This was a mixed-method user-centered study regarding the University of North Texas's student-owned learner record and credentialing system. Through methods of quantitative and qualitative inquiry, student perceptions were unearthed and recommendations to improve the system were provided.

This case study investigates a chatbot and its responsiveness to user expression, utility and the users' experience. A user study was performed with both a questionnaire and user interviews. A program to automatically categorize user input messages was made in order to analyze the correlations and reasons for failed predictions and misunderstandings. The current utility is not reaching the return on investment, although expansions are planned and the launch is underway. The strongest and most meaningful correlations with unsuccessful messages were with messages that were out of the chatbot's scope, inside of the scope but unsolved, messages that lacked training and test data or that contained at least one unknown word. The user rated the chatbot's ability to understand them slightly above the middle of the scale, even though the rate of unsuccessful messages was high since the chatbot is still under development. Misspellings, vernacular and organization specific words did not have a particularly strong correlation to unsuccessful messages. The opinions on humanlike interaction were split both in regard to its current likeness and what would be desirable in the future. However, most users seemed to want the conversation to feel natural as if from a human and to receive nuanced answers.

The need for humanity to lessen its impact on the ecologies we’re a part of is becoming increasingly clear.  While there are many technically advanced solutions in the makings, one of the most straightforward ones is to simply use the objects we surround ourselves with longer. We can make them more durable and repairable but what happens when the needs of the user changes? How can we really know what needs the future will bring? I’m searching for a design approach that embraces this unknown. A process where the designer doesn’t have to be the enlightened figure that knows everything in advance. Because if we accept the complexity of the social and ecological reality where our objects end up, we never can be. I want to make objects that can grow and change with the user. A fertile soil for future needs. I’ve used the design process of three different objects to develop these thoughts.  An open ended loom for the weaver Vega Määttä Siltberg, a table made with designer Julie Amira that is disassemblable without tools, and lastly a piece of furniture that changes function without moving parts. The goal of this project is not to produce a solution to a specific problem or to create an object that communicates an idea as well as possible. Rather it’s the reverse. By the process of designing and building I’ve been able to explore the questions that my project is composed of. The thoughts expressed here come from this experience.

As increasingly large displays are integrated into personal workspaces, mouse-based interaction becomes more problematic. Users must repeatedly "clutch" the mouse for long distance movements [61]. The visibility of the cursor is also problematic in large screens, since the percentage of the screen space that the cursor takes from the whole display gets smaller. We test multi-scale approaches to mouse interaction that utilize dynamic speed and size techniques to grow the cursor larger and faster for long movements. Using Fitts' Law methods, we experimentally compare different implementations to optimize the mouse design for large displays and to test how they scale to large displays. We also compare them to techniques that integrate absolute pointing with head tracking. Results indicate that with some implementation level modifications the mouse device can scale well up to even a 100 megapixel display with lower mean movement times as compared to integrating absolute pointing techniques to mouse input while maintaining fast performance of the typical mouse configuration on small screens for short distance movements. Designs that have multiple acceleration levels and 4x maximum acceleration reduced average number of clutching to less than one per task in a 100 megapixel display. Dynamic size cursors statistically improve pointing performance. Results also indicated that dynamic speed transitions should be as smooth as possible without steps of more than 2x increase in speed. / Master of Science

In this study we aimed to investigate the process through which players of video games situate, and form an understanding of their presence within the virtual game environment. This study specifically investigates this process in games played through a first person perspective with the intention of minimising the amount of visual information provided the participants. For this purpose we created two scenarios within a videogame environment specifically design for the study. A total of thirteen participants took part in the study, and after each season a semi structured interview was performed. In a qualitative content analysis we identified patterns and commonalities ascertaining to our line of questioning, and conclude that while the player-presence relationship would appear to be largely dependent on the individual’s type of play, the varying focus on either narratology or ludology in our two scenarios did indeed influence the participants to approach this relationship similarly within the separate groups. Finally we defined four types of player-presence relationship, and how they can be said to relate to the varying ludonarrative dynamics within the two specified genres, as well as the varying types of play observed amongst the participants in our study.

