Comics is a writing style that is often written off as just something done for entertainment or design. However, there are many facets of comics that make it a suitable candidate for technical documentation. By nature, comics is a visual and universal language and, as such, is the basis for an investigation of comics within the scope of technical communication. This research investigates whether comics can be automatically generated, based on a set of predefined panel templates, for such purposes while also providing for flexibility in both content and ultimate consumption format. A within-subjects study run with over 200 participants compared comics to two of its traditional documentation style contenders, prose and step-oriented, in terms of understanding and evaluation metrics, including those related to user experience. Results indicate that comics as a documentation style can offer enhanced, more positive user experiences, albeit not being overall better than the other styles. / Master of Science

Intelligent Tutoring Systems are notoriously costly to construct, and require PhD level experience in cognitive science and rule based programming. The purpose of this research was to ease the development process for building pseudo-tutors. Pseudo-tutors are ITS constructs that mimic cognitive tutors but are limited in that they only apply to a single problem. The Assistment Builder is a tool designed to rapidly create, test, and deploy simple pseudo-tutors. These tutors provide a simplified cognitive model based upon a state graph designed for a specific problem. These tutors offer many of the features of rule-based tutors, but with shorter creation time. The system simplifies the process of tutor creation to allow users with little or no ITS experience to develop content. The system provides a web-based interface as a means to build and store these simple tutors we have called Assistments. This paper describes our attempt to make the process of developing, testing, and deploying content easy for teachers. We present data to suggest that users can develop a tutor that can be released to students in approximately an hour.

<p>Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) and IoT (Internet of Things) devices have substantial potential to increase productivity in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). However, factors such as high costs involved in setting up and maintaining AMR automation and deficit of programming expertise among factory workers render AMR automation uneconomical for SMEs. </p><p><br></p><p></p><p>Visual Programming can be used in the spatial context of the operating environment to enable closer mental models at the right level of abstraction for novice programmers. In this thesis, we develop a system for deploying a Spatially Situated Visual Language (SSVL) for programming robot-IoT workflows. To address the challenges of interoperability, scalability, and versatility of industrial machinery, we develop a novel communication protocol based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF). Our communication protocol forms the basis of a system architecture that integrates SSVL, IoT devices, and mobile robots that enables factory workers to program AMR workflows. We design, implement and validate the system and the architecture following the systems engineering approach. To evaluate the system developed in an industrial context, we deploy the system to author AMR workflows for material handling application for an SME painting factory.</p><p></p>

This study aims to answer how Interactive Digital Narrative authoring tools shape the authoring process. Any tool or software shapes the way its users interact with it, oftentimes without the user even knowing it. It is therefore important to understand how these processes work when talking about authoring tools for IDNs, as they will inevitably shape its output. Three authoring tools were selected, those three being TextureWriter, Scrivener, and Twine. A standardized Game Design Document was created, and four participants were recruited to use those three authoring tools to adapt said Game Design Document. A focus group was conducted after the participants had used their tools for a fair amount of time to ascertain their authoring process experience. In the end, the participant using Twine did not attend the focus group, prohibiting evaluation of that tool. The results showed that there are a number of previously unknown ways in which the two evaluated authoring tools shape the game authoring process: Fundamental structure, temporal structure, spatial structure, presentation structure, mechanics of interaction, and multimedia inclusion. The results also showed a strong correlation between a master narrative and in how the authoring tool limited the author.

In an eLearning context, Adaptive Hypermedia Systems have been developed to improve learning success by increasing learner satisfaction, learning speed, and educational effectiveness. However, creating adaptive eLearning content and structures is still a time consuming and complicated task, in particular if individual lecturers are the intended authors. The way of thinking that is needed to create adaptive structures as well as the workflows is one that lecturers are unaccustomed to. The aim of this research project is to develop a concept that helps authors create adaptive eLearning content and structures, which focuses on its applicability for lecturers as intended authors. The research is targeted at the sequencing of content, which is one of the main aspects of adaptive eLearning. To achieve this aim the problem has been viewed from the author’s side. First, in terms of complexity of thoughts and threads, explanations about content structures have been found in storytelling theory. It also provides insights into how authors work, how story worlds are created, story lines intertwined, and how they are all merged together into one content. This helps us understand how non technical authors create content that is understandable and interesting for recipients. Second, the linear structure of learning content has been investigated to extract all the information that can be used for sequencing purposes. This investigation led to an approach that combines existing models to ease the authoring process for adaptive learning content by relating linear content from different authors and therefore defining interdependencies that delinearise the content structure. The technical feasibility of the authoring methods for adaptive learning content has been proven by the implementation of the essential parts in a research prototype and by authoring content from real life lectures with the prototype’s editor. The content and its adaptive structure obtained by using the concept of this research have been tested with the prototype’s player and monitor. Additionally, authoring aspects of the concept have been shown along with practical examples and workflows. Lastly, the interviewees who took part in expert interviews have agreed that the concept significantly reduces authoring complexity and potentially increases the amount of lecturers that are able to create adaptive content. The concept represents the common and traditional authoring process for linear content to a large extent. Compared to existing approaches the additional work needed is limited, and authors do not need to delve into adaptive structures or other authors’ content structures and didactic approaches.

