This document outlines a dissertation proposal for a virtual and social meetup system. The system would combine online 3D chatting in a virtual world with offline group meetings in the real world. For the virtual world, it would include personalized avatars, 3D environments to chat in, and background music. The goal is to provide an attractive space for online interaction. Offline, the system would encourage users who connect online to also meet up in person. The proposal discusses technologies like PHP and MySQL that would be used to build the system, and research methods like design, evaluation, and ethnography that would be applied.
2000-ACM SIGCHI-The social life of small graphical chat spacesMarc Smith
This document analyzes user behavior and social dynamics in three graphical chat rooms in the Microsoft V-Chat system over 119 days. Survey and log data show that:
1) Over 350,000 unique users participated, averaging 5 chat sessions of 6.6 minutes each. 44% only participated once while repeat users had an average of 8 sessions.
2) Users actively used avatar gestures and movement to provide nonverbal cues as in face-to-face interactions, though gesture use declined with experience.
3) Avatar clustering patterns and movement resembled real-world proxemics, though graphical features lacked full immersion due to technical limitations.
Modeling User Interactions in Online Social Networks (2009)Channy Yun
1. The document discusses modeling user interactions in online social networks to solve real problems. It analyzes data from Twitter and Me2Day to classify different types of interactions and their relative strengths.
2. Different types of interactions were found to have different "interaction indexes" representing their relative impacts. For example, replies were found to have a higher index than retweets on Twitter.
3. The authors propose developing models of user relationships and interactions to help address problems like finding experts to follow on Twitter or detecting disconnected friendships on Me2Day. Future work would expand interaction ontologies and integrate more social network data.
User interaction-social media-100102032820-phpapp01Josmiliteratura
1) The document discusses modeling user interactions in online social networks to solve real problems. It analyzes data from Twitter and Me2day to measure differences in strength of user interactions.
2) It finds that interactions like replies are more common than retweets or direct messages on Twitter, while interactions like comments are more common than "metoos" on Me2day.
3) It proposes developing an interaction index and formulas to measure strength of relationships between users based on analyzing types and amounts of interactions over time. This could help solve problems like identifying disconnected friends or recommending experts to follow.
Karen Kear discusses challenges that can arise when using asynchronous online discussion forums for collaborative work. Some key issues identified are: 1) time lags between responses can disrupt discussion flow; 2) too much disorganized information from parallel conversations can create "information chaos"; 3) lack of nonverbal cues and face-to-face interaction hinders developing a sense of social presence and understanding between group members; and 4) it is easy for members to disengage or "walk out of the virtual room" without others noticing. The article provides suggestions for addressing these issues, such as establishing timelines, using threading to organize discussions, including personal profiles, and developing a sense of group cohesion.
This document outlines the schedule and content for Session Three of a collaboration and networking event. The session will cover social media values, networks, and platforms. It will also discuss collaboration tools in social networking contexts and the ethics of data collection. The schedule includes an activity where participants will discuss situations requiring networking and collaboration. There will also be discussions on social networking theory and a case study example before concluding with an open question lunch.
This document discusses the NodeXL tool for charting and analyzing collections of connections in social media. NodeXL allows users to import social network data from various sources, create network maps and measures, and analyze patterns in the networks. The document provides an overview of upcoming workshops to teach hands-on use of NodeXL for social media network analysis.
Social network analysis for modeling & tuning social media websiteEdward B. Rockower
Social Network Analysis of a Professional Online Social Media Collaboration Community. Tuning and optimizing based on observed social network dynamics and user behavior.
2000-ACM SIGCHI-The social life of small graphical chat spacesMarc Smith
This document analyzes user behavior and social dynamics in three graphical chat rooms in the Microsoft V-Chat system over 119 days. Survey and log data show that:
1) Over 350,000 unique users participated, averaging 5 chat sessions of 6.6 minutes each. 44% only participated once while repeat users had an average of 8 sessions.
2) Users actively used avatar gestures and movement to provide nonverbal cues as in face-to-face interactions, though gesture use declined with experience.
3) Avatar clustering patterns and movement resembled real-world proxemics, though graphical features lacked full immersion due to technical limitations.
Modeling User Interactions in Online Social Networks (2009)Channy Yun
1. The document discusses modeling user interactions in online social networks to solve real problems. It analyzes data from Twitter and Me2Day to classify different types of interactions and their relative strengths.
2. Different types of interactions were found to have different "interaction indexes" representing their relative impacts. For example, replies were found to have a higher index than retweets on Twitter.
3. The authors propose developing models of user relationships and interactions to help address problems like finding experts to follow on Twitter or detecting disconnected friendships on Me2Day. Future work would expand interaction ontologies and integrate more social network data.
User interaction-social media-100102032820-phpapp01Josmiliteratura
1) The document discusses modeling user interactions in online social networks to solve real problems. It analyzes data from Twitter and Me2day to measure differences in strength of user interactions.
2) It finds that interactions like replies are more common than retweets or direct messages on Twitter, while interactions like comments are more common than "metoos" on Me2day.
3) It proposes developing an interaction index and formulas to measure strength of relationships between users based on analyzing types and amounts of interactions over time. This could help solve problems like identifying disconnected friends or recommending experts to follow.
Karen Kear discusses challenges that can arise when using asynchronous online discussion forums for collaborative work. Some key issues identified are: 1) time lags between responses can disrupt discussion flow; 2) too much disorganized information from parallel conversations can create "information chaos"; 3) lack of nonverbal cues and face-to-face interaction hinders developing a sense of social presence and understanding between group members; and 4) it is easy for members to disengage or "walk out of the virtual room" without others noticing. The article provides suggestions for addressing these issues, such as establishing timelines, using threading to organize discussions, including personal profiles, and developing a sense of group cohesion.
This document outlines the schedule and content for Session Three of a collaboration and networking event. The session will cover social media values, networks, and platforms. It will also discuss collaboration tools in social networking contexts and the ethics of data collection. The schedule includes an activity where participants will discuss situations requiring networking and collaboration. There will also be discussions on social networking theory and a case study example before concluding with an open question lunch.
This document discusses the NodeXL tool for charting and analyzing collections of connections in social media. NodeXL allows users to import social network data from various sources, create network maps and measures, and analyze patterns in the networks. The document provides an overview of upcoming workshops to teach hands-on use of NodeXL for social media network analysis.
Social network analysis for modeling & tuning social media websiteEdward B. Rockower
Social Network Analysis of a Professional Online Social Media Collaboration Community. Tuning and optimizing based on observed social network dynamics and user behavior.
This document discusses social networking and outlines the key features and modules of a proposed social networking project. It will allow users to register accounts, create profiles, make friends, send messages, and write blogs. It will be developed using ASP.NET, C#, SQL Server, and other technologies. Diagrams show the relationships between profiles, friends, blogs, groups, and messages. The document also discusses scaling the network over time through database optimization, load balancing, caching, and other techniques.
Libraries: Reference Services in a Virtual Contextkoegeljm
This document discusses virtual reference services (VRS) in libraries, including common types like email, web forms, chat, and instant messaging. It provides examples of libraries that have implemented chat widgets like Meebo Me and analyzes the results, such as increased questions but shorter transaction times. The conclusion is that VRS helps libraries meet patron needs and younger generations are attracted to libraries' reference services through VRS, though it also challenges librarians to broaden their skills.
