Conceptual design framework for information visualization to support multidimensional datasets in higher education institutions

Information Visualization (InfoVis) enjoys diverse adoption and applicability because of its strength in solving the problem of information overload inherent in institutional data. Policy and decision makers of higher education institutions (HEIs) are also experiencing information overload while interacting with students‟ data, because of its multidimensionality. This constraints decision making processes, and therefore requires a domain-specific InfoVis conceptual design framework which will birth the domain‟s InfoVis tool. This study therefore aims to design HEI Students‟ data-focused InfoVis (HSDI) conceptual design framework which addresses the content delivery techniques and the systematic processes in actualizing the domain specific InfoVis. The study involved four phases: 1) a users‟ study to investigate, elicit and prioritize the students‟ data-related explicit knowledge preferences of HEI domain policy. The corresponding students‟ data dimensions are then categorised, 2) exploratory study through content analysis of InfoVis design literatures, and subsequent mapping with findings from the users‟ study, to propose the appropriate visualization, interaction and distortion techniques for delivering the domain‟s explicit knowledge preferences, 3) conceptual development of the design framework which integrates the techniques‟ model with its design process–as identified from adaptation of software engineering and InfoVis design models, 4) evaluation of the proposed framework through expert review, prototyping, heuristics evaluation, and users‟ experience evaluation. For an InfoVis that will appropriately present and represent the domain explicit knowledge preferences, support the students‟ data multidimensionality and the decision making processes, the study found that: 1) mouse-on, mouse-on-click, mouse on-drag, drop down menu, push button, check boxes, and dynamics cursor hinting are the appropriate interaction techniques, 2) zooming, overview with details, scrolling, and exploration are the appropriate distortion techniques, and 3) line chart, scatter plot, map view, bar chart and pie chart are the appropriate visualization techniques. The theoretical support to the proposed framework suggests that dictates of preattentive processing theory, cognitive-fit theory, and normative and descriptive theories must be followed for InfoVis to aid perception, cognition and decision making respectively. This study contributes to the area of InfoVis, data-driven decision making process, and HEI students‟ data usage process

