Haptic Media Scenes

The aim of this thesis is to apply new media phenomenological and enactive embodied cognition approaches to explain the role of haptic sensitivity and communication in personal computer environments for productivity. Prior theory has given little attention to the role of haptic senses in influencing cognitive processes, and do not frame the richness of haptic communication in interaction design—as haptic interactivity in HCI has historically tended to be designed and analyzed from a perspective on communication as transmissions, sending and receiving haptic signals. The haptic sense may not only mediate contact confirmation and affirmation, but also rich semiotic and affective messages—yet this is a strong contrast between this inherent ability of haptic perception, and current day support for such haptic communication interfaces. I therefore ask: How do the haptic senses (touch and proprioception) impact our cognitive faculty when mediated through digital and sensor technologies? How may these insights be employed in interface design to facilitate rich haptic communication? To answer these questions, I use theoretical close readings that embrace two research fields, new media phenomenology and enactive embodied cognition. The theoretical discussion is supported by neuroscientific evidence, and tested empirically through case studies centered on digital art. I use these insights to develop the concept of the haptic figura, an analytical tool to frame the communicative qualities of haptic media. The concept gauges rich machine- mediated haptic interactivity and communication in systems with a material solution supporting active haptic perception, and the mediation of semiotic and affective messages that are understood and felt. As such the concept may function as a design tool for developers, but also for media critics evaluating haptic media. The tool is used to frame a discussion on opportunities and shortcomings of haptic interfaces for productivity, differentiating between media systems for the hand and the full body. The significance of this investigation is demonstrating that haptic communication is an underutilized element in personal computer environments for productivity and providing an analytical framework for a more nuanced understanding of haptic communication as enabling the mediation of a range of semiotic and affective messages, beyond notification and confirmation interactivity

Framing Embodiment in General-Purpose Computing. A study identifying key components in a multimodel general-purpose computational environment

The last thirty years have presented us with technology that has had an profound impact on how we produce, socialize with others, and consume culture. Today most of these actions are linked to a computational setup which involves a screen representing our options in two dimensions and a hand-operated controller for manipulating the screen environment, a hardware setup that has not changed considerably the last 50 years. The dominant interface for personal computers the graphical user interface is highly ocularcentric, where only parts of the body apparatus (eyes and hands) are addressed in the interface directly. As an increasing amount of information, life experience and human contact is channeled through it, the desktop computer system, becomes increasingly inadequate to fully represent these actions. Any prosthesis added to, or used in conjunction with the body, and any part of the sensory apparatus neglected, will define our interaction with information. Information gathered by the somesthetic the touch and proprioceptic senses constitute a significant component in the way we form hypotheses about what an object is, and how it can be manipulated. By addressing the somesthetic senses in computer interfaces, we can achieve richer and more intuitive interactive experiences. This paper aims to identify the key components of a general purpose computational environment that foreground multimodal interaction by 1) investigating the significant qualities of the somesthetic senses from a phenomenological and neurophysiological point of view, 2) pointing to successful principles of human computer interaction (coupling), and tools for designing embodied interactions (physical metaphors, interface agents, affordances, and visual and haptic feedback), 3) evaluating the components of current mobile phone technology, surface computing, responsive environments, and wearable computing. Strategies and plans of dominant technology companies strongly influence what interfaces and devices are available via the commercial market, turning many of us into passive user accepting the default setup made available to us. But if we can move beyond current ideas of what a computer is, re-invent and retell the stories of what we want living with a computer to be like, users are in a unique position to front and engage discussions that influence artists, programmers, developers and engineers into trying something new

