Realism, Storytelling and User Experience in HMD-based eXtended Reality for Holocaust Museum

Due to the COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions, the demand for remote museum visiting experiences has increased. Fortunately, technologies like Head Mounted Display (HMD)-based Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have made HMD-based eXtended Reality Museum (HXRM) experiences possible. HXRMs can be one of or a combination of the following: an HMD-based AR museum for on-site experience, or an HMDbased VR museum and an HMD-based Augmented Virtuality (AV) museum for remote online access. HXRM is a new approach for museums to enhance user experience while increasing learning outcomes and accessibility. Though there has been some previous research for HXRM, gaps still exist in the interactive narrative and user experience of HXRM. Thus, this study proposes following three Research Questions (RQ): (1) What is the difference between the impact of NUI and GUI on user experience in the HMD-based AR museum? (2) What is the user experience difference between HMD VR and HMD AV as the medium for XR remotesite museums? (3) How is the user acceptance of HMD-based remote-site XR museums? Based the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and several user experience theories, the author proposed a user experience model for HXRM, an uncanny valley framework for realistic CG character, and an interactive narrative model. Then, in collaboration with National Holocaust Centre and Museum, The Extended Journey project was initiated. The project included an AR HoloLens application, The AR Journey, and a VR application, The Virtual Journey, that can be deployed on AR headsets like HoloLens and VR headsets like HTC Vive, respectively. The Extended Journey is an interactive narrative experience that presents the story of a fictional Jewish boy named Leo using virtual CG characters and environments, allowing the audience to participate in his story from the second-person-view. The audience can not only decide the direction of the storyline by helping Leo make choices, but they could also inspect the environments and objects within them to learn the stories behind them. Three experiments were then conducted using The Extended Journey, and a mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative methods were used for analysis. In experiment 1, a between-subjects design was conducted to answer RQ1, and the results showed that the influence of interaction mapping on presences and narrative engagement for an HMD-based AR museum experience is moderated by prior game experience. In experiments 2 and 3, a between-subjects design and a within-subjects design were performed together to answer RQ 2 and RQ 3. The results showed that HMD VR can produce better narrative immersion, presence, and enjoyment, while also increasing CG characters’ affinities compared to HMD AV in XR remote-site museums. The data analysis also showed narrative-based HXRM had high user acceptance, within which HMD VR demonstrated significantly higher user acceptance levels than HMD AV for remote-site HXRM. Experiments 2 and 3 verified all the hypotheses for the mechanism behind the extended TAM via regression analysis, confirming the influence of the four external factors of narrative engagement, presence, interactivity, and CG characters’ affinity. In addition, the analysis also revealed two other potential external factors with influence over the extended TAM: use environment and device ergonomics. Two independent variables, learning interest and prior game experience, were found to have an impact on these external factors. Finally, the author summarised the design guidelines for HXRM and provide an outlook on the limitations and potential future work of this study

'Some Thing Means Everything to Somebody' by Peter Mitchell

Review of new monograp

Digital futures for specialist training in the live events industry

In this presentation, I will: Consider whether partnerships between academia and industry can effectively provide specific skills and knowledge to the live events industry Using, as examples, the on-line short course provision from Falmouth University and both; A Greener Festival & Attitude Is Everythin

The Gulf War Aesthetic? Sound design, and the representation of asymmetrical warfare.

Joshua Clover has described the 21st century conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria as having an “unnarratability” (2009: 9) distinctive by their use of asymmetrical warfare; new modes of conflict that can be distinguished from the “old wars” of the past in terms of their politics, use of technology, combat tactics and reportage (Freedman and Barnett, 2003; Clover 2009; Kaldor 2012). By way of response to these challenges, I argue that filmmakers have adopted innovative production practices – sophisticated combinations of sound design, music composition and editing, cinematography and visual editing – which I characterise as a Gulf War Aesthetic, an aesthetic that emulates transmedia representations of conflict by drawing upon news media, documentary, video games and first-person combatant-originated footage. This paper makes use of The Hurt Locker (2009) as a case study in order to test director Kathryn Bigelow’s assertion that she wanted the film “to be a predominantly sound design movie, not score heavy, and really get the sound design to complete the image” (in Bigelow and Boal, 2009). Drawing from interviews undertaken with Bigelow, supervising sound editor Paul Ottosson and composers Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders the paper brings together two traditions of film sound analysis – the study of a film’s production discourse through practitioner interview and the textual analysis of the intrasoundtrack, or relationship between the visual components of the film and elements of the soundtrack. (Altman, Jones and Tatroe: 2000: 339-346). This analysis will demonstrate how, in selected sequences, an unconventional and sophisticated deployment of sound design and music is unified with the film’s cinematography and visual editing. I argue that, through emulating transmedia representations of the Iraq War from news media, documentary and emergent forms such as first-person combatant-originated footage, the film can be seen to advance what I describe as a Gulf War Aesthetic, which privileges verisimilitude through the combination of subjective first-person visual point of view with a similarly subjective sonic point of audition

