Deep Decision Trees for Discriminative Dictionary Learning with Adversarial Multi-Agent Trajectories

With the explosion in the availability of spatio-temporal tracking data in modern sports, there is an enormous opportunity to better analyse, learn and predict important events in adversarial group environments. In this paper, we propose a deep decision tree architecture for discriminative dictionary learning from adversarial multi-agent trajectories. We first build up a hierarchy for the tree structure by adding each layer and performing feature weight based clustering in the forward pass. We then fine tune the player role weights using back propagation. The hierarchical architecture ensures the interpretability and the integrity of the group representation. The resulting architecture is a decision tree, with leaf-nodes capturing a dictionary of multi-agent group interactions. Due to the ample volume of data available, we focus on soccer tracking data, although our approach can be used in any adversarial multi-agent domain. We present applications of proposed method for simulating soccer games as well as evaluating and quantifying team strategies.Comment: To appear in 4th International Workshop on Computer Vision in Sports (CVsports) at CVPR 201

Multi-sensor human action recognition with particular application to tennis event-based indexing

The ability to automatically classify human actions and activities using vi- sual sensors or by analysing body worn sensor data has been an active re- search area for many years. Only recently with advancements in both fields and the ubiquitous nature of low cost sensors in our everyday lives has auto- matic human action recognition become a reality. While traditional sports coaching systems rely on manual indexing of events from a single modality, such as visual or inertial sensors, this thesis investigates the possibility of cap- turing and automatically indexing events from multimodal sensor streams. In this work, we detail a novel approach to infer human actions by fusing multimodal sensors to improve recognition accuracy. State of the art visual action recognition approaches are also investigated. Firstly we apply these action recognition detectors to basic human actions in a non-sporting con- text. We then perform action recognition to infer tennis events in a tennis court instrumented with cameras and inertial sensing infrastructure. The system proposed in this thesis can use either visual or inertial sensors to au- tomatically recognise the main tennis events during play. A complete event retrieval system is also presented to allow coaches to build advanced queries, which existing sports coaching solutions cannot facilitate, without an inordi- nate amount of manual indexing. The event retrieval interface is evaluated against a leading commercial sports coaching tool in terms of both usability and efficiency

Gamer-Generated Language and the Localisation of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

Video game localisation has received increased academic attention over the past few years. Despite the call for user-oriented research, few researchers have chosen to focus on issues that are central to end-user experience and its relation to the localised text. With the increased connectivity of gaming in general, and certain game genres in particular, gamers’ language use has become an integral aspect of the game experience. As a result, gamers have become innovative, creating and re-appropriating language, often using non-standard forms to coordinate their gameplay. This innovative and non-standard language, that I call gamer-speak, is the object of my research. In particular, the focus is on the gamer-speak generated by French gamers during group play of two localised Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs): World of Warcraft and WildStar. The main aim is to investigate the phenomenon of gamer-speak in MMORPGs and examine its significance for MMORPG localisation. I achieve this through a linguistic analysis and comparison of gamer conversations, analyses of localised texts and its original counterparts, and from survey data collected from active MMORPG gamers regarding their language use. In this thesis I devise an interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological framework for the study of gamer-speak and its influence on MMORPGs which draws principally from Translation Studies and Games Studies. This framework is used to describe the salient features of gamer-speak generated by French gamers when playing the two MMORPGs chosen in the context of Polysystem Theory and Descriptive Translation Studies. The familiarity with and knowledge of French MMORPG players of gamer-speak is determined through surveys. I also examine localised MMORPG text, translated from English into French, paying attention to the role of gamer-speak. Finally, I address the social and cultural implications that gamer-speak has for the target audience of localised MMORPGs. This work adds to our understanding of gamer culture and has implications for game localisation and translation studies

A Thematic Review on Digital Storytelling (DST) in Social Media

Digital Storytelling (DST) is defined as telling stories using digital means. It has been initially applied for diverse purposes, including in community development, therapeutic benefits, and as an aid in teaching and learning. DST has recently been broadly used on social media platforms for marketing, running campaigns, journalism, and much more. However, no comprehensive systematic or thematic review of DST in social media has been conducted. Accordingly, this paper aims to provide a thematic review of DST in social media. The thematic review was carried out on 50 articles published from 2016 to 2021. These 50 discrete studies were selected because they met the inclusion criteria based on the research question of this review. The thematic review used ATLAS.ti as a tool to assist the review process. The results indicated that DST in social media was appropriate for marketing, including branding and advertising. Besides, using DST in social media over the years for education, training, professional development, community development and services, running campaigns, and therapy has significantly impacted these areas. Across the research articles, including case studies and essays, authors have reported several benefits of using DST in social media

Designing sound : procedural audio research based on the book by Andy Farnell

In procedural media, data normally acquired by measuring something, commonly described as sampling, is replaced by a set of computational rules (procedure) that defines the typical structure and/or behaviour of that thing. Here, a general approach to sound as a definable process, rather than a recording, is developed. By analysis of their physical and perceptual qualities, natural objects or processes that produce sound are modelled by digital Sounding Objects for use in arts and entertainments. This Thesis discusses different aspects of Procedural Audio introducing several new approaches and solutions to this emerging field of Sound Design.Em Media Procedimental, os dados os dados normalmente adquiridos através da medição de algo habitualmente designado como amostragem, são substituídos por um conjunto de regras computacionais (procedimento) que definem a estrutura típica, ou comportamento, desse elemento. Neste caso é desenvolvida uma abordagem ao som definível como um procedimento em vez de uma gravação. Através da análise das suas características físicas e perceptuais , objetos naturais ou processos que produzem som, são modelados como objetos sonoros digitais para utilização nas Artes e Entretenimento. Nesta Tese são discutidos diferentes aspectos de Áudio Procedimental, sendo introduzidas várias novas abordagens e soluções para o campo emergente do Design Sonoro

Moving the goalposts: the transformation of television sport in the UK (1992-2014)

Despite its prominence and popularity, television sport remains an underresearched area in media studies and is a subject that lacks a ready-made theoretical context. Consequently, a political economy approach - including ideas about value, commodification, transformations, power-relationships and the emergence of a profit-motivated sport-media-corporate axis – is used to answer 3 primary questions: 1) Whilst sports and broadcasting systems in the US and UK started from diametrically opposed positions post-World War II, why have the similarities between them, including a more overtly consumer-oriented approach in the UK, become the most noticeable features? 2) How do three often unseen upstream pre-production processes – technology, broadcasting rights and regulation - increasingly influence what television sport looks and sounds like, where it can be seen and who can see it? 3) How are upstream pre-production processes manifest downstream on the supply side in terms of (a) broadcasters (including who provides sports media) and (b) independent sports television production, including the day-to-day work of sports producers and directors? Two critical perspectives are added: 1) the central role of sports federations, ranging from the “peculiar economics of sport” (Neale, 1964) through to federation run host broadcast operations for major events; and, 2) a relevant micro-level analysis of downstream supply-side activities following the trickle down effect of significant upstream transformations. This new perspective complements the big picture often favoured by political economists. It is argued that important transformations in technology, broadcasting rights and regulation have radically changed the television sport landscape in the UK since 1992. How these factors have evolved goes a long way to explain (a) what sport we see on television, (b) where we can see it and (c) what the final output looks and sounds like. The battle to control broadcasting rights and subsequent television output is set against the increasing commercialisation of sport and the marketisation of broadcasting

The Boy from Boort

Hank Nelson was an academic, film-maker, teacher, graduate supervisor and university administrator. His career at The Australian National University (ANU) spanned almost 40 years of notable accomplishment in expanding and deepening our understanding of the history and politics of Papua New Guinea, the experience of Australian soldiers at war, bush schools and much else. This book is a highly readable tribute to him, written by those who knew him well, including his students, and also contains wide-ranging works by Hank himself. –Professor Stewart Firth, ANU

The 'global' and the 'local' : a comparative study of development practices in three South African municipalities

On first impression, it would seem that globalisation is producing an increasingly homogenous trans-border world, whereby, as a result of key changes including the impact of technological improvements, foreign travel, the spread of westernised cultural identities, market capitalism, and liberal democracy, the point has been reached where it is now becoming difficult to tell different localities apart. In this process, it is often forgotten what role individual places assume in the creation of this globalised world and that not all will benefit from globalisation. In many respects, locally specific activities, including urban renewal, place promotion, and infrastructural developments pursued within a selection of the planet's most strategically connected cities are now the primary catalysts of, and the influence behind, globalisation. Likewise, community-businesses, rural micro-industries, and alternative livelihoods are some of the key mechanisms that under-privileged localities in developing countries are employing to either respond to the marginalization imposed by globalisation, or to simply ensure survival. The emergence of localisation theory has therefore acknowledged and exemplified the importance of the locality in the context of the global economy as either a key node within it or a point within which people must engage in coping strategies, often as a result of the negative impacts of globalisation. In recent years, varying styles of locality-based development have become central to enhancing both the pro-growth global competitiveness of a number of South African localities, as well as for initiating pro-poor interventions in several of the country's smaller towns and rural areas. In the City of Cape Town, millions of Rands have been invested by the municipality and the private sector in urban regeneration strategies,which have led to an economic rebirth in the city centre and have generated numerous jobs in the tertiary and construction sectors that have helped to enhance the city's global stature. In Ndlambe Municipality, two community-businesses, which have received national funding and have strong municipal support, employ fifty people between them and have demonstrated the advantages of participatory action in propoor local development, within the context of the open market. In Emalahleni Municipality, attempts at locality-based development have been instigated directly by the local poor themselves and have been organised by members of the community in the face of non-existent local government support, which have resulted in the creation of several hundred income-earning opportunities for area residents. In summary, these three cases illustrate a range of approaches to locality-based development cunently undertaken in South Africa by different localities possessing widely differing resources, skills, and degrees of global connectivity in order to initiate growth and enhance standards of living. From a theoretical perspective this study provides a South African slant on global theories and processes and further indicates the role that a series of localities in the South are playing in a changing global system.KMBT_363Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-i