This presentation was developed to help a client address best practices for building an online community within the workplace. It was based upon a great deal of research and study of the topic and should help those who are seeking information or wish to start an online community, as it pulls together a great amount of data and resources on the topic.
Digital One Day: Audiographic Environments for CPDGeorge Roberts
The document summarizes an event exploring the potential of audiographic environments for continuing professional development. It discusses the learning design which used Elluminate for synchronous collaboration along with blogs, Twitter, and Delicious for asynchronous components. Participants found the online interface richer than face-to-face and it effectively replicated a workshop, though some experienced technical difficulties. Evaluations showed the breakout groups worked well but full attention to presentations was difficult. The event exposed relationships between online identity, digital literacy, and communities of practice as threshold concepts in higher education.
Church Choir Online Communication and Music Recording and Streaming SystemEditor IJCATR
This document summarizes a research paper that proposes a web-based system to facilitate communication among church choir members and allow for music recording and streaming. The proposed system would address current issues with poor communication hindering choir performance. It describes using an object-oriented approach to develop a system with messaging and file storage capabilities. The system was implemented using C# and tested successfully. It provides functions for communication, music uploading and downloading, and helps address communication problems among choir members.
2007-JOSS-Visualizing the signatures of social roles in online discussion groupsMarc Smith
The document discusses identifying social roles in online discussion groups based on behavioral and structural signatures. It focuses on distinguishing the role of "answer people", who primarily respond to others' questions. Three signatures are identified for answer people: 1) responding to isolated members, 2) having few intense ties and triangles in their local networks, and 3) typically contributing only one or two messages per thread. Regression analysis shows these signatures strongly predict being an answer person, explaining 72% of variation. The study advances understanding of social roles and identification methods, which can benefit online community managers.
LSS'11: Charting Collections Of Connections In Social MediaLocal Social Summit
Keynote Title: Charting Collections of Connections in Social Media: Creating Maps and Measures with NodeXL
Abstract: Networks are a data structure common found across all social media services that allow populations to author collections of connections. The Social Media Research Foundation‘s NodeXL project makes analysis of social media networks accessible to most users of the Excel spreadsheet application. With NodeXL, Networks become as easy to create as pie charts. Applying the tool to a range of social media networks has already revealed the variations present in online social spaces. A review of the tool and images of Twitter, flickr, YouTube, and email networks will be presented.
Slides for talk at ConTech 2011 the International Symposium on Convergence Technology (ConTech 2011) – Smart & Humane World – on November 3rd in Seoul, South Korea.
Date: 2011 November 3 (Thurs)
Place: COEX Grand Ballroom, Seoul, Korea
Organized by Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technologies (AICT), Seoul National University (SNU)
In Cooperation with Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, National Research Foundation of Korea, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology (GSCST)
PhD researchers are using social media in various ways to support their academic identities and activities. They engage in practices like updating their profiles, searching for relevant materials, networking to build collaborations, and disseminating their work. Their digital engagement can be conceptualized not through rigid typologies but rather as variations in orientations shaped by individual agency and contexts. Regarding digital identity, PhD researchers navigate disclosing or not disclosing information, weaving or splitting personal and professional identities, and emulating or distancing themselves from successful examples. They search for space in digital engagement by converging or choosing a drop-in approach, and manage their time through tinkering with strategies or fragmenting their engagement for individual or collective benefits.
An experimental study in which we analyzed how individual twitter usage varies in conference settings.
Edgardo Vega, Ramanujam Parthasarathy, Josette Torres- Virginia Tech
The Digital One-Day events aimed to explore identity, literacy, and online communities of practice through synchronous distributed collaboration using the Elluminate online platform. The topics presented challenges both conceptually and technically in the new online environment. Some participants found the interface richer than face-to-face sessions while others struggled with technical difficulties or distractions. Evaluations showed the potential for effectively replicating workshops online but also identified communication and focus challenges. The events raised questions about whether identity, literacy and community are threshold concepts for educational development and whether discussions about online learning truly focus on learning itself.
What do you do with your community IT centreGeorge Roberts
The document summarizes research on how people use community IT centers. Through interviews and focus groups with 24 people over 5 years, the researcher found:
1) People had a broad range of motivations for using the community IT center, including support for education, housing applications, job searching, and building confidence.
2) Affective factors, like people's experiences with education and feelings about computers, shaped their engagement. Many had negative school experiences.
3) Major institutions like family, education, and work played foundational roles in people's lives and influenced their participation at the community IT center.
4) The community IT center provided space for identity development and social support. It appeared to cult
The Rogue in the Lovely Black Dress: Intimacy in World of WarcraftTyler Pace
In this paper we present a critical analysis of player accounts of intimacy and intimate experiences in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW). Our analysis explores four characteristics that players articulated about their virtual intimate experiences: the permeability of intimacy across virtual and real worlds, the mundane as the origin of intimacy, the significance of reciprocity and exchange, and the formative role of temporality in shaping understandings and recollections of intimate experiences. We also consider the manifest ways that WoW’s software features support and encourage these characteristics.
1) The document discusses principles of social interaction design, examining how social media work as systems of talk and mediated interaction. It explores how technology intervenes in natural communication and forces implicit meanings to become explicit.
2) Key aspects of social interaction addressed include talk as a form of social action, the organization of talk in social practices, and how cues and ambiguity are handled in mediated environments compared to face-to-face interaction.
3) The essay aims to better understand user experiences and social competencies in order to inform the design of social tools and their ability to facilitate meaningful self-expression and interaction online.
This document provides an examination of cyberculture in light of 21st century networks. It discusses identity, culture, and realism within cyberculture. Specifically, it examines the virtual world of Second Life, where users create avatars to interact and participate in online communities. Within Second Life, users can customize their avatars, interact through chat rooms and voice, participate in online clubs and events, and even develop romantic relationships. This demonstrates the emergence of a distinct cyberculture within virtual worlds like Second Life, with its own norms, communities, and sense of identity.
This document provides an agenda and overview for a CHI 2003 tutorial on web search engines. The tutorial aims to introduce HCI professionals to user interface issues related to search on the web. It covers topics such as the architecture and algorithms of modern search engines, evaluation and measurement of search quality, and interfaces for query formulation, evaluating results, and refining searches. The tutorial instructors are Krishna Bharat and Bay-Wei Chang from Google Inc. and includes slides on web vs traditional IR, query deployment and refinement, and other search interface design topics.
This study examines how Facebook users manage their privacy and personal information disclosure based on Communication Privacy Management theory. A survey and content analysis were conducted to understand the relationship between perceptions of Facebook privacy and efforts to stay updated on privacy settings. The introduction provides background on social networking sites and how they have changed communication. Hypotheses are presented that Facebook users who use the site daily will be more concerned about privacy and more likely to hide or restrict information from coworkers than family.
The document discusses social networks and how they can be used to examine e-learning. It defines key concepts like actors, relations, ties and networks. Relations between people lead to the formation of networks. The document examines different types of relations and ties that can exist for e-learning students, like receiving information or collaboration. Networks can be analyzed to study how structure impacts resource sharing. Arguments are made both for and against the ability to form strong, meaningful relationships online.
