The lens of ludic engagement : evaluating participation in interactive art installations

Designers and artists have integrated recent advances in interactive, tangible and ubiquitous computing technologies to create new forms of interactive environments in the domains of work, recreation, culture and leisure. Many designs of technology systems begin with the workplace in mind, and with function, ease of use, and efficiency high on the list of priorities. [1] These priorities do not fit well with works designed for an interactive art environment, where the aims are many, and where the focus on utility and functionality is to support a playful, ambiguous or even experimental experience for the participants. To evaluate such works requires an integration of art-criticism techniques with more recent Human Computer Interaction (HCI) methods, and an understanding of the different nature of engagement in these environments. This paper begins a process of mapping a set of priorities for amplifying engagement in interactive art installations. I first define the concept of ludic engagement and its usefulness as a lens for both design and evaluation in these settings. I then detail two fieldwork evaluations I conducted within two exhibitions of interactive artworks, and discuss their outcomes and the future directions of this research.

Public-oriented interactive environmental decision support system

With the application of GIS methodologies to spatial data, researchers can now identify patterns of occurrence for many social problems including health-issues and crime. Further more, since this type of data also contains clues as to the underlying causes of social problems, it can be used to make well-educated and consequently, more effective policy decisions.

Interactive lounge : an interdisciplinary approach to the design of a gestural interaction device

Among the many new opportunities that digital technologies are enabling are an increased capacity for viewers to interact not only with the program content, but with an increasingly wide array of other digital applications. Within this context this project has developed a new interaction device (incorporating gestural platform technology) and user interfaces to facilitate interactive access to digital media in a lounge room setting. This paper provides an overview of an interdisciplinary design process applied by Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) researchers—in order to develop the device and present in detail its unique features.

Research Monograph: Building Online Participatory Systems: Towards the Community Based Interactive Environmental Decision Support Systems

The importance of broadening community participation in environmental decision-making is widely recognized and lack of participation in this process appears to be a perennial problem. In this context, there have been calls from some academics for the more extensive use of geographic information systems (GIS) and distance learning technologies, accessible via the Internet, as a possible means to inform and empower communities. However, a number of problems exist. For instance, at present the scope for online interaction between policy-makers and citizens is currently limited. Contemporary web-based environmental information systems suffer from this lack of interactivity on the one hand and on the other hand from the apparent complexity for the lay user. This paper explores the issue of online community participation at the local level and attempts to construct a framework for a new (and potentially more effective) model of online participatory decision-making. The key components, system architecture and stages of such a model are introduced. This model, referred to as a ‘Community Based Interactive Environmental Decision Support System’, incorporates advanced information technologies, distance learning and community involvement tools which will be applied and evaluated in the field through a pilot project in Tokyo in the summer of 2002.

Discourse and assessment

Many contemporary currents in applied linguistics have favored discourse studies within assessment; there have been calls for cross-fertilization with other areas within applied linguistics, critiques of the positivist tradition within language testing research, and the growing impact of Conversation Analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory. This chapter focuses on the resulting increase in discourse-based studies of oral proficiency assessment techniques. These studies initially focused on the traditional oral proficiency interview but have since been extended to new test formats, including paired and group interaction. We discuss the research carried out on a number of factors in the assessment setting, including the role of the interlocutor, candidate, and rater, and the impact of tasks, task performance conditions, and rating criteria. Recent research has also concentrated more specifically on the assessment of pragmatic competence and on the applications of technology within the assessment of spoken language, including the comparability of semidirect and direct methods for such assessment and the use of computer corpora.

Negotiating multiple identities between school and the outside world : A critical discourse analysis

This article examines interview talk of three students in an Australian high school to show how they negotiate their young adult identities between school and the outside world. It draws on Bakhtin’s concepts of dialogism and heteroglossia to argue that identities are linguistically and corporeally constituted. A critical discourse analysis of segments of transcribed interviews and student-related public documents finds a mismatch between a social justice curriculum at school and its transfer into students’ accounts of outside school lived realities. The article concludes that a productive social justice pedagogy must use its key principles of (con)textual interrogation to engage students in reflexive practice about their positioning within and against discourses of social justice in their student and civic lives. An impending national curriculum must decide whether or not it negotiates the discursive divide any better.

Completing the jigsaw : ESL and EFL undergraduate views on interactive peer-based learning

English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students often face incongruence with Western teaching methods and learning expectations. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential for interactive peer-based learning to engage ESL and EFL language learners provide authentic communication experiences and accelerate learning through two case studies in different contexts. A study was undertaken to investigate student ‘voice’ (Rudduck, 1999, 2005; Rudduck & Flutter, 2004) during an intervention of communicative language teaching using peer-based learning strategies. This article describes unique similarities and subtle differences between ESL and EFL undergraduate learning in two different cultural contexts, using a 'stages of learning matrix' teaching tool to encourage civic skills and self-efficacy. It also suggests ways for teachers to improve on inconsistencies in group-based learning in order to promote more inclusive and congruent learning experiences for English language learners.

