Measuring quality of perception in distributed multimedia: Verbalizers vs. imagers

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2008 ElsevierThis paper presents the results of a study which investigated the impact of cognitive styles on perceptual multimedia quality. More specifically, we examine the different preferences demonstrated by verbalizers and imagers when viewing multimedia content presented with different quality of service (QoS) levels pertaining to frame rates and color depth. Recognizing multimedia’s infotainment duality, we used the quality of perception (QoP) metric to characterize perceived quality. Results showed that in terms of low and high dynamisms clips, the frame rate at which multimedia content is displayed influences the levels of information assimilated by Imagers. Whilst black and white presentations are shown to be beneficial for both Biomodals and Imagers in order to experience enhanced levels of information assimilation, Imagers were shown to enjoy presentations in full 24-bit colour

A cognitive approach to user perception of multimedia quality: An empirical investigation

Whilst multimedia technology has been one of the main contributing factors behind the Web's success, delivery of personalized multimedia content has been a desire seldom achieved in practice. Moreover, the perspective adopted is rarely viewed from a cognitive styles standpoint, notwithstanding the fact that they have significant effects on users’ preferences with respect to the presentation of multimedia content. Indeed, research has thus far neglected to examine the effect of cognitive styles on users’ subjective perceptions of multimedia quality. This paper aims to examine the relationships between users’ cognitive styles, the multimedia quality of service delivered by the underlying network, and users’ quality of perception (understood as both enjoyment and informational assimilation) associated with the viewed multimedia content. Results from the empirical study reported here show that all users, regardless of cognitive style, have higher levels of understanding of informational content in multimedia video clips (represented in our study by excerpts from television programmes) with weak dynamism, but that they enjoy moderately dynamic clips most. Additionally, multimedia content was found to significantly influence users’ levels of understanding and enjoyment. Surprisingly, our study highlighted the fact that Bimodal users prefer to draw on visual sources for informational purposes, and that the presence of text in multimedia clips has a detrimental effect on the knowledge acquisition of all three cognitive style groups

Integration of human factors in networked computing

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2008 Elsevie

Who is the director of this movie? Automatic style recognition based on shot features

We show how low-level formal features, such as shot duration, meant as length of camera takes, and shot scale, i.e. the distance between the camera and the subject, are distinctive of a director's style in art movies. So far such features were thought of not having enough varieties to become distinctive of an author. However our investigation on the full filmographies of six different authors (Scorsese, Godard, Tarr, Fellini, Antonioni, and Bergman) for a total number of 120 movies analysed second by second, confirms that these shot-related features do not appear as random patterns in movies from the same director. For feature extraction we adopt methods based on both conventional and deep learning techniques. Our findings suggest that feature sequential patterns, i.e. how features evolve in time, are at least as important as the related feature distributions. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study dealing with automatic attribution of movie authorship, which opens up interesting lines of cross-disciplinary research on the impact of style on the aesthetic and emotional effects on the viewers

Hypermedia learning and prior knowledge: Domain expertise vs. system expertise

Prior knowledge is often argued to be an important determinant in hypermedia learning, and may be thought of as including two important elements: domain expertise and system expertise. However, there has been a lack of research considering these issues together. In an attempt to address this shortcoming, this paper presents a study that examines how domain expertise and system expertise influence students’ learning performance in, and perceptions of, a hypermedia system. The results indicate that participants with lower domain knowledge show a greater improvement in their learning performance than those with higher domain knowledge. Furthermore, those who enjoy using the Web more are likely to have positive perceptions of non-linear interaction. Discussions on how to accommodate the different needs of students with varying levels of prior knowledge are provided based on the results