8,455 research outputs found

    The Metaverse: Survey, Trends, Novel Pipeline Ecosystem & Future Directions

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    The Metaverse offers a second world beyond reality, where boundaries are non-existent, and possibilities are endless through engagement and immersive experiences using the virtual reality (VR) technology. Many disciplines can benefit from the advancement of the Metaverse when accurately developed, including the fields of technology, gaming, education, art, and culture. Nevertheless, developing the Metaverse environment to its full potential is an ambiguous task that needs proper guidance and directions. Existing surveys on the Metaverse focus only on a specific aspect and discipline of the Metaverse and lack a holistic view of the entire process. To this end, a more holistic, multi-disciplinary, in-depth, and academic and industry-oriented review is required to provide a thorough study of the Metaverse development pipeline. To address these issues, we present in this survey a novel multi-layered pipeline ecosystem composed of (1) the Metaverse computing, networking, communications and hardware infrastructure, (2) environment digitization, and (3) user interactions. For every layer, we discuss the components that detail the steps of its development. Also, for each of these components, we examine the impact of a set of enabling technologies and empowering domains (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Security & Privacy, Blockchain, Business, Ethics, and Social) on its advancement. In addition, we explain the importance of these technologies to support decentralization, interoperability, user experiences, interactions, and monetization. Our presented study highlights the existing challenges for each component, followed by research directions and potential solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this survey is the most comprehensive and allows users, scholars, and entrepreneurs to get an in-depth understanding of the Metaverse ecosystem to find their opportunities and potentials for contribution

    A Case Study Examining Japanese University Students' Digital Literacy and Perceptions of Digital Tools for Academic English learning

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    Current Japanese youth are constantly connected to the Internet and using digital devices, but predominantly for social media and entertainment. According to literature on the Japanese digital native, tertiary students do not—and cannot—use technology with any reasonable fluency, but the likely reasons are rarely addressed. To fill the gap in the literature, this study, by employing a case study methodology, explores students’ experience with technology for English learning through the introduction of digital tools. First-year Japanese university students in an Academic English Program (AEP) were introduced to a variety of easily available digital tools. The instruction was administered online, and each tool was accompanied by a task directly related to classwork. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in the form of a pre-course Computer Literacy Survey, a post-course open-ended Reflection Activity survey, and interviews. The qualitative data was reviewed drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and its educational variants as an analytical framework. Educational, social, and cultural factors were also examined to help identify underlying factors that would influence students’ perceptions. The results suggest that the subjects’ lack of awareness of, and experience with, the use of technology for learning are the fundamental causes of their perceptions of initial difficulty. Based on these findings, this study proposes a possible technology integration model that enhances digital literacy for more effective language learning in the context of Japanese education

    Pocket size interactive films: Embedding the mobile devices’ features, characteristics and affordances into filmic interactive narratives.

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    Throughout the history of interactive film, creators have experimented with different modes of interaction to allow for the viewers’ agency. As interactive films have not yet established a standardised form, projects have continually been shaped by new technology. Over time, viewers have shifted from the cinema, to televisions, the personal computer and recently the mobile device. These devices further extend the interactive capabilities that are at the creators’ disposal. Therefore, this thesis proposes that mobile devices could facilitate new forms of interactive film that make use of these features. This study investigates the integration of the mobile devices’ characteristics, features and affordances into an interactive film project that is both viewed and interacted with on a mobile device. First and foremost, it establishes whether the mobile device can be successfully used by authors to relay interactive films. Secondly, it gives insights into design considerations for authors that aim to make use of the mobile devices’ features. Additionally, the thesis gathers insights into the use of game-engine technology for developing similar interactive film projects. The research begins with a literature review establishing the historical and academic context in regards to interactive- films, narratives, and interfaces, thereby focussing on mobile devices. Consecutively, a selection of projects is surveyed to garner insights into the current state of the art. These sections are then used to inform the practice-based part of this thesis in which the production of an interactive film project will be comprehensively documented. A concurrent think-aloud usability test, accompanied by a reflection on the outcomes and production process will conclude the research. The outcome suggests that mobile devices can act as successful vessels for interactive narratives. However, usability tests as well as reflection reveal that the thesis project cannot be strictly classified as an interactive film. Therefore, suggestions for future research as well as insights into the retention of filmic quality can be made in retrospect. Additionally, The use of game-engines for interactive film authoring proves to allow creators rapid prototyping and ease of implementation. Though their use might impact projects by over-complicating interaction paradigms more extensively used in game production.Media files notes: Project Documentation of Creations; an interactive short film for the mobile device. Media rights: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.