本研究主要在瞭解國內歷史檔案館藏於Web 環境中建置的規劃過程與執行內涵，主要以國內現正進行國科會「數位典藏國家型科技計畫」且已規劃建置Web檔案檢索系統的中央研究院近代史研究所檔案館為研究對象，探討其Web檔案檢索系統之建置內涵。本研究雖係以近史所檔案館為例，但期望藉由對該館建置經驗之探討，提供國內各歷史檔案主管與典藏單位參考。研究目的包括：探討Web環境中歷史檔案館藏檢索系統建置工作的內涵、Web檔案檢索系統介面的功能與特性、使用者對檔案檢索系統的使用習慣、模式與需求情形，並針對檔案館工作人員、資訊技術人員之Web檔案檢索系統建置作業思維觀點予以並列比較，進而與使用者之檔案資訊檢索需求進行對照比較，作為國內歷史檔案館藏Web檢索系統設計與建置之參考。 　　本研究採用深度訪談法，首先以近史所檔案館「近代外交與經濟重要檔案數位典藏計畫」為主要研究範圍，對該館工作人員進行訪談，並以參與該館系統建置之中研院計算機中心的資訊技術人員為訪談對象，此外亦針對外交檔案的使用者進行訪談，以便對相關的研究問題進行探討；並採用比較法，針對檔案館工作人員、資訊技術人員於Web檔案檢索系統建構之思維進行對照比較，並依據使用者對Web檔案檢索系統之需求與建置觀點進行剖析。最後將檔案館工作人員、資訊技術人員對系統功能建置之觀點與使用者之觀點進行對照比較，以綜合觀點比較歸納出Web環境中檔案檢索系統的重要特性與功能。 　　研究結果，本研究分別從「系統建構」與「使用者需求」兩個面向提出研究結論。於系統建構面向得出結論為：（一）檔案描述著錄方面：訂定檔案著錄系統建置方針、協調統整既有作業情境與著錄系統間的作業流程、因應檔案描述著錄作業所面臨的問題；（二）檔案權威控制方面：檔案權威控制方案效能的比較、權威檔合作建置可行性與方案的抉擇評估；（三）檔案傳輸互通標準方面：重視國際相關標準的採用與整合檢索的重要性、研擬訂定核心欄位促成聯合目錄與整合檢索之實現；（四）Web檔案檢索系統使用者介面方面：訂定Web檔案檢索系統使用者介面設計原則、Web檔案檢索系統使用者介面的功能規劃、妥善進行Web檔案檢索系統的營運管理；（五）檔案資訊加值檢索之作法方面：配合國中、高中教科書內容增加主題檔案介紹，進行系統使用者Log檔統計分析並進行檔案使用者資訊檢索行為研究，結合學術領域研究人員人力投入以進行檔案深度描述，運用資訊技術以提昇加值檢索之效能與服務之強化；（六）Web環境中歷史檔案檢索系統發展趨勢方面：藉由觀摩國內外其他單位之規劃建置並掌握重點，由網頁得知他館的經驗分享進而交流合作，與資訊技術人員密切交流以有助於系統的規劃建置。於使用者需求面向則分別從「使用者對Web檔案檢索系統的觀點與使用經驗」及「使用者對Web檔案檢索系統資訊檢索需求內涵分析」兩方面做成結論。有關使用者對Web檔案檢索系統的觀點與使用經驗方面，分別就檔案使用者資訊素養、使用經驗、檔案查詢途徑與使用方式、檔案資訊檢索整體需求、檔案檢索查詢項目使用需求情形、檔案資訊檢索心得觀感、檢索時所遭遇的問題以及對Web檔案檢索系統之期許等提列結論。而有關使用者對Web檔案檢索系統資訊檢索需求內涵分析方面，則以整體架構需求面向、資訊內涵需求面向、資訊檢索功能面向、資訊輸出功能面向、資訊顯示功能面向、檢索點需求面向等提列結論。 　　根據研究結果，本研究分別從「系統建構」與「使用者需求」兩個面向提出建議。於系統建構面向之建議包括：（一）訂定數位典藏與資訊檢索系統建置的相關標準；（二）建立一專門彙整缺字處理方案的官方正式網站；（三）建立一個累積資訊技術發展成果的知識庫；（四）運用「全宗原則」、採行「控制層次」進行檔案描述著錄；（五）合作建置檔案權威資料庫；（六）遵循檔案傳輸互通標準以因應內部與對外整合檢索之需求；（七）進行Web檔案檢索系統使用者介面整體規劃；（八）進行檔案資訊加值檢索方案之規劃；（九）研擬訂定核心欄位，儘速促成聯合目錄與整合檢索之實現。於使用者需求面向之建議則包括：（一）建立整合性歷史檔案查詢網站；（二）運用資訊技術與人工智能分析以強化檔案資訊內涵分析；（三）提供個人化檔案資訊檢索服務；（四）研擬並發展加值檢索方案。 / This study aims at understanding the planning process and the implementation of web-based historical archive construction in Taiwan by investigating the National Digital Archives Program that is being run by the National Science Council (NSC) and the contents of construction of the achieves of Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, whose retrieval system was completed. Though the study was based on modern history archives, it is hoped that the study can be a reference of construction for competent units and owners of history archives. The objective of the study is to investigate the contents of construction of Chinese web-based retrieval systems for historical archives; their functions and characteristics; and the habits, behavioral patterns and needs of users. A contrastive study between thoughts and opinions of web-based retrieval system construction of archive crews and IT personnel and the needs of users has been conducted to provide a reference for planning and construction of web-based retrieval system for history archives in Taiwan. 　　In-depth interviews were conducted with librarians in charge of the Digital Archives of the Diplomatic and Economic Records in Modern History Project, and with IT personnel of the Computer Center of Academia Sinica engaging in the construction of the archival system. Moreover, users of diplomatic files were interviewed for related topics. A comparison of the thoughts and opinions on web-based retrieval system of archive crews and IT personnel has been conducted. Needs and views of users have been analyzed. Finally, a contrastive study between the views on system function construction of archive crews and IT personnel and the opinions of users has been conducted in order to find out the important characteristics and functions of we-based Chinese archive retrieval systems. 　　