In this thesis, an improved framework is proposed for categorizing existing gamified systems. Related works and real world examples of gamification are discussed and some areas where insufficient research exists. In order to address the identified research problems, an experimental gamified system was designed and implemented for sharing articles related to different aspects of life. The participants of the study were recruited among the users of an existing Iranian lifestyle site for female users. Therefore, the gender of the users was considered in the design. A wide range of gamification elements were implemented in the system to test the effectiveness of specific design features and gamification elements’ parameters in increasing user motivation, for example, the contingency of rewards and the use of sound and animation in badges. A detailed questionnaire was used to answer the research questions. The results suggest specific combinations of gamification elements and their parameters that can be successfully applied by designers of social sites for similar audience.

The following essay was written in Stockholm, Sweden in the autumn of 2015 at Stockholm University. The purpose of this study is to explore the forms of multimodal communication that are used in the classroom as meaning making prompts. The study is from a multimodal and design theoretical perspective and uses the model Learning Design Sequence as a framework for collecting and analysing data. A qualitative method is being used for collecting data from video observation, from two eighth grade History classes. Video Observation and multimodal transcription produce rich data from a multimodal perspective, for seeing what modes of communication are being used. However, to observe what modes of communication functioned as meaning making prompts, other methods could be employed. The results show that speech, gesture and tone of voice are used in the foreground as modes of communication. Gaze, image, text, posture and movement can fluctuate between the background and foreground depending on their use. Social practices such as turning the lights off, or turning the overhead projector on can function as meaning making prompts, as can hand gestures such as pointing, clapping and enacting. Speech, gesture, tone of voice, movement, image and sound can all work as a meaning making prompts individually or combined together. / VAL projekt

Comment un robot peut-il estimer si une tâche est réalisable ou pas dans un envi ronnement donné ? De nombreux travaux en robotique s'appuient pour répondre sur les affordances de la psychologie écologique. Apprendre quelles sont les actions permises nécessite selon nous d'apprendre les relations de dépendances locales et globales entre capteurs et effecteurs au cours de l'action.<br />Pour cela nous assimilons le robot à un réseau sensorimoteur aléatoire, et pour représenter son activité nous introduisons des mesures de dépendance probabilist es et statistiques. Celles-ci nous permettent de construire des matrices, graphes et complexes simpliciaux aléatoires dont nous étudions les propriétés spectrales, topologiques et homologiques.<br />Puis nous vérifions expérimentalement l'intérêt des outils proposés à l'aide d'un robot mobile simulé, autour de la capacité de pousser les objets de l'environnement, dans le cadre de tâches de classification supervisée et non supervisée.

Les nouvelles technologies mobiles, Internet et les plateformes d’échanges réseautiques ont-ils un effet tangible sur les habitudes de travail des journalistes politiques de la presse écrite? Comment ces nouveaux outils participent-ils à la construction identitaire de ces journalistes? Dans le but de mieux comprendre leur contexte de travail et de (re)construction identitaire, nous avons choisi d’analyser le rôle qu’occupent les nouvelles technologies dans leur quotidien, tant du point de vue de leurs pratiques actuelles que du point de vue de leurs perceptions d’eux-mêmes et du métier. Dans cette étude qualitative, sept journalistes politiques francophones de médias traditionnels écrits ont été interviewés dans le but de nous aider à mieux cerner les libertés mais aussi les contraintes qui accompagnent l’adoption de nouveaux outils technologiques ainsi que les nouvelles pratiques qui y sont rattachées. Les nouvelles technologies et les plateformes réseautiques ne sont pas que de simples outils de travail, ils redéfinissent le rôle même du journaliste dans la société. Hormis les adaptations quotidiennes qu’elles supposent dans les changements de méthodes de travail, elles contribuent souvent à déstabiliser le journaliste dans ses valeurs traditionnelles les plus solidement ancrées. Ces nouveaux outils deviennent le lieu d’échanges accrus où le journaliste se retrouve, bien malgré lui, à devoir défendre un rôle qui lui était autrefois acquis. Vecteurs d’autovalorisation pour le public, ils sont plus souvent le lieu de résistance pour les journalistes. / Do mobile technologies, Internet and social networks have a tangible effect on the work habits of written press political journalists? How do these new tools participate in building these journalists’ identities? In order to get a better sense of the conditions in which they work and perceive themselves, we have chosen to analyse the role being played out by technologies in their daily practice as well as in the way they perceive themselves and their work. In this qualitative study, seven francophone political journalists from traditional written press were interviewed to better understand both the freedom and constraints that come with the adoption of new tools and new techniques. New technologies and social networks are not just work tools, they also redefine the role of journalists in society. Besides daily technical adaptations in changing work routines, they also destabilize deeply rooted traditional journalistic values. Increased interaction with an active public often puts the journalist in a defensive position in order to insure his never-before contested relevancy. While new technologies can be gratifying for the public, they can also be met with resistance from journalists.