    AIUCD 2022 - Proceedings

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    L’undicesima edizione del Convegno Nazionale dell’AIUCD-Associazione di Informatica Umanistica ha per titolo Culture digitali. Intersezioni: filosofia, arti, media. Nel titolo è presente, in maniera esplicita, la richiesta di una riflessione, metodologica e teorica, sull’interrelazione tra tecnologie digitali, scienze dell’informazione, discipline filosofiche, mondo delle arti e cultural studies

    Industry 4.0: product digital twins for remanufacturing decision-making

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    Currently there is a desire to reduce natural resource consumption and expand circular business principles whilst Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is regarded as the evolutionary and potentially disruptive movement of technology, automation, digitalisation, and data manipulation into the industrial sector. The remanufacturing industry is recognised as being vital to the circular economy (CE) as it extends the in-use life of products, but its synergy with I4.0 has had little attention thus far. This thesis documents the first investigating into I4.0 in remanufacturing for a CE contributing a design and demonstration of a model that optimises remanufacturing planning using data from different instances in a product’s life cycle. The initial aim of this work was to identify the I4.0 technology that would enhance the stability in remanufacturing with a view to reducing resource consumption. As the project progressed it narrowed to focus on the development of a product digital twin (DT) model to support data-driven decision making for operations planning. The model’s architecture was derived using a bottom-up approach where requirements were extracted from the identified complications in production planning and control that differentiate remanufacturing from manufacturing. Simultaneously, the benefits of enabling visibility of an asset’s through-life health were obtained using a DT as the modus operandi. A product simulator and DT prototype was designed to use Internet of Things (IoT) components, a neural network for remaining life estimations and a search algorithm for operational planning optimisation. The DT was iteratively developed using case studies to validate and examine the real opportunities that exist in deploying a business model that harnesses, and commodifies, early life product data for end-of-life processing optimisation. Findings suggest that using intelligent programming networks and algorithms, a DT can enhance decision-making if it has visibility of the product and access to reliable remanufacturing process information, whilst existing IoT components provide rudimentary “smart” capabilities, but their integration is complex, and the durability of the systems over extended product life cycles needs to be further explored

    Site Trouble: Asianness and Blackness in Contemporary Cultural Production

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    This project explores the relationships of Asianness and Blackness in racialized geographies. Three onscreen spaces organize my inquiry: the Asian-owned convenience store, the college campus, and the freeway. My argument elucidates the structures—racial, carceral, and spatial—that form the possibilities for popular onscreen racial representation. In the first chapter, this project takes up the convenience store’s mise-en-scène to route my exploration of Black-Korean conflict, reading Do the Right Thing (1989), the novel Native Speaker, the TV series Kim’s Convenience (2016-2021), and the 2017 film Gook, as well as the documentary A Love Song for Latasha (2019). I present a theorization of Asianness that turns from binary media in/visibility discourses and centers itself on Asian American and Black feminist visions of flourishing. The second chapter analyzes the space of the college campus through the TV series Dear White People (2016-2021) and Grown-ish (2018-present), addressing the seriality of racial structures through student activism and protest. In this chapter I intervene in serial narrative studies and television studies by insisting that contemporary narrative seriality be understood as underpinned by racial logics. In my final chapter I move to the freeway through Karen Tei Yamashita’s novel Tropic of Orange and the 1997 film Strawberry Fields, exploring the Asian American feminist road narrative. In this chapter I theorize Asianness as racial infrastructure capable of both transmitting and blocking the force of white supremacy and conclude by locating fugitive ways of being in racial geographies. Ultimately, my research contends that opacity, refusal, being-otherwise, and experimental form are essential to shaping an Asian American feminist politics in solidarity with Black liberation.Doctor of Philosoph

