Since the U.S. presidential election of 1800, candidates have selected campaign songs to underscore their political platforms. The literature on politics and music suggests that in modern campaigns, the significance of music rests not in the song itself but in the artist behind the song and the image associated with that particular artist. This analysis sought to convey how the very process of selecting a campaign song is a profound rhetorical act, and that songs chosen even in modern elections have a specific meaning and purpose tied to the political contexts in which they are embedded. Using an adaptation of Sellnow and Sellnow's "Illusion of Life" rhetorical perspective, which analyzes whether the musical score and lyrics of a single song form a congruent or incongruent relationship, this study analyzed the official campaign songs for both Republican and Democratic candidates for the 1972-2016 elections. The adaptation provided the opportunity to examine the intersection of music, rhetoric and politics, and explore evolving patterns and trends in campaign music.The primary findings of this research indicated that both Republican and Democratic candidates have predominantly made use of congruity in their campaign songs, with that congruity only increasing over time — a surprising result considering congruity can often diminish listener appeal. The song analyses also indicated that in general, Republican candidates tend to utilize songs that are positive and patriotic in nature, while their Democratic opponents incorporate songs that offer a critique of the nation. Additionally, findings also revealed a transition that began taking place in the 1970s to hit full stride in the 21st century, as campaign songs shifted from being a direct endorsement of candidates to focusing on universal themes that could appeal to both sides of the political spectrum.

The Joys of Gardening is a virtual experience in which the viewers are invited to roam and explore a garden maze scattered with features including a greenhouse, a fountain, a gazebo, and a variety of personal gardening videos. One of the main attractions includes an opportunity to interact with a tomato plant and observe different stages of its growth. These elements combined are essential to the piece's purpose: to spread the passion and joys of gardening. There are many therapeutic effects to gardening such as: the sun helps people be happy, working with the soil allows a sense of giving life, and watching a plant grow can inspire the joy of gardening and the joy of discovery. As the viewer inhabits the space, they are engulfed into a world of butterflies, birds chirping, and serene lighting. This experience has a set aesthetic, narrative, and user interaction. By utilizing these elements, they are able to enjoy a relaxing stroll through the maze. This paper will discuss the influence behind the experience, stylistic choices, and user interactions. This experience continues to explore the potentials of blending the physical landscape and the digital landscape. / Master of Fine Arts / The Joys of Gardening is a virtual experience that provides the viewer an opportunity to explore a garden maze. The maze is filled with different elements with which they can interact. These include videos of my personal garden, a greenhouse with an interactive tomato plant, and a gazebo and a pond filled with koi fish. The project offers a digital space for viewers to escape into a world filled with butterflies, flowers, and the sounds of birds chirping. The purpose of this piece is to inspire and spread the joys of gardening to anyone and everyone. This paper will discuss the style, audio, and interaction choices to create the full project.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:48:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-12-20 / This research was carried out from 2008 to 2010, in the master s degree course in Education of the Universidade Federal de Pelotas. The aim of this paper is to study the actions of a History teacher while experiencing with his students as a proposal for teaching History the Virtual/Fiction Experience (EFV) through the game Age of Empires II. It is tried to make evident how this teacher subject of this research plans, develops, and reflects about the practice of teaching Medieval History through the game mentioned. It is considered that there is, in electronic games (as in the game mentioned), the evidence of the possibility of performance in a historical time and space simulated through informatics which is called here as Virtual/Fiction Experience. The concepts in which this study is based are the following: Dispositive (Agambem, 2009); Game (Huizinga, 2000 and Caillois, 1990); Experience (Larrosa, 2002); Fiction (Flusser, 2007) and Virtual (Deleuze, 1988 and Lévy, 2007). The research is also based on the following writings: Alves (2005), which focus on the importance of electronic games in