A study of the importance of cultural factors in the user interaction with, and the design of, interactive science and technology exhibits in museums

This research investigates the cultural factors affecting the use of interactive science exhibits including interactive science and technology exhibits (ISTEs) by visitors to science museums worldwide. Visitors bring differing characteristics and experiences to bear upon the task of using these exhibits. These affect the nature and quality of their interaction with the exhibits. This research has focused on the cultural issues, and has defined them using 10 distinct and coherent ‘dimensions’. This has been achieved by extensive review of relevant earlier research work and building on this with experimental studies with visitors and interviews with science museum experts in the UK and Thailand. Interactive science exhibits now take many forms, and therefore for scientific investigation of their use it is essential to classify them in a form which promotes research validity and reliability. This research has developed a new classification of interactive science exhibits into four classes based upon the user’s perception, cognition and the nature of the interaction. The classes are: (1) simple interaction with direct understanding; (2) simple interaction with complex understanding; (3) multiple interactions with direct understanding; and (4) multiple interactions with complex understanding. This classification was used in experimental studies of interaction with exhibits at science museums. The research methods used mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative research through three separate studies. The data collection methods were: interviews, questionnaires, and video recording observation. The findings were that not only language issues and conceptual understanding are important factors, but other cultural factors were also inter-related and affect visitors’ learning through ISTEs

24th International Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases

In the last three decades information modelling and knowledge bases have become essentially important subjects not only in academic communities related to information systems and computer science but also in the business area where information technology is applied. The series of European – Japanese Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases (EJC) originally started as a co-operation initiative between Japan and Finland in 1982. The practical operations were then organised by professor Ohsuga in Japan and professors Hannu Kangassalo and Hannu Jaakkola in Finland (Nordic countries). Geographical scope has expanded to cover Europe and also other countries. Workshop characteristic - discussion, enough time for presentations and limited number of participants (50) / papers (30) - is typical for the conference. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to: 1. Conceptual modelling: Modelling and specification languages; Domain-specific conceptual modelling; Concepts, concept theories and ontologies; Conceptual modelling of large and heterogeneous systems; Conceptual modelling of spatial, temporal and biological data; Methods for developing, validating and communicating conceptual models. 2. Knowledge and information modelling and discovery: Knowledge discovery, knowledge representation and knowledge management; Advanced data mining and analysis methods; Conceptions of knowledge and information; Modelling information requirements; Intelligent information systems; Information recognition and information modelling. 3. Linguistic modelling: Models of HCI; Information delivery to users; Intelligent informal querying; Linguistic foundation of information and knowledge; Fuzzy linguistic models; Philosophical and linguistic foundations of conceptual models. 4. Cross-cultural communication and social computing: Cross-cultural support systems; Integration, evolution and migration of systems; Collaborative societies; Multicultural web-based software systems; Intercultural collaboration and support systems; Social computing, behavioral modeling and prediction. 5. Environmental modelling and engineering: Environmental information systems (architecture); Spatial, temporal and observational information systems; Large-scale environmental systems; Collaborative knowledge base systems; Agent concepts and conceptualisation; Hazard prediction, prevention and steering systems. 6. Multimedia data modelling and systems: Modelling multimedia information and knowledge; Contentbased multimedia data management; Content-based multimedia retrieval; Privacy and context enhancing technologies; Semantics and pragmatics of multimedia data; Metadata for multimedia information systems. Overall we received 56 submissions. After careful evaluation, 16 papers have been selected as long paper, 17 papers as short papers, 5 papers as position papers, and 3 papers for presentation of perspective challenges. We thank all colleagues for their support of this issue of the EJC conference, especially the program committee, the organising committee, and the programme coordination team. The long and the short papers presented in the conference are revised after the conference and published in the Series of “Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence” by IOS Press (Amsterdam). The books “Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases” are edited by the Editing Committee of the conference. We believe that the conference will be productive and fruitful in the advance of research and application of information modelling and knowledge bases. Bernhard Thalheim Hannu Jaakkola Yasushi Kiyok

Culture and Social Media

博士(文学)神戸市外国語大

Thai second language writing: the development of language knowledge and cross-cultural influence

A key element in improving both the assessment and learning of English as a second language (ESL) in English-medium schools is a deeper understanding of how language knowledge develops. However, relatively few studies have investigated the development of academic language in learners with ESL, and there appear to be no studies of this kind focusing on Thai learners. This study investigates the language knowledge of Thai learners of English in an English-medium international school in Bangkok, Thailand. The objective of the study was to understand both the developmental trajectory of features of academic language and the influence of Thai culture on English writing. The writing of two groups of Thai learners in year 9 of secondary school, Early Immersion (6-10 years in English-medium education) and Late Immersion (3-4 years of English-medium education) was compared. The writing of these two groups was also compared to that of English mother tongue (EMT) writers of similar age and the Thai writing of a group of Thai students of similar age studying in a Thai secondary school. The broad developmental pattern of Thai learners of English in this environment can be summarized as a movement from simplicity, through complexity to control and towards increasing flexibility. Late Immersion writers have achieved a degree of complexity but still lack control of some basic elements of clause structure. Early Immersion writers have achieved control of these features and are moving towards increasing flexibility, marked by the developing use of logical and experiential grammatical metaphor. Some features differentiating the English writing of Thai and English mother tongue writers can be best explained as the results of cultural influence. These include a tendency for Thai writers to make relatively frequent use of modal verbs with a deontic function when writing on certain topics and to be more indirect and less explicit when expressing opinions. The findings of the study have implications for both assessment and teaching. Assessment tools for both EMT and ESL writers would benefit from a more direct and precise reference to linguistic elements. Similarly, when teaching learners with ESL alongside EMT learners in secondary English classrooms, planning and teaching that includes exploration of how the grammar of English enables effective communication would arguably be appropriate for both groups

Acquiescence bias: exploring the applicability of ipsative scoring and acquiescence modeling

Acquiescence bias, defined as the tendency to agree with an item irrespective of the content is an important methodological issue in cross-cultural psychological research. The present study compared two methods to control for acquiescence bias, namely ipsatizing and modeling an acquiescence factor using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Simulated data sets are being used to compare raw data estimation methods, ipsative estimation methods and the acquiescence modeling method on how well they can reproduce the true theoretical correlations between underlying factors of an uncorrelated bidimensional model. Three conditions were manipulated: factor strength, acquiescence strength and factor intercorrelation. Depending on the specific model conditions, correlations and CFA using raw data and ipsative estimation methods show big under- or overestimations. The acquiescence modeling method reproduces the true theoretical correlations very well, irrespective of the specific conditions. Estimating relationships between constructs by means of acquiescence modeling in CFA is much more widely applicable than previously thought and is advised, even when unbalanced item sets are used to measure constructs

Conflicts, integration, hybridization of subcultures: An ecological approach to the case of queercore

This paper investigates the case study of queercore, providing a socio-historical analysis of its subcultural production, in the terms of what Michel Foucault has called archaeology of knowledge (1969). In particular, we will focus on: the self-definition of the movement; the conflicts between the two merged worlds of punk and queer culture; the \u201cinternal-subcultural\u201d conflicts between both queercore and punk, and between queercore and gay\lesbian music culture; the political aspects of differentiation. In the conclusion, we will offer an innovative theoretical proposal about the interpretation of subcultures in ecological and semiotic terms, combining the contribution of the American sociologist Andrew Abbot and of the Russian semiologist Jurij Michajlovi\u10d Lotma

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills