This essay deals with the subject of communication through Facebook. In this survey we studied 100 youths from Karlstad and their communication habits and behavior patterns on Facebook. The social network site Facebook has since its start in 2004 made a mark in modern communication. Today in 2010 the site has more than 500 million users. This paper wants to study what happens to other types of communication. Has the increased use of computer-mediated communication led us away from face to face or has it encouraged us to use face- to face communication more often? Our target group for this study is people attending their final year in high school. In this study we have been using both qualitative- and quantitative methods to collect our data. The result of the study suggests that a big part in our target group is happy to use Facebook or other computer-mediated sites as ways of their communication. Partly because they think it is a convenient way to communicate but also because they find it easier to get in touch with people, both close friends and people they have never met, by using computer-mediated communication instead of face-to-face communication. Virtually all in our target group suggests that Facebook has helped them in their communication and that they are more social now than before. This paper also has sought to illuminate if shy people can be helped to establish social ties through computer-mediated communication.Keywords: Facebook, communication, face-to-face, computer-mediated communication and shyness

This thesis presents a robust face recognition method and a combination of methods for gender identification and age group classification for semantic annotation of videos. Local binary pattern histogram which has 256 bins and pixel intensity differences are used as extracted facial features for gender classification. DCT Mod2 features and edge detection results around facial landmarks are used as extracted facial features for age group classification. In gender classification module, a Random Trees classifier is trained with LBP features and an adaboost classifier is trained with pixel intensity differences. DCT Mod2 features are used for training of a Random Trees classifier and LBP features around facial landmark points are used for training another Random Trees classifier in age group classification module. DCT Mod2 features of the detected faces morped by two dimensional face morphing method based on Active Appearance Model and Barycentric Coordinates are used as the inputs of the nearest neighbor classifier with weights obtained from the trained Random Forest classifier in face identification module. Different feature extraction methods are tried and compared and the best achievements in the face recognition module to be used in the method chosen. We compared our classification results with some successful earlier works results in our experiments performed with same datasets and got satisfactory results.

<p>Chatroom conversations often elicit an initial impression of chaos. This is probably chiefly due to disrupted adjacency sequences, but also a result of the language being rich in non-standard linguistic forms and grammar. This study explores chatroom conversations with reference to Grice’s (1975) cooperative principle and the maxims that accompany it, and compares them to real life conversations. The aim is to see whether they differ from real life conversations to the extent expected, and whether these differences give rise to any compensational strategies to ensure successful communication. The results reveal a slightly higher amount of maxim undermining in the chat room than in the real life conversations, but not as high as expected. Accordingly, few compensational strategies need be adopted. It is suggested that the main explanation for these findings is that chatroom users have adapted their conversation patterns to the medium.</p>

Background and Objectives Self - report data is known to be unrel iable and susceptible to factors such as social desirability bias. Methods used for collecting self - report data has thus far been unsuccessful in ameliorating known obstacles to honest self - disclosure. Considering the current HIV/AIDS pandemic and relate d health crises, it is imperative that self - report data is an accurate depiction of reality, since it informs research requirements and designs as well as intervention designs and the evaluation of the efficacy of the interventions. Aim To evaluate and co mpare the efficacy of the Informal Confidential Voting Interview (ICVI) to the FTFI (Face - to - Face Interview) and the SAQ (Self - Administered Questionnaire) in enhancing self - disclosure and minimizing social desirability bias on sensitive topics of sexual ex perience and sexual activity. Study Design A sample of 110 undergraduate and post - graduate students at various tertiary education institutions in Pietermaritzburg were randomly allocated to the ICVI, the SAQ or the FTFI. The ICVI combined a face - to - face interview with a voting box method devised to enhance response anonymity. The FTFI and the SAQ were administered according to a standardized procedure to maximize confidentiality and self - disclosure. Results The self - disclosure scores were significant ly higher for the ICVI in comparison to the FTFI and the SAQ, with a p = 0.005. Post - hoc tests revealed that the ICVI performed significantly better in self - disclosure scores than the FTFI with p = 0.022 and the SAQ with p = 0.015. There was no significa nt difference in self - disclosure scores between the SAQ and the FTFI. Using the Marlowe - Crowne scale of social desirability bias, a significant difference in social desirability bias scores were achieved with p = 0.043. However, the post - hoc analysis ind icated no affirmative significant mean difference in social desirability score among any of the methods. Males displayed greater self - disclosure than females with p = 0.013, but for both sexes the ICVI group achieved the highest mean self - disclosure score s than the FTFI - and the SAQ group. Conclusion The results of this study concluded that the employment of ICVI fundamentally resulted in better quality data than the SAQ and the FTFI on topics of sensitivity and controversial behaviours. The findings ar e suggestive of the successful implementation of the ICVI method across potentially diverse research contexts that rely on self - report data, as the method is adaptable to the target population and its characteristics. Further research is warranted to buil d on its current design and facilitate the implementation of the ICVI across the wide disciplines of self - report data. / Thesis (M.Sc.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, [2009]