education; Libâneo (1999) and Demo (2004), whose writings are about the relevance of teacher s role in a world bombed by information, among others. Lüdke and André (1986) guided the choice of a qualitative methodological approach. During this phase of the investigation, it was proposed to the subject of this research the realization of planning and developing stages of History classes through the use of the game Age of Empires II and, subsequently, a reflection about this experience. The activities were planned through the game, nevertheless, before the students having contact with it, the teacher developed a class where it was privileged, theoretically, the subject to be taught in following classes. It has been collected the data through meetings, semi-structured interviews and observations of the classes. The results found have shown that the interviewee enjoyed the activity and gave his best to put into practice his planning, demonstrating that EFV works as a proposal of History teaching. The interviewee also noticed a change in the student s behavior when facing his approach and states that this motivates him to continue using the EFV in his practices. It has been observed that, by adopting the EFV, the teacher includes the students as actors in the historical time that the game portraits, making possible for them to face another way of relation with History. / Esta pesquisa foi desenvolvida nos anos de 2008 a 2010, no curso de mestrado em Educação da Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Teve como objetivo estudar as ações de um professor de História enquanto experimenta com seus alunos como proposta para o ensino de História a Experiência Ficcional Virtual (EFV) através do game Age of Empires II. Para isto, procura-se saber como este professor sujeito da pesquisa - planeja, desenvolve e reflete sobre a prática de dar aulas de História Medieval a partir do game citado. Considera-se que em jogos eletrônicos (como no game em questão), evidencia-se a possibilidade de atuação em um tempo-espaço histórico simulado pelas vias da computadorização a qual denomina-se aqui de Experiência Ficcional Virtual. Os conceitos que embasam este estudo são os seguintes: Dispositivo (AGAMBEM, 2009); Jogo (HUIZINGA, 2000 e CAILLOIS, 1990); Experiência (LARROSA, 2002); Ficção (FLUSSER, 2007) e Virtual (DELEUZE, 1988 e LÉVY, 2007). A pesquisa também está ancorada em escritos de: Alves (2005), que tratam da importância dos jogos eletrônicos na educação; Libâneo (1999) e Demo (2004), que discorrem sobre a relevância do papel do professor num mundo bombardeado pelas informações, dentre outros. Lüdke e André (1986) nortearam a escolha por uma abordagem metodológica qualitativa. Nesta fase da pesquisa, foi proposto ao sujeito que realizasse as etapas de planejamento e desenvolvimento de aulas de História a partir do game Age of Empires II e, posteriormente, refletisse em torno desta prática. As atividades foram planejadas partindo do game, porém, antes que os alunos tomassem contato com o mesmo, o professor desenvolveu uma aula em que privilegiou, teoricamente, o assunto que seria tratado na ocasião seguinte. Através de encontros, entrevistas semi-estruturadas e observações das aulas desenvolvidas, foram coletados os dados. Os resultados encontrados mostram que o sujeito apreciou a atividade e que empenhou-se para pôr em prática seu planejamento, mostrando que a EFV funciona como proposta para o ensino de História. O pesquisado relatou ter percebido uma mudança de comportamento dos alunos frente a sua abordagem e afirma que isso lhe impele a continuar usando a EFV em suas práticas. Observou-se que, adotando a EFV, o docente incluiu os discentes como atores no tempo histórico que o jogo retrata, possibilitando a estes, outra maneira de se relacionarem com a História.

本研究在探討資訊科技所創造出的虛擬化體驗，是否影響顧客在虛擬旅遊的體驗價值，並進而影響顧客對實體旅遊的消費意願，最後來探討虛擬化體驗系統的複雜性對消費意願的影響程度。我們以虛擬紫禁城和虛擬武漢線上景點導覽系統為研究案例，分兩階段模式來分析使用者消費意願．系統使用前，採用計畫行為理論及涉入程度的構面來衡量觀光旅遊之消費意願；系統使用過後，用互動性和生動性來探討虛擬觀光景點之體驗價值的關係，研究結果顯示虛擬紫禁城及虛擬武漢的虛擬體驗皆對實體旅遊之消費意願有所影響。 / This paper aims to study how the experience of tourism virtualization derived from information technology affects not only the customer’s experiential value of virtual tourism, but also intention of traveling in the future. Moreover, we discuss how the complexity of virtual experience systems impacts customer intention. Two on-line tour systems, the virtual Forbidden City and the virtual Wuhan, are utilized in a sequence of experiments for tourism experience. Before using the system, the constructs of Theory of Planned Behavior and Involvement Theory are employed to measure the intention of traveling. After then, two constructs, interactivity and vividness, are adopted to explore how the experiential value of virtual tourism impacts the intention of travelling. Our research results show that experiential values of the virtual Forbidden City and the virtual Wuhan both have impacted the intention of travelling.

