Modeling player-like behaviour for game Al design

The design of artificial intelligence in computer games is an important component of a player's game play experience. As games are becoming more life-like and interactive, the need for more realistic game AI will increase. This is particularly the case with respect to AI that simulates how human players act, behave and make decisions. The purpose of this research is to establish a model of player-like behavior that may be effectively used to inform the design of artificial intelligence to more accurately mimic a player's decision making process. The research uses a qualitative analysis of player opinions and reactions while playing a first person shooter video game, with recordings of their in game actions, speech and facial characteristics. The initial studies provide player data that has been used to design a model of how a player behaves.

Stomp : an interactive platform for people with intellectual disabilities

For people with intellectual disabilities there are significant barriers to inclusion in socially cooperative endeavours. This paper investigates the effectiveness of Stomp, a tangible user interface (TUI) designed to provide new participatory experiences for people with intellectual disability. Results from an observational study reveal the extent to which the Stomp system supports social and physical interaction. The tangible, spatial and embodied qualities of Stomp result in an experience that does not rely on the acquisition of specific competencies before interaction and engagement can occur.

Computational approaches to the visual validation of 3D virtual environments

Virtual environments can provide, through digital games and online social interfaces, extremely exciting forms of interactive entertainment. Because of their capability in displaying and manipulating information in natural and intuitive ways, such environments have found extensive applications in decision support, education and training in the health and science domains amongst others. Currently, the burden of validating both the interactive functionality and visual consistency of a virtual environment content is entirely carried out by developers and play-testers. While considerable research has been conducted in assisting the design of virtual world content and mechanics, to date, only limited contributions have been made regarding the automatic testing of the underpinning graphics software and hardware. The aim of this thesis is to determine whether the correctness of the images generated by a virtual environment can be quantitatively defined, and automatically measured, in order to facilitate the validation of the content. In an attempt to provide an environment-independent definition of visual consistency, a number of classification approaches were developed. First, a novel model-based object description was proposed in order to enable reasoning about the color and geometry change of virtual entities during a play-session. From such an analysis, two view-based connectionist approaches were developed to map from geometry and color spaces to a single, environment-independent, geometric transformation space; we used such a mapping to predict the correct visualization of the scene. Finally, an appearance-based aliasing detector was developed to show how incorrectness too, can be quantified for debugging purposes. Since computer games heavily rely on the use of highly complex and interactive virtual worlds, they provide an excellent test bed against which to develop, calibrate and validate our techniques. Experiments were conducted on a game engine and other virtual worlds prototypes to determine the applicability and effectiveness of our algorithms. The results show that quantifying visual correctness in virtual scenes is a feasible enterprise, and that effective automatic bug detection can be performed through the techniques we have developed. We expect these techniques to find application in large 3D games and virtual world studios that require a scalable solution to testing their virtual world software and digital content.

Enlightenment out of chaos : power, politics and The Chaser’s War on Everything

This paper focuses on the satirical Australian television show The Chaser’s War on Everything, and uses it to critically explore the potential ramifications of what McNair (2006) has called ‘cultural chaos’. Through an analysis of several examples from this particular program, alongside interviews with its production team and qualitative audience research, this paper argues that this TV show’s engagement with political issues in a creative, entertaining way that departs from the conventions of traditional journalism, allows it to present a perhaps more authentic image of political agents than is often cultivated in the mainstream news media. This paper therefore provides clear evidence that the shift from homogeneity to heterogeneity in the news media presents a significant challenge to those who wish to heavily control public opinion. It also provides further support for an optimistic re-appraisal of entertainment which emphasises its central (not merely periphery) role in political discourse.

Drawn to abstraction

Three paintings exploring and testing the area of abstraction through gesture, colour and canvas structures. The paintings interrogate how abstraction can, through affect and sensation as well as historical reference, construct meaning.

