Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2007. / Title from screen (viewed on June 27, 2007) Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-167)

Text messages can encourage people to carry out their plans, but it is unknown if text messages can encourage people to form plans. The primary objective of our study was to determine whether text messages could promote physical activity plan formation. We determined if text messages about planning increased planning more than text messages about physical activity. We examined whether messages tailored to suit the individual message recipient were especially effective in encouraging planning. Furthermore, we determined if planning was maintained over time. The secondary objective of the study was to determine whether text messages about planning could promote physical activity and strengthen the physical activity intention-behaviour relationship. Participants were inactive adults (n=239, Mage=30.7±4.8yrs) with access to email and text messaging. Participants received generic messages about physical activity, generic messages about planning, or tailored messages about planning. Each week for two months, participants were emailed a tool to plan their physical activity. Whether participants used this tool was assessed at baseline (T0), after one month of receiving text messages (T1) and after an additional month without text messages (T2). There were no differences in planning between groups that received messages about planning or physical activity at T1 or T2, ps>.05. More participants who received tailored text messages about planning made at least one plan by T1 than participants who received generic messages about planning, χ2(1)=3.889, p<.05. This difference did not persist at T2, p>.05. For all groups, planning was maintained from T0 to T1, ps>.05, but decreased from T1 to T2, McNemars χ2(1)>17.455, ps<.001. Physical activity increased over the intervention, ps<.05, but there were no differences in physical activity between groups over time, ps>.05. The strength of the intention-behaviour relationship did not differ between participants who planned and those who did not, p>.05. There seems to be little advantage to sending messages about planning relative to messages about physical activity for persuading planning behaviour. Regardless of content of the messages, planning may not be sustained over time. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-10 19:03:41.566

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

M. Tech. Information Networks / The study was undertaken to better understand the vast number of limitations in the use of mobile devices such as screen size, navigation, colour and network limitations. The aim of this study is to identify usability problems within the user interface design of mobile device instant messaging applications. The usability of three mobile instant messaging applications (MXit, Nimbuzz and Whatsapp) will be evaluated on three different high end touch screen smart phones (Apple iPhone 4, BlackBerry Torch 9800 and Nokia N8)

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Also available online.

This study has two major purposes: (1) to investigate if and how punctuation conventions have been rewritten in text messages to compensate for lack of paralinguistic cues and (2) the sociolinguistic implications of these findings. Data for this study was collected through an online, anonymous questionnaire in which participants gave their judgments about the meanings and function of punctuation used in sample text messages. The results show that punctuation is used to convey differences in meaning in direct and indirect ways and most are dependent on the context. Furthermore, age showed to be a factor in punctuation style and interpretation. The results here challenge the notion that texting is detrimental to one’s literacy skills and is in fact a site of linguistic innovation.

Text communication is often perceived as lacking some components of communication that are essential in sustaining interaction or conversation. This interaction incoherency tends to make text communication plastic. It is traditionally devoid of intonation, pitch, gesture, facial expression and visual or auditory cues. Nevertheless, Instant Messaging (IM), a form of text communication is on the upward uptake both on PCs and on mobile handhelds. There is a need to rubberise this plastic text messaging to improve co-presence for text communications thereby improving synchronous textual discussion, especially on handheld devices. <br /> <br /> One element of interaction is gesture, seen as a natural way of conversing. Attaining some level of interaction naturalism requires improving synchronous communication spontaneity, partly achieved by enhancing input mechanisms. To enhance input mechanisms for interactive text-based chat on mobile devices, there is a need to facilitate gesture input. Enhancement is achievable in a number of ways, such as input mechanism redesigning and input offering adaptation. This thesis explores affective gesture mode on interface redesign as an input offering adaptation. This is done without a major physical reconstruction of handheld devices.<br /> <br /> This thesis presents a text only IM system built on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE). It was developed with a novel user-defined hotkey implemented as a one-click context menu to &ldquo / fast-track&rdquo / text-gestures and emoticons.<br /> <br /> A hybrid quantitative and qualitative approach was taken to enable data triangulation. Results from experimental trials show that an Affective Gesture (AG) approach improved IM chat spontaneity/response. Feedback from the user trials affirms that AG hotkey improves chat responsiveness, thus enhancing chat spontaneity.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 181-193).

Text communication is often perceived as lacking some components of communication that are essential in sustaining interaction or conversation. This interaction incoherency tends to make text communication plastic. It is traditionally devoid of intonation, pitch, gesture, facial expression and visual or auditory cues. Nevertheless, Instant Messaging (IM), a form of text communication is on the upward uptake both on PCs and on mobile handhelds. There is a need to rubberise this plastic text messaging to improve co-presence for text communications thereby improving synchronous textual discussion, especially on handheld devices. <br /> <br /> One element of interaction is gesture, seen as a natural way of conversing. Attaining some level of interaction naturalism requires improving synchronous communication spontaneity, partly achieved by enhancing input mechanisms. To enhance input mechanisms for interactive text-based chat on mobile devices, there is a need to facilitate gesture input. Enhancement is achievable in a number of ways, such as input mechanism redesigning and input offering adaptation. This thesis explores affective gesture mode on interface redesign as an input offering adaptation. This is done without a major physical reconstruction of handheld devices.<br /> <br /> This thesis presents a text only IM system built on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE). It was developed with a novel user-defined hotkey implemented as a one-click context menu to &ldquo / fast-track&rdquo / text-gestures and emoticons.<br /> <br /> A hybrid quantitative and qualitative approach was taken to enable data triangulation. Results from experimental trials show that an Affective Gesture (AG) approach improved IM chat spontaneity/response. Feedback from the user trials affirms that AG hotkey improves chat responsiveness, thus enhancing chat spontaneity.