This paper introduces low-interactivity games as a new term to refer to games that provide players with very limited interaction by design. A grounded theory approach is conducted for this research, with reviewing literature and analyzing games specifically under the categories of casual games, idle games, walking simulators and minimalist games, in order to identify the available types of interactions in low-interactivity games. The design implications of games in this field are also investigated, indicating that low-interactivity games can be designed for companionship and awareness due to their core feature of supporting in-game inaction of the player. The design solutions and values of low-interactivity games are also discussed to argue for a responsible attitude towards the design of games in this space. The proposed term provides starting points for future research and development of low-interactivity games.

This dissertation describes research which investigated the use of communication tools in a WebCT learning environment. The instrumental case study investigated the level and frequency of use of the web-based communication tools during a full-fledged course delivery at a university that enrols only full-time students. The unit of analysis was the case and the instruments included group interviews, observation anecdotal notes, communication diaries, focus group and a journal/logbook. A mixed qualitative and quantitative research method was used in this research. The study evaluated how the interactivity and not how either the lesson or the WebCT function. The conceptual framework focused on interactivity, features of communication tools that promote interactivity, as well as the domains such as cognition, motivation and learner interface as aspects that influence the use of communication tools. Various web-based tools were used by a sample consisting of a selected small group of IT students who participated in the study. Those communication tools were used to facilitate learning in WebCT. The results showed a total of 145 interactions for the duration of ten sessions. The WebCT communication tools supported either synchronous or asynchronous communication. Communication tools were used to retrieve information and send text-based messages to lecturers and students. Interaction at different levels was evident between student and student, student and lecturer, lecturer and student, lecturer and lecturer, as well as, student and content. In addition to the WebCT communication tools, students used extra web-based communication tools, to facilitate their learning. It was concluded that with continuous advances in information and communication technology and with ever increasing student numbers at resident universities, more tertiary institutions should offer on-line courses. More communication tools should be considered on WebCT to facilitate more interactive learning. / Dissertation (MEd (Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Renato de Amorim Gomes.pdf: 5900636 bytes, checksum: d83603fadc8f3f5c606b4caca01f16ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-22 / This master s thesis presents some reflections on the pedagogical modeling in online education. The study focused on trying to identify what is the influence of the pedagogical model in the sensation of proximity and distance between the subjects in virtual environments for teaching and learning. With this in mind, we sought in some authors the theoretical basis to address the issue, highlighting Behar (2009) and Coll and Monereo (2010) on pedagogical models; Peters (2001), Moore (2007) and Tori (2010) on proximity and distance; Silva (2010) and Mattar (2009) on interactivity; and Merleau-Ponty (1999) and Basbaum (2005) on sensation. In the virtual ethnographic research, based on the orientations from Godoi, Mello e Silva (2006), Hine (2004) and Meister (2011), we observed, in the period between June 2010 and December 2012, the reaction evaluation of six groups of students from an online course of university extension from the Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul (USCS), whose offer took place in two different virtual environments for teaching and learning: a commercial LMS for the first three groups and the Moodle environment for the others. The results revealed that, in the pedagogical architecture - the first of the elements of the pedagogical model, composed by organizational aspects, aspects related to content, technology and methodology there are several interdependent factors that exert an influence on the sensation of proximity and distance, and that in online education the mere availability of technological resources is not a guarantee that there will be proximity between students and teachers, as well as between students and students. We observe that the transactional distance may increase when the structure is maximized in a virtual environment for teaching and learning of a socio-constructivist and interactionist conception (in the case of this study, Moodle) if it offers "expectations" of dialogue between the participants. On the other hand, transactional distance may decrease when the dialogue is expanded in an environment of behaviorist conception (reflected in this study in a commercial virtual environment for teaching and learning) and when the teacher makes use of mechanisms to increase proximity, especially with students who are digital immigrants / Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta algumas reflexões sobre a modelagem pedagógica na educação on-line. A pesquisa teve seu foco na tentativa de identificar qual é a influência do modelo pedagógico na sensação de proximidade e distância entre os sujeitos nos ambientes virtuais de ensino-aprendizagem. Para tanto, buscamos em alguns autores a base teórica para tratar do tema, destacando Behar (2009) e Coll e Monereo (2010) sobre modelos pedagógicos; Peters (2001), Moore (2007) e Tori (2010) sobre proximidade e distância; Silva (2010) e Mattar (2009) sobre interatividade; e Merleau-Ponty (1999) e Basbaum (2005) sobre sensação. Na pesquisa etnográfica virtual, com base nas orientações de Godoi, Mello e Silva (2006), Hine (2004) e Meister (2011), acompanhamos, no período de junho de 2010 a dezembro de 2012, a avaliação de reação de seis turmas de alunos de um curso on-line de extensão universitária da Universidade Municipal de São Caetano do Sul (USCS), cuja oferta ocorreu em dois ambientes virtuais de ensino-aprendizagem distintos: um LMS comercial nas três primeiras turmas e o ambiente Moodle nas três turmas posteriores. Os resultados revelaram que na arquitetura pedagógica o primeiro dos elementos do modelo pedagógico, composto pelos aspectos organizacionais, de conteúdo, tecnológicos e metodológicos residem diversos fatores interdependentes que influenciam a sensação de proximidade e distância, e que na educação on-line a simples disponibilidade de recursos tecnológicos não é sinônimo de que haverá proximidade entre aluno/professor e aluno/aluno. Notamos que a distância transacional pode aumentar quando a estrutura é maximizada em um ambiente virtual de ensinoaprendizagem de concepção socioconstrutivista-interacionista (no caso desta pesquisa, no Moodle), se este oferece expectativas de diálogo entre os participantes; por outro lado, a distância transacional pode diminuir quando o diálogo é ampliado em um ambiente de concepção behaviorista (refletido nesta pesquisa em um ambiente virtual de ensino-aprendizagem comercial), e quando o docente se utiliza de mecanismos para aumentar a proximidade, principalmente com alunos imigrantes digitais