Case Study on Professional Issues of Interactive MediaTongXu520
The document presents a case study about Julian and Margaret McAdam who lost out on purchasing a new house because CreditWorthy, a credit rating company, mistakenly reported that Julian had defaulted on a previous mortgage due to a database error. While some argue the database should be modified to prevent future mistakes, others argue the costs outweigh the benefits given the small number of people affected. The document discusses various ethical approaches to the situation such as utilitarianism, common good, and rights-based arguments for both leaving the system as is and modifying it.
This document summarizes a Flash project that Tong Xu created to introduce core modules from their iMedia Workshop. [1] The project features four interactive buttons placed in the corners that, when clicked, display brief introductions about related topics in the central square. [2] Tong describes the process of designing the buttons to change colors and include jumping text on mouseover and click. [3] They tested the final project and published it online for others to interact with.
Sky Grid was an ambient media installation designed for the ground floor public area of the CSIS Building at the University of Limerick. The designers conducted user surveys and mapped the physical space to understand constraints and how people used the area. Most users were students who spent four to five days per week in the building working, meeting, or eating. This informed the design process, which combined principles from human-centered design, paper prototyping, and rapid prototyping to encourage perceptions of nature through an iterative design approach.
This document discusses social networking and outlines the key features and modules of a proposed social networking project. It will allow users to register accounts, create profiles, make friends, send messages, and write blogs. It will be developed using ASP.NET, C#, SQL Server, and other technologies. Diagrams show the relationships between profiles, friends, blogs, groups, and messages. The document also discusses scaling the network over time through database optimization, load balancing, caching, and other techniques.
Libraries: Reference Services in a Virtual Contextkoegeljm
This document discusses virtual reference services (VRS) in libraries, including common types like email, web forms, chat, and instant messaging. It provides examples of libraries that have implemented chat widgets like Meebo Me and analyzes the results, such as increased questions but shorter transaction times. The conclusion is that VRS helps libraries meet patron needs and younger generations are attracted to libraries' reference services through VRS, though it also challenges librarians to broaden their skills.
This presentation was developed to help a client address best practices for building an online community within the workplace. It was based upon a great deal of research and study of the topic and should help those who are seeking information or wish to start an online community, as it pulls together a great amount of data and resources on the topic.
Digital One Day: Audiographic Environments for CPDGeorge Roberts
The document summarizes an event exploring the potential of audiographic environments for continuing professional development. It discusses the learning design which used Elluminate for synchronous collaboration along with blogs, Twitter, and Delicious for asynchronous components. Participants found the online interface richer than face-to-face and it effectively replicated a workshop, though some experienced technical difficulties. Evaluations showed the breakout groups worked well but full attention to presentations was difficult. The event exposed relationships between online identity, digital literacy, and communities of practice as threshold concepts in higher education.
Church Choir Online Communication and Music Recording and Streaming SystemEditor IJCATR
This document summarizes a research paper that proposes a web-based system to facilitate communication among church choir members and allow for music recording and streaming. The proposed system would address current issues with poor communication hindering choir performance. It describes using an object-oriented approach to develop a system with messaging and file storage capabilities. The system was implemented using C# and tested successfully. It provides functions for communication, music uploading and downloading, and helps address communication problems among choir members.
2007-JOSS-Visualizing the signatures of social roles in online discussion groupsMarc Smith
The document discusses identifying social roles in online discussion groups based on behavioral and structural signatures. It focuses on distinguishing the role of "answer people", who primarily respond to others' questions. Three signatures are identified for answer people: 1) responding to isolated members, 2) having few intense ties and triangles in their local networks, and 3) typically contributing only one or two messages per thread. Regression analysis shows these signatures strongly predict being an answer person, explaining 72% of variation. The study advances understanding of social roles and identification methods, which can benefit online community managers.
LSS'11: Charting Collections Of Connections In Social MediaLocal Social Summit
Keynote Title: Charting Collections of Connections in Social Media: Creating Maps and Measures with NodeXL
Abstract: Networks are a data structure common found across all social media services that allow populations to author collections of connections. The Social Media Research Foundation‘s NodeXL project makes analysis of social media networks accessible to most users of the Excel spreadsheet application. With NodeXL, Networks become as easy to create as pie charts. Applying the tool to a range of social media networks has already revealed the variations present in online social spaces. A review of the tool and images of Twitter, flickr, YouTube, and email networks will be presented.
Slides for talk at ConTech 2011 the International Symposium on Convergence Technology (ConTech 2011) – Smart & Humane World – on November 3rd in Seoul, South Korea.
Date: 2011 November 3 (Thurs)
Place: COEX Grand Ballroom, Seoul, Korea
Organized by Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technologies (AICT), Seoul National University (SNU)
In Cooperation with Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, National Research Foundation of Korea, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology (GSCST)
PhD researchers are using social media in various ways to support their academic identities and activities. They engage in practices like updating their profiles, searching for relevant materials, networking to build collaborations, and disseminating their work. Their digital engagement can be conceptualized not through rigid typologies but rather as variations in orientations shaped by individual agency and contexts. Regarding digital identity, PhD researchers navigate disclosing or not disclosing information, weaving or splitting personal and professional identities, and emulating or distancing themselves from successful examples. They search for space in digital engagement by converging or choosing a drop-in approach, and manage their time through tinkering with strategies or fragmenting their engagement for individual or collective benefits.
An experimental study in which we analyzed how individual twitter usage varies in conference settings.
Edgardo Vega, Ramanujam Parthasarathy, Josette Torres- Virginia Tech
The Digital One-Day events aimed to explore identity, literacy, and online communities of practice through synchronous distributed collaboration using the Elluminate online platform. The topics presented challenges both conceptually and technically in the new online environment. Some participants found the interface richer than face-to-face sessions while others struggled with technical difficulties or distractions. Evaluations showed the potential for effectively replicating workshops online but also identified communication and focus challenges. The events raised questions about whether identity, literacy and community are threshold concepts for educational development and whether discussions about online learning truly focus on learning itself.
What do you do with your community IT centreGeorge Roberts
The document summarizes research on how people use community IT centers. Through interviews and focus groups with 24 people over 5 years, the researcher found:
1) People had a broad range of motivations for using the community IT center, including support for education, housing applications, job searching, and building confidence.
2) Affective factors, like people's experiences with education and feelings about computers, shaped their engagement. Many had negative school experiences.
3) Major institutions like family, education, and work played foundational roles in people's lives and influenced their participation at the community IT center.
4) The community IT center provided space for identity development and social support. It appeared to cult
The Rogue in the Lovely Black Dress: Intimacy in World of WarcraftTyler Pace
In this paper we present a critical analysis of player accounts of intimacy and intimate experiences in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW). Our analysis explores four characteristics that players articulated about their virtual intimate experiences: the permeability of intimacy across virtual and real worlds, the mundane as the origin of intimacy, the significance of reciprocity and exchange, and the formative role of temporality in shaping understandings and recollections of intimate experiences. We also consider the manifest ways that WoW’s software features support and encourage these characteristics.
1) The document discusses principles of social interaction design, examining how social media work as systems of talk and mediated interaction. It explores how technology intervenes in natural communication and forces implicit meanings to become explicit.
2) Key aspects of social interaction addressed include talk as a form of social action, the organization of talk in social practices, and how cues and ambiguity are handled in mediated environments compared to face-to-face interaction.
3) The essay aims to better understand user experiences and social competencies in order to inform the design of social tools and their ability to facilitate meaningful self-expression and interaction online.