Social network sites (SNSs) have become a common part of everyday life for billions of people worldwide. Not everyone uses the same sites, nor are sites functionally equivalent in the eyes of users. Both established platforms and new upstarts may provide novel features or access to new audiences, yet users tend to remain on a few dominant platforms, especially Facebook, the world's reigning social network site. The goal of the present study is to understand why people are committed to specific social network sites, given that no site encompasses either all of a person's social connections or all possible gratifications available from online participation. Further, individuals do not always wish to have a single real-name identity for all online interactions, thus implying the necessary use of multiple accounts or sites. To understand SNS commitment, this study employs a mixed-methods research design by combining findings from a survey of 800 respondents with 50 semi-structured interviews. The research focuses on young adults in the UK and their use of four popular SNSs: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Findings indicate that network size has only a marginal effect on commitment, whereas the effect of identity performance is more pronounced, albeit in different ways on different sites. Social and informational gratifications have the strongest effect across all four SNSs, suggesting that commitment is primarily driven by repeated habit-forming experiences. To further help explain SNS commitment, this thesis employs a typology of social media users based on attitudes towards digital technology. It is evident that attitudes explain more variation in commitment than either demographic factors or personality. Qualitative analysis reinforces this finding by showing how users employ specific gratification-based repertoires to determine which sites to use and when. These findings help advance research on affordances, self-presentation and SNS use, while also making practical recommendations for social media platforms.

This work explores the everyday uses of rock music by women rock musicians, fans and DJs (amateurs), in a specific place (Portugal) and time (1990s-2014). Drawing on the work in the two main fields of music sociology and gender studies and its performative perspective to both gender and music (but also taking contributions from techno-feminist studies, science and technology studies, sociology of work, leisure and sports), this research takes a ‘music-in-action’ approach. This approach understands music as a social activity, as a network of connections between people, materials, discourses and activities. Rock music is best understood as a genre-in-action (not just as a semiotic text or reflection), as socio-material practice, in its collective, relational, performative, situated contexts of use - as rock musicking. As such, there are socio-material processes that constrain and enable women (as a minority group) doing and being in a masculinist rock music world. Taking a ‘mutual shaping’ approach to genre and gender, this research also takes into account how people use aesthetic materials in the processes of performative gendered identity making and relationship with others, as well as world building. The data consists of sixty in-depth interviews with Portuguese rockers (between 2012 and 2014), and supplementary field observations and follow-up interviews. The research found that girls and women’s musical opportunities are more restricted, but that they are also actively negotiated. Parental support and the presence of rock fathers in early years, as well as participation in male networks – whether or not a woman is romantically involved with ‘one of the boys’ – throughout the life course are pathways into rock musicking, as documented in other studies. Adding to the literature, this research highlights how not only in early years, but throughout the life course, rock musicking practices are dependent upon specific aesthetic (musical and visual) gender performances. From female masculinity to alternative femininities, rock music and its visual and material cultures are ‘active ingredients’ in doing and undoing gender. In Portugal, the absence of a strong riot grrrl movement and the lack of female/feminist networks, turns membership in male bands the norm. Consequently, either the “girl in the band’ or girl/female bands have to deal with their ‘novelty’ value. These rockers negotiate the labels of riot grrrl, feminist and grunge within a ‘girl power’ discourse, but mostly, struggling not to let their musical skills and value be obscured by their sex/ualization – developing high standards of musicianship, managing on-stage bodily disclosure, naming and praising their peers, aligning with an Anglo-Saxon rock female canon, but also othering female fans. In male bands, due to male skill ascription, women are segregated into traditional female musical roles, the singer, the bass player. On the other hand, women drummers get token value. At the expenses of instrument specialization, women undertake multi-instrumental pathways. Becoming musical agile selves and re-valuing (traditionally female) musical roles, playing conventions and body techniques. Women also appropriate mixers to spread their love for rock music. These women creatively expand rock music’s material culture, crafting it with clothes, acessories and even food. For rockers who are mothers, rock musicking becomes a technology of mothering. Taking Portuguese women rockers and their socio-musical practices, at both the everyday level and on the “spectacular” rock stage, this research adds to the international and growing body of work on gender and (rock) music across different disciplinary fields (sociology, popular music studies, feminist studies). It extends the traditional focus within popular music scholarship on Anglo-American rock culture, feminist mo(ve)ments, and subcultures, to place emphasis instead on an age group and place that has otherwise been overlooked.