    Interactive Sonic Environments: Sonic artwork via gameplay experience

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    The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of video-game technology in the design and implementation of interactive sonic centric artworks, the purpose of which is to create and contribute to the discourse and understanding of its effectiveness in electro-acoustic composition highlighting the creative process. Key research questions include: How can the language of electro-acoustic music be placed in a new framework derived from videogame aesthetics and technology? What new creative processes need to be considered when using this medium? Moreover, what aspects of 'play' should be considered when designing the systems? The findings of this study assert that composers and sonic art practitioners need little or no coding knowledge to create exciting applications and the myriad of options available to the composer when using video-game technology is limited only by imagination. Through a cyclic process of planning, building, testing and playing these applications the project revealed advantages and unique sonic opportunities in comparison to other sonic art installations. A portfolio of selected original compositions, both fixed and open are presented by the author to complement this study. The commentary serves to place the work in context with other practitioners in the field and to provide compositional approaches that have been taken

    Increasing user motivation of neurological occupational therapy in virtual reality using gamification

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    Abstract. Neurological rehabilitation is a long process which requires a lot of work and motivation from the patient to be effective. Though patients might be motivated to partake in rehabilitation just to improve their own ability to live a more fulfilling life, it is beneficial for all parties involved to enhance patient motivation by other means as well. Gamification aims to increase user motivation with the introduction of game-like elements in a non-game context. In this study, the effectiveness of gamification techniques, common in fields such as education and life-style applications, are investigated on a virtual reality-based neurological rehabilitation software. In this study a user study was conducted to evaluate the motivational aspect of gamification. Ten test subjects (six male and four female) aged 22–34 participated in two settings in a random predetermined order: a gamified environment and a simplified environment. After each play session, the participants filled a questionnaire and partook in a short semi-structured interview relating to the experience. Mixed methods analysis was conducted, meaning results were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. In quantitative analysis, the results showed that participants’ intrinsic motivation was greater during the gamified play session as opposed to the simplified one. Additionally, participant amotivation was somewhat higher in the simplified version. Qualitative analysis showed that the aesthetic elements combined with scoring system increased interest and motivation in the gamified environment. Though which independent elements contributed how much remained inconclusive. Follow-up studies with larger sample sizes could confirm the findings in this study and even go as far as to compare different gamification methods to further improve the usefulness of gamification in rehabilitation context.Pelillistämisen hyödyntäminen motivaation kasvattamisessa virtuaalitodellisuudessa järjestettävässä neurologisessa kuntoutuksessa. Tiivistelmä. Neurologinen kuntoutus on pitkä prosessi, joka vaatii paljon työtä ja motivaatiota potilaalta vaikuttaakseen tehokkaasti. Vaikka potilaat voivat olla motivoituneita kuntoututumaan parantaakseen elämänlaatuaan ja toimintakykyään, on hyödyllistä tukea motivaatiota myös toisin keinoin. Tässä tutkimuksessa tutkittiin pelillistämisen, jota on käytetty muun muassa koulutusja elämäntapasovelluksissa, hyötyjä virtuaalitodellisuudessa järjestettävässä neurologisessa kuntoutussovelluksessa. Kymmenen koehenkilöä (kuusi miestä ja neljä naista) iältään 22–34 ottivat osaa tutkimukseen, jossa he kokeilivat kahta satunnaisessa järjestyksessä valittua virtuaalitodellisuusympäristöä: pelillistettyä, sekä yksinkertaistettua. Molemman pelisession jälkeen osallistujat täyttivät kyselylomakkeen ja osallistuivat lyhyeen haastatteluun. Tulokset analysoitiin monimenetelmä analyysillä, tarkoittaen että tulokset analysoitiin kvantitatiivisesti ja kvalitatiivisesti. Kvantitatiivisessa analyysissä tulokset osoittivat osallistujien kokeneen enemmän sisäistä motivaatiota pelillistetyssä ympäristössä kuin yksinkertaistetussa. Lisäksi koehenkilöt kokivat jokseenkin enemmän motivaation puutetta yksinkertaisessa versiossa ympäristöstä. Kvalitatiivinen analyysi osoitti, että esteettiset elementit sekä pisteiden lasku lisäsivät kiinnostusta ja motivaatiota pelillistettyyn version. Kuitenkin epäselväksi jäi, kuinka paljon yksittäiset elementit vaikuttivat tähän tuntemukseen. Jatkotutkimukset suuremmalla osallistujamäärällä voisivat vahvistaa tämän tutkimuksen löytöjä. Lisäksi olisi mahdollista vertailla eri pelillistämismenetelmiä ja niiden hyötyjä neurologisessa kuntoutuksessa
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