This document provides an examination of cyberculture in light of 21st century networks. It discusses identity, culture, and realism within cyberculture. Specifically, it examines the virtual world of Second Life, where users create avatars to interact and participate in online communities. Within Second Life, users can customize their avatars, interact through chat rooms and voice, participate in online clubs and events, and even develop romantic relationships. This demonstrates the emergence of a distinct cyberculture within virtual worlds like Second Life, with its own norms, communities, and sense of identity.
This document provides an agenda and overview for a CHI 2003 tutorial on web search engines. The tutorial aims to introduce HCI professionals to user interface issues related to search on the web. It covers topics such as the architecture and algorithms of modern search engines, evaluation and measurement of search quality, and interfaces for query formulation, evaluating results, and refining searches. The tutorial instructors are Krishna Bharat and Bay-Wei Chang from Google Inc. and includes slides on web vs traditional IR, query deployment and refinement, and other search interface design topics.
This study examines how Facebook users manage their privacy and personal information disclosure based on Communication Privacy Management theory. A survey and content analysis were conducted to understand the relationship between perceptions of Facebook privacy and efforts to stay updated on privacy settings. The introduction provides background on social networking sites and how they have changed communication. Hypotheses are presented that Facebook users who use the site daily will be more concerned about privacy and more likely to hide or restrict information from coworkers than family.
The document discusses social networks and how they can be used to examine e-learning. It defines key concepts like actors, relations, ties and networks. Relations between people lead to the formation of networks. The document examines different types of relations and ties that can exist for e-learning students, like receiving information or collaboration. Networks can be analyzed to study how structure impacts resource sharing. Arguments are made both for and against the ability to form strong, meaningful relationships online.
Case Study on Professional Issues of Interactive MediaTongXu520
The document presents a case study about Julian and Margaret McAdam who lost out on purchasing a new house because CreditWorthy, a credit rating company, mistakenly reported that Julian had defaulted on a previous mortgage due to a database error. While some argue the database should be modified to prevent future mistakes, others argue the costs outweigh the benefits given the small number of people affected. The document discusses various ethical approaches to the situation such as utilitarianism, common good, and rights-based arguments for both leaving the system as is and modifying it.
This document summarizes a Flash project that Tong Xu created to introduce core modules from their iMedia Workshop. [1] The project features four interactive buttons placed in the corners that, when clicked, display brief introductions about related topics in the central square. [2] Tong describes the process of designing the buttons to change colors and include jumping text on mouseover and click. [3] They tested the final project and published it online for others to interact with.
Sky Grid was an ambient media installation designed for the ground floor public area of the CSIS Building at the University of Limerick. The designers conducted user surveys and mapped the physical space to understand constraints and how people used the area. Most users were students who spent four to five days per week in the building working, meeting, or eating. This informed the design process, which combined principles from human-centered design, paper prototyping, and rapid prototyping to encourage perceptions of nature through an iterative design approach.
The document proposes the design of a social dating website called ODAL that would have features like a reminder service, photo sharing, dating profiles, and location-based "time travel" maps to suggest places to meet, with the goal of addressing usability issues and providing an interactive experience for users to find dates. The proposed website would use technologies like PHP, MySQL, and CSS and involve further development of prototypes, usability testing, and refinement based on cooperative evaluation with users. The document requests any questions or suggestions regarding the proposed social website design.
The document outlines several multimedia project options for students to choose from that incorporate elements like sound, images, video, and animation. The options include creating a flash bio about oneself, making a flip book with flash, rotoscoping live video, designing a tic tac toe game, or a simple maze game. All projects require inclusion of multimedia elements and use of flash tools for effects, layers, buttons, and scripting.
The document discusses strategies for designing multimedia projects. It emphasizes the importance of feedback loops between design and production teams. The rendering process generates images from 3D models containing geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting and shading information. Effective design requires skills in areas like graphics, video and music, as well as the ability to conceptualize pathways. Key aspects of design include structure using tools like navigation maps, hotspots, hyperlinks and image maps. The user interface should be simple and user-friendly through a blend of graphic elements and navigation systems.
This document provides an overview of Module 1 of the BAPP Arts course, which focuses on professional communication. It discusses key topics like professional profiles, communication technologies, and reflective practice. Students are asked to consider how they currently communicate as arts professionals and how ideas from the readings could help them evaluate their practice. They are also invited to contribute their own research on the future of the web to be included in future versions of the course reader. The document outlines various discussion points from past class sessions around topics like using social media, balancing personal and professional online identities, and applying theories of connectivism and collective intelligence to their work.
The document discusses balancing individual and group needs in communities through technology. It explores tensions between participation and control, togetherness and separation, and individual vs group aims. It suggests using tools like blogs, wikis and social networks to address these tensions by bringing people closer or creating distance, and facilitating for both individuals and the group overall.
Free Chapter Conversation And CommunityAnne Gentle
Writers and content creators are witnesses to a shift from the age of information to the age of interaction. The volume of information available is huge and the ways in which people access that information, communicate, and collaborate are changing constantly. This book addresses strategies for technical communicators to experiment with techniques for working with social media and social networking tools. This chapter specifically talks about communities and collaborative events like Book Sprints, writing a user manual in a week's time.
An introduction to Web 2.0 from the Community of Practice perspective. The idea of this presentation is in how social media can be used to encourage and facilitate a community of practice.
1) The document discusses a final year project presentation on social networking.
2) The project aims to investigate the negative impacts of social networking, including effects on privacy, different generations, and how gossip spreads.
3) The presentation will use projection mapping to demonstrate the reality of social networking and its negative impacts through video and typography in order to show that some social networking activities are actually a waste of time.
The document discusses identity in social media versus real life. It notes that social networking sites allow teenagers to express different personas than in real life. While social media gives users tools to create and share their identity, it can also lead to confusion between one's online and real-life identity. The research aims to understand why people present different identities online versus offline and the impact of having split identities across social and real worlds. The methodology will include interviews, surveys, and research on social media use and identity representation to analyze the differences between online and real-life identities.
This document provides an overview and discussion of topics from Module 1 of the BAPP Arts course. It introduces professional communication as the first topic and discusses its connections to reflective practice and professional networking, which will also be covered. It outlines the tasks and readings assigned for the first part on professional communication technologies. It then summarizes three main ideas from Reader 1: architectures of participation, remixable data and transformations, and harnessing collective intelligence. The document prompts students to discuss in their own words how these ideas relate to their professional practice and use of Web 2.0 technologies. It encourages students to comment on each other's blogs to continue the discussion.
This document provides an overview of tasks and resources for Module 1 of the BAPP Arts course. It discusses professional communication technologies and ethical considerations. It outlines the tasks for Part 1, including creating a professional profile, using professional communication technologies, and working with audio-visual and 2D images. It encourages students to blog about their work and thinking. It summarizes three main ideas from Reader 1 on architectures of participation, remixable data, and harnessing collective intelligence. It provides discussion points about professionalism, communication, and the changing nature of the web. Students are invited to contribute their own research on the future of the web to future versions of Reader 1.
The document discusses top technology trends and their implications for organizations. It covers topics like Web 2.0, social networking, software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing, virtualization, location-based services, netbooks, mobile devices, and unified communications. It emphasizes that social networking is important because it allows people to publicly share their identity and connect in meaningful ways through profiles, friends lists, and comments. The presenter argues that organizations should leverage social networks to find experts, share knowledge, and understand how their members currently create and share information.
