Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-06-26T13:50:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 LisianeMachado.pdf: 2700271 bytes, checksum: daa16317d86ca19329e47209f7d8c6a7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-26T13:50:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LisianeMachado.pdf: 2700271 bytes, checksum: daa16317d86ca19329e47209f7d8c6a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-30 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo teve como objetivo identificar se, e de que modo, os mundos virtuais tridimensionais (MDV3D) podem ser utilizados como um ambiente para o desenvolvimento de competências interculturais no Ensino de Pós-graduação stricto sensu. O método de pesquisa empregado foi o Design Research, usado para criar um artefato no formato de um método de capacitação para o desenvolvimento de competência intercultural, consistindo em um conjunto de atividades para a promoção de um Intercâmbio Intercultural Digital Virtual no MDV3D Second Life, com alunos do Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa - ISEG, de Portugal, e os alunos Universidade do Vale do Rio do Sinos - UNISINOS, do Brasil, matriculados em diferentes cursos de Mestrado O artefato (método) desenvolvido era composto por instrumentos de diagnóstico, ambientes modelados no MDV3D Second Life, treinamento para o uso do MDV3D, atividades de intercâmbio (encontro geral de abertura do intercâmbio, reuniões em grupo, palestra e encontro geral de encerramento das atividade do intercâmbio) e avaliação final. Para avaliar o processo de desenvolvimento de competências interculturais no MDV3D, adotou-se instrumentos de autoavaliação (aplicados antes e após o Intercâmbio Digital Virtual), questionários e também a Técnica de Incidentes Críticos para selecionar, com base na observação direta (filmagens), situações e acontecimentos em que foi possível identificar evidências do desenvolvimento de competências interculturais. Os principais resultados indicam que os MDV3D podem ser utilizados como um ambiente para o desenvolvimento da competência intercultural, especialmente devido às affordances de interação social, produção de conteúdo e compartilhamento de conhecimento. Os alunos envolvidos no Intercâmbio Intercultural Digital Virtual dentro do SL tiveram que praticar um conjunto de atitudes e habilidades, tais como habilidades comunicacionais; conhecimento de especificidades culturais; compreender a visão de mundo de outras pessoas; habilidades para analisar, avaliar e relacionar-se; habilidades para ouvir, observar e interpretar; respeito, abertura; tolerância a ambiguidades, entre outros, que são todos atributos da competência intercultural. / The study is aimed to identify whether and how the tridimensional digital virtual world (3DDVW) could be used as an environment for development of intercultural competences in the Post Graduate Programs. We used Design Research as a research method to create an artifact, in the format of a method of capacitation for the development of intercultural competences, composed by several activities during one Intercultural Digital Virtual Internship in 3DDVW Second Life, with students from The Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa – ISEG, in Portugal, and the Universidade do Vale do Rio do Sinos – UNISINOS, in Brazil, who were registered in different master courses. The artifact (method) developed was based on diagnostical instruments, shaped environments in the 3DDVW Second Life, training for the usage of 3DDVW, internship activities (opening meetings, group meetings, lecture and closing meetings) and final evaluation. In order to evaluate the process of development of intercultural competences in the 3DVW, we adopted self assessment instruments (applied before and after the virtual exchange), questionnaires, and also the Critical Incidents Technique to select, based on direct observation (video recording), situations and events where it was possible to identify evidences of intercultural competence development. The main results indicate that the 3DVW can be used as an environment for the development of intercultural competence especially due to the affordances of social interaction, content production and knowledge sharing. The students involved in the virtual exchange inside Second Life had to practice a set of attitudes and skills such as communication skills; culturespecific knowledge; understanding others' worldviews; skills to analyze, evaluate, and relate; skills to listen, observe and interpret; respect; openness; tolerance for ambiguity, among other, that are all attributes of intercultural competence.

