Beyond Homographies: Exploration and Analysis of Image Warping for Projection in a Dome

The goal of this project is to provide multiple approaches for warping a flat image tofit the curvature of a geodesic dome, to be presented as an immersive, Augmented Reality (AR) environment. This project looks to develop an algorithmic method of warping any image to fit perspective distortion for a dome-like surface. Despite fairly common usage in planetarium methods and other such shows, there is very little documented method that would allow for the warping of images to fit a curved projection surface. The methods will be explored include using Processing, OpenCV, and fisheye image filters. In addition to the paper, this research will also produce an online library of documents and resources for preforming these warps

Narrativa

As histórias, como vias de compreensão da condição humana, têm preocupado a Filosofia desde Aristóteles. O artigo, baseado em uma visão afirmativa da narratividade (Ricoeur, Rorty e MacIntyre), elabora a ideia de que a resistência à narratividade em nome de modelos redutores de cientificismo deverá ceder à compreensão de que a verdade histórica tanto é propriedade do chamado conhecimento objetivo, como do conhecimento narrativo. Num diálogo crítico entre a poética aristotélica e leituras hermenêuticas contemporâneas, discute as relações entre verdade narrativa e memória; ficção e história; catarse e testemunho; identidade narrativa e responsabilidade moral. Considerando as possibilidades de narrativa interativa e não-linear da era digital, a narrativa é considerada um convite à responsividade ética e poética

Designing a social space for co-creation of multimedia contents

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, February 2013."February 2013." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-87).People can have more insights and social experiences when they collaborate on collecting, revisiting, and utilizing their contents, such as images and videos; however, designing a social space that offers rich co-creation and exploration of multimedia contents remains a challenge. I propose a new system, SparkInfo, which enables users to create, exchange and augment their multimedia elements in ways that are personally unique and sociable. SparkInfo is designed for a group of people, who have created multimedia elements for the same purpose or at the same event, to collect their elements in one place and have a meaningful experience of their co-created media resources. SparkInfo provides a social space for the co-creation of multimedia resources. In the process of exploring and embellishing their materials, SparkInfo users can create new ideas, stories, and information. By utilizing this process, the users are able to experience how SparkInfo can embody the cycle of knowledge building, re-mixing, and sharing.by Jee Yeon Hwang.S.M

Story beads : a wearable for distributed and mobile storytelling

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-63).Stories take hundreds of different forms and serve many functions. They can be as energetic as an entire life story or as simple as a case of directions to a favorite beach. Storytelling processes are challenged and changed by technological developments in the worlds of text and image manipulation. The invention of writing changed the story from an orally recounted form which was mediated by the storyteller, to a recorded exact version, instead of a fleeting experience, a spoken weaving of a storyteller's tale. The story became an immutable object. In cinema stories are told with a sequence of juxtaposed still images moving at a speed fast enough to fool the eye into seeing a continuously changing image instead of one image after another. Television eventually coerced storytelling into 30-minute segments linked together, week by week, over a season broadcast to a large audience. The invention of the computer allowed storytelling to become flexible within a smaller granularity of content. Using the computer capabilities for storage and manipulation of information, authors can design stories and present them to different viewing audiences in different ways. Mobile computing, like the technological developments that came before it, will demand its own storytelling processes and story forms. This thesis defines a specific storytelling process, which I call Transactional Storytelling. Transactional Storytelling is the construction of story through trade and repurposing of images and image sequences. StoyBeads are wearable computers developed as a tool for constructing image-based stories by allowing users to sequence and trade story pieces of image and text. StoyBeads are modular, wearable computer necklaces made of tiny computer "beads" capable of storing or displaying images. Beads communicate by infrared light, allowing the trade of digital images by beaming from bead to bead or by trade of a physical bead containing images. My thesis proposes a tool for mobile story creation that will produce a unique storytelling process for constructing image-based stories.Barbara A. Barry.S.M

Moving fiction : novelists, technology designers, and the art of the exchange

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaves [61]-63).How can concepts from literature and technology design combine to create new forms of storytelling on mobile devices? This paper examines the theory and practice of bringing literary techniques into mobile technology design. First I present a model of media technology evolution which is not progressive, but atemporal-grounded in the ongoing expressive challenges of the humanities. This theory forms the basis for what I call the exchange: temporary collaborations between creative writers and interaction designers which lead to new forms of fiction and communications technology. I promote close readings of literature as a starting point for the exchange, examining specific passages for mobile storytelling inspiration and innovative means of modeling users. I then look at nascent efforts in storytelling over mobile devices, focusing on museum tours, grassroots organizations, artist collectives, research groups, and, lastly, my own work. In the end, I advocate a hybrid form of "Moving Fiction," combining mobile media characters with live actors, music, and sensory input from the surrounding environment.by Michael Epstein.S.M