FACING EXPERIENCE: A PAINTER’S CANVAS IN VIRTUAL REALITY

Full version unavailable due to 3rd party copyright restrictions.This research investigates how shifts in perception might be brought about through the development of visual imagery created by the use of virtual environment technology. Through a discussion of historical uses of immersion in art, this thesis will explore how immersion functions and why immersion has been a goal for artists throughout history. It begins with a discussion of ancient cave drawings and the relevance of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Next it examines the biological origins of “making special.” The research will discuss how this concept, combined with the ideas of “action” and “reaction,” has reinforced the view that art is fundamentally experiential rather than static. The research emphasizes how present-day virtual environment art, in providing a space that engages visitors in computer graphics, expands on previous immersive artistic practices. The thesis examines the technical context in which the research occurs by briefly describing the use of computer science technologies, the fundamentals of visual arts practices, and the importance of aesthetics in new media and provides a description of my artistic practice. The aim is to investigate how combining these approaches can enhance virtual environments as artworks. The computer science of virtual environments includes both hardware and software programming. The resultant virtual environment experiences are technologically dependent on the types of visual displays being used, including screens and monitors, and their subsequent viewing affordances. Virtual environments fill the field of view and can be experienced with a head mounted display (HMD) or a large screen display. The sense of immersion gained through the experience depends on how tracking devices and related peripheral devices are used to facilitate interaction. The thesis discusses visual arts practices with a focus on how illusions shift our cognition and perception in the visual modalities. This discussion includes how perceptual thinking is the foundation of art experiences, how analogies are the foundation of cognitive experiences and how the two intertwine in art experiences for virtual environments. An examination of the aesthetic strategies used by artists and new media critics are presented to discuss new media art. This thesis investigates the visual elements used in virtual environments and prescribes strategies for creating art for virtual environments. Methods constituting a unique virtual environment practice that focuses on visual analogies are discussed. The artistic practice that is discussed as the basis for this research also concentrates on experiential moments and shifts in perception and cognition and references Douglas Hofstadter, Rudolf Arnheim and John Dewey. iv Virtual environments provide for experiences in which the imagery generated updates in real time. Following an analysis of existing artwork and critical writing relative to the field, the process of inquiry has required the creation of artworks that involve tracking systems, projection displays, sound work, and an understanding of the importance of the visitor. In practice, the research has shown that the visitor should be seen as an interlocutor, interacting from a first-person perspective with virtual environment events, where avatars or other instrumental intermediaries, such as guns, vehicles, or menu systems, do not to occlude the view. The aesthetic outcomes of this research are the result of combining visual analogies, real time interactive animation, and operatic performance in immersive space. The environments designed in this research were informed initially by paintings created with imagery generated in a hypnopompic state or during the moments of transitioning from sleeping to waking. The drawings often emphasize emotional moments as caricatures and/or elements of the face as seen from a number of perspectives simultaneously, in the way of some cartoons, primitive artwork or Cubist imagery. In the imagery, the faces indicate situations, emotions and confrontations which can offer moments of humour and reflective exploration. At times, the faces usurp the space and stand in representation as both face and figure. The power of the placement of the caricatures in the paintings become apparent as the imagery stages the expressive moment. The placement of faces sets the scene, establishes relationships and promotes the honesty and emotions that develop over time as the paintings are scrutinized. The development process of creating virtual environment imagery starts with hand drawn sketches of characters, develops further as paintings on “digital canvas”, are built as animated, three-dimensional models and finally incorporated into a virtual environment. The imagery is generated while drawing, typically with paper and pencil, in a stream of consciousness during the hypnopompic state. This method became an aesthetic strategy for producing a snappy straightforward sketch. The sketches are explored further as they are worked up as paintings. During the painting process, the figures become fleshed out and their placement on the page, in essence brings them to life. These characters inhabit a world that I explore even further by building them into three dimensional models and placing them in computer generated virtual environments. The methodology of developing and placing the faces/figures became an operational strategy for building virtual environments. In order to open up the range of art virtual environments, and develop operational strategies for visitors’ experience, the characters and their facial features are used as navigational strategies, signposts and methods of wayfinding in order to sustain a stream of consciousness type of navigation. Faces and characters were designed to represent those intimate moments of self-reflection and confrontation that occur daily within ourselves and with others. They sought to reflect moments of wonderment, hurt, curiosity and humour that could subsequently be relinquished for more practical or purposeful endeavours. They were intended to create conditions in which visitors might reflect upon their emotional state, v enabling their understanding and trust of their personal space, in which decisions are made and the nature of world is determined. In order to extend the split-second, frozen moment of recognition that a painting affords, the caricatures and their scenes are given new dimensions as they become characters in a performative virtual reality. Emotables, distinct from avatars, are characters confronting visitors in the virtual environment to engage them in an interactive, stream of consciousness, non-linear dialogue. Visitors are also situated with a role in a virtual world, where they were required to adapt to the language of the environment in order to progress through the dynamics of a drama. The research showed that imagery created in a context of whimsy and fantasy could bring ontological meaning and aesthetic experience into the interactive environment, such that emotables or facially expressive computer graphic characters could be seen as another brushstroke in painting a world of virtual reality

ASTRAL PROJECTION: THEORIES OF METAPHOR, PHILOSOPHIES OF SCIENCE, AND THE ART O F SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION

This thesis provides an intellectual context for my work in computational scientific visualization for large-scale public outreach in venues such as digitaldome planetarium shows and high-definition public television documentaries. In my associated practicum, a DVD that provides video excerpts, 1 focus especially on work I have created with my Advanced Visualization Laboratory team at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (Champaign, Illinois) from 2002-2007. 1 make three main contributions to knowledge within the field of computational scientific visualization. Firstly, I share the unique process 1 have pioneered for collaboratively producing and exhibiting this data-driven art when aimed at popular science education. The message of the art complements its means of production: Renaissance Team collaborations enact a cooperative paradigm of evolutionary sympathetic adaptation and co-creation. Secondly, 1 open up a positive, new space within computational scientific visualization's practice for artistic expression—especially in providing a theory of digi-epistemology that accounts for how this is possible given the limitations imposed by the demands of mapping numerical data and the computational models derived from them onto visual forms. I am concerned not only with liberating artists to enrich audience's aesthetic experiences of scientific visualization, to contribute their own vision, but also with conceiving of audiences as co-creators of the aesthetic significance of the work, to re-envision and re-circulate what they encounter there. Even more commonly than in the age of traditional media, on-line social computing and digital tools have empowered the public to capture and repurpose visual metaphors, circulating them within new contexts and telling new stories with them. Thirdly, I demonstrate the creative power of visaphors (see footnote, p. 1) to provide novel embodied experiences through my practicum as well as my thesis discussion. Specifically, I describe how the visaphors my Renaissance Teams and I create enrich the Environmentalist Story of Science, essentially promoting a counter-narrative to the Enlightenment Story of Science through articulating how humanity participates in an evolving universal consciousness through our embodied interaction and cooperative interdependence within nested, self-producing (autopoetic) systems, from the micro- to the macroscopic. This contemporary account of the natural world, its inter-related systems, and their dynamics may be understood as expressing a creative and generative energy—a kind of consciousness-that transcends the human yet also encompasses it

All-Women Initiatives in Art and Technology 1986-2020. Atenea: Mentoring and Networking Project in Steam

[ES] La presente tesis doctoral es una exploración sobre las iniciativas auto-organizadas de mujeres que han surgido en la intersección del arte y la tecnología a nivel internacional. Estas iniciativas comunitarias han ido apareciendo en lugares donde existe una escena de arte y nuevos medios, la cual es generalmente de dominación masculina y baja en diversidad. Este trabajo de investigación es un mapeo de este fenómeno tecno-social y artístico, tratando de identificar las primeras prácticas. A través de entrevistas, encuestas y métodos de investigación etnográfica, esta tesis aspira a comprender el contexto que ha dado lugar a semejantes iniciativas a lo largo de tres décadas y media, examinando las diferentes tipologías por los formatos, extensión, espacio y estructura que éstas han adoptado para afrontar la situación de las mujeres en estas áreas. Existe un vació de referencias sobre formas organizativas y de comisariado en las áreas de arte y tecnología. Además, la literatura general señala las subculturas digitales de los noventa, tales como el ciberfeminismo y el movimiento DIY, como los primeros y principales referentes para las alianzas de mujeres y el activismo translocal en la era digital. Sin embargo, las estrategias de colaboración y segregación en áreas de arte y tecnología no han sido analizadas desde los estudios feministas desde una perspectiva histórica en profundidad. Por lo tanto, esta tesis establece la relación entre dichas iniciativas con la historia de los grupos de mujeres artistas y espacios de arte alternativos, la historia de las mujeres en el arte de nuevos medios y la cultura de redes. Las nuevas tecnologías de la información y comunicación han permitido nuevas formas de comunicación y conectividad transfronterizas; sin embargo, este trabajo investiga en qué medida estas iniciativas dependen de las TIC para el establecimiento de su comunidad, comparado con los formatos analógicos. Con los resultados, esta tesis aspira a convertirse en una fuente de referencias que enriquezca la escasa bibliografía de la temática, proporcionando una lista de formas organizativas y de comisariado, así como las practicas más tempranas nunca publicadas, y en conjunto contribuir a la historiografía actual sobre mujeres. Por último, a la vez que se comenta la situación actual de las mujeres en las áreas de arte y tecnología, este trabajo presenta Atenea, un proyecto de mentorización y networking para mujeres en las artes y carreras STEM. Atenea está compuesto de un programa de actividades con diferentes actividades organizativas y de comisariado, así como una plataforma de networking. Adicionalmente, el proyecto tiene un programa enfocado en transmitir conocimientos STEM a niñas a través de prácticas artísticas con tecnología de la mano de mujeres artistas nacionales como mentoras.[CAT] La present tesi doctoral és una exploració sobre les iniciatives autoorganitzades de dones que han sorgit en la intersecció de l'art i la tecnologia a nivell internacional. Aquestes iniciatives comunitàries han anat apareixent en llocs on hi ha una escena d'art i nous mitjans, la qual és generalment de dominació masculina i baixa en diversitat. Aquest treball de recerca és un mapeig d'aquest fenomen tecno-social i artístic, tractant d'identificar les primeres pràctiques. A través d'entrevistes, enquestes i mètodes d'investigació etnogràfica, aquesta tesi aspira a comprendre el context que ha donat lloc a semblants iniciatives al llarg de tres dècades i mig, examinant les diferents tipologies pels formats, extensió, espai i estructura que aquestes han adoptat per afrontar la situació de les dones en aquestes àrees. Hi ha un buit de referències sobre formes organitzatives i de comissariat en les àrees d'art i tecnologia. A més, la literatura general assenyala les subcultures digitals dels noranta, com ara el ciberfeminisme i el moviment DIY, com els primers i principals referents per a les aliances de dones i l'activisme translocal en l'era digital. No obstant això, les estratègies de col·laboració i segregació en àrees d'art i tecnologia no han estat analitzades des dels estudis feministes des d'una perspectiva històrica en profunditat. Per tant, aquesta tesi estableix la relació entre aquestes iniciatives amb la història dels grups de dones artistes i espais d'art alternatius, la història de les dones en l'art de nous mitjans i la cultura de xarxes. Les noves tecnologies de la informació i comunicació han permès noves formes de comunicació i connectivitat transfrontereres; però, aquest treball investiga en quina mesura aquestes iniciatives depenen de les TIC per a l'establiment de la seva comunitat, comparat amb els formats analògics. Amb els resultats, aquesta tesi aspira a convertir-se en una font de referències que enriqueixi l'escassa bibliografia de la temàtica, proporcionant una llista de formes organitzatives i de comissariat, així com les pràctiques més primerenques mai publicades, i en conjunt contribuir a la historiografia actual sobre dones. Finalment, alhora que es comenta la situació actual de les dones en les àrees d'art i tecnologia, aquest treball presenta Atenea, un projecte de mentorització i networking per a dones en les arts i carreres STEM. Atenea està compost d'un programmea d'activitats amb diferents activitats organitzatives i de comissariat, així com una plataforma de networking. Addicionalment, el projecte té un programmea enfocat a transmetre coneixements STEM a nenes a través de pràctiques artístiques amb tecnologia de la mà de dones artistes nacionals com mentores.[EN] This dissertation explores a series of all-women self-organised initiatives that have emerged at the intersection of art and technology internationally. These grassroot initiatives have continued to appear in places where there is a new media arts scene, generally male-dominated and low in diversity. This research work is a mapping of this techno-social and artistic phenomenon, attempting to identify its earliest practices. Through interviews, surveys and ethnographic research, this thesis seeks to comprehend the context that has given rise to such initiatives over three decades and half, examining the different typologies by formats, extension, space and structure that they have adopted to address the situation of women in these fields. There is a void of references on all-women curatorial and organisational forms in art and technology. Moreover, general literature points at digital subcultures of the 1990s such as cyberfeminism and DIY movement as first referents for women's alliance and translocal activism in the digital age. However, collaboration and segregation strategies in new media arts have not been discussed in feminist scholarship from a deeper historical perspective. Therefore, this dissertation elaborates the linkage of such initiatives to early history of all-women art groups and alternative art spaces, history of women in new media arts and to network cultures. New information and communication technologies have enabled new forms of communication and connectivity cross-borders; however, this work investigates in which measure these initiatives are dependent upon ICT for the establishment of a community, compared to analog formats. With the results, this dissertation aims to become a source of references that enriches the scarce bibliography on the topic, providing a list of curatorial and organisational forms with the earliest and unpublished practices that altogether contribute to current women's historiography. Lastly, while discussing the current situation of women in art and technology fields, this works presents Atenea, a mentoring and networking platform for women in Arts and STEM careers. Atenea is comprised of a programme having different organizational, curatorial and networking activities. Additionally, the platform has a project focused on teaching STEM skills to girls through new media arts with female artists as mentors. Keywords: All-women, self-organised, initiatives, new media arts, digital arts, electronic arts, art, technology, activism, mapping, alternative art spaces, collaboration, segregation, ICT, digital age, virtual, community, network cultures, feminism, cyberfeminism, Atenea, STEM, STEAM, girls, organisational, curatorial, networking platform, mentoring,Robles Mateo, E. (2020). All-Women Initiatives in Art and Technology 1986-2020. Atenea: Mentoring and Networking Project in Steam [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/159248TESI

