An Advanced A-V- Player to Support Scalable Personalised Interaction with Multi-Stream Video Content

PhDCurrent Audio-Video (A-V) players are limited to pausing, resuming, selecting and viewing a single video stream of a live broadcast event that is orchestrated by a professional director. The main objective of this research is to investigate how to create a new custom-built interactive A V player that enables viewers to personalise their own orchestrated views of live events from multiple simultaneous camera streams, via interacting with tracked moving objects, being able to zoom in and out of targeted objects, and being able to switch views based upon detected incidents in specific camera views. This involves research and development of a personalisation framework to create and maintain user profiles that are acquired implicitly and explicitly and modelling how this framework supports an evaluation of the effectiveness and usability of personalisation. Personalisation is considered from both an application oriented and a quality supervision oriented perspective within the proposed framework. Personalisation models can be individually or collaboratively linked with specific personalisation usage scenarios. The quality of different personalised interaction in terms of explicit evaluative metrics such as scalability and consistency can be monitored and measured using specific evaluation mechanisms.European Union's Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013]) under grant agreement No. ICT- 215248 and from Queen Mary University of London

Online learning of personalised human activity recognition models from user-provided annotations

PhD ThesisIn Human Activity Recognition (HAR), supervised and semi-supervised training are important tools for devising parametric activity models. For the best modelling performance, large amounts of annotated personalised sample data are typically required. Annotating often represents the bottleneck in the overall modelling process as it usually involves retrospective analysis of experimental ground truth, like video footage. These approaches typically neglect that prospective users of HAR systems are themselves key sources of ground truth for their own activities. This research therefore involves the users of HAR monitors in the annotation process. The process relies solely on users' short term memory and engages with them to parsimoniously provide annotations for their own activities as they unfold. E ects of user input are optimised by using Online Active Learning (OAL) to identify the most critical annotations which are expected to lead to highly optimal HAR model performance gains. Personalised HAR models are trained from user-provided annotations as part of the evaluation, focusing mainly on objective model accuracy. The OAL approach is contrasted with Random Selection (RS) { a naive method which makes uninformed annotation requests. A range of simulation-based annotation scenarios demonstrate that using OAL brings bene ts in terms of HAR model performance over RS. Additionally, a mobile application is implemented and deployed in a naturalistic context to collect annotations from a panel of human participants. The deployment is proof that the method can truly run in online mode and it also shows that considerable HAR model performance gains can be registered even under realistic conditions. The ndings from this research point to the conclusion that online learning from userprovided annotations is a valid solution to the problem of constructing personalised HAR models

Informing a Distracted Audience: News Narratives In Breakfast Television

This thesis takes its lead from Baym’s (2004) suggestion that incorporation of entertainment techniques into television news undermines its authority and credibility. To explore this question, textual analysis was conducted on the news bulletins of Australian breakfast television programs Sunrise and Today with regard to narrative features and the spread of traditional news conventions compared to entertainment techniques. This analysis was followed by a discussion of the dominant meanings produced by the news narratives of Sunrise and Today. The two programs employed similar narrative styles that largely adhered to traditional news conventions, positioning themselves as impartial and authoritative relayers of news. However, narratives of both programs also diverged from traditional news: both used entertainment conventions – with Today often abandoning the traditional Inverted Pyramid news story structure for new structures – and contained briefer stories, with references to the opinions and personal experiences of the item presenters. In some breakfast news items, the short and sometimes personal narrative structure diminished the construction of impartiality. While entertainment techniques represented a potential threat to the overall authority of the news, in this analysis, the threat was mitigated by the dominance of traditional news conventions and authority was retained. In summary, departures from traditional news narrative structure and delivery are evident in Australian breakfast television, and may partly decrease its news authority and impartiality. However, the ability of these programs to retain distracted breakfast audiences may depend on the brief, entertaining and sometimes personal nature of the news items

Digital Saviours: Digitally Able Secondary School Teachers in Their First Year of Teaching