Transmedia storytelling and transcendental experience: using media archaeology in creative practice to explore narrative and space within the virtual screen

"Transmedia Storytelling and Transcendental Experience: Using Media Archaeology in Creative Practice to Explore Narrative and Space within the Virtual Screen" is a PhD by Published Work comprised of four video-based transmedia projects. As a collective body of work, they are orientated around conceptual approaches to multi-platform production that aim for an intended transcendental experience, an approach that centralises the spectator. The study develops work undertaken by the author as an undergraduate in Psychology and Philosophy, later focusing at Masters level on subliminal imaging within digital media. The approach to production developed in this thesis is drawn from phenomenological understandings of audience experience in relation to content across iterations of the virtual screen, informed by psychology theories such as Gestalt and Jungian theories. These transmedia productions engage with creative opportunities and issues around the proliferation and fragmentation of video content and audiences, across multi-platform media, as well as the distinct challenges involved in authoring online and offline iterations of the virtual screen. The contribution to knowledge consists in the development of alternative production-based methodologies for transmedia authoring through extending the use of existing technological applications. My production-based methodology is based on the modelling of an intended transcendental experience which is catalysed through novel and/or experimental combinations of already available media tools. This production methodology creates new knowledge by extending the function of phenomenological psychology mechanisms established within still and moving image production. This extension materialises through the application of concepts such as "figure and ground" from Gestalt psychology and the language of Jungian archetypes, which are used as a guiding principle to re-structuring transmedia authorship with the intention to generate a transcendental experience. This model of production applies a media archaeological approach to the implementation of technological tools, implementing the "new" into the "old" and the "old" into the "new" in making choices regarding format and positioning of the virtual screen. The works submitted in support of the thesis have been produced by implementing this conceptual approach. These transmedia projects explore configurations of platforms positioned at an intersection of digital arts practice and more mainstream narrative video, spanning documentary and fiction. Overall, they demonstrate diversity in the implementation of the conceptual approach of intended transcendental experience across a range of online and offline applications that include gallery installation, interactive web-based storytelling, cinema style presentation and printed outputs. The submission comprises of four transmedia productions J9 (2010), Telenesia (2011), The Interactive Forest (2014) and A Polish Journey (2015), these are examined within their production and theoretical contexts before being analysed as implementations of an 'intended transcendental experience'

Using storytelling to elicit tacit knowledge from subject matter experts in an organization

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM)Knowledge Management has been at the heart of mounting focus over the last several years. Research and literature on the area under discussion has grown and organizations have come to realize that success is often determined by one’s ability to create, disseminate, and embody knowledge in products and services. This realization has led to increased interest in examining the ways in which knowledge can be effectively identified, elicited, codified, distributed and retained.When an employee leaves an organization, the knowledge they possess often goes with them. This loss can potentially have a negative impact on the productivity and quality of the organization. Knowledge Management seeks to find ways to minimize loss of knowledge when an employee leaves an organization. One of the impediments that knowledge management seeks to overcome is the accepted tendency in people to hoard knowledge. People often withhold knowledge when they feel it provides them with a competitive advantage over others. The argument of this study was intended to provide the organization with an approach that it can utilize to facilitate tacit knowledge elicitation by means of the storytelling method.In keeping with Grounded theory principles, and utilising an interpretive approach, stories from Subject Matter Experts were collected and re-coded into fitting knowledge management constructs. The coding of the stories into the various knowledge management constructs was then further refined by means of expert review. Pearson’s cross correlation analysis was also used as a supporting tool to determine and validate that the collected stories were classified correctly under the knowledge management constructs. The research findings eventually demonstrated that storytelling is an effective means of eliciting tacit knowledge from experts. In addition to this, the research has inadvertently resulted in the construction of a knowledge management framework for storytelling