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Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-06-29T19:52:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 thiagoluizberzoinimachado.pdf: 2242060 bytes, checksum: e5be95a0a6b81848845c4066ec4da618 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-07-13T15:50:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 thiagoluizberzoinimachado.pdf: 2242060 bytes, checksum: e5be95a0a6b81848845c4066ec4da618 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-07-13T15:50:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 thiagoluizberzoinimachado.pdf: 2242060 bytes, checksum: e5be95a0a6b81848845c4066ec4da618 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-13T15:50:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 thiagoluizberzoinimachado.pdf: 2242060 bytes, checksum: e5be95a0a6b81848845c4066ec4da618 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-30 / Utilizando como matriz midiática “Espectros – Um drama familiar” (Gengangere, 1881) de Henrik Ibsen, esta dissertação analisa a expansão do universo ficcional de uma peça teatral por diversas plataformas de mídia. A montagem da obra foi desenvolvida através da aplicação de estratégias transmídia com base nas explanações de Henry Jenkins e Stephen Dinehart, teóricos dessa nova forma de utilização da narrativa perante a era da “Cultura da Convergência”. O projeto apresentou ao espectador uma obra que possui vários “pontos de entrada” no universo ficcional da trama de Ibsen, acessíveis através de um conteúdo distribuído eletronicamente: vídeos, áudio-teatro, história em quadrinhos, um jornal fictício que contém informações sobre o programa da peça e um dossiê contra um dos personagens centrais da trama. A experiência também foi levada para um ambiente imersivo - o Second Life –, apresentando uma assembleia virtual que reuniu o elenco e o público atingido pela divulgação do evento nas redes sociais e sítio de hospedagem do material produzido. Com a aplicação dessa estratégia, o espectador é motivado a organizar mentalmente os fragmentos narrativos de situações pulverizadas através de canais de distribuições complementares, proporcionando a continuidade de imersão no universo ficcional mesmo após o término da experiência. / Using as a media-matrix “Ghosts – a family drama” (Gengangere, 1881) by Henrik Ibsen, this work analyzes the expansion of the fictional universe of a play by various media platforms. The composition of the play was developed through the application of strategies based on the explanations of Henry Jenkins and Stephen Dinehart, theorists of this new way of using the narrative according with the era of “Convergence Culture”. The project presented a work in which the viewer has multiple “entry points” into the fictional universe of Ibsen’s plot, accessible via electronically distributed content: videos, audio dramas, comic, a fictional newspaper which contains information about the program of the play and a dossier against one of the central characters of the plot. The experience was also taken to an immersive environment – the Second Life – featuring a virtual meeting that gathered the cast and the audience reached by the advertisement of this event through social networking and hosting website with the material produced. With the implementation of this strategy, the viewer is encouraged to mentally organize the narrative fragments of situations sprayed throughout additional distribution channels to provide continuous immersion in the fictional universe even the ends of the experiment.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / This thesis examines the production of identity within post web 2.0 virtual communities. Second Life, the community which this study focuses on, is a growing home of educational institutions. To better understand the process of constructing identity and community in the hyper-mediated future, this thesis grapples with the complicated process of creating oneself through analyzing the avatar as self and the home as community. Identity appears to continue to be both a liberating and constraining force, and creating oneself is not as simple as buying a new skin. Through a self-reflexive post-colonial virtual ethnographic exploration of the thesis writers experiences in the virtual world, light will be shed on the ways that identity is being shaped in relation to race and gender.

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Iris M. Totten / Problem-based learning in the sciences has been demonstrated to be a successful educational approach to engage students and increase content knowledge. However, the power of collaborative learning to engage students, increase content knowledge and develop problem-solving skills in the sciences has not yet been fully researched. Collaborative learning has an enormous potential not only to foster student learning, but also to increase interest in the sciences and promote cutting-edge education strategies worldwide. Collaborative learning tactics in this study take place within the virtual learning environment entitled “GeoWorlds.” GeoWorlds is an online educational gaming program within the Second Life 3-D Teen Grid. The curriculum was developed as a collaborative, investigative and engaging program to promote learning of Earth science content. The program allows students to be submersed-in and explore different geologic time periods; enabling them to observe species and geological structures while interacting with one another to complete tasks. This study investigates the educational impact, emotional response and overall feedback of the GeoWorlds virtual learning environment on Midwest ninth graders.

This dissertation contributes to conversations regarding the impact of open user centered innovation on cultural production by focusing on the construction and production of religious products within one large-scale open user-centered technological environment, 3D virtual worlds. Particularly, this study examines how virtual world users construct (non-gaming) religious communities and practices and how the technology impacts the forms of religious expression these users create. Due to its existing religious sector and affordances for user-created content, Second Life (SL) was chosen as the context of study for this dissertation project. Building upon Von-Hippel's (2005) user-centered innovation theory, construction and production within three different user-centered religious communities in SL were explored. Using a comparative ethnographic approach over a 14-month period, involving participant observations, interviews and hyper-media techniques, the social construction of customized religious products amidst technical, social, and economic virtual/non-virtual structures were analyzed. Exploratory findings demonstrate that the democratizing of cultural innovation, that is the construction of heterogeneous cultural religious products by the everyday user, is a matter of patterned relational pathways. The greater possible patterned pathways the higher potential for democratized cultural innovation, an increasing number of users developing new ways of doing religion. The fewer patterned pathways the less the potential for democratize cultural innovation and the greater potential for reproducing within the virtual realm the same cultural frames that define the current social order in the non-virtual realm.

In this thesis I cover the theoretical framework and the practice based implications of bringing the fundamental principles of a cybernetic art educational strategy, the Groundcourse, which was developed and taught during the 1960’s in England by Roy Ascott, into the virtual, three dimensional builder’s world of the metaverse; to be implemented there as a non-institutional, voluntary, self-directed, adult oriented learning system for avatars – one which is expected to be taught by avatar instructors who will formulate the specifics of their curriculum and their methods based upon the cardinal tenets of the Groundcourse, which have been summarized by Roy Ascott as a flexible structure, “within which everything can find its place, and every individual his way,” which would give dimension and substance to the will to create and to change. In order to be able to set the groundwork for the adaptation of the Groundcourse’s principles to my model I have conducted literature reviews in experiential learning theories, with an emphasis on self-directed learning; as well as cybernetic learning. These I have combined with a survey of play theory and virtual world studies, particularly those focusing upon the avatar and metaverse creativity. From all of these I have woven together a foundation which I have combined with a visual documentation which may serve as case studies for my proposal. The new knowledge embodied through this thesis is a learning system for the creative fields that is designed specifically for the residents of online virtual worlds, and yet has its foundations in an earlier, well established and well regarded model.

