Faculty of Arts School of Humanities 9407042h grule@polka.co.za / The simplistic, optimistic view surrounding Internet discourse suggests that because of the Net's ability to quickly and cheaply distribute vast amounts of information and facilitate communication, citizens can use digital networks to influence decision-making in society, which will lead to democratisation in communication. While there is indeed an inherent interactive capacity in the technologies of new media that facilitates discussion and debate, computer-mediated communication generally does not live up to the democratic hype. More to the point, the discursive inequalities and exclusions that result from the uneven distribution of power in society tend to be reproduced in the online environment.

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Utilizing an experimental design, the study investigates the effects of eshopping behavior (experiential, utilitarian, or mixed) and interactivity level (low or high) on the consequences of eshopping (site attitude and future purchase intentions), as mediated by eshopping experience (sensory, affective, and cognitive) and flow experience (control, attention focus, and cognitive enjoyment). Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Eshopping behavior had a weak negative effect, and interactivity level had a weak positive effect, on eshopping experience. Experiential eshopping behavior decreased eshopping experience more than mixed or utilitarian eshopping behavior did. The latter two behaviors were not significantly different from each other in terms of eshopping experience. High interactivity level web sites increased eshopping experience more than low interactivity level sites did. Interactivity level had a weak negative effect on flow's control dimension and a moderate positive effect on flow's cognitive enjoyment component. High interactivity level sites moderately increased cognitive enjoyment more than low interactivity level sites did. Eshopping experience strongly and positively influenced flow experience in terms of control and cognitive enjoyment, and moderately impacted attention focus. Cognitive enjoyment had a strong positive effect on site attitude and future purchase intentions. However, control and attention focus did not significantly affect future purchase intentions. The study found an indirect effect of eshopping behavior on site attitude, instead of the traditional effect of attitude on behavior based on the theory of reasoned action and technology acceptance model. The results of the pilot study (N = 105) were consistent with the final study (N = 310). The study attempts to add to the small base of existing studies that examine eshopping experience and flow theory in an ecommerce setting (Novak et al. 2003; Skadberg and Kimmel 2004). The present study contributes to the online consumer behavior literature by utilizing flow theory and investigating the mediating effects of eshopping experience and flow experience on the consequences of eshopping. The findings should help inform web site design, facilitating the creation of sites which are more responsive to users by providing interactive features and understanding eshopping behaviors which users exhibit.

In recent years there has been an increased interest on the role of web-based simulations in student learning. I have conducted a preliminary study on the effectiveness of interactivity in 3-Dimensional simulations to help students learn the interference phenomenon. The study was based on a Pretest-Posttest design with the experimental and control groups completing different but equivalent web-based tutorials. The experimental tutorial was based on the use of highly interactive 3-dimentional simulations developed by the WebTOP project. The only difference between the control tutorial and the experimental tutorial is that the control tutorial used static images instead of simulations. The content of both tutorials addressed the common misconceptions students usually have about waves and interference as identified in previous physics education research. The results suggest that student learning from both tutorials was significant with no significant difference in learning between the two groups. The study also identified several factors that might have affected the results and that should be the subject of further study.

This study examined the impact of animation interactivity on novices’ learning of introductory statistics. The interactive animation program used in this study was created with Adobe Flash following Mayer’s multimedia design principles as well as Kristof and Satran’s interactivity theory. The research was guided by three main questions: 1) Is there any difference in achievement improvement among students who use different interactive levels of an animation program? 2) Is there any difference in confidence improvement among students who use different interactive levels of an animation program? 3) Is there any difference in program perception among students who use different interactive levels of an animation program? This study was a one-way design where the independent variable was animation interactivity. In addition to a control group (Static Group) provided with only static materials, there were three groups with different levels of animation interactivity: 1) Animation with simple interactivity (Simple Animation Group), 2) animation with input manipulation (Input Group), and 3) animation with practice and feedback (Practice Group). A sample of 123 college students participated in the study and was randomly assigned into groups. They gathered in the computer lab to work with the animation program and then took online surveys and tests for evaluation. Students were expected to learn Principles of Hypothesis Testing (concepts of type I error, type II error and p-value). The data collected in this study included 1) student learning attitudes, 2) achievement and confidence pre-test scores, 3) achievement and confidence post-test scores, and 4) program perception. Also, student manipulation of the animation program was recorded as Web log data. The data were analyzed by using multivariate analysis (MANOVA), univariate analysis (ANOVA), regression analysis, regression tree analysis and case analysis. The findings were as follows: 1) Animation interactivity impacted students’ improvement in understanding (p=.006) and lower-level applying (p=.042), 2) animation interactivity did not impact student confidence and program perception, 3) the regression analysis indicated that student prior knowledge and interest were the most important predictors on student achievement post-test scores instead of program manipulation, and 4) the regression tree showed that there were interactions among student interest, prior knowledge, and program manipulation on the achievement post-test scores. The case analysis showed that not all students manipulated the interactive animation program as expected due to a lack of motivation and cognitive skills, and this could decrease the effect of the interactive animation. This study hoped to broaden theories on interactive learning and serve as a reference for future statistics curriculum designers and textbook publishers. / text

