341 research outputs found
Alone Together - Convergence Culture and the Slender Man Phenomenon
This project engages in a close examination of the Slender Man phenomenon, an online practice in which a community of pseudonymous enthusiasts share scary stories featuring a faceless, long-limbed, humanoid monster in a black business suit. The stories take various forms, including text-based narrative, amateur video, doctored images, and games. They are presented with an affectation of folklore, and treat the accounts as true testimonies of encounters they, or others they know, have allegedly had with Slender Man. This is a self-conscious effort on the part of its creators to manifest Slender Man as a real-life legend. Resulting from this effort, several individuals have carried out acts of real-world violence in the name of Slender Man, or with some connection to him. In response to these acts, and the ensuing moral panic, members of the community defensively stated that it was the responsibility of their readers to be able to know the difference between fantasy and reality. Yet, as this dissertation demonstrates, the Slender Man phenomenon itself is predicated on using digital media to blur this distinction.
Through readings of Slender Man in various media forms, this dissertation shows how it blends horror aesthetics with the online cultures of trolling—in which individuals intentionally misrepresent themselves in order to mislead and antagonize others, allegedly for the lulz—that is, for the laughs, pranking or joking. Trolling has however produced many serious consequences, from individuals targeted for harassment to bad-faith political movements that disrupt existing institutional functions more broadly. In its origins, trolling began as apocryphal storytelling designed to mislead others into believing they were true and expose the ignorance of newbies. Notably, the sites in which this occurred evolved to become the fora from which the similarly apocryphal stories in the Slender Man text community originate, such as 4Chan. These same pseudonymous fora have acted as safe havens for bad actors that have gone on to become notorious for their promotion of real-world violence, from Erik Minassian’s violence in the name of the incel community to Elliot Rodger’s misogynistic manifesto posed to 4Chan.
In short, this dissertation argues that Slender Man texts act as a canary in a coal mine, and that the mechanics of online horror communities lay bare the underlying strategies of trolling or post-truth internet culture more broadly. I undertake a close aesthetic and ideological examination of Slender Man in image, text, video and game, to offer a portrait of the community that shares them. The stories offer a glimpse into the anxieties, tensions, and alienation experienced in life online as a result of hypermediacy, premediacy, and anonymity. While much has been written regarding the potential for collaboration online and the possibilities for grassroots organization and community-building, the positive ends this convergence culture offers are offset to some extent by the kinds of anxieties emerging from a disaffected and alienated community. Ultimately, this project offers an account of the evolving relationship between interactive fiction, trolling, and political disaffection, a media ecology that is becoming ever more urgent to understand in twenty-first century society
User-adapted Gamification: developing a user-centred design feature preference model to inform engaging design
Gamification is a behavioural intervention that applies game-like elements to non-game contexts (Deterding et al., 2011) for the purpose of increasing performance of a target behaviour within a non-game context (or task therein). Existing literature highlights a substantial number of instances wherein Gamification is unsuccessful, such that applied design features elicit little to no impact on a target behaviour. The field of Adaptive Gamification seeks to improve the effectiveness of Gamification, by adopting a user-centred design approach wherein the design features used to increase the performance of a target behaviour are tailored or “adapted” to meet an often-unique set of user needs.
Existing methodologies which support the Adaptive Gamification approach are, however, limited. Principally, there exists no model which can effectively measure the level of preference an end user possesses towards a given design feature. In the context of how research can inform Adaptive Gamification design, understanding the level of preference a user possesses towards a given design feature is of critical importance, given that this relationship can directly inform design of a user-centred and tailored Gamification experience. This doctoral research project sought to develop a design feature preference model which could be used to accurately capture the design feature preference of users and provide insight into which design features users are likely to be more receptive to. To this end, the doctoral research project aimed to fulfil three research aims.
The first research aim was to develop a model which could measure user design feature preference, the fulfilment of was achieved across Study one, Study two, and Study three. Combined across all three studies, data from 2322 players was analysed. The first of these studies (Study one) operationalised a total of 37 design features (later increased to 47) using vignette methodology to describe the functionality and purpose of each feature. The second of these studies (Study two) subjected the 47 design features to an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)that returned a nine-factor solution. The third of these studies (Study three) furthered model development, by subjecting the nine-factor solution to a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), which confirmed the nine-factor solution (though some amendments and reallocation of items were made).
