Financial flow diagrams to promote policy-making, based on 20 community management case studies from India

This paper reports the development of ‘Financial Flow Diagrams’ as a means of better communicating complex financial information, directly inspired by the development of ‘Shit Flow Diagrams’, in this case highlighting, for policy-makers, donors and service providers financial challenges. We describe the design considerations investigated during the preparation of visual oriented financial communications. This includes arguments about the merits and limitations of visuals and associated tools/software that best display flows of resources (in our case financial). We then present visuals that were submitted for testing across a panel of informants, some closely related to the Community Water Plus project, a 20 case study, 17 States research project of ‘successful’ community managed water schemes in India, which provided the source financial information. Finally, we provide a critical analysis and feedback on the limitations of using Financial Flow Diagrams as a mean to convey messages on funding distribution in the context rural water supply

Using audio visuals to illustrate concepts

This short pedagogic paper investigates the use of audio visual presentation techniques to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. It looks at the current 'MTV' generation of students who find it difficult to concentrate for long periods of time

Towards the disintermediation of creative music search: Analysing queries to determine important facets

Purpose: Creative professionals search for music to accompany moving images in films, advertising, television. Some larger music rights holders (record companies and music publishers) organise their catalogues to allow online searching. These digital libraries are organised by various subjective musical facets as well as by artist and title metadata. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of written queries relating to creative music search, contextualised and discussed within the findings of text analyses of a larger research project whose aim is to investigate meaning making in this search process. Method: A facet analysis of a collection of written music queries is discussed in relation to the organisation of the music in a selection of bespoke search engines. Results: Subjective facets, in particular Mood, are found to be highly important in query formation. Unusually, detailed Music Structural aspects are also key. Conclusions: These findings are discussed in relation to disintermediation of this process. It is suggested that there are barriers to this, both in terms of classification and also commercial / legal factors

Visual representation of concepts : exploring users’ and designers’ concepts of everyday products

To address the question on how to enhance the design of user-artefact interaction at the initial stages of the design process, this study focuses on exploring the differences between designers and users in regard to their concepts of an artefact usage. It also considers that human experience determines people’s knowledge and concepts of the artefacts they interact with, and broadens or limits their concept of context of use. In this exploratory study visual representation of concepts is used to elicit information from designers and users, and to explore how these concepts are influenced by their individual experience. Observation, concurrent verbal and retrospective protocols and thematic interviews are employed to access more in depth information about users’ and designers’ concepts. The experiment was conducted with designers and users who were asked about their concepts of an everyday product. Three types of data were produced in each session: sketches, transcriptions from retrospectives verbal reports and observations. Through an iterative process, references about context, use and experience were identified in the data collected; this led to the definition of a coding system of categories that was applied for the interpretation of visuals and texts. The methodology was tested through preliminary studies. Their initial outcomes indicate that the main differences between designers’ and users’ concepts come from their knowledge domain, while main similarities are related to human experience as source that drives concept formulation. Cultural background has been found to influence concepts about product usability and its context of use. The use of visual representation of concepts with retrospective reports and interviews allowed access to insightful information on how human experience influence people’s knowledge about product usability and its context of use. It is expected that this knowledge contributes to the enhancement of the design of product usability

The effects of graphical fidelity on player experience

Graphical assets in video games have become increasingly complex over the years, but little is known about their effect on player experience (PX). In this paper, we present results of a controlled study with 48 participants comparing how abstract and stylized graphics influence player experience in casual games. Our results show that high-fidelity graphics result in a more positive impression of the game. However, we also show that many effects are only present in the game with a more challenging mechanic. This shows that casual games can be compelling and enjoyable to play despite simplistic graphics, suggesting that small game developers and researchers need not focus on elaborate visuals to engage players. Copyright © 2013 ACM

Estrategias de comunicación utilizadas por aprendices de español como L2 y los efectos del tipo de tarea

Indexación: Scopus; Scielo.This study examines the possible effects of the task type on Spanish L2 learners’ strategic communication in face-to-face interactions with other learners and native speakers (NSs) of Spanish. Data was elicited from 36 interactions between Spanish L2 learners and native speakers of Spanish when carrying out two tasks, a jigsaw and a free-conversation activity. The data collection involved video and audio recording, observation of participants’ interactions and stimulated recall methodology. The spoken data was analysed based on Dӧrnyei and Kӧrmos’ taxonomy (1998) and the interactional CSs from Dӧrnyei and Scott's (1997). Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to determine a possible association between CS use and the task factor as well as to identify the task effects. Findings show that there is an association between the task type and the learners’ use of CSs particularly influenced by the jigsaw. It seems that the task focus influences the use of certain CSs in order to fulfil the demands of each task. It was observed that the linguistic demands of the jigsaw and the cognitive demands of the free-conversation affected more the learners’ use of specific CSs.El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar los efectos del tipo de tarea en las estrategias de comunicación (EsC) que utilizan aprendices de español como L2 al interactuar cara a cara con otros aprendices y hablantes nativos del español. Se recolectó un corpus oral de 36 interacciones entre estos participantes al llevar a cabo dos tareas, una actividad jigsaw y una conversación. La recogida de datos se realizó mediante grabación de video y audio, observación y entrevistas retrospectivas. El análisis de la información se realizó en base a las taxonomías de Dӧrnyei y Kӧrmos (1998) y Dӧrnyei y Scott (1997). Los datos fueron analizados cuantitativa y cualitativamente para determinar una posible asociación entre el uso de EsC y la tarea realizada e identificar los efectos de la tarea. Los resultados indican una asociación entre el tipo de tarea y el uso de EsC, asociación que está particularmente influenciada por la actividad jigsaw. Se observó que el foco de las tareas afecta el uso de ciertas EsC utilizadas para cumplir con las demandas de cada actividad. Las demandas lingüísticas del jigsaw y las cognitivas de la conversación parecen afectar más el uso de ciertas EsC.https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-09342018000100107&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=e

Mixing and Matching Learning Design and Learning Analytics

In the last five years, learning analytics has proved its potential in predicting academic performance based on trace data of learning activities. However, the role of pedagogical context in learning analytics has not been fully understood. To date, it has been difficult to quantify learning in a way that can be measured and compared. By coding the design of e-learning courses, this study demonstrates how learning design is being implemented on a large scale at the Open University UK, and how learning analytics could support as well as benefit from learning design. Building on our previous work, our analysis was conducted longitudinally on 23 undergraduate distance learning modules and their 40,083 students. The innovative aspect of this study is the availability of fine-grained learning design data at individual task level, which allows us to consider the connections between learning activities, and the media used to produce the activities. Using a combination of visualizations and social network analysis, our findings revealed a diversity in how learning activities were designed within and between disciplines as well as individual learning activities. By reflecting on the learning design in an explicit manner, educators are empowered to compare and contrast their design using their own institutional data

Detection and emotional evaluation of an electric vehicle’s exterior sound in a simulated environment

Electric vehicles are quiet at low speeds and thus potentially pose a threat to pedestrians’ safety. Laws are formulating worldwide that mandate these vehicles emit sounds to alert the pedestrians of the vehicles’ approach. It is necessary that these sounds promote a positive perception of the vehicle brand, and understanding their impact on soundscapes is also important. Detection time of the vehicle sounds is an important measure to assess pedestrians’ safety. Emotional evaluation of these sounds influences assessment of the vehicle brand. Laboratory simulation is a new approach for evaluating exterior automotive sounds. This study describes the implementation of laboratory simulation to compare the detection time and emotional evaluation of artificial sounds for an electric vehicle. An Exterior Sound Simulator simulated audio-visual stimuli of an electric car passing a crossroad of a virtual town at 4.47 ms-1 (10 mph), from the perspective of a pedestrian standing at the crossroad. In this environment, 15 sounds were tested using experiments where participants detected the car and evaluated its sound using perceptual dimensions. Results show that these sounds vary significantly in their detection times and emotional evaluations, but crucially that traditional metrics like dB(A) do not always relate to the detection of these sounds. Detection time and emotional evaluation do not have significant correlation. Hence, sounds of a vehicle could be detected quickly, but may portray negative perceptions of the vehicle. Simulation provides a means to more fully evaluate potential electric vehicle sounds against the competing criteria