A presentation/conversation to be provided by Dr Bex Lewis and Dr David Rush at the Hertfordshire Blended Learning Conference, 17th June 2010. You'll have to come along to see what we actually say alongside it!
1. The document discusses the implications of Facebook becoming the world's dominant social network and telephone book.
2. Facebook currently has over 2 billion monthly active users, more than double its nearest competitor, giving it an immense advantage over rivals.
3. However, Facebook faces challenges in the next year to maintain its dominance globally as it aims to be the primary social network and contact method for more users worldwide. Overcoming issues related to privacy, regulation in different countries, and competition will be key to its continued success.
Social Networking Site - A new era in communicationVidur Pandit
The document discusses the rise of social networking sites and their impact on communication. It provides background on early social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. People began using these sites to fulfill various social needs, like forming relationships, belonging to groups, and satisfying curiosity about others. This led to their rapid growth and popularity. The sites transformed how people communicate by allowing them to connect with friends and family across distances. Today, social media continues to revolutionize communication and play a major role in peoples' social lives.
The document discusses the history and key aspects of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) through different theoretical frameworks: structural, cognitive, and sociocognitive.
- The structural framework views language learning as habit formation through repetition and feedback from computers. Computers provide drills and tutorials.
- The cognitive framework sees language learning as developing understanding through innate cognitive processes operating on input. Computers provide analytic and inferential tasks.
- The sociocognitive framework views language as learned through social interaction. Computers provide contexts for interaction and access to discourse communities.
Requirements Engineering for the HumanitiesShawn Day
This workshop explores how requirements engineering can be employed by digital and non-digital humanities scholars (and others) to conceptualise and communicate a research project.
requirementsEngineeringAs the field of digital humanities has evolved, one of the biggest challenges has been getting the marrying technical expertise with humanities scholarly practice to successfully deliver sustainable and sound digital projects. At its core this is a communications exercise. However, to communicate effectively demands an ability to effectively translate, define and find clarity in your own mind.
This document is a thesis submitted by Samuel Ayokunle Adekanmbi in partial fulfillment of a Master of Science degree in computer science from the University of Ibadan in February 2014. It investigates filtering offensive language in online communities using grammatical relations. The thesis acknowledges various individuals who provided support and dedicates the work to promoting a shared vision. It then provides an abstract that overviews developing and implementing a sentence-level semantic filtering system to remove offensive content while maintaining readability. The literature review covers topics like offensive language in online communities, cyberbullying, and using grammatical analysis for semantic filtering.
English Dot Works 6 LEVEL 6 -Evidence my presentation_outline Lina Murillo
The document outlines a student's presentation on social networks. It includes a brainstorm of key points about social networks, a structured outline for the presentation broken into four parts, and three presentation cards providing details on the origin and evolution of social networks, types of social networks, and the importance of social networks in society. It concludes with a references section listing three sources in APA style.
The document summarizes the author's experience learning the Processing programming language. It describes some key challenges, such as Processing using the new Java language. The author overcame these challenges by exploring tutorials on the Processing website. The author then explains the process of learning Processing, which involved installing the software, learning to draw basic shapes and colors, and using functions like "setup()" and "draw()" to create animations. As an example, the author designed an interactive mouse sketch that tracks the mouse position and draws colored rectangles to demonstrate their learning.
The document describes a Pure Data and Gem project that adds interactive features to 3D objects, including light and color controls. The project uses Gem to perform graphical processing within Pure Data. It creates a window to display 3D objects using "gemwin" and "gemhead". It then adds a point light source that can be rotated and turned on/off. Finally, it implements color controls, providing options for green, grey, and yellow colors. The purpose is to create an interactive 3D experience that allows users to manipulate light and colors.
The document reports on Tong Xu's experience making an Arduino shield in the ECE Lab. The process involved laying out components on a stripboard according to a LED circuit diagram, carefully cutting tracks to prevent cross-circuiting, soldering the components while wearing safety glasses, and fitting the completed shield onto an Arduino board. Tong then wrote code to control an LED using a potentiometer, and was able to successfully light the LED by running the Arduino on a Mac computer.
This document summarizes Tong Xu's work using 3D Max to create two virtual environments - a 3D hill and a snowy scene. For the hill, Xu drew spline outlines at different altitudes and adjusted their heights, applied a color gradient based on elevation, and added smoothing effects. For the snowy scene, Xu modeled snow particles, adjusting their properties, added a gray self-illumination material, and imported a background image to render the animation with falling snow. Both projects provided experience with 3D Max tools and workflows to support Xu's dissertation on a virtual meetup system.
Welcome to 3D Chatting (Flash Prtototyping Report1) Tong XuTongXu520
This document summarizes a prototype for a welcome webpage for a 3D chatting world. The webpage is being developed using Wizard of Oz techniques as full functionality is not possible yet. The left side of the webpage features an image representing 3D chatting, while the right side shows an image of real-life social meetups. The process of creating the flash website involved adding and animating balls, a light, and lines over multiple layers and keyframes to create a sense of motion. Images were also faded in and out to simulate jumping titles. A final image invites users to log in to try the 3D chatting world in the future.
Paper Prototyping On Virtual & Meetup SystemTongXu520
This powerpoint is paper protoyping about my dissertation-virtue and meetup system. If you are interested in 3D Chatting or have suggestions or questions, please don't hesitate to contact me!!!
“An Outlook of the Ongoing and Future Relationship between Blockchain Technologies and Process-aware Information Systems.” Invited talk at the joint workshop on Blockchain for Information Systems (BC4IS) and Blockchain for Trusted Data Sharing (B4TDS), co-located with with the 36th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE), 3 June 2024, Limassol, Cyprus.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of technologies, XML continues to play a vital role in structuring, storing, and transporting data across diverse systems. The recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present new methodologies for enhancing XML development workflows, introducing efficiency, automation, and intelligent capabilities. This presentation will outline the scope and perspective of utilizing AI in XML development. The potential benefits and the possible pitfalls will be highlighted, providing a balanced view of the subject.
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Further emphasis will be placed on the role of AI in developing XSLT, or schemas such as XSD and Schematron. We will address the techniques and strategies adopted to create prompts for generating code, explaining code, or refactoring the code, and the results achieved.
The discussion will extend to how AI can be used to transform XML content. In particular, the focus will be on the use of AI XPath extension functions in XSLT, Schematron, Schematron Quick Fixes, or for XML content refactoring.
The presentation aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of AI usage in XML development, providing attendees with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions. Whether you’re at the early stages of adopting AI or considering integrating it in advanced XML development, this presentation will cover all levels of expertise.
By highlighting the potential advantages and challenges of integrating AI with XML development tools and languages, the presentation seeks to inspire thoughtful conversation around the future of XML development. We’ll not only delve into the technical aspects of AI-powered XML development but also discuss practical implications and possible future directions.
HCL Notes und Domino Lizenzkostenreduzierung in der Welt von DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-und-domino-lizenzkostenreduzierung-in-der-welt-von-dlau/
DLAU und die Lizenzen nach dem CCB- und CCX-Modell sind für viele in der HCL-Community seit letztem Jahr ein heißes Thema. Als Notes- oder Domino-Kunde haben Sie vielleicht mit unerwartet hohen Benutzerzahlen und Lizenzgebühren zu kämpfen. Sie fragen sich vielleicht, wie diese neue Art der Lizenzierung funktioniert und welchen Nutzen sie Ihnen bringt. Vor allem wollen Sie sicherlich Ihr Budget einhalten und Kosten sparen, wo immer möglich. Das verstehen wir und wir möchten Ihnen dabei helfen!