Camera Obscura camera

I am bookending photography with the on going development of my walk in camera obscura, which becomes a camera with the participation of the audience. The device allows the user to image themselves from outside the obscura using wifi, for selfies or other imagery, and allows those inside the obscura to partake in the process

The Tides at Giving Voice Festival

A music performance by the acoustic trio The TIdes, playing folk, popular and world music

The World in our Hands

The winning entry to the open competition to design and manufacture a series of medals for the inaugural London Design Biennale, 2016. The theme of the inaugural London Design Biennale was Utopia by Design, which celebrates the 500th anniversary of the publication of Sir Thomas More’s classic, Utopia (1516). The proposal was submitted on Jan 4th 2016 to a panel of judges including, Sir John Sorrell (President of the Biennale), Dr Christopher Turner (Director of the Biennale) and Ben Evans (Executive Director of the Biennale and Director of London Design week). The panel awarded the winning design to me in February 2016. The proposal for the medal was focused on expanding my research work in 3D Printed Metals working in partnership with Renishaw, UK. Previous research work had focused on 3D printed Titanium and Near Net forming techniques. The research questions tested in the project were, 1. What affect does different alignment of parts within additive manufacturing systems have on the continuity, accuracy and quality of surface finish? 2. Can 3D Geometries be successfully printed without the need for support structures on face angles above 45 degrees? The medal was extremely groundbreaking both for the artist and the manufacturing partner, Renishaw. It was the first time that the artist had created a fully finished multiple design using 3D printed stainless steel. It was the first time that Renishaw had been able to achieve an almost completely enclosed hollow object without the use of any support structures. This relationship was mutually developed as the artist and technician both shared files and production solutions within propriety software designed for Additive Manufacturing. The medal material, Marine grade Stainless Steel was used for its conceptual relationship to Thomas More's debasing of precious metals in his book Utopia. This new AM powder had just been released and the research enabled complex geometries and thin wall section parts to be tested and provide case study references for Renishaw. The research phase of 3D digital model making, prototyping and building in stainless steel using Renishaw's SLM 250 Additive manufacturing system took 6months to refine to a level that matched the artists requirements

CAFE MORTE: LOST FOR WORDS EXHIBITION

Lost for Words has been curated by Café Morte research group in response to an open call for submissions exploring creative interpretations to mortality, transience and ritual. The exhibition was part of a collaboration with MOTH research group to encourage discussion around the subject of death with a wider community of artists, curators and healthcare professionals. It has been curated with the intention of creating a thoughtful and contemplative space for both artists and audience to reflect on their own personal interpretations on death and how it is represented in art and literature. The works are varied, expressed through a variety of different media and address through physical means the often, unthinkable concept of absence and loss. Undergraduate students exhibited alongside established and international artists, senior lecturers and PHD students

Self-Beliefs in the Introductory Programming Lab and Games-based Fantasy Role-Play

It is important for students to engage in adequate deliberate practice in order to develop programming expertise. However, students often encounter anxiety when they begin to learn. This can present a challenge to educators because such anxiety can influence practice behaviour. This thesis situates this challenge within the Control- Value Theory of Achievement Emotions, emphasising a need for domain-specific research and presenting new research tools which can be used to investigate the area. Analysis of data collected from three cohorts of introductory programming students on web programming (2011-12) and robot programming (2012-13 and 2013-14) courses show that programming self-concept and programming aptitude mindset can predict programming anxiety and that programming anxiety is negatively correlated with programming practice. However, levels of anxiety remained consistently high across this period. A method to enrich these psychological constructs through a multimedia-rich learning environment is proposed. Drawing upon the interplay between narrative reinforcement and procedural rhetoric that can be achieved in a fantasy role-play, students' self-concept can be enhanced. A double-blind randomised controlled trial demonstrates promising results, however small effect sizes suggest further research is needed

THE COASTGUARD

Information about a forthcoming Cornish theatre play THE COASTGUARD which as part of R&D will tour Cornwall in early 2020. This will lead to a film version and possible 'doing it for real' student and creative staff involvement from the School of Film and Television, AMATA and EVENTS MANAGEMENT. The play is written and will be directed by Marie Macneill in conjunction with actor and producer John Macneill and their stage and screen company Mundic Nation Ltd