Master of Science / Department of Communications Studies / Gregory Paul / This report investigates how American art museums have adopted interactive technologies on their websites. The use of such technologies brings to the forefront a tension regarding authority over visitors’ experience of and interpretation of art both in person and online. Interactive tools on 15 art museum websites were coded as enabling one of three types of interaction: human-to-computer, human-to-human and human-to-content. Human-to-computer interactive features were most prevalent on museum websites, followed by human-to-human and human-to-content interactive technologies respectively. The findings demonstrate a tension between the goals of art museums in wanting to engage visitors in co-creation of meaning about art on the one hand and wanting to maintain their traditional authority over that meaning on the other. The report concludes by offering recommendations for how museums can use interactive technologies more effectively in order to maintain their role as centers of social and cultural life.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Xinming Ou / Attack graphs present a visual representation of all the potential vulnerabilities and attack paths in a network. They act as a vital security tool in finding the critical attack paths in the enterprise wide networks. Generated attack graphs for complex networks present thousands of attack paths to visualize and represent to the end user. Enhancing the visualization of attack graphs by adding user interactivity will greatly improve in analyzing attack graphs and identifying the critical attack paths in the enterprise network. The layout of the attack graph can be adjusted to represent the layout of the real world enterprise network. Adding user interactivity to attack graphs is done using Prefuse, a software framework written in Java for information visualization. Prefuse is flexible and got the ability to render large amounts of data in an efficient manner. The visualization framework for the attack graphs provides a GUI tool for interacting with attack graph. The framework is a layered architecture with two important layers, the static layer and the dynamic layer. The static layer translates the attack graph trace generated from MuLVAL into a standard graphviz dot language descriptive file. The dynamic layer translates the graphviz dot file into a graph object that can be interpreted and visualized using the prefuse software framework. Preliminary result in this work has been published in [19].

Summary in English and Afrikaans / CSR has become a priority for many key businesses, particularly in light of codes of practice such as the 2009, The King Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa 2009 (often referred to as King III Report). Effective CSR is dependent on efficient communication between and with stakeholders and businesses, yet the quality of these communications is seldom evaluated. While the literature emphasises the importance of stakeholder engagement, little attention is given to the communication processes used during stakeholder engagement. This study asserts that Integrated Communication (IC) offers a multi-pronged approach for engaging with an organisations’ diverse stakeholders and, when incorporated holistically, aligns CSR throughout an organisation. This study uses a framework drawn from IC theory as a means of analysing the efficiency of stakeholder engagement within Anglo American South Africa (AASA), a company explicitly dedicated to CSR. A single embedded case study research design is employed, including a review of main CSR documents used by AASA, interviews with key communications staff, as well as a focus group on site with key staff members. The research revealed that although AASA is in many ways doing a laudable job in terms of stakeholder engagement, there are key points at which their efforts break down. This is due, in most part; firstly to a lack of integrated awareness throughout the broader business of what constitutes its stated CSR agenda; and secondly to a lack of executive power within the communications department of the business. It is suggested that by following the proposed IC framework, and investing key communications personnel with executive power rather than merely supportive responsibility, the effectiveness of AASA’s stakeholder engagement would be improved. This would improve the likelihood of an effective strategic CSR’s success, and be of value to the organisation. / Korporatiewe Maatskaplike Verantwoordelikheid (KMV) het 'n prioriteit geword vir baie belangrike besighede, veral in die lig van gedragskodes soos die 2009 derde King verslag oor korporatiewe bestuur. Effektiewe KMV is afhanklik van doeltreffende kommunikasie tussen en met belanghebbendes en besighede, maar die gehalte van hierdie kommunikasie is selde geëvalueer. Terwyl die literatuur beklemtoon die belangrikheid van die betrokkenheid van belanghebbendes, is min aandag gegee aan die kommunikasie- prosesse wat gebruik word tydens die betrokkenheid van belanghebbendes. Hierdie studie voer aan dat Geïntegreerde Kommunikasie (GK) 'n multi-ledige benadering bied vir die aangaan met organisasies se diverse belanghebbendes en, wanneer holisties opgeneem, lyn 'n organisasie deurgaans in met KMV. Hierdie studie maak gebruik van 'n raamwerk wat uit GK teorie as 'n middel van die ontleding van die doeltreffendheid wat met belanghebbendes binne Anglo American Suid-Afrika (AASA) uitvloei, 'n maatskappy uitdruklik gewy aan KMV. 'n Enkele navorste gevallestudie is gebruik, insluitend 'n oorsig van die belangrikste KMV dokumente, onderhoude met sleutel kommunikasie personeel sowel as 'n fokusgroep met belangrike personeel op die terrein. Die navorsing toon dat alhoewel AASA is in baie maniere om 'n lofwaardige werk in terme van die betrokkenheid van belanghebbendes handhaaf, is daar belangrike punte waarop hul pogings kort kom. Dit is te danke oorsaaklik; eerstens 'n gebrek aan geïntegreerde bewustheid regdeur die breër organisasie wat sy verklaarde KMV agenda uitmaak, en tweedens 'n gebrek van die uitvoerende gesag in die kommunikasie-afdeling van die besigheid. Daar word voorgestel dat die voorgestelde GK raamwerk kruis organisatoriese bewustheid van AASA se KMV agenda sou bevorder, en die organisasie dwing om belangrike kommunikasie personeel te belê met uitvoerende gesag eerder as bloot ondersteunende verantwoordelikheid. Dit sal op sy beurt die doeltreffendheid van AASA se betrokkenheid verseker. Die waarskynlikheid van strategiese KMV se sukses te verbeter, en van waarde wees vir die organisasie as geheel. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