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With the keen competition of the same product, consumers have many products to choose, so that many promotional activities are held to raise the market share. However, almost consumers are aware of the promotional activities through an advertising, such as a banner on the portal site. Indeed, we all see these kinds of advertisings in our life. Thus, promotional message is an advertising to a consumer, and it is also an advertising which combines promotion and advertising. That why I measure the promotion effects on the Internet according to the advertising effects. First of all, I want to know how the two kinds of promotions which are called price-promotion and non-price-promotion to affect the advertising effects. Secondly, I want to know how the interactivities which only exits on the Internet to affect the advertising effects. Finally, I use product brand image as a moderating variables to know how it affect consumer behavior. Between-subject factorial design, price-promotion and non-price-promotion arrange in pairs content-interactivities and non-content-interactivities arrange in pairs functional brand image and symbolic brand image is employed in my study. I pick up 240 students of NSYSU in convenience, and these students are divided into eight groups, and each group contains 30 students. The results show that: Two kinds of promotions will affect advertising effects. Interactivities will affect advertising effects. Brand image has moderate effect to the relationship between promotion and advertising. Finally, Brand image has no moderate effect to the relationship between interactivities and advertising.

La computación grid constituye uno de los campos más prometedores de los sistemas informáticos. La próxima generación de aplicaciones científicas se beneficiará de una infraestructura de gran escala y multi organizacional que ofrece más potencia de cómputo de la que puede ofrecer cualquier institicuón de forma individual. Los sistemas grid necesitan planificadores de alto nivel que gestionen de forma adecuada los recursos distribuídos en varias organizaciones. Estos sistemas de gestión de recursos grid deben tomar decisiones de planificación sin realmente poseer los recursos y sin tener control total sobre las aplicaciones que en dichos recursos se ejecutan, introduciendo nuevos desafíos a la hora de realizar la planificación de aplicaciones. Aunque los sistemas grids consisten de muchos recursos y las aplicaciones enviados a estos sistemas pueden aprovechar estos recursos usándolos de forma coordinada, la mayoría de los sistemas de gestión de recursos se han centrado en la ejecución de aplicaciones secuenciales, convirtiendo el grid en un gran sistema multi-sitio donde las aplicaciones se ejecutan de forma batch.Sin embargo, en esta tesis nos hemos centrado en un tipo de aplicaciones que ha recibido poca atención hasta el momento: paralelas e interactivas. Las aplicaciones interactivas requieren la posibilidad de iniciar en un futuro inmediato su ejecución. Además, durante su ejecución es necesario proveer de mecanismos que establezcan un canal de comunicación entre el usuario y la aplicación. En el caso de las aplicaciones paralelas, es necesaria la co-asignación, es decir garantizar la disponibilidad simultánea de los recursos cuando la aplicación necesite usarlos. En este trabajo proponemos una nueva arquitectura para la ejecución de estos tipos de aplicaciones y una implementación de la misma: el gestor de recursos CrossBroker. Esta arquitectura incluye mecanismos que permiten la co-asignación de aplicaciones paralelos y la interacción de los usuarios con las aplicaciones en ejecución. Adicionalmente, con la introducción de un mecanismo de multiprogramación, proporcionamos un inicio de aplicaciones rápido incluso en escenarios de alta ocupación de los recursos. / Grid computing constitutes one of the most promising fields in computer systems. The next generation of scientific applications can profit from a large-scale, multi-organizational infrastructure that offers more computing power than one institution alone is able to afford. Grids need high-level schedulers that can be used to manage the resources spanning different organizations. These Grid Resource Management Systems (GRMS) have to make scheduling decisions without actually owning the grid resources, or having full control over the jobs that are running there. This introduces new challenges in the scheduling process done by the GRMSs. Although grids consist of many resources, and jobs submitted to grid may benefit from using them in a coordinated way, most of the Grid Resource Management Systems have focused on the execution of sequential jobs, with the grid being a large multi-site environment where jobs run in a batch-like way.However, in this work we concentrate on a kind of jobs that have received little attention to date: interactive and parallel jobs. Interactive jobs require the possibility of starting in the immediate future and need mechanisms to establish a communication channel with the user. Parallel applications introduce the need for co-allocation, guaranteeing the simultaneous availability of the resources when they are accessed by the applications. We address the challenges of executing such jobs with a new architecture for a GRMS and an implementation of that architecture called the CrossBroker. Our architecture includes mechanisms to allow the co-allocation of parallel jobs and the interaction of users with running applications. Additionally with the introduction of a multi-programming mechanism, a fast startup of jobs even in high occupancy scenarios is provided.