The growing importance of multimedia content generated by ordinary users demands research for models, methods, technologies and systems that support multimedia production. Despite recent results allowing the collaborative capture of video via mobile devices, there is gap in supporting the collaborative capture of multiple media. In this dissertation we propose that ubiquitous collaborative multimedia production can be carried out by users who capture and annotate multiple media using the CMoViA mobile application. CMoViA also allows export the user-generated content to the CI+WaC, which allows them to edit the user-generated content in the form of interactive and extensible multimedia documents. The proposal demanded extending recent work reported in the literature, namely the I+WaC-IE (Interactors+WaC-Interaction Events) model, the I+WaC-Editor tool and MoViA tool. Hence, CMoViA follows the proposed CI+WaC-IE model. We discuss results from a case study, carried out in the educational domain, in which students collaboratively capture a lecture. / A crescente importância de conteúdo multimídia gerado por usuários amadores exige pesquisas por modelos, métodos, tecnologias e sistemas que apoiem a produção multimídia. Apesar dos recentes resultados que permitem captura colaborativa em vídeo utilizando dispositivos móveis, existe uma lacuna no apoio à captura colaborativa de múltiplas mídias. O trabalho apresentado nesta dissertação propõe que a produção multimídia colaborativa ubíqua possa ser alcançada por usuários que realizem a captura de múltiplas mídias e de anotações utilizando o aplicativo móvel CMoViA. CMoViA também permite que o conteúdo gerado por esses usuários seja exportado para a plataforma CI+WaC, a qual permite editar e anotar documentos multimídia interativos. Essa proposta requer a extensão de trabalho recentes reportados na literatura: o modelo I+WaC-IE (Interactors+WaC-Interaction Events), a ferramenta I+WaC-Editor e a ferramenta MoViA. Assim, a aplicação CMoViA segue o modelo CI+WaC-IE proposto neste trabalho como extensão do modelo I+WaC-IE. A proposta foi avaliada por meio de estudo de caso realizado no domínio educacional, no qual estudantes capturam colaborativamente uma palestra.

Training emergency response decision makers using live, virtual and/or constructive simulations can be highly complex since certain situations can generate stimulusresponse cycles that depend significantly on unpredictable human judgments. In particular, effective training scenarios require a combination of content contributed via pre-authored scripts and content generated dynamically during the training exercise. Large-scale exercises require multiple domain experts contributing oversight and content to the scenario as it proceeds. Such real-time adaptation requires situational and group awareness based on an understanding of pre-scripted materials and the adaptations of others. This thesis describes the evolution and evaluation of a collaborative graphical timeline system, called the Scenario Timeline System (STS), which facilitates asynchronous and synchronous collaborative timeline management, and its application in large-scale, computer-supported emergency response training exercises.

DVD-Authoring am Beispiel von Digital Video (DV) und digitalisierten Bildern. Generierung von DVD-Video Menüs mit OpenSource Werkzeugen.

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: intelligent tutoring systems; its; authoring tool; artificial intelligence. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-82).

Empirical studies have shown that Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) are effective tools for education. However, developing an ITS is a labour-intensive and time-consuming process. A major share of the development effort is devoted to acquiring the domain knowledge that accounts for the intelligence of the system. The goal of this research is to reduce the knowledge acquisition bottleneck and enable domain experts to build the domain model required for an ITS. In pursuit of this goal an authoring system capable of producing a domain model with the assistance of a domain expert was developed. Unlike previous authoring systems, this system (named CAS) has the ability to acquire knowledge for non-procedural as well as procedural tasks. CAS was developed to generate the knowledge required for constraint-based tutoring systems, reducing the effort as well as the amount of expertise in knowledge engineering and programming required. Constraint-based modelling is a student modelling technique that assists in somewhat easing the knowledge acquisition bottleneck due to the abstract representation. CAS expects the domain expert to provide an ontology of the domain, example problems and their solutions. It uses machine learning techniques to reason with the information provided by the domain expert for generating a domain model. A series of evaluation studies of this research produced promising results. The initial evaluation revealed that the task of composing an ontology of the domain assisted with the manual composition of a domain model. The second study showed that CAS was effective in generating constraints for the three vastly different domains of database modelling, data normalisation and fraction addition. The final study demonstrated that CAS was also effective in generating constraints when assisted by novice ITS authors, producing constraint sets that were over 90% complete.