The design with intent method: A design tool for influencing user behaviour

The official published version can be found at the link below.Using product and system design to influence user behaviour offers potential for improving performance and reducing user error, yet little guidance is available at the concept generation stage for design teams briefed with influencing user behaviour. This article presents the Design with Intent Method, an innovation tool for designers working in this area, illustrated via application to an everyday human–technology interaction problem: reducing the likelihood of a customer leaving his or her card in an automatic teller machine. The example application results in a range of feasible design concepts which are comparable to existing developments in ATM design, demonstrating that the method has potential for development and application as part of a user-centred design process

Management and display of four-dimensional environmental data sets using McIDAS

Over the past four years, great strides have been made in the areas of data management and display of 4-D meteorological data sets. A survey was conducted of available and planned 4-D meteorological data sources. The data types were evaluated for their impact on the data management and display system. The requirements were analyzed for data base management generated by the 4-D data display system. The suitability of the existing data base management procedures and file structure were evaluated in light of the new requirements. Where needed, new data base management tools and file procedures were designed and implemented. The quality of the basic 4-D data sets was assured. The interpolation and extrapolation techniques of the 4-D data were investigated. The 4-D data from various sources were combined to make a uniform and consistent data set for display purposes. Data display software was designed to create abstract line graphic 3-D displays. Realistic shaded 3-D displays were created. Animation routines for these displays were developed in order to produce a dynamic 4-D presentation. A prototype dynamic color stereo workstation was implemented. A computer functional design specification was produced based on interactive studies and user feedback

Subjective information visualizations

Information Visualizations (InfoViz) are systems that require high levels of cognitive processing. They revolve around the notion of decoding and interpreting visual patterns in order to achieve certain goals. We argue that purely designing for the visual will not allow for optimum experiences since there is more to InfoViz than just the visual. Interaction is a key to achieving higher levels of knowledge. In this position paper we present a different perspective on the underlying meaning of interaction, where we describe it as incorporating both the visual and the physical activities. By physical activities we mean the physical actions upon the physical input device/s. We argue that interaction is the key element for supporting users’ subjective experiences hence these experiences should first be understood. All the discussions in this paper are based upon on going work in the field of visualizing the literature knowledge domain (LKDViz)

On human motion prediction using recurrent neural networks

Human motion modelling is a classical problem at the intersection of graphics and computer vision, with applications spanning human-computer interaction, motion synthesis, and motion prediction for virtual and augmented reality. Following the success of deep learning methods in several computer vision tasks, recent work has focused on using deep recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to model human motion, with the goal of learning time-dependent representations that perform tasks such as short-term motion prediction and long-term human motion synthesis. We examine recent work, with a focus on the evaluation methodologies commonly used in the literature, and show that, surprisingly, state-of-the-art performance can be achieved by a simple baseline that does not attempt to model motion at all. We investigate this result, and analyze recent RNN methods by looking at the architectures, loss functions, and training procedures used in state-of-the-art approaches. We propose three changes to the standard RNN models typically used for human motion, which result in a simple and scalable RNN architecture that obtains state-of-the-art performance on human motion prediction.Comment: Accepted at CVPR 1

Blog-based online journals for English As A Second Language learners

The research on the use of blogs as online journals was carried out with a group of twenty five Form Four students in a secondary school in Kuantan, Pahang. The aim of the research is to find out the effects of blogs as a tool in developing writing in English as A Second Language. The instruments include questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and analysis of the blogs content. The research covered students’ perspectives of blogs as the medium for online journals, the effectiveness of blogs as a tool to assist students’ writing skill and to what extent blogs could help students to enhance their writing skills. From the findings, it is discovered that there is a positive impact on the development of students’ writing throughout the research as gained through the instruments. From the research, the students claimed that blogs is an interesting medium for them to write their journals as compared to writing in their log books. Blogs also could help them developed their writing skill in English Language; and through the various features in blogs, students were able to write more effectively

Birth of a Paradigm: Digital Technology and Its Effect on Literary Studies

Digital technology is changing the landscape of literary studies. In essence, the proliferation of computer technology and hypertext is forcing literary scholars to look at how the expanded role of the visual in our society is influencing the way we read and disseminate texts, especially hypertexts, while they also come to a better understanding of the role of the reader in a digital environment and the overall value of electronic literature. Literary studies is witnessing the birth of a new paradigm through digital technology in textual production and dissemination that will not only raise new questions, but further examine age-old literary issues. The following thesis will then explore several ideas concerning digital technology and literary studies including: ekphrasis, authenticity \u27and value, and the nature of narrative. The introduction of digital technology onto the literary landscape has forced the re-evaluation of several aspects involved with literary studies, but more importantly it has forced scholars to examine archaic ideals concerning reading, writing and teaching literary texts. In a hypertext environment readers and writers to enter into a more informal discourse, examine the signifier in a more direct way, and come to a better understanding of how culture influences our ability and means to communicate and replicate ideas. The new paradigm is born out of the idea that the reader can make up a text and the message of the author can still be disseminated. In the following thesis I suggest that the new paradigm will mark a definite change in the way literature is both written and disseminated; however, it will also simply add new twists to old problems. The place of the reader will certainly be debated with digital literature, as will the value of this unmediated form of textual production. Yet, above all, the role of the visual in digital literature will most likely be questioned as our culture continues to further embrace graphic images in favor of extended text and dialogue. The first section will focus on ekphrasis and the use of graphics in relation to literary studies, while also looking at the implications of losing textual descriptions to describe a scene. I will look specifically at how the use of graphics is compounding in society today, especially through the proliferation of computer technology, and how the increase in visuals is moving us closer to the natural sign. The second section will focus on the ideas of Walter Benjamin, specifically questions he raises in his 1935 text The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Reproduction. Using this work as a guide, I will examine the phenomena of the Internet and the presence of the original as the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity - something in the forefront of scholarly debates about the value or role of the Internet. Roland Barthes\u27 text S/Z will anchor the third section, where I will use Barthes\u27 notion of readerly and writerly texts to illuminate the differences of narrative in an on-line environment, while trying to better understand electronic texts and reading practices

Public opinion on energy crops in the landscape: considerations for the expansion of renewable energy from biomass

Public attitudes were assessed towards two dedicated biomass crops – Miscanthus and Short Rotation Coppice (SRC), particularly regarding their visual impacts in the landscape. Results are based on responses to photographic and computer-generated images as the crops are still relatively scarce in the landscape. A questionnaire survey indicated little public concern about potential landscape aesthetics but more concern about attendant built infrastructure. Focus group meetings and interviews indicated support for biomass end uses that bring direct benefits to local communities. Questions arise as to how well the imagery used was able to portray the true nature of these tall, dense, perennial plants but based on the responses obtained and given the caveat that there was limited personal experience of the crops, it appears unlikely that wide-scale planting of biomass crops will give rise to substantial public concern in relation to their visual impact in the landscape