Effective Affective User Interface Design in Games

It is proposed that games, which are designed to generate positive affect, are most successful when they facilitate flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1992). Flow is a state of concentration, deep enjoyment, and total absorption in an activity. The study of games, and a resulting understanding of flow in games can inform the design of nonleisure software for positive affect. The paper considers the ways in which computer games contravene Nielsen’s guidelines for heuristic evaluation (Nielsen and Molich 1990) and how these contraventions impact on flow. The paper also explores the implications for research that stem from the differences between games played on a personal computer and games played on a dedicated console. This research takes important initial steps towards defining how flow in computer games can inform affective design

A Talk on the Wild Side: The Direct and Indirect Impact of Speech Recognition on Learning Gains

Research in the learning sciences and mathematics education has suggested that ‘thinking aloud’ (verbalization) can be important for learning. In a technology-mediated learning environment, speech might also help to promote learning by enabling the system to infer the students’ cognitive and affective state so that they can be provided a sequence of tasks and formative feedback, both of which are adapted to their needs. For these and associated reasons, we developed the iTalk2Learn platform that includes speech production and speech recognition for children learning about fractions. We investigated the impact of iTalk2Learn’s speech functionality in classrooms in the UK and Germany, with our results indicating that a speech-enabled learning environment has the potential to enhance student learning gains and engagement, both directly and indirectly

Combining Exploratory Learning With Structured Practice to Foster Conceptual and Procedural Fractions Knowledge

Robust domain knowledge consists of conceptual and procedural knowledge. The two types of knowledge develop together, but are fostered by different learning tasks. Exploratory tasks enable students to manipulate representations and discover the underlying concepts. Structured tasks let students practice problem-solving procedures step-by-step. Educational technology has mostly relied on providing only either task type, with a majority of learning environments focusing on structured tasks. We investigated in two quasi-experimental studies with 8-10 years old students from UK (N = 121) and 10-12 years old students from Germany (N = 151) whether a combination of both task types fosters robust knowledge more than structured tasks alone. Results confirmed this hypothesis and indicate that students learning with a combination of tasks gained more conceptual knowledge and equal procedural knowledge compared to students learning with structured tasks only. The results illustrate the efficacy of combining both task types for fostering robust fractions knowledge

A Toolkit for Exploring Affective Interface Adaptation in Videogames

From its humble beginnings back in the early 1960’s the videogame has become one of the most successful form of HCI to date. However if we look more closely at the interactions between the game and gamer it becomes evident little has changed since the advent of SpaceWar back in 1961. These interactions are for the most part static and thus predictable, given a particular set of circumstances a game will always react in one particular manner despite anything the player may actually do. Because of this the expected lifespan of a videogame is inherently dependant on the choices the videogame provides; once all possible avenues have been explored the game loses its appeal. In this paper we focus on adapting techniques used in the field of Affective Computing to solve this stagnation in the videogames market. We describe the development of a software development kit (SDK) that allows the interactions between man and machine to become dynamic entities during play by means of monitoring the player’s physiological condition

Video prototyping of dog-inspired non-verbal affective communication for an appearance constrained robot

Original article can be found at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org “This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.”This paper presents results from a video human-robot interaction (VHRI) study in which participants viewed a video in which an appearance-constrained Pioneer robot used dog-inspired affective cues to communicate affinity and relationship with its owner and a guest using proxemics, body movement and orientation and camera orientation. The findings suggest that even with the limited modalities for non-verbal expression offered by a Pioneer robot, which does not have a dog-like appearance, these cues were effective for non-verbal affective communication

Getting inside the creative voucher: The Platform 7 experience

As with the others in this collection this chapter explores the experience of using a creative voucher. However, here we take a different perspective by reflecting on the process rather than outcomes. In this chapter we view the voucher - and the policy of vouchers - as part of a wider process that may, or may not, engender knowledge exchange; which in turn may, or may not, be incorporated into a final product or process. Connectivity and time are necessary, but not sufficient, to explain knowledge exchange. The argument, as illustrated by the chapter, is that the other processes (intended and unintended) that surround (or constitute) the voucher need to be included in what we might call the ‘voucher experience’. This experience is where and when a relationship, knowledge and understanding are created; the situational dimension may in turn constitute which knowledge is coded useful by participants. This situated and contextual work is not peripheral or of secondary importance: it is central. Accordingly, we want to stress that people as well as cultural products were involved in this voucher, and it is the human interaction that we stress rather than products, or disembodied and decontextualised knowledge