One idea common in the computer industry today is that by the time a technological innovation reaches the mass market it is already obsolete. News of recent technological developments race quickly through the computer industry, creating large scale competition among various businesses for the dollars of both educational institutions and industries. In an effort to produce sophisticated and powerful software readily accessible to users whose area of expertise is not programming, software developers have increasingly turned toward the simplest form of language and concept representation--the icon. As icons become increasingly sophisticated and their function grows, so will their availability in various interfaces. The number of users who operate them will also increase. Advanced help systems and animation will assist in relieving some difficulties while creating others. In either case, icon recognizability will be a crucial factor for anyone (novice or expert) who will use them. The purpose of this study was to verify whether all users unfamiliar with a graphical user interface (GUI) system, specifically icons, will require assistance with 40' "W those icons that are unrecognizable in either form or function. Based on the results of this study, an icon recognizability does exist among different groups of computer users. This recognizability is based upon the experience of the users and not upon the type of software they may use most often.

Online dating has transformed the way in which modern romance is perceived. As a consequence, creating trust on these digital platforms has become more important than ever before. One of the most popular ways to enhance users’ trust in digital settings is the process of verification, followed by obtaining a verification badge as a result. These icons have an established meaning that the user to which they belong has verified their identity. Yet, the influence that the design of verification badges on dating applications has on users’ trust remains unknown. In this thesis, the impact of badge design elements, specifically color and shape on users’ trust will be explored with the use of an online semi-structured survey. Participants are presented with three badge designs, differing in color and shape, prompting them to evaluate their perceived trustworthiness. By incorporating both qualitative and quantitative data, the research enables a mix of a comprehensive analysis of answers to open-ended questions that allow for a deeper understanding of the reasoning behind made choices, and a thorough examination of the close-ended ones, which represent the perceptions statistically. Through descriptive statistical analysis of quantitative data and thematic analysis of qualitative responses, this study aims to find patterns and correlations among the badges’ design attributes that enhance users’ trust. The results of this research strive to enhance comprehension of the influence that design elements have on user perceptions of trust within digital platforms, specifically within the domain of online dating applications. The results from this study show that both color and shape have an impact on trust between users and are heavily impacted by familiarity. This means that it is necessary to use them appropriately when designing dating application interfaces, to avoid confusion and increase the perceptions of trust. Findings also show that women tend to pay greater attention to the design of verification badges compared to men. The knowledge gained in this research may guide the enhancement of verification badge systems, promoting trust and assurance among online daters.

In the evolving landscape of building systems and human-building interaction (HBI), the complexity of building interfaces has significantly increased, posing both challenges and opportunities for enhancing energy consumption, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), and building services. This dissertation, titled "User-centered Evaluation of Multi-modal Building Interfaces," delves into the realm of HBI by focusing on the user's experience and perception of multimodal building control interfaces, particularly the various visual modalities of Connected Thermostats (CTs). This body of work aims to support CTs' ongoing adoption, expansion, and performance through a user-centered perspective. The research is motivated by the observation that the design process in the current building industry often overlooks a human-centered approach, leading to a disconnection between occupants' needs and building interface design. This misalignment not only results in user dissatisfaction but also leads to a missed opportunity in leveraging smart building technologies to enhance building performance for achieving climate change mitigation goals. This research attempts to address the main identified gaps in the literature and AEC industry concerning 1) human interaction and perception of multimodal CT interfaces,2) the scarcity of knowledge in the field of human-computer-building interaction (HCBI) regarding the user study methods, 3) the exiting highly non-standard practices in the design of building interfaces. This research highlights 1) the necessity of a multimodal interaction approach, 2) robust mixed-methods User Experience (UX) summative evaluation studies, and 3) the need for standardization in HCBI. This body of work is grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Human Information Processing (HIP) theories, aiming to foster the adoption of connected building controls with a special focus on usability by suggesting best practices in design and research. The methodology comprised three-step mixed-methods summative evaluation studies designed using a funnel approach to answer the general question: "How do users interact with connected thermostats, and how do these interactions inform our understanding of human-building interaction?": 1) The first and broadest study leveraged texting mining big data of user reviews to identify the general themes and patterns that affect the UX and acceptance of CTs. 2) The second study employed mixed-methods lab experiments to further focus on usability, being recognized as the most determining factor in the adoption of CTs in the first study. This study investigated human interaction with three of the most prevalent modalities of CTs: the Fixed Visual Display (FVD), the phone app, and the web portal. 3) The third study investigated human interaction with a specific visual aspect of UI of FVD and phone app modalities, the interface icons, with the goal of providing some data-driven guidelines for their standardization. Throughout the three studies, the dissertation employed and evaluated some novel and established HCI summative user evaluation methods, including a grounded theory approach for text mining and analyzing user-generated content, eye-tracking think-aloud protocol and contextual inquiry, A/B testing and NASA TLX and SUS surveys to evaluate UX, usability and mental workload. The dissertation outlined three discrete contributions: 1) It bridged some of the well-established UX research methods into HCBI and highlighted the potential of knowledge in the HCI field, 2) Provided guidance for human-centered design of multimodal building interfaces through identifying the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in UX of CTs, 3) Informed the standardization of UI of multimodal building interfaces. / Doctor of Philosophy / Modern building systems are becoming increasingly complex to enhance energy savings and improve occupant convenience. Traditional buildings are typically controlled by wall-mounted devices that manage lighting, temperature, and security. However, in smart buildings, occupants now have new ways to interact with these systems, including remote control options like smartphone apps. This research explores how people interact with and perceive different types of building controls. Specifically, it compares user experiences with two main types of controls: fixed controls, such as wall-mounted thermostats, and mobile controls, like smartphone apps. The goal is to improve the design of these controls to make them easier to use, widely adopted, and more effective in promoting energy efficiency and comfort. Among building controls, smart residential thermostats are particularly important. How they are designed and how people use them can significantly impact energy use in homes. However, advanced thermostats, especially those with programming features, are often seen as difficult to use for building occupants. Designers sometimes overlook the needs of users due to agile design processes or a limited understanding of user-centered design. These complex interfaces can lead to user frustration and missed opportunities to improve building performance. This research addresses these challenges by studying how people actually interact with different smart thermostat controls, including wall-mounted devices, phone apps, and web portals, emphasizing the importance of designing with user needs in mind. This study identifies the common issues users face with the dashboard of these devices, proposes solutions, and offers best practices for creating user-friendly building controls. This study makes three key contributions: First, it introduces well-known methods from other fields for designing and evaluating technology and applies these methods to evaluate the user experience of building controls. Methods include text analysis of user reviews, surveys, eye-tracking, and user performance measurements, some of which are relatively new in the context of human-building interaction. Additionally, the study provides guidance for future researchers in developing a user-centered framework for building interfaces by comparing these methods. Finally, it helps designers by identifying critical usability problems in building interfaces and highlighting opportunities for improvement.

The present thesis focuses on semiotic aspects of note-taking in consecutive interpreting, in particular with respect to the process of semiosis and factors influencing the interpreters' conception of their notes. Chapter 1 mentions the basic features of note-taking in order to trace its semiotic characteristics in the following parts of the thesis. In Chapter 2, the notes as a specific semiotic system are briefly discussed within the framework of the second Peircean trichotomy of signs (cases of iconicity, indexicality and symbolicity are demonstrated) and in terms of their function, productivity and spatial settings. After these general considerations, Chapter 3 introduces the main theoretical approaches to the technique of note-taking (principally those of the Geneva and Heidelberg schools) including the issues of the languages involved in interpreting or the nature of signs. As the accent is on the process of semiosis (apprehension of signs by interpreters, generating signs according to the meaning of the speech and searching for the motivation for the interpreters' concrete choices of signs and their form), the chapter lists some basic signs and methods well- tested by practitioners. The signs are also analysed in terms of their origin and possibilities of expansion (composition, derivation...

Icons surround us but are so ubiquitous they are difficult to observe. Specifically urban cultural icons are a scientific sub-topic under urban morphology's heading and as well are closely related to economic development issues. This study premises that businesses are urban cultural icons which can be computed into four rankings: local cultural icons, focal, zonal, and global cultural icons. And through using dimensional measurement an index is measured. This index can then be used to assess urban morphology. The data set ranges from businesses opening in 1865 to the present. Some are globally-distributed "big boxes"; others are unique one-store shops. The varied data set includes grocery stores, drug stores, prepared food vendors, confectioneries, coffee houses, electronic stores, and an adult entertainment store. Business rankings are premised upon Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Tönnies, and Oldenburg's places to socialize, and node intensity of social connection. Time is measured linearly and ordinally. Two formats of geographical ranking are assessed against each other, with the expanded version providing greater insights. Transactions are determined by who initiates them and location where employee enters exchange. Business' internal consistency is based upon product-line inclusion and theme-ing. Scaled measurements are summed with a comparison of Weighted-Place Index Scores against non-weighted Index Scores. As well, economic development impact of businesses is analyzed with three principal components loadings: two business survival and one growth mode. Study results support the use of Weighted-Place Index Scores as compared to nonweighted Index scores when formatting cultural icon index. Index score using four-level geographical ranking ranged from zero to 25. Morning Call Coffee House had lowest ranking (Index score of 3) and Best Buy had the highest score of 22. Weighted-Place Index Scores ranged from zero to 32, with Morning Call Coffee House continuing as lowest score and Starbucks, Bad Ass Coffee, as well ApplianceWorld and Best Buy continuing with four highest scores. This study supports a research method which can be used to measure urban change. By applying Index score within same cities at 20-year increments, sprawl process of globalization within cities can be analyzed.

René Burri est un photoreporter, membre de l’Agence Magnum Photos depuis 1955. Certaines de ses photographies sont aujourd’hui considérées comme des icônes de l’histoire de la photographie. L’analyse du système de diffusion de son travail, à travers la presse illustrée, tentera de répondre à la question de la fabrique de ces images en tant que symboles. Cette dense production est traitée en quatre chapitres. Le premier introduit le contexte photographique et éditorial dans lequel arrive René Burri, en 1955. Le deuxième suit l’ordre des publications liées à une prise de vue photojournalistique, événement après événement. Le troisième accompagne, thématiquement, les sujets développés par le photoreporter, quand le troisième replace la photographie au moment de sa reconnaissance institutionnelle. Le travail de René Burri subit dès lors, par la presse illustrée, une sélection par l’icône.Quelle est la relation entre l’œuvre de René Burri et la presse illustrée ? L’analyse des politiques éditoriales des plus grands titres de la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle soutient le discours et atteste de la place de la photographie de René Burri dans la presse illustrée. Cette recherche, au corpus inédit, permet de montrer l’œuvre du photographe sous une approche singulière et, au- delà, permet de voir en quoi la presse illustrée participe à un mode de diffusion exclusif de certaines photographies. En effet, certains clichés, qui avait été sujets à de nombreuses publications sont aujourd’hui oubliés, alors que d’autres, qui n’avaient pas été publiées au moment de leur réalisation, sont aujourd’hui, avec quelques unes qui résonnent toujours, représentatives du parcours du photoreporter. / René Burri, member of Magnum Photos agency since the middle of the fifties, is a famous photographer. Thanks to an exhaustive inventory of all of his published production, the study will bring it out. Through the analysis of the way the work of this swiss photographer has been edited, we could understand how, today, some pictures are kind of iconic. Four chapters analyse this dense production. The first one introduces the photographic and editorial context in which René Burri begins working in 1955. The second, following the order of the publications, event after event, deals with a photojournalistic photography. The third one handles the investigation photography of René Burri, trough a thematic construction. The last section is about the institutional recognition of the photography as an Art, so as some of the photographs are published like pieces of a photographic heritage. René Burri’s work is then broadcasted undergoing an iconic selection. What is the relationship between the work of René Burri and periodicals? The analysis of some greatest titles of the second half of twentieth century’s editorials politics attests of the importance of photography; and furthermore, of René Burri’s pictures. Through an unpublished corpus, the purpose of this study is to show the work of the photograph through an original approach; and, beyond, to see how the press can give a selective vision of this work. Indeed, some of photographs often published by the past are now unknown, although others, which did not appear in periodicals at the moment they were taken, are now very famous. Today, those ones, among vintages ones that still echoe, are representatives of René Burri’s work.

Ce travail propose une présentation de l’icône orthodoxe à partir de la notion d’« Évangile ». En analysant la portée détenue par l’Écriture Sainte en théologie occidentale, il a été possible de présenter l’Évangile comme la Bonne Nouvelle du salut réalisé par le Christ. L’Évangile se donne aux humains dans leur existence terrestre par diverses médiations prises du monde et qui deviennent porteuses de grâce dans leur corporéité même. L’icône est décrite comme porteuse d’Évangile en analogie avec le rôle et la place accordés à l’Écriture Sainte dans différentes traditions chrétiennes. L’icône et l’Écriture sont des formes de parole et peuvent être reconnues, dans la foi, comme des formes de la Parole de Dieu. Outre le fait d’être vecteurs de grâce, d’autres traits rapprochent l’icône et l’Écriture : la corporéité, une note de relativité, l’annonce correcte seulement dans un contexte ecclésial, le témoignage de l’événement de l’Incarnation auquel elles renvoient et dont elles dépendent. / This work provides an approach to the icon starting from the notion of « Gospel ». An analysis of the importance of the Holy Scripture in the western theology allows us to present the Gospel as the Good News of the salvation accomplished by Christ for the humankind. The Gospel is conveyed to the human being in his daily life through various means. These means are mediations taken from the creation and they become grace bearers through their very corporeity. Following an analogy with the role and the importance given to the Holy Scripture throughout different Christian traditions, the icon is described as a « Gospel bearer ». The icon and the Scripture are both a form of the word and they can both be recognized, through faith, as a form of the Word of God. Besides being vectors of grace, the icon and the Scripture share other common characteristics: the corporeity, some amount of relativity, the correct proclamation in the church only, and the witness of the event of the Incarnation.

A presente dissertação está inserida na área de Estudos Comparados de Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa em razão de dialogar com a produção artística de várias culturas e tem o objetivo de analisar a manifestação cultural, histórica e comunicativa, chamada de História em Quadrinhos (HQ), principalmente no que concerne a leitura da imagem e sua relação com diferentes sociedades. Para tanto, realizou-se um levantamento em diferentes linhas de pesquisa das diversas concepções a respeito da História em Quadrinhos, suas distintas nomenclaturas em cada país, bem como de seus limiares e estruturas heterogêneos. A HQ se utiliza tanto de ícones figurativos quanto linguísticos para transmissão de ideias, pensamentos e sentimentos, que pode ocorrer entre uma ou mais pessoas, e utilizar-se de uma ou mais imagens em vários suportes, temáticas e estéticas, na forma de texto para uma ampla gama de intencionalidades. Para um objeto de estudo tão atual e peculiar permitiu-se que ele próprio, o objeto, fosse apontando a metodologia para a pesquisa. A princípio, foi elaborado um perfil espaço-temporal para ressaltar que os fatores que consolidaram os elementos da HQ (como sua linguagem e temática, por exemplo) em dado contexto se deveu mais a fatores externos, mercadológicos ou censores, do que a limitações linguísticas, estéticas ou relativas a necessidade de suportes específicos. Acompanhando a história da História em Quadrinhos é possível perceber sua elasticidade, pois suas relações fundamentais foram construídas de formas tão diversas que poderiam parecer antagônicas. Isso nos levou à segunda parte, um estudo da estrutura da História em Quadrinhos em suas aplicações práticas. Com base em teóricos que estudaram as características da linguagem dos quadrinhos, empregamos suas concepções nas diversas manifestações encontradas, sem traçar fronteiras restritivas nas potencialidades do meio. / The present dissertation is inserted in the area of Comparative Studies of Portuguese Language Literature in order of a dialogue with the artistic production of various cultures and has the objective of analyzing the cultural, historical and communicative manifestation called \"Comics\", mainly in what concerns the reading of the image and its relation with different societies. Therefore, it was realized a survey of the diverse conceptions regarding Comics, its distinctive nomenclatures in each country, as well as of its thresholds and heterogeneous structures. Comics uses both figurative and linguistic icons to transmit ideas, thoughts and feelings, between one or more people, with one or more images in various supports, thematic and aesthetic, in textual form for a wide range of intentions. For an object of study so current and peculiar, it was allowed that the object itself indicated the methodology for the research. At first, a space-time profile was elaborated to emphasize that the factors that consolidated the elements of the HQ (such as their language and thematic, for example) in a given context were due more to external factors, marketing or censors, than to linguistic limitations, aesthetic or relating to the need for specific supports. Accompanying the history of comics is possible to perceive its elasticity, since their fundamental relations were constructed of forms so diverse that could appear antagonistic. This led us to the second part, a study of the structure of comics in its practical applications. Based on theorists who studied the characteristics of Comics language, we used their conceptions in the various manifestations found, without drawing restrictive boundaries in the potentialities of the medium.