Discourse practice gaps in work life balance : comparative case studies in the Australian construction industry

Perspectives on work-life balance (WLB) reflected in political, media and organisational discourse, would maintain that WLB is on the agenda because of broad social, economic and political factors (Fleetwood 2007). In contrast, critical scholarship which examines work-life balance (WLB) and its associated practices maintains that workplace flexibility is more than a quasi-functionalist response to contemporary problems faced by individuals, families or organisations. For example, the literature identifies where flexible work arrangements have not lived up to expectations of a panacea for work-home conflicts, being characterised as much by employer-driven working conditions that disadvantage workers and constrain balance, as they are by employee friendly practices that enable it (Charlesworth 1997). Further, even where generous organisational work-life balance policies exist, under-utilisation is an issue (Schaefer et al, 2007). Compounding these issues is that many employees perceive their paid work as becoming more intense, pressured and demanding (Townsend et al 2003).

Trojan Horse or Rorschach Blot? Creative industries discourse around the world

One of the most wide-ranging and sophisticated critiques of creative industries policy argues that it is a kind of Trojan horse, secreting the intellectual heritage of the information society and its technocratic baggage into the realm of cultural practice, suborning the latter's proper claims on the public purse and self-understanding, and aligning it with inappropriate bedfellows such as business services, telecommunications and calls for increases in generic creativity. Reviewing the broad adoption of the concept in policy discourse around the world, this paper suggests that rather than a Trojan horse, it might be better thought of as a Rorschach blot, being invested in for varying reasons and with varying emphases and outcomes. Based on spatial analysis, then, the critique may need modification. Temporally as well, the critique may have been overtaken by later developments taking policy emphases 'beyond' the creative industries.

Correlating eye gaze direction, depth and vehicle information on an interactive map for driver training

The over represented number of novice drivers involved in crashes is alarming. Driver training is one of the interventions aimed at mitigating the number of crashes that involve young drivers. Experienced drivers have better hazard perception ability compared to inexperienced drivers. Eye gaze patterns have been found to be an indicator of the driver's competency level. The aim of this paper is to develop an in-vehicle system which correlates information about the driver's gaze and vehicle dynamics, which is then used to assist driver trainers in assessing driving competency. This system allows visualization of the complete driving manoeuvre data on interactive maps. It uses an eye tracker and perspective projection algorithms to compute the depth of gaze and plots it on Google maps. This interactive map also features the trajectory of the vehicle and turn indicator usage. This system allows efficient and user friendly analysis of the driving task. It can be used by driver trainers and trainees to understand objectively the risks encountered during driving manoeuvres. This paper presents a prototype that plots the driver's eye gaze depth and direction on an interactive map along with the vehicle dynamics information. This prototype will be used in future to study the difference in gaze patterns in novice and experienced drivers prior to a certain manoeuvre.

Saving schools from abomination and abnormal sex : a discourse analysis of online public commentary about 'queering' school spaces

Homophobic hatred: these words summarise online commentary made by people in support of a school that banned gay students from taking their same sex partners to a school formal. With the growing popularity of online news sites, it seems appropriate to critically examine how these sites are becoming a new arena in which people can express personal opinions about controversial topics. While commentators equally expressed two dominant viewpoints about the school ban (homophobic hatred and human rights), this paper focuses on homophobic hatred as a discursive position and how the comments work to confirm the legitimacy of the schools’ decision. Drawing on the work of Foucault and others, the paper examines how the comments constitute certain types of subjectivity drawing on dominant ideas about what it means to be homophobic. The analysis demonstrates the complex and competing skein of strategies that constitute queering school social spaces as a social problem.

The understanding of avatar design : various types and styles of avatars and the design considerations

People have adopted various formats of media such as graphics, photo and text (nickname) in order to represent themselves when communicate with others online. Avatar is known as a visual form representing a user oneself and one's identity wished. Its form can vary from a two-dimensional model to a three-dimensional model, and can be visualised with various visual forms and styles. In general, two-dimensional images including an animated image are used in online forum communities and live chat software; while three-dimensional models are often used in computer games. Avatar design is often regarded as a graphic designer's visual image creation or a user's output based on one's personal preference, yet it often causes the avatar design having no consideration of its practical visual design and users' interactive communication experience aspects. This paper will review various types and styles of avatar and discuss about avatar design from visual design and online user experience perspectives. It aims to raise a design discourse in avatar design and build up a well-articulated set of design principles for effective avatar design.

Marx as critical discourse analyst : the genesis of a critical method and its relevance to the critique of global capital.

In this paper we identify elements in Marx´s economic and political writings that are relevant to contemporary critical discourse analysis (CDA). We argue that Marx can be seen to be engaging in a form of discourse analysis. We identify the elements in Marx´s historical materialist method that support such a perspective, and exemplify these in a longitudinal comparison of Marx´s texts.

Technocratic discourse : a primer

This article describes the linguistic and semantic features of technocratic discourse using a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework. The article goes further to assert that the function of technocratic discourse in public policy is to advocate and promulgate a highly contentious political and economic agenda under the guise of scientific objectivity and political impartiality. We provide strong evidence to support the linguistic description, and the claims of political advocacy, by analyzing a 900-word document about globalization produced by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Bernard McKenna, Philip Graham