The second research aim was to identify how user characteristics could predict design feature preference, the fulfilment of which was achieved across Study two and Study three. Combined across both studies, data from 2011 players was analysed. The first of these studies (Study two) measured user design feature preference, user motivation, and user personality. The results of this study revealed which design features were most likely to predict variance in user engagement, as well as which motivations and personality traits were associated with predicting variance in preference for these design features. Using the same methodology, the second of these studies (Study three) expanded the range of user characteristics measured in relation to design feature preference, by measuring Gamefulness (a concept stemming from the area of Gamification that refers to what aspects of a gaming experience the end user values). Study three also revealed how Gamefulness could impact design feature preference.
The third research aim was to test whether any relationships between user
characteristics and design feature preference would correspond to tangible difference in user engagement, the fulfilment of which was achieved across Study four and Study five. Combined across both studies, data from 96 players was analysed. The first of these studies (Study four) sought to test the relationships between design feature preference and user engagement, when measuring user engagement via an online task-performance experiment, wherein participants were asked to play a series of online browser games (selected due to the design features they comprised of) while their engagement was measured. The second of these studies (Study five) sought to improve on the measurement of user engagement using in-game behavioural metrics, which is argued as a more representative account of user engagement. Both studies returned non-significant results, which were not consistent with relationships identified in Study two and Study three, though the role of methodological limitations in these findings are extensively discussed at the end of each study chapter
Experiential Perspectives on Sound and Music for Virtual Reality Technologies
This thesis examines the intersection of sound, music, and virtuality within current and next-generation virtual reality technologies, with a specific focus on exploring the experiential perspectives of users and participants within virtual experiences. The first half of the thesis constructs a new theoretical model for examining intersections of sound and virtual experience. In Chapter 1, a new framework for virtual experience is constructed consisting of three key elements: virtual hardware (e.g., displays, speakers); virtual software (e.g., rules and systems of interaction); and virtual externalities (i.e., physical spaces used for engaging in virtual experiences). Through using and applying this new model, methodical examinations of complex virtual experiences are possible. Chapter 2 examines the second axis of the thesis through constructing an understanding of how sound is designed, implemented, and received within virtual reality. The concept of soundscapes is explored in the context of experiential perspectives, serving as a useful approach for describing received auditory phenomena. Auditory environments are proposed as a new model for exploring how auditory phenomena can be broadcast to audiences. Chapter 3 explores how inauthenticity within sound can impact users in virtual experience and uses authenticity to critically examine challenges surrounding sound in virtual reality. Constructions of authenticity in music performance are used to illustrate how authenticity is constructed within virtual experience. Chapter 4 integrates music into the understanding of auditory phenomena constructed throughout the thesis: music is rarely part of the created world in a virtual experience. Rather, it is typically something which only the audience – as external observers of the created world – can hear. Therefore, music within immersive virtual reality may be challenging as the audience is placed within the created world.The second half of this thesis uses this theoretical model to consider contemporary and future approaches to virtual experiences. Chapter 5 constructs a series of case studies to demonstrate the use of the framework as a trans-medial and intra/inter-contextual tool of analysis. Through use of the framework, varying approaches to implementation of sound and music in virtual reality technologies are considered, which reveals trans-medial commonalities of immersion and engagement with virtual experiences through sound. Chapter 6 examines near-future technologies, including brain-computer interfaces and other full-immersion technologies, to identify key issues in the design and implementation of future virtual experiences and suggest how interdisciplinary collaboration may help to develop solutions to these issues. Chapter 7 considers how the proposed model for virtuality might allow for methodical examination of similar issues within other fields, such as acoustics and architecture, and examines the ethical considerations that may become relevant as virtual technology develops within the 21st Century.This research explores and rationalises theoretical models of virtuality and sound. This permits designers and developers to improve the implementation of sound and music in virtual experiences for the purpose of improving user outcomes.<br/
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Into the Multiverse: Methods for Studying Developmental Neuroscience
One major challenge in developmental neuroscience research is the sheer number of choices researchers face when addressing even a single research question. Even once data collection is complete, the journey from raw data to interpretation of findings may depend on numerous decisions. To address this issue, this dissertation explores “multiverse” analysis techniques for following many analytical paths at once in the same dataset.
In chapter 1, multiverses are used to examine which analyses of age-related change in amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex circuitry are robust versus sensitive to researcher decisions. Chapter 2 uses multiverse analysis to identify optimal solutions for mitigating breathing-induced artifacts in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Chapter 3 uses a variety of model specifications to characterize simultaneous reward learning strategies in youth contingent on both visual task cues and spatial-motor information.
Despite varied approaches and goals, each of the three studies highlight the benefits of conducting multiple parallel analyses for both addressing questions in developmental neuroscience and deepening understanding of the methods used to address them
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