In 1960, when Ruby Bridges was six-years-old, she desegregated the formerly all white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana. This thesis traces her formation as a Civil Rights icon and how her icon narratives are influenced by, perpetuate, or challenge hegemonic memory of the Civil Rights Movement. The hegemonic narrative situates the Civil Rights Movement as a triumphant moment of the past, and is based upon the belief that it abolished institutionalized racism, leaving us in a world where lingering prejudice is the result of the failings of individuals. Analysis of narratives about Ruby Bridges by Norman Rockwell, Robert Coles, and Bridges herself show that there is a consistent shift over time in which the icon narratives conform to and reinforce the hegemonic narrative. These icon narratives situate Bridges’ story as a historical account of the past that teaches lessons of how to combat instances of interpersonal racism through kindness and tolerance, and obscures Bridges’ lived experience. These reductive stories demonstrate just how powerful the hegemonic narrative is and create a comforting morality tale that pervades dominant culture and prevents us from understanding and finding ways to combat the institutionalized racism and inequality that still exists within the United States.

This dissertation is composed of three studies that use statistical, behavioral, and neuroimaging methods to investigate Chinese and English speakers’ semantic interpretations of four types of visual information including icons, single Chinese characters, single English words, and pictures. The goal is to examine whether people cognitively process icons as logographical words. By collecting survey data from 211 participants, the first study investigated how differently these four types of visual information can express specific meanings without ambiguity on a quantitative scale. In the second study, 78 subjects participated in a behavioral experiment that measured how fast people could correctly interpret the meaning of these four types of visual information in order to estimate the differences in reaction times needed to process these stimuli. The third study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with 20 participants selected from the second study to identify brain regions that were needed to process these four types of visual information in order to determine if the same or different neural networks were required to process these stimuli. Findings suggest that 1) similar to pictures, icons are statistically more ambiguous than English words and Chinese characters to convey the immediate semantics of objects and concepts; 2) English words and Chinese characters are more effective and efficient than icons and pictures to convey the immediate semantics of objects and concepts in terms of people’s behavioral responses, and 3) according to the neuroimaging data, icons and pictures require more resources of the brain than texts, and the pattern of neural correlates under the condition of reading icons is different from the condition of reading Chinese characters. In conclusion, icons are not cognitively processed as logographical words like Chinese characters although they both stimulate the semantic system in the brain that is needed for language processing. Chinese characters and English words are more evolved and advanced symbols that are less ambiguous, more efficient and easier for a literate brain to understand, whereas graphical representations of objects and concepts such as icons and pictures do not always provide immediate and unambiguous access to meanings and are prone to various interpretations. / text