The digital era is a time when available technology enables access to information, ideas and people from a range of locations, at anytime. Young graduating teachers have grown up using digital technologies and some educators see this generation as digital saviours who will sweep into schools, able to teach the digital generation in relevant ways. This thesis examines the experiences of digitally able beginning secondary school teachers as they attempted to transfer their knowledge of digital technologies to the teaching context. The methodological approach taken in this research was a multiple case study underpinned by a complexity theory conceptual framework. Six digitally confident teachers volunteered to be examined through interviews and observation during their first year of secondary teaching to identify how they used digital technologies in their teaching practice, the learning that occurred, and the barriers and enablers experienced while attempting to integrate digital technologies into teaching praxis. A digital age learning matrix was developed as a research tool based on connectivist learning theory to measure the types of learning activities used by the teachers. Student think alouds were used to ascertain the learning that was occurring in the classroom. During the year, each of the teachers transferred their knowledge of digital technologies while facing challenges and accessing support from within and beyond the schooling context in which they were teaching. Using generic inductive qualitative analysis, the barriers and enablers were coded to five categories based on patterns identified from the interviews including: access, experience, support, school structures and knowledge. It was found that teachers with strong pedagogical content knowledge, that included the use of subject specific digital technologies or applications, were more likely to include knowledge creation in their learning activities. The teachers drew on their base knowledge when making pedagogical decisions. This appeared to restrict the opportunities to include knowledge creation. Web 2.0 features, such as connecting with others, collaboratively developing ideas and understandings within teacher networks or classrooms by the teachers or students, aspects of connectivist learning theory in the design of learning activities were notably absent. The findings from this research identified knowledge, experiences and support that could influence how beginning teachers use digital technologies within their teaching practice. The beginning teachers in this study were more likely to use digital technologies to enhance student learning when they were: (a) familiar with teaching students using a 'trial and error, ask a friend' approach to learning, (b) experienced in the use of digital technologies in specific subject specialist areas, (c) supported by mentors with pedagogical content expertise, (d) given a sense of agency, (e) given access to digital technologies, and (f) able to apply digital age learning theories and models to their teaching praxis. Digital age learning theories and models include complexity theory, connectivism, pedagogical reasoning and action for the digital age, and the digital age learning matrix. The latter two models were developed within this thesis and reflect an important development in teacher professional learning

Change or fail? Small business survival and digital marketing strategies during Covid-19 pandemic

Purpose - Covid-19 has brought a paradigm shift, many small businesses have gone bankrupt, and many others have not known how to take advantage of the digital world to survive and succeed. Seeking to investigate this case, particularly in Portugal and in the Fashion and Handicraft sector, we could see a pattern of digital strategies successfully used by real companies and would come closer to defining the future of digital marketing in the small business sector. Design/methodology/approach - The research employs an interpretative paradigmatic positioning, using the deductive method through qualitative analysis. The research object of this study are the answers of 23 small enterprises owners in Portugal, of the fashion and handicrafts sector, who were interviewed with the aim of analysing the digital marketing strategies currently in place related to providing access to the company, engaging the audience, personalising the offer, connecting with the audience and inviting consumers´ collaboration. Findings - The findings suggest that the identified set of digital strategies found in the literature can be employed by small enterprises, leading to better performance, both financially and socially. It analyzed ways of putting them into practice, their advantages, negative aspects and how they all connect to the consumer. The digital strategies most used by SME's are social media and the use of a website, and they are one of the most effective. The use of product configuration software and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) were proven to be the least used and therefore least effective by SMEs. Originality/value - As a recent topic, it doesn't have many studies on digital strategies when it comes to small enterprises. Intercepting what was found in the literature with the answers of these small company's owners creates a practical and real model of what happens with its use. The contributions of this study could help SME companies to improve their digital marketing strategies and brings another point of view in terms of academic contribution.Objetivo - Covid-19 trouxe uma mudança de paradigma, muitas pequenas empresas foram à falência e muitas outras não souberam tirar partido do mundo digital para sobreviver e ter sucesso. Procurando investigar este caso, particularmente em Portugal e no sector da Moda e Artesanato, pudemos ver um padrão de estratégias digitais utilizadas com sucesso por empresas reais e que se aproximariam da definição do futuro do marketing digital, no sector das pequenas empresas. Conceção/método/abordagem A investigação emprega um posicionamento paradigmático interpretativo, utilizando o método dedutivo através da análise qualitativa. O objeto de investigação deste estudo são as respostas de 23 pequenos empresários em Portugal, do sector da moda e do artesanato, que foram entrevistados com o objetivo de analisar as estratégias de marketing digital atualmente em vigor relacionadas com o acesso à empresa, o envolvimento do público, a personalização da oferta, a ligação com o público e o convite à colaboração dos consumidores. Conclusões - Os resultados sugerem que o conjunto identificado de estratégias digitais encontradas na literatura pode ser utilizado por pequenas empresas, levando a um melhor desempenho, tanto financeiro como social. Foram analisadas formas de as pôr em prática, as suas vantagens, aspetos negativos e a forma como todas elas se ligam ao consumidor. As estratégias digitais mais utilizadas pelas PME's são as Redes Sociais e a utilização de um Website, destacadas como as mais eficazes. A utilização de software de configuração de produtos e CRM provou ser a menos utilizada e, portanto, menos eficaz pelas PMEs. Originalidade/valor - Como tópico recente, não existem muitos estudos sobre estratégias digitais quando se trata de pequenas empresas. Intercetar o que foi encontrado na literatura com as respostas dos proprietários destas pequenas empresas cria um modelo prático e real do que acontece com a sua utilização. As contribuições deste estudo poderiam ajudar as PMEs a melhorar as suas estratégias de marketing digital e traz um outro ponto de vista em termos de contribuição académica