Wir erklären Ihnen, wie Sie häufige Konfigurationsprobleme lösen können, die dazu führen können, dass mehr Benutzer gezählt werden als nötig, und wie Sie überflüssige oder ungenutzte Konten identifizieren und entfernen können, um Geld zu sparen. Es gibt auch einige Ansätze, die zu unnötigen Ausgaben führen können, z. B. wenn ein Personendokument anstelle eines Mail-Ins für geteilte Mailboxen verwendet wird. Wir zeigen Ihnen solche Fälle und deren Lösungen. Und natürlich erklären wir Ihnen das neue Lizenzmodell.
Nehmen Sie an diesem Webinar teil, bei dem HCL-Ambassador Marc Thomas und Gastredner Franz Walder Ihnen diese neue Welt näherbringen. Es vermittelt Ihnen die Tools und das Know-how, um den Überblick zu bewahren. Sie werden in der Lage sein, Ihre Kosten durch eine optimierte Domino-Konfiguration zu reduzieren und auch in Zukunft gering zu halten.
Diese Themen werden behandelt
- Reduzierung der Lizenzkosten durch Auffinden und Beheben von Fehlkonfigurationen und überflüssigen Konten
- Wie funktionieren CCB- und CCX-Lizenzen wirklich?
- Verstehen des DLAU-Tools und wie man es am besten nutzt
- Tipps für häufige Problembereiche, wie z. B. Team-Postfächer, Funktions-/Testbenutzer usw.
- Praxisbeispiele und Best Practices zum sofortigen Umsetzen
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We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
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My slides at Nordic Testing Days 6.6.2024
Climate impact / sustainability of software testing discussed on the talk. ICT and testing must carry their part of global responsibility to help with the climat warming. We can minimize the carbon footprint but we can also have a carbon handprint, a positive impact on the climate. Quality characteristics can be added with sustainability, and then measured continuously. Test environments can be used less, and in smaller scale and on demand. Test techniques can be used in optimizing or minimizing number of tests. Test automation can be used to speed up testing.
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In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
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Monitoring and observability aren’t traditionally found in software curriculums and many of us cobble this knowledge together from whatever vendor or ecosystem we were first introduced to and whatever is a part of your current company’s observability stack.
While the dev and ops silo continues to crumble….many organizations still relegate monitoring & observability as the purview of ops, infra and SRE teams. This is a mistake - achieving a highly observable system requires collaboration up and down the stack.
I, a former op, would like to extend an invitation to all application developers to join the observability party will share these foundational concepts to build on:
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
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Dissertation Proposal On Virtue&Meetup System
1. Virtual and Meetup System
-------Dissertation Proposal
Name: Tong Xu
Student No.:0702542
2. Table of Contents
Chapter1 Introduction……………………………………………………………3
1.1Brief Introduction of the Proposal………………………………….3
1.2Initial Thoughts……………………………………………………...3
1.3The Motivation………………………………………………………4
1.4Literature Review……………………………………………………5
Chapter2 Concept and Technologies………………………………………….…6
2.1 The Concept…………………………………………………….…..6
2.1.1 The 3-D Virtual World…………………………………….….6
2.1.2 Meetup in Real World…………………………………….…...8
2.2 User and User Experience……………………………………….…9
2.3 Technologies for Final Project………………………………….….9
2.3.1 The Use of PHP…………………………………………….…..9
2.3.2 Building Database with My SQL and PHP……………….….9
2.3.3 Interactive Media Technologies………………………….….10
2.4 Research Models……………………………………………….….10
Chapter3 Research Methods………………………………………………..…..11
3.1 Design Method…………………………………………………..…11
3.2 Snowball Techniques…………………………………………..…..11
3.3 Cooperative Evaluation…………………………………………...12
3.4 Ethnomethodology and Virtual Ethnography……………….….12
3.5 Issues for Space-Based Approach…………………………….….13
Chapter4 Timetable for Future Plans…………………………………….……14
4.1 The Exploration and Preparation………………………………...14
4.2 The Realization of Project…………………………………………14
References………………………………………………………………………..15
2
3. Chapter1 Introduction
1.1 Brief Introduction of the Proposal
Virtual and Social Meetup System is my dissertation proposal, a social networking that
facilitates online three-dimensional chatting in virtual world and offline group
meetings in real world.
For online 3-D chatting, it combines online chatting with online games together. The
distinction of the proposal is that it entitles the merits of traditional text chat as well as
its own characteristics, ie. Users are able to socialize, connect and interact with other
participants using personalized avatars in the virtue world which resembles the real
meeting environment.
For offline group meetings, it acts as social media where the internet is not restricted
to use online, but helps people to unite together and share passions in real world.
Technology does change life; in my project it is possible to see how real groups make
real difference.
1.2 Initial thoughts
This dissertation proposal is different from my previous thoughts. Actually it is not
easy to come to this step, but it is worth working as the proposal becomes more clear
and interactive.
Building a website to introduce courses of Interactive Media was my initial proposal.
While in the process of research I found many similar websites and the only job left
was just to organize diverse kinds of information together. As this work was
uncreative and less interactive, I gave up this idea.
Then I put up the idea to set up a social website to make friends and date with them.
The functions were Profile (where users are able to notify friends about themselves),
Friends (where a list of friends would appear to connect and interact with), Search
(where users can identify specific individual organized by hobby, city, school or
region) and Match Me (where tailor-made suggestions of dating would be given to
each member according to their various demands).
3
4. Thanks to grateful help and useful suggestions from professors and classmates, they
have pointed out drawbacks of my plan, including issues like how to attract people
together, the problem of data filtering and the target users were not clear, etc. Apart
from this, they gave me valuable suggestions to add more interactive features.
Gradually the proposal to make a social networking of Virtual and Social Meetup
System becomes clear.
1.3 The Motivation
The motives to build such a network come from three aspects:
Personal Considerations: My background was English Literature and I did not get
in touch with computer technologies before studying Interactive Media. That is
the reason why I am often under lots of pressures during the process. When
thinking of dissertation proposal, I really hope to take this as an opportunity to
consolidate knowledge through the use of interactive media techniques I have
learnt. In this case building a website is a practical choice to offer me such a
platform.
The Power of Social Media: One of the great things about social media is that no
one really knows what the next big thing is, whose uncertainty arises my interest.
Social media utilizes the technology of the internet to “open up dynamic dialogue
with target users, allowing for interaction and personal connection. Social
media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect the
online world, then to form different relationships. The successful examples of
social media are Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.
The Problem in the development of Social Media: The same tools we choose to
use for bringing us together as the human race are also used to keep us apart.
Heinferman said “The internet does a number of wonderful things, but it treats
geography as irrelevant. We still live in a world where the local level is extremely
important.” Nowadays we get accustomed to talk with people online all over the
world, but we are less likely to recognize our neighbors living in the same
community! Therefore, my social networking tends to be a motive force to
encourage and unite people together to meet in real life.
4
5. 1.4 Literature Review
Before starting my dissertation, it is necessary to examine the previous work to get
inspirations and make improvements for mine.
