<p> What is community? What defines it, and what creates it? What&mdash;or who&mdash;is the gay community? Is the gay community the same as it was ten, twenty, or even thirty years ago? Those are some of the questions I will be answering as I explore the creation, expansion, and subsequent integration of the physical gay community into one that embraces an online, fragmented community. I will explore the creation and evolution of the gay community, examining its early years and the challenges it faced as a marginalized group. To help define community, I will use the concept of identity theory by incorporating the theory of play and weaving the idea of claiming public space into my argument to show how the physical, economic, social creation of the gay community is dependent upon a geographic and virtual community. Those examples will set up my argument that the idea of community has changed in part to the commonality of technology and social applications. I argue that the idea of the traditional gay and lesbian community, which relied heavily on where you lived, has become fragmented and disjointed because of the reliance of an online, virtual community which, in turn, has led to a lack of interpersonal connections among individuals of this marginalized group.</p>

abstract: Providing the user with good user experience is complex and involves multiple factors. One of the factors that can impact the user experience is animation. Animation can be tricky to get right and needs to be understood by designers. Animations that are too fast might not accomplish anything and having them too slow could slow the user down causing them to get frustrated. This study explores the subject of animation and its speed by trying to answer the following questions – 1) Do people notice whether an animation is present 2) Does animation affect the enjoyment of a transition? and 3) If animation does affect enjoyment, what is the effect of different animation speeds? The study was conducted using 3 prototypes of an application to order bottled water in which the transitions between different brands of bottled water were animated at 0ms, 300ms and 650ms. A survey was conducted to see if the participants were able to spot any difference between the prototypes and if they did, which one they preferred. It was found that most people did not recognize any difference between the prototypes. Even people who recognized a difference between the prototypes did not have any preference of speed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Human Systems Engineering 2019

The study aimed to answer the compelling question: "What makes an efficient Web searcher?" Based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory, Research Question No. 1 asks "How do self-efficacy, problem-solving confidence, and the use of Google's Advanced Search affect timely successful Web searching?" Based on Newell and Simon's problem space theory, Research Question No. 2 asks "Do efficient searchers share the same mental organization of keyword importance as the non-efficient searchers?" And Research Question No. 3 asks "Is a higher level of search performance characterized by increasingly consistent mental organizations of keyword importance?" / Participants searched the Web using Google. Each had up to 30 minutes to find the answer to the task: "How did Taiwan's native (aboriginal) people communicate in writing from roughly 200 to 400 years ago?" Data analyses involved survival analysis for RQ1 with 86 subjects; TRICIR and t-test for RQ2 and Kendall's concordance of coefficient for RQ3 with 88 subjects. / I tested five hypotheses. For RQ1, I found that Google's Advanced Search hurts timely successful Web searching, that self-efficacy helps, and that confidence does not help. For RQ2, I found that there is a significant difference in mental organization of keyword importance in two levels of search performance. For RQ3, I found that the efficient searchers have higher consensus in the mental organization of keyword importance than those of non-efficient searchers. In summary, I suggest what not to do---do not use Google's Advanced Search, and what to do---form a what I call "Decisive Problem Space" prior to searching with Google.

This dissertation research points out major challenging problems with current Knowledge Organization (KO) systems, such as subject gateways or web directories: (1) the current systems use traditional knowledge organization systems based on controlled vocabulary which is not very well suited to web resources, and (2) information is organized by professionals not by users, which means it does not reflect intuitively and instantaneously expressed users' current needs. In order to explore users' needs, I examined social tags which are user-generated uncontrolled vocabulary. As investment in professionally-developed subject gateways and web directories diminishes (support for both BUBL and Intute, examined in this study, is being discontinued), understanding characteristics of social tagging becomes even more critical. / Several researchers have discussed social tagging behavior and its usefulness for classification or retrieval; however, further research is needed to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate social tagging in order to verify its quality and benefit. This research particularly examined the indexing consistency of social tagging in comparison to professional indexing to examine the quality and efficacy of tagging. The data analysis was divided into three phases: analysis of indexing consistency, analysis of tagging effectiveness, and analysis of tag attributes. Most indexing consistency studies have been conducted with a small number of professional indexers, and they tended to exclude users. Furthermore, the studies mainly have focused on physical library collections. This dissertation research bridged these gaps by (1) extending the scope of resources to various web documents indexed by users and (2) employing the Information Retrieval (IR) Vector Space Model (VSM) - based indexing consistency method since it is suitable for dealing with a large number of indexers. As a second phase, an analysis of tagging effectiveness with tagging exhaustivity and tag specificity was conducted to ameliorate the drawbacks of consistency analysis based on only the quantitative measures of vocabulary matching. Finally, to investigate tagging pattern and behaviors, a content analysis on tag attributes was conducted based on the FRBR model. / The findings revealed that there was greater consistency over all subjects among taggers compared to that for two groups of professionals. The analysis of tagging exhaustivity and tag specificity in relation to tagging effectiveness was conducted to ameliorate difficulties associated with limitations in the analysis of indexing consistency based on only the quantitative measures of vocabulary matching. Examination of exhaustivity and specificity of social tags provided insights into particular characteristics of tagging behavior and its variation across subjects. To further investigate the quality of tags, a Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) was conducted to determine to what extent tags are conceptually related to professionals' keywords and it was found that tags of higher specificity tended to have a higher semantic relatedness to professionals' keywords. This leads to the conclusion that the term's power as a differentiator is related to its semantic relatedness to documents. The findings on tag attributes identified the important bibliographic attributes of tags beyond describing subjects or topics of a document. The findings also showed that tags have essential attributes matching those defined in FRBR. Furthermore, in terms of specific subject areas, the findings originally identified that taggers exhibited different tagging behaviors representing distinctive features and tendencies on web documents characterizing digital heterogeneous media resources. These results have led to the conclusion that there should be an increased awareness of diverse user needs by subject in order to improve metadata in practical applications. / This dissertation research is the first necessary step to utilize social tagging in digital information organization by verifying the quality and efficacy of social tagging. This dissertation research combined both quantitative (statistics) and qualitative (content analysis using FRBR) approaches to vocabulary analysis of tags which provided a more complete examination of the quality of tags. Through the detailed analysis of tag properties undertaken in this dissertation, we have a clearer understanding of the extent to which social tagging can be used to replace (and in some cases to improve upon) professional indexing.