Based on the research findings, conclusions were made from the following two aspects: system construction and user needs. System constructions are: (1) file description and recording: establishing construction policies for file recording systems, coordinating and integrating the operation workflow of the existing operation environment and recording system, and responding to problems arising out of file description and recording; (2) file authority control: comparing the efficiency of file authority control solutions, and selecting and evaluating the feasibility and solution of collaborative construction of authoritative files; (3) file transfer protocol: focusing on the importance of international protocols and integrated retrieval, and drafting core columns to promote the realization of joint indexing and integrated retrieval; (4) web-based retrieval system user interface: drawing out principles of design for the user interface of web-based retrieval systems, planning functions for the user interface of web-based retrieval systems, and applying reliable operation management of web-based retrieval systems; (5) handling of value-added retrieval of file information: enriching topic file introduction in accordance with junior and senior high school textbooks, producing statistics on and analyzing system user log files and studying the information retrieval pattern of users, combining the manpower of researchers to produce depth description of files, and enhancing the efficiency and optimizing the service of value-added retrieval with information technology; and (6) the trend of Chinese web-based retrieval systems of historical archives: sharing the experience in planning and construction of other archives home and abroad and promoting exchange and cooperation with them over the web, and making close contacts with IT personnel to facilitate system planning and construction. Conclusions on user needs were made according to “the user’s views and experiences of uses of web-based file retrieval systems” and “analysis on the contents of user’s needs for web-based file retrieval system”. Regarding user’s views on and experiences of uses for web-based file retrieval systems, conclusions were reached according to the user’s information attainments, experience of system uses, paths and manners of file retrieval, overall requirements for file and information retrieval, use of options in file retrieval systems, comments on file and information retrieval, problems encountered in retrieving files and information, and expectations from web-based file retrieval systems. As to the analysis of the contents of user’s needs for web-based file retrieval system of users, conclusions have been drawn according to the needs for overall framework; information contents; information retrieval functions; information output functions; information display functions; and information retrieval. 　　Based on the research findings, suggestions have been made according to “system construction” and “user needs”. Suggestions about system construction include: (1) establishing standards for digital archives and information retrieval systems; (2) setting up an official website for processing characters that do not exist in regular font sets; (3) developing a knowledge base for accumulating IT development achievements; (4) describing and recording files with “level control” according to the “principle of respect des fonds”; (5) constructing a file authority database under collaboration; (6) following the file transfer protocols to meet the requirements of internal and external integrated retrievals; (7) making plans for the user interface of web-based file retrieval systems; (8) working out solutions for value-added file and information retrieval; and (9) drawing out central columns and promoting the realization of joint indexing and retrieval. Suggestions about user needs include: (1) establishing an integrated historical archive inquiry website; (2) applying IT and AI to strengthen file and information content analysis; (3) providing personalized file and information retrieval services; and (4) drawing out and developing value-added retrieval solutions.