Orientador: Maria Eunice Quilici Gonzalez / Banca: Mariana Carmem Broens / Banca: Alfredo Pereira Júnior / Banca: Ítala M. L. D'Ottaviano / Banca: Elias Humberto Alves / Resumo: Dois são os objetivos desta tese: o primeiro é discutir os pressupostos epistemológicos subjacentes à concepção internalista da mente que enfatiza a mediação representacional entre o sujeito do conhecimento e o mundo. O segundo consiste em propor e debater a hipótese epistemológica (H), de acordo com a qual há percepção direta das invariâncias no comportamento sócio-cultural. Inicialmente, discute-se o método de análise e síntese cartesiano, questionando sua adequação para o estudo da percepção-ação. Especial ênfase é dada às críticas de Ryle ao método cartesiano de análise que possibilita a geração de erros categoriais em sua aplicação no estudo do conhecimento perceptual. Uma alternativa à perspectiva representacionista da percepção é apresentada por meio da Teoria da Percepção Direta (TPD), proposta por Gibson, aplicando-a também à análise do comportamento sócio-cultural. Algumas dificuldades são encontradas na execução de tal intento; entre elas está a questão da autonomia dos indivíduos. Uma possível solução a este problema é elaborada, ressaltando os aspectos das variâncias relacionais dos indivíduos com o meio ambiente, encontradas juntamente com as invariantes estruturais e transformacionais. As invariantes como as variantes constituem as especificidades da interação entre indivíduo e meio ambiente delineando a personalidade individual. / Abstract: This thesis has two aims: the first is to discuss epistemological presuppositions underlying the internalist conception of mind that emphasizes the representational mediation between a knowing subject and the world. The second consists in proposing and debating the Epistemological Hypothesis (H), according to which there is a Direct Perception of Invariances in Social-Cultural Behavior. At first the methodology of Cartesian analysis and synthesis is discussed, questioning its adequacy to the study of action-perception. Special attention is giving to Ryle’s criticism of the Cartesian method of analysis that allows the generation of categorical mistakes, applied to the study of perceptual knowledge. An alternative to representational perception is shown to be the Theory of Direct Perception (TPD), proposed by Gibson, which will be applied to the analysis of socialcultural behavior. Some difficulties are discovered during this project; among them is the problem of personal autonomy. A possible solution for that problem is to emphasize the relational variances between individuals and their environment, these variances occur together with the structural and transformational invariances. The invariants as well as variants form the specifics of the interaction between individual and environment, and thereby shape the personal autonomy. / Doutor