Computer-mediated environments such as social media create new social climates that impact communication interactions in un-mediated environments. This study examined social variables during conversations on Twitter through a qualitative document analysis that coded messages into affective, interactive or cohesive categories. Perceived social presence, participant satisfaction, and relationships between social presence and satisfaction among Twitter users during streaming conversations were examined through an online questionnaire that was created using qualtrics.com and made available to respondents over a one-week period. The researcher concluded that most social variables in the Twitter conversations of this study fall into the interactive social presence category. In addition, each category of responses functions in a different way to foster social presence. Two groups of survey respondents agreed with 10 out of 21 and 13 out of 21 statements about social presence and 10 out of 13 and 12 out of 13 statements about satisfaction. Findings indicated that positive and negative relationships exist between social presence and satisfaction. Both conversations in this study appeared to be successful. Therefore, agricultural communicators should feel comfortable using CMC more frequently to circulate agricultural information among populations across the globe. It was recommended that further research be conducted to examine social presence among new topics, populations, and other forms of CMC.

A face authentication system based on principal component analysis and neural networks is developed in this thesis. The system consists of three stages / preprocessing, principal component analysis, and recognition. In preprocessing stage, normalization illumination, and head orientation were done. Principal component analysis is applied to find the aspects of face which are important for identification. Eigenvectors and eigenfaces are calculated from the initial face image set. New faces are projected onto the space expanded by eigenfaces and represented by weighted sum of the eigenfaces. These weights are used to identify the faces. Neural network is used to create the face database and recognize and authenticate the face by using these weights. In this work, a separate network was build for each person. The input face is projected onto the eigenface space first and new descriptor is obtained. The new descriptor is used as input to each person&amp / #8217 / s network, trained earlier. The one with maximum output is selected and reported as the host if it passes predefined recognition threshold. The algorithms that have been developed are tested on ORL, Yale and Feret Face Databases.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Computer Science, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Σε αυτή την εργασία μελετώνται οι διαφορές μεταξύ της δια ζώσης και της εξ αποστάσεως συνεργασίας στα πλαίσια μιας υπολογιστικά υποστηριζόμενης άσκησης μοντελοποίησης. Ένα μαθηματικό πρόβλημα σχεδιάστηκε και δόθηκε στους συμμετέχοντες. Εξετάστηκε σε βάθος η διαδικασία μοντελοποίησης στο ModellingSpace, ένα υπολογιστικά υποστηριζόμενο και συνεργατικό περιβάλλον μάθησης. Δεκαέξι μαθητές γ’ Γυμνασίου συμμετείχαν στην έρευνα και δούλεψαν σε δυάδες. Οι μισές δυάδες εργάστηκαν δια ζώσης, ενώ οι υπόλοιπες δούλεψαν εξ αποστάσεως. Η ανάλυση δεδομένων εστίασε στην αναγνώριση γνωστικών στρατηγικών μοντελοποίησης. Τα αποτελέσματα προτείνουν ότι οι δυάδες που εργάστηκαν εξ αποστάσεως έδωσαν έμφαση στην ανάλυση και στη σύνθεση, καθώς παρουσίασαν υψηλότερη μαθησιακή απόδοση (διαφορά προτεστ και μετατεστ), ενώ οι δια ζώσης δυάδες χρειάστηκαν την υποστήριξη του δασκάλου και παρουσίασαν ισχυρότερες κοινωνικές αλληλεπιδράσεις. Παρόλο το γεγονός ότι οι ενέργειες των δυάδων δια ζώσης ήταν περισσότερες σε αριθμό, οι δυάδες που εργάστηκαν εξ αποστάσεως φαίνεται ότι εστίασαν περισσότερο στη δραστηριότητα. Σχετικά με τις αλληλεπιδράσεις και στις δύο ομάδες παρουσιάστηκε διερευνητική ομιλία προς την επίλυση του προβλήματος. Επιπλέον λιγότερες φάνηκαν να είναι οι διαφωνίες μεταξύ των συνεργατών. Τα αποτελέσματα μπορούν να δώσουν ερμηνείες για τη σχεδίαση μαθησιακών προγραμμάτων και για τη διευκόλυνση των συνεργατικών δραστηριοτήτων. / In this study, the differences between online and face-to-face collaboration in the context of a computer-supported modeling task are examined. A mathematical problem was designed and given to the participants. Their modeling process using ModellingSpace, a collaborative computer-supported educational environment, was closely monitored. Sixteen ninth grade students participated in the study, who worked in groups of two. Half of the groups worked face-to-face, whereas the rest collaborated online. The data analysis focused on the identification of cognitive modeling strategies. The obtained results suggest that pairs who worked online emphasized on analysis and synthesis and demonstrated a higher learning gain, whereas face-to-face pairs needed the teacher’s support and demonstrated stronger social interaction. Despite the fact that the actions of face-to-face dyads were more in number, the dyads that worked online seemed to present more task oriented actions. Regarding the interactions, in both groups a mutual exploration of the problem is depicted. Moreover, few disagreements were observed. The findings, which are discussed extensively, may have a number of implications for the design of learning programs and the facilitation of collaborative tasks.