Rare chicken rescue

Sound design for documentary is an under-researched field. The specific context of representation of emotional or mental states is particularly open to clichéd treatment. Such treatment in the media often ‘perpetuates inaccurate or negative assumptions about mental health issues in the wider community’ (Francis et al 2005: 11) by employing, for example, either jarring sound/music combinations to signify ‘madness’ or overtly saccharine music to educe sympathy. This project adopted a practice-based approach to discovering a considered aesthetic treatment designed to elicit a more empathetic audience response. A more discriminating engagement with the intentions of the film was cultivated by abandoning both the ‘representational naturalism’ and the ‘distilled, evocative realism’ of documentary sound design (Davies 2007: 18) in favour of a more lyrical or musical approach. To achieve this we manipulated perspective, tonal character and perceptions of space in the final mixing stage. The project was funded by the Film Australia National Interest Program, ABC TV and the Pacific Film and Television Commission. As a crucial contributor to the aesthetic of the project I was nominated in the funding application, and ultimately received an AFI Award for Best Sound in a Documentary in 2008. The film was honoured by The Film Critics Circle of Australia, The Slamdance Film Festival in Utah and The Sydney Film Festival. It has been favourably reviewed in national and international print media (The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, among others) as well as online film/culture zines and blogs.

Maintaining connection overseas

The article examines the role of the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies when used by expatriates for maintaining relationships back in their home country. It is based on recent research which studied the experience of Australian expatriates.

Brisbane : urban construction, suburban dreaming

Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, has catapulted from a small, provincial town to a larger metropolis within two decades from the inception of urban renewal in 1992. Once a low-density suburban city, its inner-city and some suburban areas are now medium to high density, with the rise in apartment buildings creating new and denser modes of living. This article suggests that urbanism demands different habits of living from suburbanism and examines the relationship between the material and representational city to explore the ways in which promotions of the “new” Brisbane during its early urban renewal period reproduces the ethos of suburban living.

DispoMaps

The gathering of people in everyday life is intertwined with travelling to negotiated locations. As a result, mobile phones are often used to rearrange meetings when one or more participants are late or cannot make it on time. Our research is based on the hypothesis that the provision of location data can enhance the experience of people who are meeting each other in different locations. Disposable Maps allows users to select contacts from their phone’s address book who then receive up-to-date location data. The utilisation of peer-to-peer notifications and the application of unique URLs for location storage and presentation enable location sharing whilst ensuring users’ location privacy. In contrast to other location sharing services like Google Latitude, Disposable Maps enables ad hoc location sharing to actively selected location receivers for a fixed period of time in a specific given situation.

Beyond difference : reconfiguring education for the user-led age

In recent years, various observers have pointed to the shifting paradigms of cultural and societal participation and economic production in developed nations. These changes are facilitated (although, importantly, not solely driven) by the emergence of new, participatory technologies of information access, knowledge exchange, and content production, many of whom are associated with Internet and new media technologies. In an online context, such technologies are now frequently described as social software, social media, or Web2.0, but their impact is no longer confined to cyberspace as an environment that is somehow different and separate from ‘real life’: user-led content and knowledge production is increasingly impacting on media, economy, law, social practices, and democracy itself.

Produsage: a closer look at continuing developments

The concept of produsage developed from the realisation that new language was needed to describe the new phenomena emerging from the intersection of Web 2.0, user-generated content, and social media since the early years of the new millennium. When hundreds, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of participants utilise online platforms to collaborate in the development and continuous improvement of a wide variety of content – from software to informational resources to creative works –, and when this work takes place through a series of more or less unplanned, ad hoc, almost random cooperative encounters, then to describe these processes using terms which were developed during the industrial revolution no longer makes much sense. When – exactly because what takes place here is no longer a form of production in any conventional sense of the word – the outcomes of these massively distributed collaborations appear in the form of constantly changing, permanently mutable bodies of work which are owned at once by everyone and no-one, by the community of contributors as a whole but by none of them as individuals, then to conceptualise them as fixed and complete products in the industrial meaning of the term is missing the point. When what results from these efforts is of a quality (in both depth and breadth) that enables it to substitute for, replace, and even undermine the business model of long-established industrial products, even though precariously it relies on volunteer contributions, and when their volunteering efforts make it possible for some contributors to find semi- or fully professional employment in their field, then conventional industrial logic is put on its head.

