Acceptability-based QoE management for user-centric mobile video delivery : a field study evaluation

Effective Quality of Experience (QoE) management for mobile video delivery – to optimize overall user experience while adapting to heterogeneous use contexts – is still a big challenge to date. This paper proposes a mobile video delivery system to emphasize the use of acceptability as the main indicator of QoE to manage the end-to-end factors in delivering mobile video services. The first contribution is a novel framework for user-centric mobile video system that is based on acceptability-based QoE (A-QoE) prediction models, which were derived from comprehensive subjective studies. The second contribution is results from a field study that evaluates the user experience of the proposed system during realistic usage circumstances, addressing the impacts of perceived video quality, loading speed, interest in content, viewing locations, network bandwidth, display devices, and different video coding approaches, including region-of-interest (ROI) enhancement and center zooming

Human identification from video using advanced gait recognition techniques

The solutions proposed in this thesis contribute to improve gait recognition performance in practical scenarios that further enable the adoption of gait recognition into real world security and forensic applications that require identifying humans at a distance. Pioneering work has been conducted on frontal gait recognition using depth images to allow gait to be integrated with biometric walkthrough portals. The effects of gait challenging conditions including clothing, carrying goods, and viewpoint have been explored. Enhanced approaches are proposed on segmentation, feature extraction, feature optimisation and classification elements, and state-of-the-art recognition performance has been achieved. A frontal depth gait database has been developed and made available to the research community for further investigation. Solutions are explored in 2D and 3D domains using multiple images sources, and both domain-specific and independent modality gait features are proposed.

Towards pose-robust face recognition on video

This thesis investigates face recognition in video under the presence of large pose variations. It proposes a solution that performs simultaneous detection of facial landmarks and head poses across large pose variations, employs discriminative modelling of feature distributions of faces with varying poses, and applies fusion of multiple classifiers to pose-mismatch recognition. Experiments on several benchmark datasets have demonstrated that improved performance is achieved using the proposed solution.

Using digital projection to evoke aesthetic ideas in performance

This practice-led research project investigated the use of digital projection as a compositional tool in live performance. The project was carried out through the creation of a new Australian theatre work called Genesis that poetically integrated digital projection and live performance. The investigation produced a framework for creating powerful theatrical sequences where the themes and ideas of the show were embedded inside particular performance gestures prompting an expanded aesthetic perception of the content.

International Perspectives on Business Innovation and Disruption in the Creative Industries : Film, Video and Photography

This volume examines how disruptive innovations are reshaping industry boundaries and challenging conventional business models and practices in the industries for film, video and photography. The thirteen chapters provide a rich and diverse account of these processes from a wide range of country contexts. The book fills the gap between the study of disruption by innovation scholars in business schools and the recognition of disruption by academics and practitioners from non-business school disciplines and contexts, including the broader social sciences.

User perceived video quality modelling on mobile devices for Vp9 and H265 encoders

This study constructs performance prediction models to estimate the end-user perceived video quality on mobile devices for the latest video encoding techniques –VP9 and H.265. Both subjective and objective video quality assessments were carried out for collecting data and selecting the most desirable predictors. Using statistical regression, two models were generated to achieve 94.5% and 91.5% of prediction accuracies respectively, depending on whether the predictor derived from the objective assessment is involved. These proposed models can be directly used by media industries for video quality estimation, and will ultimately help them to ensure a positive end-user quality of experience on future mobile devices after the adaptation of the latest video encoding technologies.

All about that base : differing player experiences in video game genres and the unique case of MOBA games

Video games provide unique interactive player experiences (PX) often categorised into different genres. Prior research has looked at different game genres, but rarely through a PX lens. Especially, PX in the emerging area of massive online battle arena (MOBA) games is not well understood by researchers in the field. We address this knowledge gap by presenting a PX study of different game genres, which we followed up with a second semi-structured interview study about PX in MOBA games. Among the results of our analyses are that games that are likely played with other players, such as MOBA games, stimulate less immersion and presence for players. Additionally, while challenge and frustration are significantly higher in this genre, players get a sense of satisfaction from teamwork, competition and mastery of complex gameplay interactions. Our study is the first to contribute a comprehensive insight into key motivators of MOBA players and how PX in this genre is different from other genres.

Shifting intimacies

Our world is literally and figuratively turning to ‘dust’. This work acknowledges decay and renewal and the transitional, cyclical natures of interrelated ecologies. It also suggests advanced levels of degradation potentially beyond reparation. Dust exists both on and beneath the border of our unaided vision. Dust particles are predominantly forms of disintegrating solids that often become the substance or catalyst of future forms. Like many tiny forms, dust is an often unnoticed residue with ‘planet-size consequences’. (Hanna Holmes 2001) The image depicts an ethereal, backlit body, continually circling and morphing, apparently floating, suggesting endless cycles of birth, life and death and inviting differing states of meditation, exploration, stillness and play. This never ending video work is taken from a large-scale interactive/media artwork created during a six-month research residency in England at the Institute of Contemporary Art London and at Vincent Dance Theatre Sheffield in 2006. It was originally presented on a raised floor screen made of pure white sand at the ICA in London (see). The project involved developing new interaction, engagement and image making strategies for media arts practice, drawing on the application of both kinetic and proprioceptive dance/performance knowledges. The work was further informed by ecological network theory that assesses the systemic implications of private and public actions within bounded systems. The creative methodology was primarily practice-led which fomented the particular qualities of imagery, generated through cross-fertilising embodied knowledge of Dance and Media Arts. This was achieved through extensive workshopping undertaken in theatres, working ‘on the floor’ live, with dancers, props, sound and projection. And eventually of course, all this dust must settle. (Holmes 2001, from Dust Jacket) Holmes, H. 2001, The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things, p.3