Les surfaces tactiles ayant connu un grand essor ces dernières années, le grand public les utilise quotidiennement pour de multiples tâches, telles que la consultation d'e-mail, la manipulation de photos, etc. En revanche, très peu d'applications 3D existent sur ces dispositifs, alors que de telles applications pourraient avoir un grand potentiel dans des domaines variés, telles que la culture, l'architecture, ou encore l'archéologie. La difficulté majeure pour ce type d'applications est d'interagir avec un espace défini en trois dimensions à partir d'une modalité d'interaction définie en deux dimensions. Les travaux effectués dans cette thèse explorent l'association entre surfaces tactiles et manipulation de contenu 3D pour le grand public. Les premières études ont été réalisées afin de comprendre comment l'utilisateur réagit pour manipuler un objet virtuel 3D avec une surface tactile sans lui imposer de techniques d'interaction particulières. De par les connaissances acquises sur les utilisateurs, les travaux suivants présentent l'élaboration de nouvelles techniques d'interaction ainsi que leur évaluation. / Since the emergence of tactile surfaces in recent years, the general public uses them every day for multiple tasks, such as checking email, photo manipulation, and so on. However, very few 3D applications on these devices exist, although such applications may have great potential in various fields, such as culture, architecture, or archeology. The major difficulty for such applications is to interact with a defined space in three dimensions from an interaction modality defined in two dimensions. Work in this thesis explores the association between tactile surfaces and manipulation of 3D content for the general public. The first studies were conducted to understand how the user tends to manipulate a 3D virtual object with a touch surface without imposing specific interaction techniques. Throughout knowledge gained by users, the following works are developing new interaction techniques and their evaluation.