In Text Chat In Action, Jachi O’Neill and David Martin examined the method of how
participants manage their interactions through considering multiple threads. As the
conclusion, they suggest to develop multiple chat windows, and use alternative
channels. Associated with my proposal, text chat will be adopted as it is an effective
medium to support informal words communication in 3-D chatting. But limited by my
capability, I will not develop other channels such as audio or video ones.
In CSCW at play: “There” as a collaborative virtual environment, authors examined
game’s flexibility to allow players to develop their own forms of play within the game.
Some valuable aspects have been discussed, like how the environment supports a
range of social activities around objects. Such issues are essential for my dissertation
to build a fluid interaction space in 3-D environment. Only when participants feel free
and trusty in the virtual world, can they enjoy the pleasure that virtue meeting brings
to them.
In Chatting with Teenagers: Considering the Place of Chat Technologies in Teen Life,
professors examined the use of SMS and IM in the teenage population, covering the
content of what types of activities teenagers coordinate via SMS, and the significance
of using SMS for teenagers. Viewing the fact that teenagers have been on the
forefront of adopting instant messages (IM), in my dissertation, although I will not
focus on teenager users, I will make suitable avatars or setting choices to prevent
misleading them.
Moreover, from the book Interaction Design, I have learnt the process to perform
Cooperative Evaluation; Usability Issues in Website Design gives me guidelines to
design a good web.
5
6. Chapter2 Concept and Technologies
2.1 The Concept
Virtual and Social Meetup System as the combination of online chatting and offline
group meetings, its content needs to be considered from two perspectives how to
build a vivid virtual world and how to take advantage of social networking to
encourage participants to meet in real world.
2.1.1 The 3-D Virtual World
Researchers at MIT and Harvard have found that “people who had had a chance to
internet with each other (by computers only) on a virtual tour of a museum
subsequently had more successful face-to-face meetings than people who had
viewed only profiles.”
The lifelike 3-D virtual world will be built mainly from three aspects: avatars, 3-D
scenes and music for different virtual rooms. The setting goal is to provide attractive
and comfortable personal spaces for participants to communicate and interact with
others they are interested in. However, dialogues in conversation will be displayed
purely in text just like other traditional text-based chat, which is because text chat
application is mature supporting either messaging between two participants or
multiple participants.
First of all, choices of avatars are essential in 3-D chatting owing to the fact that
avatars are the embodiments of real participants, and their attitudes towards
avatars decide the future of the website.
In my plan, a set of avatars will be provided to let participants choose from. Of
course, they are allowed to personalize their avatars at any time to become what
they want to be, through the change of skin color, hair style, body shape, and even
the gender. Moreover, it is very common in Facebook to find a member uses
nonhuman figures like a fish as the avatar. I also would like to allow participants
to make avatars something nonhuman and funny like a robot or maybe even a
flower.
When making avatars, I will try to avoid sexual bias or sexual innuendo like large
breast or unbelievable thin waist, and extremely perfect (like Barbie) or wicked
(like Hitler) images will not appear. The objective is to set good models for
participants, especially teenager users, without misleading them.
6
7. There are two things need considering when designing avatars, one is the
aesthetics of avatars, such as characteristics including appearance, actions, and
the way to dress up. The other thing is the programmatic factor of avatars, which
refers to the ability of avatars and its interactive features.
Secondly, various 3-D scenes will be animated to offer fantastic spaces for
participants to chat in lifelike virtual environment. 3-D scenes have two
advantages: one is that these spaces reduce distances between users—they are
able to chat “face-to-face”; the other is that such virtual environments give users a
better quality user experience than traditional text chatting. Different scenes are
used for different usages to generate different feelings.
Some possible scenes are listed as follows, and I have begun to realize some of
them in 3D Max:
“A Home Away From Home”: If two participants are in favor of each other or fall
in love, this room is a perfect choice for dating, dancing, flirting and more. It is
romantic and private, where users can enjoy the feelings of sweet love.
“Global Chat”: Here participants are able to meet and collaborate with friends all
over the world in unique 3D environment.
“Exotic Scenery”: In this part, the chatting room will be decorated like the style in
China or Egypt. This design will gain the favor by those who are fans of exotic
cultures. In addition, they travel through the world when staying at home, and no
luggage fees required. : )
“Ordinary Sitting Room”: Here participants can experience the warmth of family,
when they sit on the sofa with a cup of coffee on the table.
Thirdly, music is available matching the atmosphere of each room. Background
music is necessary when chatting in 3-D room as music promotes communication.
Music not only reflects the culture, but also expresses and affects experience,
creates feelings and responses among listeners.
I have chosen traditional Chinese music and light music from Youtube; for other
pieces of music, like sounds in disco and other nature sounds, I will make them
myself in Logic Pro. The link of Chinese music is as follows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1iAAqQ71P8&feature=related.
7
8. 2.1.2 Meetup in Real World
Over the past few years more and more social networking springs up like Facebook.
However, the characteristics of Virtual and Social Meetup System lie in its combined
functions, ie. it promotes and creates opportunities for participants to meet in real
world apart from online chatting. The function to facilitate real meetup should be
realized through traditional website design, hence some of my previous work would
be of some help, for example, functions of “Search” and “Match Me” can be adopted
to use.
Issues about how to match people effectively and how to bring people together
determine the popularity of this kind of networks.
With the purpose of matching people effectively, personal information is required
from prospective members before they can search for other individuals using
criterion of gender, location or age range. What is more important, search engine
should be available on every webpage to facilitate matching.
Topics of interest are also needed from members, in that case the system is able
to recommend related groups and activities, or inspire participants to start new
groups to find like-minded people.
In order to gather people together, it is necessary to raise the name recognition
among internet users. Inspired by the developing history of Meetup.com, whose
surge came after the time when American political candidates were attracted to
use Meetup to coordinate their grassroots movement. Similarly, I hope to twitter
some famous people who are fans of social media, and try to invite them to test
Virtual and Social Meetup System.
With the popularity of social media, it is impossible to attend all the networking
events and parties around the city, but still people have the needs to meet new
people and learn about others. Based on personal preference data that members
offered, some information of related topics, events and venues in and around the
city will be informed to users through emails if they allow doing so.
Consequently they are less likely to miss the meetup they are interested in,
without being distracted by a plethora of other resources.
8
9. 2.2 User and User Experience
As a general-purpose social networking, the target users are not confined to a
certain group. However, taking into account of my capability and marketing
feasibility, I define focus groups of Virtual and Social Meetup System to students in
University of Limerick.
As a student in the same University, there are several advantages to broadcast my
dissertation proposal. First of all, it is easy to gather users’ feedbacks. I can send
emails to students, or post threads on campus forum to encourage them to try my
web. Then, I have geographical advantage to interview participants face to face to
ascertain user expectations and acceptance of services. In addition, online surveys
can also be conducted at the same time to collect real-time data on demand more
generally.
Efficiency and usability will be paid attention to offer a quality user experience
when they socialize online and interact with system’s services. To test efficiency of
the system, a task list will be designed to test the understanding of users for current
system, and whether the system can fit the real-life demands of users. As to
usability issues, the usability checklist written by Larisa Thomason will be
employed during the iterative interactive design.