Submitted by Denise Amâncio (deniseamancio2015@gmail.com) on 2018-11-28T14:22:04Z No. of bitstreams: 3 DOCILIDADE AMBIENTAL.pdf: 2373738 bytes, checksum: ba965f55a4adf7db09d57e351328f64d (MD5) autodepósito.pdf: 300090 bytes, checksum: d71771f5087fc9fb57b6f4db9e76786e (MD5) doc aprovado.pdf: 469655 bytes, checksum: 85bbfda63ab6a928a1ff89ea87615603 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by PPGPSI Psicologia (ppgpsiufam@ufam.edu.br) on 2018-11-29T19:00:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 3 DOCILIDADE AMBIENTAL.pdf: 2373738 bytes, checksum: ba965f55a4adf7db09d57e351328f64d (MD5) autodepósito.pdf: 300090 bytes, checksum: d71771f5087fc9fb57b6f4db9e76786e (MD5) doc aprovado.pdf: 469655 bytes, checksum: 85bbfda63ab6a928a1ff89ea87615603 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2018-11-30T20:29:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 3 DOCILIDADE AMBIENTAL.pdf: 2373738 bytes, checksum: ba965f55a4adf7db09d57e351328f64d (MD5) autodepósito.pdf: 300090 bytes, checksum: d71771f5087fc9fb57b6f4db9e76786e (MD5) doc aprovado.pdf: 469655 bytes, checksum: 85bbfda63ab6a928a1ff89ea87615603 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-30T20:29:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 DOCILIDADE AMBIENTAL.pdf: 2373738 bytes, checksum: ba965f55a4adf7db09d57e351328f64d (MD5) autodepósito.pdf: 300090 bytes, checksum: d71771f5087fc9fb57b6f4db9e76786e (MD5) doc aprovado.pdf: 469655 bytes, checksum: 85bbfda63ab6a928a1ff89ea87615603 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-11-08 / . / The contributions of environmental docility have brought new perspectives to study of well-being and quality of life among the elderly. It is in this line that this research has the purpose of analyze aspects of environmental docility in social use of public spaces for the coexistence of the elderly in an institution in the city of Manaus-AM. This multi-method approach research used the techniques of systematic and participative observation, as well as the application of semistructured questionnaires. Twenty elderly (16F; 4M), considered members of the Programa Idoso Feliz participa Sempre ( Happy Elderly Always Participates program) - PIFPS of the Federal University of amazonas- UFAM / AM. The results showed that for these elderly people, the policies laws have strengthened their rights, but they still prejudice of other segments of society. For these elderly people, such laws ignore aspects of facilitating mobility and accessibility to the elderly. In this way the programs are often inaccessible by facing the city. Another limiting factor of their participation is the fragility of health that finds little support from health care agencies. The elderly once they have overcome such obstacles that limit their participation, it’s normal that they have fewer environmental pressures. In this space the elderly finds possibilities for restoring their emotions and physics. In addition, the living space offers a welcoming physical environment whose affordances promote aspects of psychosocial well-being, even when it is considered minor feature to the program. It is in this environment that it is limited in its specific functions of care for the elderly that environmental docility reveals itself and promotes the building of skills and abilities for healthy aging. / As contribuições da docilidade ambiental trouxeram novas perspectivas para os estudo do bem-estar e qualidade de vida entre os idosos. É nesta linha que esta pesquisa está direcionada, a qual teve como objetivo analisar aspectos de docilidade ambiental no uso social de espaços públicos de convivência de idosos em uma instituição na cidade de Manaus-AM. Essa pesquisa de abordagem multimétodos utilizou as técnicas de observação sistemática e participativa, além da aplicação de entrevistas semiestruturadas. Participaram do estudo 20 idosos considerados membros efetivos do Programa Idoso Feliz Participa Sempre PIFPS- U3IA-FEFF da Universidade Federal do Amazonas- UFAM/AM. Os resultados mostraram que para esses idosos, as políticas públicas e leis vieram fortalecer seus direitos, porém ainda enfrentam diariamente o preconceito de outros segmentos da sociedade. Para esses idosos tais leis ignoram aspectos de facilitação da mobilidade e acessibilidade ao idoso. Dessa forma os programas a eles destinados, muitas vezes são inacessíveis pelas dificuldades enfrentadas no deslocamento pela cidade. Outro fator limitante de sua participação cidadã é a fragilidade da saúde que encontra pouco respaldo das agências de cuidado ao idoso. Uma vez vencidos tais entraves que limitam sua participação, o idoso encontra no programa de convivência compensações das pressões ambientais. Nesse espaço de convivência o idoso encontra possibilidades de restauro das emoções e das dificuldades físicas. Além disso, o espaço de convivência oferece um ambiente físico acolhedor cujas affordances promovem aspectos de bem-estar psicossocial, mesmo que não este seja visto como aspecto secundário no programa. É nesse ambiente, mesmo que limitado em suas funções específicas de atendimento ao idoso, que a docilidade ambiental se revela e promove a construção de competências e habilidades para um envelhecimento saudável. / Meu trabalho é ligado aos Processos psicossociais, na linha de Psicologia Ambiental.

