62,683 research outputs found
A Generative Model of Group Conversation
Conversations with non-player characters (NPCs) in games are typically
confined to dialogue between a human player and a virtual agent, where the
conversation is initiated and controlled by the player. To create richer, more
believable environments for players, we need conversational behavior to reflect
initiative on the part of the NPCs, including conversations that include
multiple NPCs who interact with one another as well as the player. We describe
a generative computational model of group conversation between agents, an
abstract simulation of discussion in a small group setting. We define
conversational interactions in terms of rules for turn taking and interruption,
as well as belief change, sentiment change, and emotional response, all of
which are dependent on agent personality, context, and relationships. We
evaluate our model using a parameterized expressive range analysis, observing
correlations between simulation parameters and features of the resulting
conversations. This analysis confirms, for example, that character
personalities will predict how often they speak, and that heterogeneous groups
of characters will generate more belief change.Comment: Accepted submission for the Workshop on Non-Player Characters and
Social Believability in Games at FDG 201
"Mothers as Candy Wrappers": Critical Infrastructure Supporting the Transition into Motherhood
Copyright © ACM. The transition into motherhood is a complicated and often unsupported major life disruption. To alleviate mental health issues and to support identity re-negotiation, mothers are increasingly turning to online mothers\u27 groups, particularly private and secret Facebook groups; these can provide a complex system of social, emotional, and practical support for new mothers. In this paper we present findings from an exploratory interview study of how new mothers create, find, use, and participate in ICTs, specifically online mothers\u27 groups, to combat the lack of formal support systems by developing substitute networks. Utilizing a framework of critical infrastructures, we found that these online substitute networks were created by women, for women, in an effort to fill much needed social, political, and medical gaps that fail to see \u27woman and mother\u27 as a whole being, rather than simply as a \u27discarded candy wrapper\u27. Our study contributes to the growing literature on ICT use by mothers for supporting and negotiating new identities, by illustrating how these infrastructures can be re-designed and appropriated in use, for critical utilization
âMad, Bad and Dangerous to Knowâ: the pervasive socio-medical and spatial coding of mental health day centres
In a research area typically dominated by the biomedical field, this paper seeks to explore the emotional experiences of long-term, mental health service users who attend charitable day centres. Academic literature has predominantly focussed on a macro-analysis of the social, political and geographical position of those with mental health distress. Subsequently, service users have been positioned as a largely homogenous group who mainly reside on the boundaries of social integration due to the negative social representations of mental health impairment. These postulations can advocate a romanticised notion of how service users engage in consensual and non-judgemental social norms in terms of social inclusion of those within therapeutic spaces. Thus, indicating that a high level of mutual camaraderie exists within a day centre. However, this approach can negate the realities encountered by service users on a daily basis whereby differing medical ascriptions such as âdepressionâ and âschizophreniaâ can not only influence a service userâs own self-identity and behaviour but ultimately, the acceptance of other members. In conclusion, this work indicates that rather than a discrete linear position between the âothernessâ of mental health distress and ânormativeâ human geographies, this area remains a complex phenomenon with levels of diversity when linked to diagnostic criteria
Understanding young people's transitions in university halls through space and time
This article contributes to the theoretical discussion about young people's transitions through space and time. Space and time are complex overarching concepts that have creative potential in deepening understanding of transition. The focus of this research is young people's experiences of communal living in university halls. It is argued that particular space-time concepts draw attention to different facets of experience and in combination deepen the understanding of young people's individual and collective transitions. The focus of the article is the uses of the space-time concepts 'routine', 'representation', 'rhythm' and 'ritual' to research young people's experiences. The article draws on research findings from two studies in the North of England. © 2010 SAGE Publications
Resilience, moorings and international student mobilities - exploring biographical narratives of social science students in the UK
Whilst research into the changing landscape of the UK Higher Education (HE) has produced a burgeoning literature on âinternationalisationâ and âtransnational student mobilityâ over the past few years, still fairly little is known about international studentsâ experiences on their way to and through the UK higher and further education. Frequently approaching inter- and transnational education as âneutralâ by-products of neoliberal globalisation, elitism and power flows, much HE policy and scholarly debate tend to operate with simplistic classifications of âinternational studentsâ and therefore fail to account for the multifaceted nature of studentsâ aspirations, mobilities and life experiences. Drawing on the notion of âresilienceâ and insights from the ânew mobilities paradigmâ, this paper envisages alternative student mobilities which run parallel or counter to the dominant flows of power, financial and human capital commonly associated with an emerging global knowledge economy. Engaging with âresilientâ biographies of social science students studying at three UK HE institutions, the paper challenges narrow student classification regimes and calls for a critical re-evaluation of the relationship between international student mobility and other contemporary forms of migration, displacement and diaspora
Characterizing physiological and symptomatic variation in menstrual cycles using self-tracked mobile health data
The menstrual cycle is a key indicator of overall health for women of
reproductive age. Previously, menstruation was primarily studied through survey
results; however, as menstrual tracking mobile apps become more widely adopted,
they provide an increasingly large, content-rich source of menstrual health
experiences and behaviors over time. By exploring a database of user-tracked
observations from the Clue app by BioWink of over 378,000 users and 4.9 million
natural cycles, we show that self-reported menstrual tracker data can reveal
statistically significant relationships between per-person cycle length
variability and self-reported qualitative symptoms. A concern for self-tracked
data is that they reflect not only physiological behaviors, but also the
engagement dynamics of app users. To mitigate such potential artifacts, we
develop a procedure to exclude cycles lacking user engagement, thereby allowing
us to better distinguish true menstrual patterns from tracking anomalies. We
uncover that women located at different ends of the menstrual variability
spectrum, based on the consistency of their cycle length statistics, exhibit
statistically significant differences in their cycle characteristics and
symptom tracking patterns. We also find that cycle and period length statistics
are stationary over the app usage timeline across the variability spectrum. The
symptoms that we identify as showing statistically significant association with
timing data can be useful to clinicians and users for predicting cycle
variability from symptoms or as potential health indicators for conditions like
endometriosis. Our findings showcase the potential of longitudinal,
high-resolution self-tracked data to improve understanding of menstruation and
women's health as a whole.Comment: The Supplementary Information for this work, as well as the code
required for data pre-processing and producing results is available in
https://github.com/iurteaga/menstrual_cycle_analysi
New Media & Youth Identity. Issues and Research Pathways
Media have held a considerable and growing place in the social environment of industrial society in recent decades, transforming the perception that a people have of their place in the world and of their memberships and belonging, creating new paths for social relations, affecting lifestyles, socialization, and communication processes, and the construction of identity itself. The relationship between young people (especially teenagers and adolescents) and new media shows some peculiarities which are worth further reflection to understand the extent and outcomes of these social changes.
This article aims to investigate the discourse on youth identity and new media in the social science literature, determining which are the key trends and exploring the more relevant research questions about this theme and the way these topics relate to one another. Titles and abstracts of articles published during the period 2004 \u2013 2013 were selected from the Scopus social sciences database and they were analysed using different content analysis techniques supported by the T-Lab software.
The international literature on these topics presents a certain liveliness and heterogeneity in themes and its perspectives on theoretical and empirical research. Nevertheless, it has been possible to identify some key trends, focusing mainly on the idea of active identity construction by new media
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