Folk opera and theatre for development

The research field was intercultural theatre, specifically adapting indigenous performance forms for applied theatre purposes. The context was the rich performative traditions of Papua New Guinean cultures, which have remained largely untapped over several decades of "theatre for development" and "entertainment education". Papua New Guinean company Raun Raun Theatre developed Folk Opera from a similar concept in African theatre in the 1970s. The form incorporates elements of song, dance, ritual, chant, metaphor, music, and body adornment from traditional cultures. The form’s spectacular scope suited international touring in large theatrical venues, and the themes of emerging nationalism with which Raun Raun was concerned. The research team made three key innovations in the use of Folk Opera: adapting the form from theatres to community contexts, using the form to address issues of individual choice for health promotion, and emphasising experiential education over entertainment. Field-testing in Karkar Island showed community members gained clearer understandings of relevant health issues through participating in the folk opera form than through other educational approaches. The significance of the research was recognised by the members of the cross-cultural workshop team and the community of Karkar Island including the local Member of Parliament. The success of the Folk Opera form as an approach to sexual health promotion was recognised through the provision of AUD$74,000 funding by the National AIDS Council Secretariat of Papua New Guinea for a train-the-trainer program incorporating this innovative form of applied theatre. The research has been presented at a number of national and international conferences including the 6th International Research in Drama Education conference in 2009.

Evolution of life drama program

Life Drama is a program of drama-based experiential learning activities involving groups of community leaders and members. The three-year project evolved from a theatre-in-education approach to an intercultural theatre approach incorporating Papua New Guinean performance traditions. It involved Australian, English and Papua New Guinean researchers at four key sites: Tari, Southern Highlands Province; Port Moresby, National Capital District; Madang, Madang Province; and Karkar Island, Madang Province. The project was innovative in a number of ways, including: a Participatory Action Research approach, involving community leaders at various levels as co-researchers; a participatory theatre approach as opposed to a performance approach; emphasis on sexual health promotion and HIV prevention through an experiential learning paradigm; addressing the norms and realities of the community rather than targeting only individual behaviour; an International Theatre Research Laboratory to explore the fusion of traditional cultural elements with contemporary health promotion aims; and an innovative method-assemblage approach to collecting and triangulating quantitative, qualitative, and performative data. The project attracted over $350,000 in funding and support from the Australian Research Council, National AIDS Secretariat in PNG, and private sector and non-government partners. Findings were presented at various conferences and symposia including the annual Medical Symposium in Wewak (2010), the triennial Research in Drama Education conference in Exeter (2011), and the International Research in Drama Education conference (Sydney 2009 and Limerick 2012). A number of peer-reviewed journal articles have been published. Elements of the program have been incorporated into the University of Goroka's compulsory HIV awareness program for undergraduate students. A national dissemination strategy for Life Drama in Papua New Guinea is now underway, with seed funding of AUD$74,000 from the National AIDS Council Secretariat, PNG.

Creative industries, its critics, and some answers

Arguments as to just what should be included under the definition of «creative industries» have limited their acceptance and the adoption of suitable policies. There are opposing analyses and statistical categories, such as the copyright industry, the content industry, the cultural industry, the digital content industry, the arts and entertainment industry, etc. that make it difficult to gather accurate, reliable, timely data on this mega-sector. Another major criticism is that «creative» work is idealised and that the exporting of the concept outside its country of origin may be tantamount to imperialism. However, the creative industries have evolved in the past ten years from being limited to specific sectors to becoming seen as creative agents that can generate change and innovation, and have achieved high levels of acceptance and significance in many different countries.

Without an Alibi

The project is a book collection of 65 poems, primarily with an environmental focus. This practice-led project draws on eco-critical theory (Wilson, 1992; and Bate, 2000) and Darwinian literary theory (Carroll, 2004) to explore ideas of ecology, the ‘natural’, and conservation. The poems explore a proposal of synthesis: that nature is for us both a construction of language/culture (as argued by post structuralism/ cultural studies) and also a pragmatic, empirical entity that can be experienced through the senses as well as through culture. For example, individual poems describe genres of ‘forest’ (‘Literary Forests’, ‘The Conservative Forest’, ‘The Imperial Forest’) which demonstrate how ‘nature’ can be culturally constructed, but also remain an empirical entity with which we experience a more immediate, physical connection, as posited by Bate (following Heidegger’s ‘being-in-the-world’) . The work also explores through satire the concept of evolutionary adaptation, for example the integration of machine into forest (‘The Black Forest’), animals adopting human characteristics (‘In Praise of Bears’), and ‘nature’ as a damaged or absent ‘other’. Without an Alibi makes various strands of theoretical thinking concrete and manifest by ‘showing not telling’, in creative practice. The work has been high positively reviewed in the prestigious Australian Book Review, and by Professor Peter Pierce in the Canberra Times. Several of the poems have since been reproduced in national anthologies including The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry (2000) and Australian Poetry Since 1988 (Uni of NSW Press).