Successful interaction makes sense to its participants – it is, in other words, coherent. As different resources are employed to indicate mutual orientation by showing which actions are linked and where attention is paid, coherent conversation can be said to be achieved multimodally. This thesis builds on an interactional and ecological theoretical basis, and investigates how strategies for sense-making vary depending on the context of interaction. Specifically, this is a study of interaction in different types of multimodal and multiplex communication situations. The characteristics of these technology-rich communication situations are mapped and, primarily through ethnographic methods and interaction analysis, it is investigated how conversational coherence is maintained. Furthermore, it is suggested how the findings can be applied to inform interaction design. The analysis presented is based on results from four case studies, dealing with different aspects of coherence creation in different English speaking contexts. Study 1 investigates coherence in intertwined threads in dyad instant messaging (IM) interaction, and Study 2 focuses on coherence through conversational feedback strategies in interaction in a multimodal desktop video conferencing system. Study 3 has a somewhat broader focus, as the multiple communication channels in which one participant is involved are all taken into consideration in the investigation of sequential coherence. Finally, in Study 4, the physical and digital interaction in a partly shared studio space is investigated, with an emphasis on how mutual orientation is established during conversation initiation. The findings show that when addressing coherence it is important to acknowledge both dynamic aspects of context, such as activity and participants, and more static aspects, such as communicative affordances of environments and tools. In online and mixed-mode interaction, the notion of context becomes particularly complex, as participants are simultaneously part of both the individual context, which may include digital tools for communication, and the shared context of interaction (polycontextuality). In this thesis, it is further shown that this has consequences for coherent conversation initiation and possibilities to engage in multiple semi-simultaneous conversations (polyfocality). Additionally, the results emphasize the importance of explicit linguistic strategies in computer-mediated interaction.

The ability to use tools is one of the hallmarks of intelligence. Tool use is fundamental to human life and has been for at least the last two million years. We use tools to extend our reach, to amplify our physical strength, and to achieve many other tasks. A large number of animals have also been observed to use tools. Despite the widespread use of tools in the animal world, however, studies of autonomous robotic tool use are still rare. This dissertation examines the problem of autonomous tool use in robots from the point of view of developmental robotics. Therefore, the main focus is not on optimizing robotic solutions for specific tool tasks but on designing algorithms and representations that a robot can use to develop tool-using abilities. The dissertation describes a developmental sequence/trajectory that a robot can take in order to learn how to use tools autonomously. The developmental sequence begins with learning a model of the robot's body since the body is the most consistent and predictable part of the environment. Specifically, the robot learns which perceptual features are associated with its own body and which with the environment. Next, the robot can begin to identify certain patterns exhibited by the body itself and to learn a robot body schema model which can also be used to encode goal-oriented behaviors. The robot can also use its body as a well defined reference frame from which the properties of environmental objects can be explored by relating them to the body. Finally, the robot can begin to relate two environmental objects to one another and to learn that certain actions with the first object can affect the second object, i.e., the first object can be used as a tool. The main contributions of the dissertation can be broadly summarized as follows: it demonstrates a method for autonomous self-detection in robots; it demonstrates a model for extendable robot body schema which can be used to achieve goal-oriented behaviors, including video-guided behaviors; it demonstrates a behavior-grounded method for learning the affordances of tools which can also be used to solve tool-using tasks.