As the adoption of mobile devices grows around the world, the use of this tool to access the internet and, consequently, interact with a mobile store is also growing. A mobile commerce that is trustworthy tends to have advantages if compared to its competitors and, therefore, better results. This study focuses on understanding and measuring the influence of trust antecedents applied to mobile commerce, in Brazil. The final antecedents found are Data Controls, Website Interactivity, Reputation and Willingness to Customize. The results indicate that Data Controls, followed by Reputation and Website Interactivity are the main influencers of Trust. If Reputation is not considered as part of the model, Website Interactivity becomes an important antecedent. The results provided in this thesis are relevant, since there is a lack of research related to trust in mobile commerce. It has deep practical applications by helping an online business to focus on actions that are essential to build trust through a device with such differentiated capabilities and dynamics of use.

Master's thesis "Comparison of popularly educational weekly youth magazines Mladý Hlasatel and Vpřed in 1930s through 1950s" contrasts two youth titles that were published around the WWII. Both titles, connected not only through the editor and father-like figure Jaroslav Foglar, were immensely popular in their time and constitute the phenomenon of journalism for children of that era. Both magazines were published during uneasy times, firstly during the dawn of the war and during the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; secondly, after ten years, during the rise of communists' influence and subsequent Communist coup d'état in 1948. This master's thesis follows my bachelor thesis "Mladý Hlasatel and it's authors" describing history, authors and specifics of this magazine. Master's thesis adds comparably detailed information about the magazine Vpřed, but its main objective is to compare the titles published in "free" era before the WWII and after it, and the ones that were published during the limited freedom of the press during the war and after the year 1948. This work seeks not only to compare the content, authors and information in both magazines, but also to comprehend the contemporary context of that era, observe the impact of ideological and political influences, as well as describe different...

I detta kandidatarbete har vi undersökt hur en skulle kunna gå till väga för att skapa ett interaktivt narrativ utan användningen av dialoger eller narration. Med hjälp av kroppsspråk och semiotik har vi arbetat för att skapa gester som är lätta att förstå oavsett vem som betraktar gestaltningen och med hjälp av mikrokontroller och sensorer så har vi skapat en gestaltning som betraktaren kan interagera med på så vis få en lämplig reaktion tillbaka. Under arbetet har vi även provat på ett, för oss, nytt designperspektiv som vi grundat inom semiotik. Detta och ny teknik har fört med sig en del problem som vi fått lösa på ett eller annat sätt. / In this Bachelor Thesis we have studied how one could go about creating an interactive narrative without dialogues or narration. With the help of body language and semiotics, we have worked to create gestures that are easy to understand regardless of who looks at the design and with the help of microcontrollers and sensors, we have created a design that the viewer can interact with in order to get an appropriate response back. During the work, we have also tried a new design perspective for us, which we have based on semiotics. This and new technology has brought with it some problems that we have had to solve in one way or another.

The aim of the study was to determine if interactivity would affect how immersed and aroused the participants would become when exposed to horror media with different levels of interactivity. Two groups of participants were asked to either play or watch a virtual scenario. The participants had their heart rate measured using an activity bracelet and eyes tracked using a Tobii 4C eye tracker. The study found that as interactivity increased, so did arousal, whilst immersion did not. The results indicated that cutscenes may result in significantly lower levels of arousal, compared to interactive gameplay. / Målet med studien var att fastställa om interaktivitet skulle påverka hur inlevelsefulla och upphetsade studiedeltagarna skulle bli inför skräckmedia med olika nivåer av interaktivitet. Två grupper studiedeltagare blev tillfrågade att antingen spela eller titta på ett virtuellt scenario. Studiedeltagarnas hjärtrytm mättes sedan med ett aktivitetsarmband med inbyggd hjärtmonitor. Studiedeltagarnas ögonrörelser spelades in med hjälp av en Tobii 4C eye tracker. Studien fann att upphetsning ökade när interaktivitet ökade. Inlevelse ökade inte när interaktivitet ökade. Resultaten indikerade att cutscenes kan ha signifikant lägre nivåer av upphetsning, jämfört med interaktiv gameplay.