This project has presented a web site (splinteronline.net) as a digital forum to explore stories in all its forms.Stories are at the core of human communication. We use stories to educate, enlighten, and entertain and we actively seek out stories from others. This dynamic narrative exchange takes many forms — conversation, journalism, film, television, radio, literature, Internet — and will continue to expand and endure as new ways of presenting stories emerge.My creative project actively participates in this exchange by offering a forum for users to engage and share their stories with others. Like a barrel catching rainwater, the site serves as a kind of digital downspout that funnels stories into various themes like Grace, Anger, Home, Mother, Solitude, Regret, Jazz, Courage, Justice, Work, and Greed. Each theme is then identified by genre — humor, fact, memoir, fiction, editorial, poetry — to allow users to search for their favorites. / Department of Telecommunications

To demonstrate the dissemination of the Active Living Every Day (ALED) physical activity (PA) intervention program through a healthcare provider recruitment format. A total of 15 subjects were recruited from Delaware Co., IN and attended 6 mandatory visits over a 16-week period. After completion of baseline PA and risk factor profiles, patients were given the 12-week ALED program. PA was monitored using Omron HJ720-ITC pedometers. Reassessment of all PA and risk factor profiles were performed post intervention. No significant changes were observed for mean PA or percentage of time spent performing sedentary activities. Preliminary results suggest a healthcare provider delivery format is not an effective means for the recruitment of sedentary adults. Further subject recruitment is needed to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of the ALED program to increase PA and affect corresponding risk factor profiles. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Duke University, 2008.

M.B.A. / The South African public Higher Education environment has been going through changes during the past five years. Thirty six institutions have been merged and consolidated into twenty three institutions. There is considerable financial pressure on these institutions, and this have an impact on the provision and maintenance of a world class technology environment. This study examines the extent of outsourcing in the public Higher Education environment in South Africa, and determines if the environment is unique. It also looks at the aspect of improving service delivery through outsourcing or co-sourcing. The research was conducted by means of a survey, consisting of two parts, sent to all twenty three institutions. A 70% response was received on the questionnaire. The research survey determined the technology environment, the attitude towards, and the extent of outsourcing within the environment, as provided by the Chief Information Officers / Information Technology directors. The findings indicate that there is an element of uniqueness within the higher education environment, and that the institutions face challenges, specifically with relation to skill shortages. Furthermore, it finds that there are areas where co-sourcing can provide a benefit and assist in alleviating the challenges. The study also identifies various areas of further study.

D.Ed. / The increase in internal and external communication has brought about a radical change in organisation and has left its mark on education. Information remains the facilitator's most important aid. At present information is stored in textbooks, facilitator's notes, audiocassettes, sources of reference, videos and curriculum guides. Facilitators and learners obtain information from these sources and process it in various ways. By means of digital technology it has become possible both to keep all these sources up to date and to establish a direct link with other sources. The question arises as to how education can make use of this extensive aid. This research poses the question whether education can be advanced through the effective use of electronic communication such as videos, computers and, more specifically, the Internet. With a view to the utilisation of electronic communication for education, an Internet module as an example was designed, in order to determine which application possibilities exist in electronic communication, more specifically the Internet, and how they can be utilised for the dissemination of information. The research has attempted to provide guidelines for the effective utilisation of an Internet module applied as learning content. A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research design is followed within contextual setting to achieve the aims of the study. In Phase One of the research a relevant study of literature on electronic communication, the Internet, and education was undertaken in order to design and apply an Internet module. The research method consists of interviews with media experts, focusing on the application possibilities and the establishment of guidelines for an Internet module. A group interview with principals was held mainly for verification and triagulatory purposes. The results of the study were compared with existing literature on the subject. The conclusions, findings and recommendations resulting from the research were presented for consideration and further research. Some of the most important findings and recommendations follow.

With its capability of merging virtual and real worlds, Augmented Reality (AR) provides a new framework for professional practices in numerous disciplines: it can deliver interactive pieces of information in real-time and in space. In music, such capabilities can have an important role in music notation and interfaces for electronic music performance. Numerous experimental musical applications have been developed since the early 2000s both for education and performance. However, in most circumstances, AR has been seen more as an aide towards the understanding and/or realization of traditional repertoire rather than a game-changing technology able to foster new artistic practices. There are still many uses yet to be explored, especially concerning compositional practice This dissertation also paves the way to a new repertoire in which the unprecedented possibilities offered by AR might be fully adopted and developed. This is an explorative work, structured mainly by a series of articles written solely by the author and published during his PhD studies (or accepted for publication at the time of writing). In these papers, a set of differentiated applications and compositions in the AR field are realized. The main thread that links all of the studies lies in the investigation of the relationship between AR and gesture-based musical practices (such as gesture-based control of spatialization and AR augmented instruments). A central role played by gesture-based music notation is the capability to notate a gesture in the space, with its exact coordinates and its exact velocity. Such a novel form of notation, enabled by AR technology and impossible in other domains, can also be enriched with interactive capabilities. As discussed in some studies included in this dissertation, virtual objects assigned to notational functions can also be assigned, simultaneously, to interface functions, thus creating interface-notation hybrids. Other studies of this dissertation address the capability of a virtual object changing its functions over time: AR notation can also be transformed into a virtual performer or into a visual augmentation of gesture. Another hopeful contribution of this dissertation to the musical use of AR lies in providing technical explanations of implementation procedures that could serve as a background for the creation of best practices