The phrase immersive theatre has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years, and is often applied loosely. In 2012 (‘theatre roundup: advice for playwrights’) Lyn Gardner noted that ‘immersive is theatre’s new buzzword’ and expressed irritation with its often vague and unspecific application, commenting on ‘marketeers who seem to be applying the term “immersive” to practically anything that isn’t a play by David Hare.’ A specialised vocabulary and set of critical approaches are required. This thesis is about audience immersion in the work of Punchdrunk, a pioneering company working in the form. The thesis proposes that immersive theatre (the theatrical form) and immersive experience (the sensation) have a reciprocal relationship. The thesis begins with an overview of approaches to audience in theatre scholarship and other fields, and establishes a definition of immersive experience that will be applied to case studies in the chapters. The thesis is divided into three sections that consider topics integral to Punchdrunk’s theatre: interactive elements; a fractured and nonlinear approach to narrative; and the creation of scenographically rich environments. The chapters consider the relationship between these topics and immersive experience. The thesis is interested in how immersive experience is created and maintained, and discussed and framed in wider discourse. The first section is about interactivity and immersion. Chapter 1 considers various approaches to interactivity and proposes a multivalent model. Chapter 2 applies this model to a discussion of interactivity and immersive experience in The Drowned Man. Chapter 3 widens the definition of interactivity to consider audience engagement beyond the moment of the theatrical encounter. The second section is about narrative and immersion. Chapter 4 outlines current critical approaches to narrative, and discusses immersion in the interplay of story structure and theatrical structure, using the linear The Crash of the Elysium as a case study. Following on from this, Chapter 5 considers how immersive experience is created and maintained in the context of a Punchdrunk trademark: a nonlinear structure, with scenes in non-chronological order encountered only when a wandering spectator comes across them. Chapter 6 draws on the narrative ‘vs’ ludology debate in the field of gaming; a debate concerned with what a player is actually immersed in – the story or the mechanics of play. The chapter considers immersive experience and story in the Sleep No More project Punchdrunk undertook with MIT Media Lab in 2012, which used gaming mechanics to explore ‘remote and real world interconnected theatrical immersion’. The final section is about environment and immersion. Chapter 7 outlines approaches to environment and draws on methodological approaches from site-specific performance to discuss how immersive experience manifests in the interplay between the original site and the creation of a fictional world in/on that site.

The Internet and other advances in technology have dramatically affected cartography in recent decades and yet these new capabilities have not been adequately evaluated for effectiveness. Are dynamic maps more effective than traditional static paper maps in allowing users to visualize spatio-temporal patterns? How important is a higher level of interactivity in visualizing data? Which format is preferred? To examine these questions, human subject tests were conducted to evaluate different levels of interactivity as represented by 1) a static paper map series; 2) an animated map with 'VCR'-type controls; and 3) a toggle map featuring an interactive temporal legend. Results indicate that while the level of interactivity did not affect accuracy of answers to questions regarding spatio-temporal patterns, the total amount of time in which these questions were answered lessened as the level of interactivity increased. Overall, test subjects were more enthusiastic towards the tools featuring greater interactivity.