Alternate realities have fascinated mankind since early prehistory and with the advent of the computer and the smartphone we have seen the rise of many different categories of alternate reality that seek to augment, diminish, mix with or ultimately replace our familiar real world in order to expand our capabilities and our understanding. This thesis presents parallel reality as a new category of alternate reality which further addresses the vacancy problem that manifests in many previous alternate reality experiences. Parallel reality describes systems comprising two environments that the user may freely switch between, one real and the other virtual, both complete unto themselves. Parallel reality is framed within the larger ecosystem of previously explored alternate realities through a thorough review of existing categorisation techniques and taxonomies, leading to the introduction of the combined Milgram/Waterworth model and an extended definition of the vacancy problem for better visualising experience in alternate reality systems. Investigation into whether an existing state of the art alternate reality modality (Situated Simulations) could allow for parallel reality investigation via the Virtual Time Windows project was followed by the development of a bespoke parallel reality platform called Mirrorshades, which combined the modern virtual reality hardware of the Oculus Rift with the novel indoor positioning system of IndoorAtlas. Users were thereby granted the ability to walk through their real environment and to at any point switch their view to the equivalent vantage point within an immersive virtual environment. The benefits that such a system provides by granting users the ability to mitigate the effects of the extended vacancy problem and explore parallel real and virtual environments in tandem was experimentally shown through application to a use case within the realm of cultural heritage at a 15th century chapel. Evaluation of these user studies lead to the establishment of a number of best practice recommendations for future parallel reality endeavours.

This study presents research about the virtual experience room, more specific theKarantänfestivalen Unplugged. The purpose of this study is to analyse how the virtualexperience room Karantänfestivalen Unplugged is built and also how committed consumersare during a virtual event. This will be answered by three research questions. The researchquestions affect inclusion of consumers at a distance, important factors from the physicalexperience room and also how consumers judge the virtual experience room in terms ofcomments.The research questions will be answered with help from the model The Virtual ExperienceRoom that is created by the authors of this study. The model is based on the two models TheExperience Room Model and The Four Realms of An Experience. Also the important factorsregarding the experience room from Mossberg and Bitner. The study is written from aqualitative approach where the collection of the data has been done through a case study. Thecase study was made from the virtual experience room Karantänfestivalen Unplugged througha document and video study. The documents and the video was analysed from a contentanalysis with help from the model that was mentioned above.The result shows that Karantänfestivalen Unplugged includes its consumers in a way that itmakes it possible for them to participate more spontaneously than if it was a physical event.And also that the consumers are able to ask questions to the artists and employees of theevent. The main factors in a virtual experience room are considered to be customerengagement, technology, object language and intangible artefacts, which is presented in themodel The Virtual Experience Room. Finally, it can be considered that consumers of a virtualevent will express their opinions through writing in a comment that they will publish on aplatform where the event is being observed.The study is written in Swedish. / I denna studie presenteras forskning kring det virtuella upplevelserummet Karantänfestivalen Unplugged. Syftet med studien är att analysera hur det virtuella upplevelserummet Karantänfestivalen Unplugged är uppbyggt samt hur engagerade konsumenter är under ett virtuellt evenemang. Detta besvaras genom tre forskningsfrågor. Forskningsfrågorna berörinkludering av konsumenter på distans, viktiga faktorer som kan appliceras från det fysiska upplevelserummet samt hur konsumenter bedömer det virtuella upplevelserummet i form av kommentarer. Forskningsfrågorna besvaras med hjälp av den egenskapade modellen Det Virtuella Upplevelserummet som baseras på modellerna The Experience Room Model och The Four Realms of An Experience, samt Mossberg och Bitners viktiga faktorer i ett upplevelserum. Studien är skriven utifrån en kvalitativ infallsvinkel där insamlingen av data har gjorts genomen fallstudie. Fallstudien gjordes på det virtuella upplevelserummet Karantänfestivalen Unplugged genom en dokument- och videostudie. Dokumenten och videon analyserades utifrån en innehållsanalys med hjälp av modellen som tidigare nämnts. Resultatet visar att Karantänfestivalen Unplugged inkluderar konsumenterna genom att spontant deltagande kan ske på ett annat sätt än vid fysiska evenemang samt att konsumenterna får ställa frågor till artisterna och personalen. Huvudfaktorerna i ett virtuellt upplevelserum anses vara kundengagemang, teknologi, object language och ogripbara artefakter, vilket visas i modellen Det Virtuella Upplevelserummet. Slutligen kan det konstateras att konsumenter av ett virtuellt evenemang uttrycker sina åsikter genom att skrivadet i en kommentar som de sedan publicerar på den plattform där de följer sändningen.