<p>In this information age, the Internet has found a role in various industries such as transportation, advertising, etc. The travel industry, in which communication between travellers and travel service providers is a very important component, has as much potential as any other industry to make full use of this new medium. Already, most travel agencies and travel service providers promote their products and services using web sites. Searching for information online is now seen by many people as a way to save time and cost, especially in their travel activities. In order to fully deploy the Internet within the travel industry, understanding the use of the Internet in tourism is critical. This research sets out initially to examine the role and the impact of the Internet in the whole of the travel industry. But in order to define an achievable scope of work and because of its importance in South Africa at this time, tourism within the travel industry was chosen as the focus of the work.</p>

The Web has become an essential part in the lives of individuals on a global scale. The Web provides information, data, and unprecedented international communicative powers. Because there is so much information available and the information may appear to be fairly anonymous, it is necessary to evaluate what one finds on the Web. How can Web users believe all the information that is available on it? Is the information authoritative, reliable, and trustworthy? And, from the reverse perspective, how can Web developers or providers make Web users confident about the information on the Web?There currently is no research-based Web site evaluation instrument aimed at evaluating school district Web sites. In addition, the problem of this study is to respond to the expressed need of the East Central Indiana School Study Council (ECISSC) school corporations' superintendents for a set of guidelines for developing their Web sites and to develop an evaluation tool for assessing the Web site's effectiveness.The researcher specifically examines the degree of quality of the Web sites using the researcher-developed checklist containing 137 items divided among 10 categories: authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage and intended audience, interaction and transaction features, navigational aids, non-text features, professional development, and recruitment features. Of the 10 Web evaluation categories, navigational aids (50.42%), accuracy (42.06%), and authority (41.8%) are the highest rated components. ECISSC Web contents receiving the lowest ratings include recruitment and retention features (6.74%), interaction and transaction features (8.70%), currency (8.95%), and professional development (9.33%).The findings of this study provide specific guidance to individual school corporations to retain quality Web site components and to further the development and refinement of specific elements in each of the 10 identified Web assessment categories. Individual school corporations and ECISSC school corporations' profiles are presented to assist school officials in their efforts to improve school Web site designs and contents. The 10 Web evaluation categories and 137-checklist items can be used to assess and improve school Web site and can increase their effectiveness and efficiency to promote enhanced school-community relations and understanding among stakeholders. / Department of Educational Leadership

This study describes the arrangement of four English department web sites. Arrangement is developed as an originally rhetorical, but now interdisciplinary, concept that is particularly relevant to web sites. For the purposes of the descriptions, this concept is broken into three aspects: how the home page of a site labels and lists links to other pages within the site, how the pages of the site are linked in respect to one another, and how visual elements indicate the structure of a site. Screen captures facilitate the descriptions. The sites are critiqued, and the findings are used to make suggestions for Ball State's English department web site and for English department sites generally. / Department of English

The Digital Family Oral History Pilot (DFOHP) data were collected and catalogued on a private website blog for family members to learn about their grandfather (ALP) who died without telling his own story. This study examined the outcomes and perceptions of the family members who were engaged with the pilot. A self-selected sample of 17 family members were interviewed and their reflections recorded. The reflections held their perceptions of adult learning as they responded to three research questions. “How did the family change when constructing an oral history about themselves?” “How did the family members perceive themselves as part of a family community through this oral history process?” and “What is the impact on the family relationships?” The reflections were coded and clustered in color assigned categories that revealed the themes. Findings indicated the family changed in positive ways through knowledge they gained, the new connection via the Internet, through affirmation of each other and the desire that future generations will use this resource. The family perceived themselves in varied positions within their social structure. The daughter placed herself in the epicenter due to her knowledge of her father (ALP). Family members, who perceived themselves as outliers, identified new knowledge of ALP that will help them move closer to the center in the future. The final research question on the impact on family relations elicited responses such as mended brother/sister stresses and enthusiasm that many of the family participated in the storytelling. The few negative reflections expressed sadness that ALP was not here to see what the family constructed and concern that individual stories did not encroach on the available space. The combined stories and reflections shared enough oral history that ALP was revealed as a person worth knowing to those who did not know his oral history previously. Finally, with responses such as “learned”, “learning” and “I now know” received from the sample, an environment of non-threatening informal education established new ways of knowing through an activity as simple as sharing story. Implicit informal education though storytelling was the catalyst for bonding between the branches of this family’s tree. / Department of Educational Studies