Off-the-shelf Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms suffer from slow learning performance, partly because they are expected to learn a task from scratch merely through an agent's own experience. In this thesis, we show that learning from scratch is a limiting factor for the learning performance, and that when prior knowledge is available RL agents can learn a task faster. We evaluate relevant previous work and our own algorithms in various experiments. Our first contribution is the first implementation and evaluation of an existing interactive RL algorithm in a real-world domain with a humanoid robot. Interactive RL was evaluated in a simulated domain which motivated us for evaluating its practicality on a robot. Our evaluation shows that guidance reduces learning time, and that its positive effects increase with state space size. A natural follow up question after our first evaluation was, how do some other previous works compare to interactive RL. Our second contribution is an analysis of a user study, where na"ive human teachers demonstrated a real-world object catching with a humanoid robot. We present the first comparison of several previous works in a common real-world domain with a user study. One conclusion of the user study was the high potential of RL despite poor usability due to slow learning rate. As an effort to improve the learning efficiency of RL learners, our third contribution is a novel human-agent knowledge transfer algorithm. Using demonstrations from three teachers with varying expertise in a simulated domain, we show that regardless of the skill level, human demonstrations can improve the asymptotic performance of an RL agent. As an alternative approach for encoding human knowledge in RL, we investigated the use of reward shaping. Our final contributions are Static Inverse Reinforcement Learning Shaping and Dynamic Inverse Reinforcement Learning Shaping algorithms that use human demonstrations for recovering a shaping reward function. Our experiments in simulated domains show that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art in cumulative reward, learning rate and asymptotic performance. Overall we show that human demonstrators with varying skills can help RL agents to learn tasks more efficiently.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T15:23:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1967034 bytes, checksum: 0d9716be6d604caa59335e47c28ec88b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Today the services offered by information units, more specifically the Academic Libraries, compose a great differential with the introduction of information technology in library services, which benefits professionals of this niche and users of such services. With this perception, a research was held aiming to identify the use of information services on the Web, offered by the Central Library at Paraiba s State University (BC/UEPB), to the students of Master in Environmental Science and Technology (MCTA). This is an exploratory study of quantitative and qualitative nature. The sample is composed of 49 users. To collect data a questionnaire was applied to users of the Central Library of UEPB and a form was applied to eight directors of Central Libraries of State Universities in the Northeast of Brazil, in order to compare the Web information services offered by BC/UEPB with the ones offered by academic librarians of universities located in the Brazilian Northeast. Data analysis shows that the Web information services offered by the Academic Libraries of State universities in the Brazilian Northeast, in general, present a worrying picture. On one hand, some libraries have not yet implemented that kind of services and, in the other hand, those libraries that already offer them, need a better structure. In this scenario 12.5% of Central Libraries are not computerized and do not have websites, respectively. It can be concluded that, at this moment, on-line information services is not part of the reality of some Central Academic Libraries of State Universities in the Brazilian Northeast. However, comparing the study with other studies on the information services on Web, provided by academic libraries, in general, the realities do not differ significantly. / Hoje em dia os serviços oferecidos pelas unidades de informação, de forma mais específica as Bibliotecas Universitárias, constituem um grande diferencial pela introdução das tecnologias da informação nos serviços bibliotecários, o que favorece aos profissionais que atuam na área e aos usuários que utilizam tais serviços. Com essa percepção realizou-se a pesquisa que tem como objetivo geral identificar o uso dos serviços informacionais, via Web, disponibilizados pela Biblioteca Central da Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (BC/UEPB), para os mestrandos em Ciência e Tecnologia Ambiental (MCTA). Trata-se de uma pesquisa exploratória de natureza quanti-qualitativa. A amostra está constituída de 49 usuários. Para coleta de dados utilizou-se um questionário para os usuários da Biblioteca Central da UEPB e um formulário para oito diretores de Bibliotecas Centrais das Universidades Estaduais do Nordeste, com vistas a cotejar os serviços informacionais disponibilizados, via Web, pela BC/UEPB com os oferecidos pelas bibliotecas centrais das Universidades estaduais do Nordeste. A análise dos dados mostra que os serviços informacionais disponibilizados, via Web, pelas bibliotecas universitárias estaduais do Nordeste brasileiro, de forma geral, apresentam um quadro preocupante. Por um lado, algumas bibliotecas ainda não os implantaram e, por outro, naquelas bibliotecas que já os oferecem, necessitam de uma melhor estruturação. Nesse cenário 12,5% das Bibliotecas Centrais não são informatizadas e não possuem sítios eletrônicos, respectivamente. Concluise que, no momento, disponibilizar serviços informacionais on-line não faz parte da realidade de algumas Bibliotecas Centrais de Universidades Estaduais do Nordeste. No entanto, comparar o estudo realizado com outros estudos sobre os serviços informacionais, via Web, disponibilizados pelas bibliotecas universitárias, em geral, as duas realidades não se diferenciam, significativamente.

We report on our experiences from two user studies (lab experiments) with nearly 300 participants for QoE evaluation using real mobile services and devices in our WiFi network emulation testbed. We briefly introduce our principles for integrating real services in these studies: how we selected relevant services, how we investigated their testability and how we tested them with high efficiency.