Establishing a framework for visualizing music mood using visual texture

There are many researches that introduce various techniques of browsing and discovering music using “visual forms” to the listeners.“Visual forms” include album cover, colour and mood picture are used to represent music mood in a way that can be easily understood by listeners.It has been proven that visual texture can represent mood too.However there is no research that uses visual texture to represent music mood.In this research, we are proposing a framework for visualising music mood using visual texture.The framework will assist digital music service developers to design visual textures that can represent music mood in a digital music collection application or website. In order to establish the framework, we went through three different stages of the design process.In this paper, we present the three different stages and justify why they are required

Interactive multimedia-based learning for network cable installation course

This article presents the design and evaluation of an interactive multimedia courseware for Network Cable Installation Course at the Community College.The limitations that exist in the conventional learning approach are described.This led to the development of an interactive multimedia courseware to be used in the teaching and learning process.The developed courseware was then evaluated on its usability in terms of perceived of usefulness, perceived of ease of use, learnability and future use of the courseware.It is found that overall the courseware receives high ratings from respondents and the highest rating among all suggests that respondents agreed that overall they found that the courseware is useful to complete their learning task

An investigation of knowledge creation process in the learningzone learning management system amongst postgraduate students

Knowledge management (KM) has been discussed in various domain but less emphasis is given in the educational field particularly in understanding the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge.The knowledge is formed through connection of online learning environment elements.Therefore, the outcome of KM in educational field is unknown due to insignificant attention towards knowledge created from the process itself. This paper discusses the process of knowledge creation based on the Socialization, Externalization, Combination and Internalization (SECI) model amongst postgraduate students in an online learning environment.Research sample covers 160 postgraduate students who were actively involved in Learning Management System (LMS) support environment.A research instrument has been developed based on the SECI constructs. Factors examined are the intensity of knowledge creation processes for transforming tacit knowledge in the learning, thinking and decision making skills.The findings show that the model fit the data for thinking and decision making skills only.The findings indicate that the model is not applicable for developing learning skill for postgraduate students

Framework for visualising music mood using visual texture

Modernised online music libraries and services provide effortless access to unlimited music collections. When contending with other competitors, online music developers have to devise interesting, fun, and easy‐to‐use interaction methods for their users to browse for music. The conventional way of browsing a music collection is by going through a text list of songs by song title or artist name. This method may not be sufficient to maintain an overview of the music collection. Users will end up searching for the same artist that they are familiar with, and will not be able to discover other new and interesting songs that are available in the music collection. There are many ways of browsing songs in an online music library. In the field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR), various types of visual variables such as colour, position, size, and shape have been investigated when representing music data. Texture is also one of the visual variables. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no research focusing explicitly on texture. Mood of music is one of the essential cues used for music exploration. It is also commonly used in music recommendation research as tags to describe music. A listener would select a song depending on his/her feeling or mood at a particular moment, regardless of the song’s genre or other preferences. In this thesis, we are interested in creating a new method of browsing music in the mood category. We developed a framework for visualising music mood using visual texture. This framework is specifically designed to choose the best design elements in designing visual texture, which can represent a specific music mood that can be understood by the user. In order to determine how well people can interact with visual texture to browse through songs in the music library, usability testing was conducted. In usability testing, the ISO 9241‐11 standard that consists of three elements – effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction was employed. Two outcomes were gathered from this usability testing. First, the feedback on the suitability of visual texture that represented each of the music moods was iii gathered. Secondly, by measuring the effectiveness, efficiency, ease of use, and satisfaction, the usability of the music collection from the sample website was tested. Besides, the scores for ease of use and satisfaction for the first time were also compared to long time use. From the usability testing, it was found that the design elements that were chosen for the visual texture to represent the moods ‐ angry, sad, happy, and calm were suitable. The average task times for all moods were acceptable, and these results indicate that browsing music using a visual texture is efficient. The completion and success rates for all moods were acceptable, and these findings point out that browsing music using the visual texture is effective. This research revealed that visual texture is an associative visual variable and can be used to represent music mood in a music collection application or website. By using this method of browsing music, users can explore songs by the mood in the online music library, rather than search for songs by song title or artist name. Overall, the main outcome of this research is the development of the Framework for Visualising Music Mood Using Visual Texture. Positively, the framework will help online music developers invent a new and interesting method to browse for music

Students’ perceptions of learning object for 3D character modelling lesson

Lecturers have to spend a lot of time to teach their students on the proper techniques of designing and modelling of 3D characters It is almost impossible for lecturers to cover everything in the class due to the complexities and time-consuming of the procedures and steps. Thus, students have to continue and complete the tasks on their own outside class hours without lecturer’s supervision.Outside the class, students still require some form of instructions that are able to provide them step-by step procedures of designing and modelling of 3D characters.The instructions must be easy to follow, step-by-step, readily accessible anywhere and anytime. Learning object (LO) is any entity that may be used for learning, education and training.It leads education with the instructional technology towards more effective instructional design, development and delivery of learning content. It provides a new paradigm in the way people teach and learn.In this study, LO has been used for developing students’ 3D design and modelling skills.This paper reports on a perception study among a class of digital arts students of Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Polytechnic in Perlis, towards the use of LO in 3D Character Modelling lesson. The purpose of this LO is to help students by providing guidance for them to do their assignments and also to enhance and improve their 3D design and modelling skills.An evaluation on the use of the 3D Character Modelling LO was conducted among 30 students.The results indicate that the students agreed on the Learnablity, Usefulness, Ease of Use, Functionality and Effectiveness, Satisfaction and Outcome/Future Use of the LO.The potential use of 3D Character Modelling LO for teaching and learning is discussed at the end of this paper