7 research outputs found
Factors affecting embodied interaction in virtual environments: familiarity, ethics and scale
The thesis explores human embodiment in 3D Virtual environments as a means of enhancing
interaction. I aim to provide a better understanding of embodied interaction in digital
environments in general.
3D interactive virtual environments challenge users to question aspects of their
embodiment by providing new modes for interacting with space. Designers are facing new
challenges that require novel means of interacting with virtual environments that do not
simply mirror the way we interact within physical environments. Much of the research in the
field aims to show how such environments can be made more familiar and "realistic" to
users. This thesis attempts to probe the unfamiliar aspects of the medium.
In this thesis I explore the concept, image and object of intimate space. How can an
understanding of intimate space inform embodied interaction with virtual environments? I
also investigate the role of familiarity by analysing and testing it in two contrasting
interactive virtual environments. My contribution is to provide an account of familiarity as
the driver behind embodied interaction in virtual environments based on human experience
(from a phenomenological standpoint). In order to enhance the process of design for human
embodied interaction in 3D virtual environments or in physical environments, I will identify
tangible and intangible elements that affect human embodiment in 3D virtual environments
and space, such as ethics and scale. Both examples are explored in interactive 3D virtual
environments corresponding to real physical environments by subjects who are the daily
users of the real physical environments.
The thesis presents scale as a tangible element and ethics as an intangible element of
human embodied interaction in space in order to highlight the different aspects that affect
human engagement with space, and therefore human perception of their space and their
embodiment. The Subjects’ accounts contribute toward informing the design of interactive
3D virtual environments within the context of embodied interaction
Gilbert Simondon: Media and Technics
Special issue of Platform: Journal of Media and Communicatio
Gilbert Simondon: Media and Technics
Special issue of Platform: Journal of Media and Communication on Gilbert Simondo
Maritime expressions:a corpus based exploration of maritime metaphors
This study uses a purpose-built corpus to explore the linguistic legacy of Britain’s maritime history found in the form of hundreds of specialised ‘Maritime Expressions’ (MEs), such as TAKEN ABACK, ANCHOR and ALOOF, that permeate modern English. Selecting just those expressions commencing with ’A’, it analyses 61 MEs in detail and describes the processes by which these technical expressions, from a highly specialised occupational discourse community, have made their way into modern English. The Maritime Text Corpus (MTC) comprises 8.8 million words, encompassing a range of text types and registers, selected to provide a cross-section of ‘maritime’ writing. It is analysed using WordSmith analytical software (Scott, 2010), with the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as a reference corpus. Using the MTC, a list of keywords of specific salience within the maritime discourse has been compiled and, using frequency data, concordances and collocations, these MEs are described in detail and their use and form in the MTC and the BNC is compared. The study examines the transformation from ME to figurative use in the general discourse, in terms of form and metaphoricity. MEs are classified according to their metaphorical strength and their transference from maritime usage into new registers and domains such as those of business, politics, sports and reportage etc. A revised model of metaphoricity is developed and a new category of figurative expression, the ‘resonator’, is proposed. Additionally, developing the work of Lakov and Johnson, Kovesces and others on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), a number of Maritime Conceptual Metaphors are identified and their cultural significance is discussed