The Potential of Interactive Negotiated Narratives in Rebuilding and Reimagining Northern Irish Society

This research explores the role of the writer in interactive transmedia production through a research project that has been primarily designed to take place within contemporary Northern Ireland. Red Branch Heroes was created, in association with Bellyfeel Productions1, as a prototype for a more extensive fictional interactive web series that will be known as The Eleven. The author developed a game like scenario where, through their play, the audience influenced and developed character and story elements. The research asks if interactive forms such as transmedia offer any new storytelling potentials to the people of Northern Ireland and how such projects can contribute to debates about e-politics and e-democracy in post conflict societies. Evidence is presented in this article to suggest that the ‘negotiated narratives’ formulated in this prototype offer further creative community-building possibilities, in neutral spaces that can facilitate discourses about the future

A generic QoS model for web : services design

The development, registration, discovery, and invocation of quality Web services are vital for the successful implementation of applications using Web services. Considerable research focuses on quality for Web services. Unfortunately, current research on Quality of Service (QoS) for Web services is concentrated on service users and the implementation stage. This research highlights the importance of incorporating QoS at the design and development stages; the authors propose the introduction of QoS at the same time as functional requirements. However, Web Service Description Language (WSDL) describes the functional elements of a Web service, and QoS is significant for this description. Therefore, the authors propose an extension to the WSDL through a generic QoS metamodel, incorporating QoS specifications into the functionalities. This paper begins by defining the required QoS specifications for the development of quality Web services and explores the potential of the Unified Modeling Language as a technique and notation to specify QoS. To properly integrate QoS in the design, the authors propose extensions to the existing UML QoS profile. The paper concludes with the evaluation of the proposed framework and summarises its advantages

Student mentors in physical and virtual learning spaces

This chapter explores the human element in the learning space through the notion that once a learning space is inhabited, it becomes a learning place of agency, purpose and community involving both staff and students. The School of Languages and Learning at Victoria University in Melbourne has initiated a multifaceted peer learning support strategy, 'Students Supporting Student Learning' (SSSL), involving the deployment of student peer mentors into various physical and virtual learning spaces. The chapter discusses the dynamics of peer learning across these learning space settings and the challenges involved in instituting the shift from teacher- to learning-centred pedagogies within such spaces. Both physical and virtual dimensions are considered, with the SNAPVU Platform introduced as a strategy for facilitating virtual learning communities of practice in which staff, mentors, and students will be able to engage in mutual learning support. The chapter concludes with calls for the explicit inclusion of peer learning in the operational design of learning spaces. © 2014, IGI Global. All rights reserved