Visitors use and understanding of interactive exhibits and their learning of scientific concepts was investigated by three studies. The first study categorised visitors' use of a sound exhibit and found that 49% successfully used the exhibit. Understanding was described with a knowledge hierarchy and learning was measured using a pre-test and post-test. Findings indicated that many visitors had prior knowledge of the relevant concepts and 50% of visitors learnt a concept from the exhibit. The second study investigated young children's understanding and interaction with the Mitey Quarry, a cooperative exhibit of four elements, conveyor, elevator, auger and sorter, which were used to move balls around the exhibit. Findings indicated that children's activities and their level of understanding varied for each element, though higher levels were achieved with elements that were easily observable. The children's activities began with observation, and then vacillated between manipulation, operation and control of an element. The third study identified the educational objectives of a physical fitness exhibit, Let's Get Physical, and their achievement by high school students. Findings indicated that the instructional sequence integrated cognitive and affective objectives, and although 42% of students stated their intentions to begin new exercise activities in response to the exhibit message "to be active everyday", after two weeks, these intentions had not been enacted. The research has contributed to improved exhibit design by demonstrating the value of knowledge, activity and affective hierarchies in identifying exhibit objectives and providing a means for evaluation. Hierarchies are an effective way to describe and measure the visitors' use and understanding of interactive exhibits and learning from them.

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In this thesis we present the improvements and refinements that we made to the QuizScript system. QuizScript allows users, using simple markup, to quickly and easily generate interactive quizzes, composed of multiple types of questions, and provides immediate feedback to students. It was designed by Christine and Bill Wadge to overcome the tediousness often experienced while creating quizzes using other systems, such as Moodle. However, QuizScript has several shortcomings and their rectification is the focus of this thesis. We remedied these drawbacks by designing and implementing the following: a parser to detect errors; new functionalities; a database to store and retrieve the quizzes; and a dynamic website to host the quizzes, which enables an immediate preview of the quiz. / Graduate / 0984 / yasser83@uvic.ca

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2004. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: p. 420-436.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1994. / Typescript. Bibliography.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1995. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-62).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

The exposure of social problems such as forced disappearances is necessary for the history of society. The interactive documentary is a new digital proposal for the creation of spaces for the reconstruction of a social memory. In this paper, a content analysis is used to analyze the construction of the interactive narrative for the reconstruction of memory in the webdoc Forensic Landscapes and, with this, to identify its narrative composition in the construction of new spaces for the user’s experience. The interactive documentary generates a shared feeling between the user and the interface due to resources such as hypertextuality, database, narrative elements, representation modalities and interactivity. Thus, immersion is adhered, a new way of exposing a social theme in 360 degrees which recreates a sensory experience within an imaginary universe. Through the story, the memory of the agents involved in forced disappearances in Latin America is reconstructed.

Multimedia has been increasingly identified as a new medium of communication. However, the development of this medium has been largely driven by technological concerns, with apparently little regard for its (visual, conceptual) design. In conjunction with this, graphic designers have been experiencing a 'shift in their working practices and roles, with designers not only required to design on screen (for print), but also increasingly to design for screen, i. e. for multimedia and other screen-based, multimodal, interactive forms. These two factors, combined with an overall lack of understanding of the issues involved in designing for multimedia, suggested a real need for research into this area. The objective of the current research was therefore to reveal and identify the key and/or unique issues and considerations, which a graphic designer employs when designing and developing interactive multimedia (applications). A number of factors defined the subsequent methodology. These included, a lack of formalised knowledge or critical understanding of multimedia design specifically, or indeed graphic design generally; a limited number of established (UK) multimedia developers with an active reputation for 'design'; and relatively few multimedia design 'experts'. These factors ruled out the use of a more traditional positivist study, based upon a multiple sample and conducted by an independent expert-observer. Instead, a qualitatively-orientated, (single) case study was developed, based upon the concurrent verbalisations of the author, as the single-designer-subject, observing activities selfreflectively whilst designing a multimedia prototype. A rich and comprehensive record of designerly activity was generated. Through processes of iterative examination, interpretation and re-definition, a framework of considerations emerged. These considerations were organised into five 'classes of design decision' which are identified as, 'Solution Development, 'Graphical Representation', 'Multimedia Representation', 'Design Management' and Technical Implementation'. These classes and indeed the model as a whole, provides graphic designers with a highly practical, flexible and usable framework of issues and considerations, relevant when involved in designing interactive multimedia. The model also offers an extremely useful framework for developing multimedia design education, in addition to an effective methodological approach for studying 'new' areas of design. As such, the model and indeed the research as a whole is seen as being interdisciplinary. This research is discussed, culminating in a description of the model.