Interactive portraiture : designing intimate interactive experiences

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2006.Includes bibliographical references.In this thesis I present a set of interactive portrait experiences that strive to create an intimate connection between the viewer and the portrayed subject; an emotional experience, one of personal reflection. My interactive portraits extend traditional photographic portraiture in two ways: adding motion and interaction. I present seven interactive portraits prototypes that react to viewer's presence and gender, as well as portraits that react to neighboring portraits. I demonstrate how interaction design decisions influence the viewer's experience and give Design Guidelines for the design of intimate interactive experiences. I ground my work in a theoretical framework called the "subject-object continuum", created for the art of portraiture (Brilliant, 1987). I show the relevancy of this framework for photographic portraiture, modern interactive portraits and intimate interactive experiences. Designers and artists follow (or consciously break) design guidelines when creating visual experiences. For example, photographers must train themselves to recognize the influence that light and composition have on the viewing experience of their portrait.(cont.) In the same way, designers and artists of interactive experiences must inform themselves about the influence that different interaction techniques have on the viewing experience of their interactive experience. In my thesis I focus on two design factors: (1) the style of the interaction and (2) the viewer's expectations. I evaluated these design factors using interactive portraits prototypes, and based on my findings, developed a set of design guidelines that can inform interaction designers and portraiture artists about the design factors relevant for intimate interactive experiences.by Orit Zuckerman.S.M

Isis, Cabbage and Viper : new tools and strategies for designing responsive media

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-132).Responsive media are media that can sense and react intelligently to factors like presentation conditions or equipment, audience identity or profile, direct interaction, history or anticipation of involvement, and so on. The emergence of modern computational devices and communication networks, with their power to manipulate media signals and objects, has spurred the development of new forms of responsive media. But a lack of a broad framework for understanding the characteristics of and motivations for these media has resulted in computer-based design tools that do not mirror the character of our projects and working practices and, in turn, compromise our ability to communicate effectively with these media. This research strives to build such a framework and use it as a foundation for a suite of three new tools that better reflect the multi-layered, multi-sensory, and multi-person nature of responsive media. Aiming to rethink the principles underlying one of the most primary building blocks in the design process, the centerpiece of this suite, Isis, is a new programming language tailored to serve as a basis for responsive media.(cont.) The second tool, Cabbage, is an experiment in employing a purist form of case-based reasoning in a system for creating responsive graphical layouts. Lastly, Viper is a new tool for making responsive video programs that can re-edit themselves to adapt to different viewing situations. These tools seek to enable the development of complex and meaningful input-output relationships through simple, elegant interfaces that emphasize visibility, accessibility, and extensibility.by Stefan Panayiotis Agamanolis.Ph.D

Techno-historical limits of the interface: the performance of interactive narrative experiences

This thesis takes the position that current analyses of digitally mediated interactive experiences that include narrative elements often lack adequate consideration of the technical and historical contexts of their production.From this position, this thesis asks the question: how is the reader/player/user's participation in interactive narrative experiences (such as hypertext fiction, interactive fiction, computer games, and electronic art) influenced by the technical and historical limitations of the interface?In order to investigate this question, this thesis develops a single methodology from relevant media and narrative theory, in order to facilitate a comparative analysis of well known exemplars from distinct categories of digitally mediated experiences. These exemplars are the interactive fiction Adventure, the interactive art work Osmose, the hypertext fiction Afternoon, a story, and the computer/video games Myst, Doom, Half Life and Everquest.The main argument of this thesis is that the technical limits of new media experiences cause significant ‘gaps’ in the reader’s experience of them, and that the cause of these gaps is the lack of a dedicated technology for new media, which instead ‘borrows’ technology from other fields. These gaps are overcome by a greater dependence upon the reader’s cognitive abilities than other media forms. This greater dependence can be described as a ‘performance’ by the reader/player/user, utilising Eco’s definition of an ‘open’ work (Eco 21).This thesis further argues that the ‘mimetic’ and ‘immersive’ ambitions of current new media practice can increases these gaps, rather than overcoming them. The thesis also presents the case that these ‘gaps’ are often not caused by technical limits in the present, but are oversights by the author/designers that have arisen as the product of a craft culture that has been subject to significant technical limitations in the past. Compromises that originally existed to overcome technical limits have become conventions of the reader/player/user’s interactive literacy, even though these conventions impinge on the experience, and are no longer necessary because of subsequent technical advances. As a result, current new media users and designers now think of these limitations as natural.This thesis concludes the argument by redefining ‘immersion’ as the investment the reader makes to overcome the gaps in an experience, and suggests that this investment is an important aspect of their performance of the work