Virtual environments offer an exciting platform for social science research. The persistent nature of online virtual worlds such as Second Life however has increased the potential for both companies and institutions looking to establish a virtual presence and researchers looking to measure the evolving forms of human behaviour displayed when interacting within them. Since the use of the Internet has become widespread, commercial enterprises are particularly interested in exploring the opportunities that virtual environments may hold for them as the stereotype of what constitutes a ‘typical’ computer user gradually becomes broken down within contemporary society. Second Life and virtual worlds alike deviate from what might be categorized as a game, serving more as extensions of reality than escapes from it. Virtual worlds have been said to be dichotomous in that they may act as play spaces as well as extensions of the real world. Much existing research on computer-mediated communication and online behaviour has focused upon the differences between computer-mediated and face-to-face communication, and has provided in-depth reports on online communities. A growing body of research, however, focuses a more integrative view of computer mediated communication, looking at how online time fits with and complements other aspects of an individual’s everyday life. This work uses the virtual environment of Second Life to integrate the virtual and the real for real-world financial benefits and analyses the ways in which they intersect. The research presented here provides evidence for the thesis that the persistent online virtual world of Second Life can act as a valid and effective user interface metaphor for the financial services sector. The theory of social presence when applied to human-computer interaction provided the basis of this work. A practical metric is developed by which a bank could effectively create an optimum virtual environment to provide a new and innovative service for its customers by measuring levels of perceived social presence in interaction, collaboration and learning scenarios. Financial institutions and companies alike can use these results and turn them into practical tools to create a virtual environment for customers or staff to interact within that can project them to the forefront of technological innovation and add to a reputation as an ever developing and forward thinking company.

This study explored how avid users of Second Life (SL) experience and make meaning of informal learning activities in virtual art museums and similar cultural spaces through their avatars. While recent literature has laid the groundwork for studying student engagement and formal learning, the lacuna of research bound by the historical traditions of qualitative research design has done little to ease the skepticism surrounding the value of virtual worlds for learning. Within the context of museological discourse, virtual museum learning experiences have the potential to shift viewing practices as well as how meaning is generated, interpreted, and disseminated. Technical, conceptual, and methodological barriers to studying virtual worlds remain. Another goal of this study was to demonstrate the potential of hermeneutic phenomenology, particularly my conceptualization of virtual hermeneutics, to study virtual worlds. Hermeneutic phenomenology has the potential to make practical understanding of the informal learning process in SL explicit by providing an interpretation of this process. The challenge lies in applying the philosophy behind the methodology to the changing reality of virtual worlds. It is only by studying these experiences in context and situated within virtual spaces that we can expand our understanding of the avatar-mediated informal learning process. Findings from this study show that in-world informal learning experiences can, in fact, be studied on their own terms. Furthermore, rich textural data can not only be extracted from exclusively in-world interaction, but collaborative relationships can also develop with no actual world contact. These experiences and interactions can lead to experiential learning, but also transformational learning where the avatar-identity can affect users' actual world viewing practices and meaning making. It is not so much the technology per se that can affect change, but rather identity exploration, diegesis, and relationship building afforded by the technology. Albeit some learning outcomes were observed, affective outcomes and cognitive strategies, including metacognitive skills, were more frequently described by participants. Due to the complexity of assessing such outcomes and the present obsession with quantitatively measurable outcomes in formal education, it is unlikely that SL can or will be used outside the scope of informal learning in the near future unless formal education undergoes social reform.

Approximately one third of the population of Louisiana is African American. According to federal reports, Blacks in Louisiana receive a poorer quality of healthcare compared to the White population. Occupational therapy is a profession of predominately White, middle class females who report in surveys that they are not adequately prepared to provide culturally sensitive care to minorities. Leaders in occupational therapy have suggested instruction in cultural competency as a way to remediate the gap in quality of healthcare services for African Americans. This pilot study examined the efficacy of providing thirteen Louisiana occupational therapists with an immersive cultural experience in the virtual 3D world of Second Life in an effort to bring about increased sensitivity towards the African American culture. The study employed a pre-test, post-test case study design using the Race Argument Scale and the Race Attitude Implicit Association Test as outcome measures. Analysis of quantitative post-test data indicated that some participants had negative attitudes towards African Americans that might affect interactions with minority clients and that the instruction in cultural competency did not significantly change these attitudes. Examination of the qualitative data collected during the instructional intervention supported this conclusion, although many occupational therapists stated that the intervention increased their awareness of the effects of discrimination on the health of African Americans.