<p> Recent studies have provided insights on how the popularity of social media, and other user-generated content venues have impacted the way in which we communicate and keep it touch with friends and family. However, little research has been done specifically related to Instagram or why individuals are motivated to participate in this social media network. The study explored what uses and gratification do individuals receive from joining Instagram. The study examined the way in which individuals use Instagram to post pictures. The study was conducted using an online survey through survey monkey. </p><p> The majority of respondents disclosed that they use Instagram for entertainment purposes. The respondents reported that they post on Instagram via cell phone, tablet, or laptop. This ties directly the Technology Acceptance Model. One of the key points in this theory is perceived ease of use. (PEOU) explains why individual are drawn to cell phones because there are easy to use. The study found that individuals from this study do not rely on Instagram for their news information. All of the respondents participated in some form of social media.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores how Louisiana French cultural resources, specifically historic documents, oral history recordings, and photographs of colonial artifacts, might be rendered more digitally accessible for the purpose of preserving and promoting Louisiana's unique French language and heritage. Methods of action research design guided this study's investigation. First, I examined the needs of French speakers living in and around the city of Lafayette, Louisiana. Then, after reviewing several projects using information communication technologies, in particular projects from the fields of cultural computing and digital humanities, I conceptualized distinct Internet applications for French-speaking Louisianans and for people interested in Louisiana's French language, history, and culture. Three fictional, yet feasible narrative scenarios serve to illustrate how my envisioned Internet applications might function. Specifically, I propose how Louisiana French resources could be enhanced through technologies including (1) metadata encoding, (2) database interoperability, (3) social networking, (4) serious games, (5) voice-recognition applications, and (6) enhanced digital video subtitles. This dissertation also (1) looks at copyright issues concerning objects of cultural heritage and (2) discusses trends of cultural institutions&mdash;museums, archives, and libraries&mdash;that are currently adopting policies, which encourage the public to freely access, reuse, and redistribute text and image copies of certain institutional holdings. This dissertation concludes by recommending collaborative efforts between Louisiana public libraries, Louisiana universities, and the Digital Public Library of America, a national initiative seeking to digitize, preserve, organize, and present cultural heritage resources online to the public.</p>

<p> User experience changes over time as a consequence of prolonged engagement with many products or services. Interaction evolves as we learn, adopt, and shift from old use patterns to new ones. Scholarly work in HCI has been successful in its investigation of interactive experiences situated in current places and times. This dissertation aims to provide a complementary perspective by paying attention to user experiences that happen in the past. In particular, it explores visual thinking as a method of describing and analyzing interactive experiences over time. </p><p> In addition, this dissertation has a pragmatic purpose: to develop applicable research approaches for professional practice. My professional experience as a designer yielded the insight that many practitioners collect user stories as references for envisioning possible futures. However, the collection and application of user stories can be improved. In many cases, the analysis of user stories is fragmented and lacking a systematic approach. Scholars are in a unique position to support practitioners by developing cohesive, systematic methods. I believe that academically developed methods should aim to support professional practice. </p><p> The overall aim of this dissertation is to produce methods for studying users and artifacts, the two essential components of a user experience. </p><p> The research commenced with a preliminary study of the use of visual diagrams as interview aids for recalling daily email usage. The research continued with a review study comparing different existing approaches to using visual support in user research as well as an analytic study of how to examine the history of interaction artifacts using "visual annotations." Finally, the research concluded with an exploratory study wherein timeline annotations of "retrospective interaction histories," were applied in workshops. Following these four studies, I examined how visual methods in a retrospective study might help capture and represent heterogeneous individual user experiences. This examination led to my proposal of a theory of temporal anchors. Temporal anchors capture the idea that the measurement of user experience over time and the history of interactive artifacts might serve as anchor points in users' retrospection. I conclude the dissertation with a discussion of potential future research directions.</p>

