Exploring the Roles of Technology and Social Play in Art Museums

This co-written chapter was included in an edited book featuring invited authors from different countries and different areas of museum research and practice. The chapter uses a theory of play by Johan Huizinga (1938) to frame case studies of play-based interactive experiences in museums in various countries. The aim was to use theory to ground museum practice, in order to evaluate existing practical implementations as well as to inform the design of new ones. The book was nominated as one of the 10 best museum education books of 2011 by Museum Education Monitor, and the chapter led to a subsequent technology residency the author undertook in the Spike Island gallery, Bristol in 2012, funded by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, Arts and Humanities Research Council and Arts Council England. It also informed his subsequent postgraduate teaching, an example of which is a recent MA project, which deconstructs play from a computational perspective. Collaborations have continued with the co-author, which have resulted in a number of invited lectures. In this chapter the authors explore play as a structure for supporting visitor learning, drawing from international research in museums and interaction design. Four aspects of play first proposed by Huizinga are explored – the free-choice aspect of play, play as distinct from real life, play as an ordering structure, and the role of play in bridging communities. The chapter argues that play provides museums with ready-made structures and concepts, which can help planning for visitor learning. The research was equally divided between the co-authors, who developed the conceptual and theoretical aspects of the article by drawing on their own research alongside key examples of museum design and digital media.

Studying social interactions through immersive virtual environment technology: Virtues, pitfalls, and future challenges

Thegoalofthepresentreviewistoexplainhowimmersivevirtualenvironmenttechnology(IVET)canbeusedforthestudyofsocialinteractionsandhowtheuseofvirtualhumansinimmersivevirtualenvironmentscanadvanceresearchandapplicationinmanydifferentfields.Researchersstudyingindividualdifferencesinsocialinteractionsaretypicallyinterestedinkeepingthebehaviorandtheappearanceoftheinteractionpartnerconstantacrossparticipants.WithIVETresearchershavefullcontrolovertheinteractionpartners,canstandardizethemwhilestillkeepingthesimulationrealistic.Virtualsimulationsarevalid:growingevidenceshowsthatindeedstudiesconductedwithIVETcanreplicatesomewell-knownfindingsofsocialpsychology.Moreover,IVETallowsresearcherstosubtlymanipulatecharacteristicsoftheenvironment(e.g.,visualcuestoprimeparticipants)orofthesocialpartner(e.g.,his/herrace)toinvestigatetheirinfluencesonparticipants'behaviorandcognition.Furthermore,manipulationsthatwouldbedifficultorimpossibleinreallife(e.g.,changingparticipants'height)canbeeasilyobtainedwithIVET.Besidetheadvantagesfortheoreticalresearch,weexplorethemostrecenttrainingandclinicalapplicationsofIVET,itsintegrationwithothertechnologies(e.g.,socialsensing)andfuturechallengesforresearchers(e.g.,makingthecommunicationbetweenvirtualhumansandparticipantssmoother).

TU Graz: Course: 707.000 Web Science and Web Technology: Lecture 4: Social Network Analysis

What are fundamental entities in social networks and what information is contained in social graphs? We will discuss some selected concepts in social network analysis, such as one- and two mode networks, prestige and centrality, and cliques, clans and clubs. Readings: Web tool predicts election results and stock prices, J. Palmer, New Scientist, 07 February (2008) [Protected Access] Optional: Social Network Analysis, Methods and Applications, S. Wasserman and K. Faust (1994)

Can SMS Technology Improve Low Take-up of Social Benefits?

Low take up of stigma-free social benefits is often blamed on information asymmetries or administrative barriers. There is limited evidence on which of these potential channels is more salient in which contexts. We designed and implemented a randomized controlled trial to assess the extent to which informational barriers are responsible for the prevalent low take-up of government benefits among Colombian conflict-driven internal refugees. We provide timely information on benefits eligibility via SMS to a random half of the displaced household that migrated to Bogot´a over a 6-month period. We show that improving information increases benefits’ take up. However, the effect is small and only true for certain type of benefits. Hence, consistent with previous experimental literature, the availability of timely information explains only part of the low-take up rates and the role of administrative barriers and bureaucratic processes should be tackled to increase the well-being of internal refugees in Colombia.

Social Networking Sites as Technology Enhanced Learning Communities towards autonomous language learning

The following contribution pretends to cope with the demands of a globalised, post-modern environment through the design and implementation of an online international project where an SNS is used in order to join English as Second Language (ESL) students from different parts of the world. The design of the project appears around the implementation of the Bologna process in the Faculty of Education from the University of Girona where the basic prerequisite of all students to acquire English at the level B1 of the Common European Portfolio makes English a compulsory competence for communication among its higher education candidates in order to develop in the world. Together with the University of Girona, there is the International Educational and Resources Network (iEARN) which promotes the participation of schools around the world in online international projects