular system will be directly affected when a sensory integrations dysfunction presents. In fact, the vestibular system has many interconnections with almost every other part of the brain like proprioception and the tactile system. Proper functioning of the sensory, motor and vestibular systems is required for higher level performance in sport and academics. When the vestibular system is stimulated, it will result in a positive influence on the sensory and motor development of learners. The aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of foundation phase teachers and parents regarding the role or benefits of vestibular exercises in promoting learners’ motor and sensory development. Learners in Grade 1 of a private school and Grade 2 and 3 learners of a farm school in the northern Free State were selected as participants in the research. Learners were selected on the basis of the willingness of them and their parents to participate in the research. The participants did exercise sessions three times a week for thirty minutes over a period of eight weeks. Observation sheets were completed for all eight weeks, for the duration of the exercise program, by teachers and parents. These sheets were completed weekly after the third sessions in that week. The observation sheets listed concentration, attention span, listening, eye contact, cooperation, social interaction and self-esteem as developmental areas. Interviews were done after the period of eight weeks with the parents and teachers. The interviews conducted with both parties were taped and meticulously transcribed. This helped the researcher to get a better understanding of the study and to analise data and draw conclusions.All six areas of development showed improvement at both schools over the period of eight weeks. This indicates that stimulating the vestibular system promotes sensory and motor development. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inklusiewe Onderwys)