<p> Social media tools permeate the college student experience (Junco, 2014), including for those students who hold leadership positions on campus. The purpose of this study was to document the experiences and online behaviors of 40 junior and senior student leaders on digital communication tools. The study was conducted at two institutions in the western United States. Three research questions guided the sequential exploratory mixed methods study connecting student leadership, the presentation of identity, and decision-making with social media use. The study involved a three phase mixed methods analysis of focus group interviews and 2,220 social media posts. </p><p> Five major findings surfaced, including (a) social media impact starting in K-12 (b) college student leaders&rsquo; navigation of social media (c) presentation of digital identity (d) the beginning of leadership presence and possibilities and (e) significance of social media guidance in college. These findings suggest college student educators should implement holistic digital leadership education. Initiatives should begin early, prior to student enrollment in higher education, focusing on identity expression, positive possibilities-based perspectives, with a focus on social media&rsquo;s potential impact on student groups, social communities, and social change. Findings from this study can mobilize higher education professionals, student peers, and parents to become digital educators, providing tools for students to implement in their digital practices.</p>

<p> The ubiquity of social media has enhanced consumers&rsquo; ability to stay in touch as well as save and access information about others at will. This easy access to information on social media has the potential to change the way consumers seek and remember information. This dissertation sheds light on how information accessibility on social media shapes users&rsquo; cognitions. Using a professional social network context, we examine two types of information that consumers pay attention to &ndash; content (i.e., &lsquo;who knows what&rsquo;) and connections (i.e., &lsquo;who knows who&rsquo;) and how different types of social media influencers (content generators vs. content diffusors) strategically seek information under specific contingencies - when they are vs. are not connected to others (i.e., when information accessibility is high vs. low). We also suggest that individual differences in executive attention moderate this type of content seeking. Results across five studies reveal that content generators tend to focus on others&rsquo; content when they are not linked (vs. linked) but content diffusors tend to demonstrate the opposite, i.e., increased focus on content when they are linked (vs. not linked). Alternatively, when it comes to information about connections, content diffusors tend to focus on it when they are not linked (vs. linked) while content generators demonstrate no such active information seeking behavior. Interestingly, selective content seeking manifests only in users who rank high in working memory capacity &ndash; a factor that determines strategic attention control. Overall, this research shows that strategic content seeking happens on account of attention control processes and its outcome depends upon users&rsquo; social media roles. This thesis contributes to the emerging social media literature in marketing by outlining a new phenomenon, strategic content seeking, explicating its underlying cognitive mechanism and delineating relevant social and cognitive moderators.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental study was to extend and enhance the growing body of research related to electronic commerce by examining the relative importance of content, ease-of-use, promotion, made-for-the-medium, and emotion elements of manufacturer&rsquo;s representatives&rsquo; websites from the perspectives of site users, and to determine if the relative importance of these website elements varies as a function of occupational category. As these things are currently unknown, manufacturer&rsquo;s representatives do not currently understand how to apply these critical elements to create a successful web presence. In this study, participants consisted of 90 graduates from four year accredited programs having earned a degree related to the art or science of illumination with a minimum of 5 years involvement in the lighting industry. The mean for content (M = 38.34, SD = 13.45) and ease-of-use (M = 34.17, SD = 12.96) indicated they were the most important website elements. Substantially lower means were found for emotion (M = 7.23, SD = 6.30) and promotion (M = 7.40, SD = 6.55) as well as made for the medium (M = 12.86, SD = 8.48) indicating these website elements to be less important. The mean ratings for the five website elements as a function of occupational group indicate little variation between the occupational groups in terms of the relative importance of the five website elements. Content and Ease-of-use were rated as more important than Promotion, Made for the Medium, and Emotion for all five occupational groups. The findings of this research suggest future research is needed taking industry specific contexts into account. In order to accomplish this, future research could be performed on a larger scale, with multiple industries. As the Internet continues to evolve, more research will be needed to evaluate how new technologies will affect the design of websites, and the effect on website element importance. Future research could also examine the relationship of industry, income, age, gender, or other demographics to website element preference. Research relating to the application of existing theory in an electronic commerce context is also an area for future research. </p>