Using augmented video to test in-car user experiences of context analog HUDs

Automotive interactive technologies represent an exemplar challenge for user experience (UX) designers, as the concerns for aesthetics, functionality and usability add up to the compelling issues of safety and cognitive demand. This extended abstract presents a methodology for the user-centred creation and evaluation of novel in-car applications, involving real users in realistic use settings. As a case study, we present the methodologies of an ideation workshop in a simulated environment and the evaluation of six design idea prototypes for in-vehicle head up display (HUD) applications using a semi-naturalistic drive. Both methods rely on video recordings of real traffic situations that the users are familiar with and/or experienced themselves. The extended abstract presents experiences and results from the evaluation and reflection on our methods.

Using viewer’s facial expression and heart rate for sports video highlights detection

Viewer interests, evoked by video content, can potentially identify the highlights of the video. This paper explores the use of facial expressions (FE) and heart rate (HR) of viewers captured using camera and non-strapped sensor for identifying interesting video segments. The data from ten subjects with three videos showed that these signals are viewer dependent and not synchronized with the video contents. To address this issue, new algorithms are proposed to effectively combine FE and HR signals for identifying the time when viewer interest is potentially high. The results show that, compared with subjective annotation and match report highlights, ‘non-neutral’ FE and ‘relatively higher and faster’ HR is able to capture 60%-80% of goal, foul, and shot-on-goal soccer video events. FE is found to be more indicative than HR of viewer’s interests, but the fusion of these two modalities outperforms each of them.

Identifying and forecasting the reverse salient in video game consoles: A performance gap ratio comparative analysis

This study uses the reverse salient methodology to contrast subsystems in video game consoles in order to discover, characterize, and forecast the most significant technology gap. We build on the current methodologies (Performance Gap and Time Gap) for measuring the magnitude of Reverse Salience, by showing the effectiveness of Performance Gap Ratio (PGR). The three subject subsystems in this analysis are the CPU Score, GPU core frequency, and video memory bandwidth. CPU Score is a metric developed for this project, which is the product of the core frequency, number of parallel cores, and instruction size. We measure the Performance Gap of each subsystem against concurrently available PC hardware on the market. Using PGR, we normalize the evolution of these technologies for comparative analysis. The results indicate that while CPU performance has historically been the Reverse Salient, video memory bandwidth has taken over as the quickest growing technology gap in the current generation. Finally, we create a technology forecasting model that shows how much the video RAM bandwidth gap will grow through 2019 should the current trend continue. This analysis can assist console developers in assigning resources to the next generation of platforms, which will ultimately result in longer hardware life cycles.

Maintaining our rage: Inside Australia's longest-running music video program

This research presents an insider's account of rage, Australia's longest-running music video program. The research's significance is that there has been scarce scholarly analysis of this idiosyncratic ABC program, despite its longevity and uniqueness. The thesis takes a reflective and reflexive narrative journey across rage's decades, presenting the accounts of the program makers, aided by the perspective of an embedded researcher, the program's former Series Producer. This work addresses the rage research gap and contributes to the scholarly discussion on music video and its contexts, the ABC, public service broadcasting, creative labour, and the cultural sense-making of television producers.

Prototyping the self-authored video interview : Challenges and opportunities

Self-authored video- where participants are in control of the creation of their own footage- is a means of creating innovative design material and including all members of a family in design activities. This paper describes our adaptation to this process called Self Authored Video Interviews (SAVIs) that we created and prototyped to better understand how families engage with situated technology in the home. We find the methodology produces unique insights into family dynamics in the home, uncovering assumptions and tensions unlikely to be discovered using more conventional methods. The paper outlines a number of challenges and opportunities associated with the methodology, specifically, maximising the value of the insights gathered by appealing to children to champion the cause, and how to counter perceptions of the lingering presence of researchers.

Introduction to "International Perspectives on Business Innovation and Disruption in the Creative Industries Film, Video and Photography"

The creative industries are particularly fecund empirical fields for investigating the processes of business innovation and disruption. The creative industries are some of the fastest growing sectors in many economies (European Commission, 2001; OECD, 2006; United States Census Bureau, 2010) and thus are worthy of study in their own right. Additionally, the study of the creative industries affords insights into how we understand the current economic transformation towards knowledge- based economies more broadly. The transformation toward knowledge- based economies has been foreshadowed by the transformation of creative industries such as publishing, film, video, photography, music and so on...