[pt] Os sistemas colaborativos presenciais para pessoas com Transtorno do Espectro Autista (SiCoP-TEA) possuem diferentes tipos de estratégias para motivar ou forçar a colaboração entre os usuários. Porém, mesmo os sistemas desenvolvidos para esse público, não consideram noções de suporte à percepção para esses usuários, que apresentam dificuldades no entendimento dos conceitos mais básicos de uma atividade colaborativa. Os usuários com TEA apresentam dificuldade para reconhecer e interpretar gestos e estados mentais dos outros, o que limita a sua capacidade de entender os sinais e informações implícitas que são essenciais para a percepção do que ocorre ao seu redor e, consequentemente, para a realização de atividades colaborativas. Nesta tese são investigadas algumas questões sobre como oferecer suporte à percepção, principalmente para usuários com níveis mais severos de TEA, com o intuito de formular e avaliar um conjunto de estratégias de colaboração para apoiar a concepção de SiCoP-TEA com características mais apropriadas para eles. Para tal fim, e utilizando a Pesquisa-Ação como método de pesquisa, foram realizados quatro ciclos de pesquisa de ação e reflexão sobre soluções propostas, levando à concepção das estratégias de colaboração pretendidas. Nesse processo cíclico, verificou-se que, para melhor apoiar o processo de colaboração, os SiCoP-TEA devem oferecer para os usuários elementos de percepção (baseados em determinados requisitos) em diferentes níveis de aproximação da colaboração, bem como atividades que incentivem gradativamente o conhecimento das dimensões que formam a colaboração. Esses aspectos compõem o conjunto das estratégias de colaboração concebido nesta tese. / [en] Face-to-Face collaborative systems for people with autism spectrum disorders use strategies to motivate/force the collaboration among users. However, even the collaborative applications developed for this public, still do not consider notions of awareness for these users that present difficulties to understand the most basic concepts of a collaborative activity. Users with autism present difficulties to recognize and to interpret gestures and mental states of others, which restricts their capacity to understand implicit information that are essential to being aware of what is happening around them, and consequently, to perform the collaborative activities. In this work, we investigate some questions about how to offer awareness support, especially for users with low-functioning autism, in order to formulate and evaluate a set of collaborative strategies to support the design of more appropriate collaborative systems. For this purpose, we used the research-action methodology. Following this methodology, we perform four research cycles of action and reflection about proposed solutions, so that we could conceive the set of collaborative strategies proposed. In this cyclic process, we verified that collaborative systems shall offer awareness mechanisms in the interface (based on certain requirements) in different levels of approximation of the collaboration as well as activities to get users to know each dimension of collaboration, and gradually understanding it as a whole. These aspects compose the set of collaborative strategies conceived in this work.

abstract: With the rapid growth of mobile computing and sensor technology, it is now possible to access data from a variety of sources. A big challenge lies in linking sensor based data with social and cognitive variables in humans in real world context. This dissertation explores the relationship between creativity in teamwork, and team members' movement and face-to-face interaction strength in the wild. Using sociometric badges (wearable sensors), electronic Experience Sampling Methods (ESM), the KEYS team creativity assessment instrument, and qualitative methods, three research studies were conducted in academic and industry R&D; labs. Sociometric badges captured movement of team members and face-to-face interaction between team members. KEYS scale was implemented using ESM for self-rated creativity and expert-coded creativity assessment. Activities (movement and face-to-face interaction) and creativity of one five member and two seven member teams were tracked for twenty five days, eleven days, and fifteen days respectively. Day wise values of movement and face-to-face interaction for participants were mean split categorized as creative and non-creative using self- rated creativity measure and expert-coded creativity measure. Paired-samples t-tests [t(36) = 3.132, p < 0.005; t(23) = 6.49 , p < 0.001] confirmed that average daily movement energy during creative days (M = 1.31, SD = 0.04; M = 1.37, SD = 0.07) was significantly greater than the average daily movement of non-creative days (M = 1.29, SD = 0.03; M = 1.24, SD = 0.09). The eta squared statistic (0.21; 0.36) indicated a large effect size. A paired-samples t-test also confirmed that face-to-face interaction tie strength of team members during creative days (M = 2.69, SD = 4.01) is significantly greater [t(41) = 2.36, p < 0.01] than the average face-to-face interaction tie strength of team members for non-creative days (M = 0.9, SD = 2.1). The eta squared statistic (0.11) indicated a large effect size. The combined approach of principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) conducted on movement and face-to-face interaction data predicted creativity with 87.5% and 91% accuracy respectively. This work advances creativity research and provides a foundation for sensor based real-time creativity support tools for teams. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Computer Science 2011