Management and Visualisation of Non-linear History of Polygonal 3D Models

The research presented in this thesis concerns the problems of maintenance and revision control of large-scale three dimensional (3D) models over the Internet. As the models grow in size and the authoring tools grow in complexity, standard approaches to collaborative asset development become impractical. The prevalent paradigm of sharing files on a file system poses serious risks with regards, but not limited to, ensuring consistency and concurrency of multi-user 3D editing. Although modifications might be tracked manually using naming conventions or automatically in a version control system (VCS), understanding the provenance of a large 3D dataset is hard due to revision metadata not being associated with the underlying scene structures. Some tools and protocols enable seamless synchronisation of file and directory changes in remote locations. However, the existing web-based technologies are not yet fully exploiting the modern design patters for access to and management of alternative shared resources online. Therefore, four distinct but highly interconnected conceptual tools are explored. The first is the organisation of 3D assets within recent document-oriented No Structured Query Language (NoSQL) databases. These "schemaless" databases, unlike their relational counterparts, do not represent data in rigid table structures. Instead, they rely on polymorphic documents composed of key-value pairs that are much better suited to the diverse nature of 3D assets. Hence, a domain-specific non-linear revision control system 3D Repo is built around a NoSQL database to enable asynchronous editing similar to traditional VCSs. The second concept is that of visual 3D differencing and merging. The accompanying 3D Diff tool supports interactive conflict resolution at the level of scene graph nodes that are de facto the delta changes stored in the repository. The third is the utilisation of HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for the purposes of 3D data management. The XML3DRepo daemon application exposes the contents of the repository and the version control logic in a Representational State Transfer (REST) style of architecture. At the same time, it manifests the effects of various 3D encoding strategies on the file sizes and download times in modern web browsers. The fourth and final concept is the reverse-engineering of an editing history. Even if the models are being version controlled, the extracted provenance is limited to additions, deletions and modifications. The 3D Timeline tool, therefore, implies a plausible history of common modelling operations such as duplications, transformations, etc. Given a collection of 3D models, it estimates a part-based correspondence and visualises it in a temporal flow. The prototype tools developed as part of the research were evaluated in pilot user studies that suggest they are usable by the end users and well suited to their respective tasks. Together, the results constitute a novel framework that demonstrates the feasibility of a domain-specific 3D version control

Volumetric cloud generation using a Chinese brush calligraphy style

Includes bibliographical references.Clouds are an important feature of any real or simulated environment in which the sky is visible. Their amorphous, ever-changing and illuminated features make the sky vivid and beautiful. However, these features increase both the complexity of real time rendering and modelling. It is difficult to design and build volumetric clouds in an easy and intuitive way, particularly if the interface is intended for artists rather than programmers. We propose a novel modelling system motivated by an ancient painting style, Chinese Landscape Painting, to address this problem. With the use of only one brush and one colour, an artist can paint a vivid and detailed landscape efficiently. In this research, we develop three emulations of a Chinese brush: a skeleton-based brush, a 2D texture footprint and a dynamic 3D footprint, all driven by the motion and pressure of a stylus pen. We propose a hybrid mapping to generate both the body and surface of volumetric clouds from the brush footprints. Our interface integrates these components along with 3D canvas control and GPU-based volumetric rendering into an interactive cloud modelling system. Our cloud modelling system is able to create various types of clouds occurring in nature. User tests indicate that our brush calligraphy approach is preferred to conventional volumetric cloud modelling and that it produces convincing 3D cloud formations in an intuitive and interactive fashion. While traditional modelling systems focus on surface generation of 3D objects, our brush calligraphy technique constructs the interior structure. This forms the basis of a new modelling style for objects with amorphous shape

Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion