12,259 research outputs found

    Emergent Story Generation: Lessons from Improvisational Theater

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    An emergent approach to story generation by computer is characterized by a lack of predetermined plot and a focus on character interaction forming the material for stories. A potential problem is that no interesting story emerges. However, improvisational theater shows that ā€“ at least for human actors ā€“ a predetermined plot is not necessary for creating a compelling story. There are some principles that make a successful piece of improvisational theater more than a random interaction, and these principles may inform the type of computational processes that an emergent narrative architecture draws from. We therefore discuss some of these principles, and show how these are explicitly or implicitly used in story generation and interactive storytelling research. Finally we draw lessons from these principles and ask attention for two techniques that have been little investigated: believably incorporating directives, and late commitment

    Should we be thinking about sex robots?

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    The chapter introduces the edited collection Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications. It proposes a definition of the term 'sex robot' and examines some current prototype models. It also considers the three main ethical questions one can ask about sex robots: (i) do they benefit/harm the user? (ii) do they benefit/harm society? or (iii) do they benefit/harm the robot

    IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and STAGECOACH

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    A survey and assessment of the reception and influence of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) and STAGECOACH (1939)

    Avatar actors

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    In this text I wish to discuss, as well as illustrate through pictorial examples, how the Live Visuals of three dimensional online virtual worlds may be leading us into participatory and collaborative Play states during which we appear to become the creators as well as the actors of what may also be described as our own real-time cinematic output. One of the most compelling of these stages may be three dimensional, online virtual worlds in which avatars create and enact their own tales and conceptions, effectively bringing forth live, participatory cinema through Play

    Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author

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    The question motivating this review paper is, how can computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn- ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory, and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional question driving research in interactive narrative is, ā€˜how can an in- teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?ā€™ This question derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that, as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency. Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip- ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based on Brechtā€™s Epic Theatre and Boalā€™s Theatre of the Oppressed are reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in- teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity

    Psychological Aspects in lifelike synthetic agents: Towards to the Personality Markup Language (A Brief Survey)

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    This paper describes how human psychological aspects have been used in lifelike synthetic agents in order to provide believability during the human-computer interaction. We describe a brief survey of applications where Affective Computing Scientists have applied psychological aspects, like Emotion and Personality. Based on those aspects we describe the effort done by Affective Computing scientists in order to create a Markup Language to express and standardize Emotions. Because they have not yet concentrated their effort on Personality, here, we propose a starting point to create a Markup Language to express Personality

    Girlsā€™ access to education in China: actors, cultures and the windmill of development management

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    The world has a mixed record towards achieving EFA and the MDGs in relation to the targets on gender equity in basic education. For researchers and practitioners, this raises the question of which factors influence the processes leading to the improvement of access and quality of girlsā€™ education and how. This case study from China examines the human and cultural dimensions of project management in determining the planning, implementation and evaluation of interventions designed to improve gender equity. The monograph combines concepts from the actor-oriented approach of development studies, with theories of culture and development management. It generates an analytical framework composed of two super ordinate ā€˜cultural landscapesā€™. One is the ā€˜relationalā€™ landscape with its dimensions of power distance, masculinity-femininity, and collectivism-individualism. The other is the ā€˜time-orientationā€™ landscape with its dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and universalism-particularism. The ā€˜cultural landscapesā€™ and dimensions provide a powerful description of how the perceptions and strategies of interaction vary and change between and within individual actors. The monograph illustrates how managers act as innovators with varied perceptions and interaction strategies influenced by multiple levels of culture, social and political contexts. Using the metaphor of a windmill, the monograph suggests that project management moves beyond the linear cyclical logic presented in many of the planning texts and manuals of development agencies. The steps and stages of development management are the windmillā€™s blades. The cultural interactions between actors form the wind that gives the blades energy and speed. The blades run both synchronically and sequentially depending on the wind strength. The monograph recommends that development managers should move beyond superficial concerns for outputs and products to a deeper concern for human and cultural processes that lead to results for achieving EFA and the MDGs
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