2.3 Technologies for Final Project
2.3.1 The Use of PHP
I need to code a section that always displays the latest news which is
automatically generated, and titles of latest five news are shown automatically;
Web forums are required to set up in PHP, where users can post their own threads
or reply to others’ ones in various groups. Some researches have shown that
offering web forums is a good way to get users to return to the same site.
9
10. 2.3.2 Building Databases with My SQL and PHP
A user database needs to be implemented through the use of My SQL to save and
keep the data of users;
A detailed database that covers all the contents should be built to facilitate
participants to browse all functions or search for a particular service;
In the book Teach Yourself: PHP, My SQL and Apache, it says that “Using PHP
and My SQL to create dynamic, database-driven website is a breeze.”. With the
combination use of two technologies, there are TWO tasks to do in the following
months. Firstly, building a Content Management System (CMS) for storing,
indexing and searching text or functions; secondly, building a web-based email
service to facilitate users of related information they are interested in through email
to their existing mailbox.
2.3.3 Interactive Media Technologies
Virtual and Social Meetup System will be realized in Dreamweaver.
Avatars will be designed in Flash to facilitate users to make personalized ones.
Various 3-D virtual environments will be realized in 3-D Max.
Background music special for each virtual scene will be made in Logic Pro to
avoid the infringement of musical copyright.
2.4 Research Models
SP-STUDIO (http://www.sp-studio.de/ ): It is the flash game to create customized
characters through changing skin color, adding accessory or selecting
backgrounds.
Meetup.Com (http://www.meetup.com/tour/ ): It allows members to find and
join groups unified by a common interest, such as hobbies, politics, games,
movies. Users enter their ZIP code and topic they want to meet about, and then
the website helps them to arrange a place and time to meet.
IMVU(http://www.imvu.com/ ): With IMVU users create their own avatars to
chat in animated 3-D scenes.
10
11. Chapter3 Research Methods
3.1 Design Method
The design method I want to adopt is User—Centered Design. As user-generated
website, Virtual and Social Meetup System relies on users and has to meet the needs
and expectations of real users with the consideration of constraints and relevant
factors. The users’ requirements need to be thought over at the beginning of the
design process, and the prototype and evaluations should also be based on users’
needs. “Know your users” and “YOU are NOT users” are two simple but important
formulas to obey.
After analyzing users’ cognitive frameworks, some user requirements should be
drawn, then it is routine to draw several prototypes (in papers or Wizard of OZ) to test
them with users. The reactions of users to potential functions and features will direct
the improvements of prototype and design concept. The design process should be
iterative and always involves users.
3.2 Snowball Techniques
Snowball techniques will be used to collect users. As I stated in previous chapter,
prompted by constant threads on campus forum, UL students will be encouraged to
try my social networking. Some of them would browse it and tell their feelings to
their acquaintances. Thus the user group would grow like a rolling snowball, and
gradually enough data would be gathered for the research.
11
12. 3.3 Cooperative Evaluation
Cooperative evaluation is most useful for early feedback for redesign process in a
rapid iterative cycle.
The process is as follows: recruiting users covering various knowledge, experience,
skills and educational background, then designing a form of task list, the result of
which is reflective of users’ needs and direction of future design, and then
interacting and recording during the process of testing.
“Thinking aloud” is of great importance for cooperative evaluation, through taking
notes users’ actions and problems will be detected for further design process.
3.4 Ethnomethodology and Virtual Ethnography
Ethnomethodology is the study of moment-by-moment nature of work as
practical ongoing accomplishment of everyday life, and the corresponding output
tends to be rich descriptive texts. However, ethnomethodology is characterized as
indexicality, so the context will be referred to in which the language takes place in
the practice.
To understand the properties of text chat, ethnomethodology will be employed to
deal with actions and interactions of activities. During the process, how to put up
“Implications of System Design” with ethnomethodological approach is a crucial
step to analyze interactive activities.
Ethnography is a qualitative and interpretative technique that involves
researchers engaging in some degree of immersion and direct observation of the
work in its natural setting. Related qualitative techniques include in-context
interviews, focused observation, video-diary, and interactive walkthroughs of
space.
From CSCW at play: “There” as a collaborative virtual environment, I learn the
method to study online activity characterized as “virtual ethnography”. “This
approach involves the familiar techniques of ethnography with a significant
amount of time spent online in the research setting, observing, participating and
taking field notes.”
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13. 3.5 Issues for Space-Based Approach
In 3-D virtual world, the familiarities and intuitions in interacting in physical spaces
should be explored.
One issue is about embodiment, ie. how people are identified and presented in the
space. In 3-D spaces, participants need the basic sense of front, back and face to
recognize themselves.
Another issue is about navigation, which concerns with how virtual spaces are
represented and how people are able to find their way around in virtual world.
Last but not least, awareness plays an important role in 3-D environment, which refers
to how position and direction can be measured in 3-D space design.
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14. Chapter4 Timetable for Future Plans
4.1 The Exploration and Preparation (Mainly in first half of May)
I have registered as a member in Meetup.com and IMVU. Throughout the process
of doing the project I will experience the existing social networking services as a
user, from which some innovative ideas or improvements may come out to
implement the dissertation proposal.
On social media like Facebook and Twitter, various kinds of information and
learning resources are available, from which some original thinking may spring
up. When ideas come clearer, it is necessary to go to Google Scholar to find some
theoretical background or support to check their feasibility.
During the first half of May, I have to make the most use of time to learn related
technical knowledge as much as possible, including PHP and My SQL. These
preparations are of great importance for the realization of dissertation proposal
during the summer vocation.
4.2 The Realization of Project (From late May to late August)
From 18th to 31st of May: To understand users and draw requirements for my
project; to find some target users to observe and interact with them;
Throughout June: To realize initial prototype in the form of paper prototype or
Wizard of Oz, and to test them with some users, then to make improvements for
the prototype.
From the beginning of July: to build high-level prototype, including setting up
functions and providing services in PHP and My SQL as I stated in Technologies
in Final Project in Chapter2. The duration of this process cannot be estimated,
and it varies as the research goes deeper.
From July, the dissertation will be written as the project goes on.
Now when I review the timetable, I feel confident because I know what I should do at
any time from now on although lots of hard work is in front of me. I will keep to the
timetable and hope to finish my project at late August.
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15. References
Robert D. Putnam, (2000) Bowling Alone. New York: Simon&Schuster.
Julie C. Meloni, (2003) Teach Yourself: PHP, My SQL and Apache. Sams Publishing,
Indiana.
Luke Welling, Laura Thomason, (2005) PHP and My SQL Web Development. Sams
Publishing, Indiana.
Mark S. Ackerman, (2000) The Intellectual Challenge of CSCW: The Gap Between
Social Requirements and Technical Feasibility. Human-Computer Interaction,
Volume15, Issues2&3, Pages179-203.
E Agichtein, C Castillo, G Mishne, (2008) Finding High-Quality Content in Social
Media. New York, NY, USA.
Jachi O’Neill, David Martin, (2003) Text Chat In Action. ACM, New York, NY, USA.
P40-49.
Barry Brown, Marek Bell, (2004) CSCW at play: “There” as a collaborative virtual
environment. ACM, New York, NY, USA. P350-359.
R E Grinter, L Palen, M Eldridge, (2006) Chatting with Teenagers: Considering the
Place of Chat Technologies in Teen Life. ACM, New York, NY, USA. Volume 13,
Issue 4.
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