Haptic Media Scenes

The aim of this thesis is to apply new media phenomenological and enactive embodied cognition approaches to explain the role of haptic sensitivity and communication in personal computer environments for productivity. Prior theory has given little attention to the role of haptic senses in influencing cognitive processes, and do not frame the richness of haptic communication in interaction design—as haptic interactivity in HCI has historically tended to be designed and analyzed from a perspective on communication as transmissions, sending and receiving haptic signals. The haptic sense may not only mediate contact confirmation and affirmation, but also rich semiotic and affective messages—yet this is a strong contrast between this inherent ability of haptic perception, and current day support for such haptic communication interfaces. I therefore ask: How do the haptic senses (touch and proprioception) impact our cognitive faculty when mediated through digital and sensor technologies? How may these insights be employed in interface design to facilitate rich haptic communication? To answer these questions, I use theoretical close readings that embrace two research fields, new media phenomenology and enactive embodied cognition. The theoretical discussion is supported by neuroscientific evidence, and tested empirically through case studies centered on digital art. I use these insights to develop the concept of the haptic figura, an analytical tool to frame the communicative qualities of haptic media. The concept gauges rich machine- mediated haptic interactivity and communication in systems with a material solution supporting active haptic perception, and the mediation of semiotic and affective messages that are understood and felt. As such the concept may function as a design tool for developers, but also for media critics evaluating haptic media. The tool is used to frame a discussion on opportunities and shortcomings of haptic interfaces for productivity, differentiating between media systems for the hand and the full body. The significance of this investigation is demonstrating that haptic communication is an underutilized element in personal computer environments for productivity and providing an analytical framework for a more nuanced understanding of haptic communication as enabling the mediation of a range of semiotic and affective messages, beyond notification and confirmation interactivity

Variation in leaf functional traits through the early development of coastal heathland plants

Seedling recruitment provides a mechanism for re-establishment after fire and is thus key in the life cycle of managed heathland plant species. However, the seedling phase is a vulnerable stage of the plant’s life cycle, and seedling growth and survival might be more affected by environmental stressors, such as climate, than adult individuals. Global environmental change impacts on seedlings thus can affect community assembly and ecosystem functioning. I study seedling biology in the threatened coastal heathlands of Norway and Europe. Plant functional traits, including the leaf economics spectrum (LES), are important tools for understanding changes in vegetation with global change, as traits underlie both plant responses to environmental stressors and their roles in ecosystem functioning. Little is known about how traits vary within and especially between species through the ontogeny in coastal heathlands. To fill this knowledge gap, I tested how functional traits vary over the seedling phase by measuring functional traits of 10 herbaceous species common in coastal heathlands through 16 weeks of growth, in addition to measurements of cotyledons and adult traits. Groups central in the coastal heathland ecology were chosen; forbs and graminoids, early- and late-successional species, and species with a persistent or transient seed bank. Traits related to productivity and growth were measured; leaf thickness, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and relative growth rate (RGR). The results show that resource acquisitive traits dominate in the early life-history stage of coastal heathland plants and develop toward being conservative. Trait values are more constrained for seedlings than for adults, and interspecific ranking remain constant for species. Trait values are different and change in different directions through time for growth forms and successional strategies. This is not found for seed bank status. My findings suggest that leaf trait differentiation appears early in a plant’s life, but adult traits can still not predict the seedling traits, and hence seedling vulnerabilities to environmental stressors. This study can contribute to understanding how the future climate might affect seedling recruitment, and hence biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of coastal heathlands

Tests of homogeneity and change-point inference

We study sequences of independent observations and test whether the observations stem from the same underlying probability distribution. We focus on being able to detect a potential sudden change in the parameters of the distribution, which we call a change-point. Before constructing a test, we define a focus parameter which captures the aspect of the distribution that we want to test. We construct a monitoring process for our focus parameter that converges to a Brownian bridge under the hypothesis of omogeneity. We then use our monitoring process to construct a test statistic for testing homogeneity. We look at the power of our hypothesis test, compared to other tests. We look at how our monitoring process behaves when the null hypothesis is false and suggest a way to estimate the change-point based on the process. We describe two different ways to assess the uncertainty around an estimated change-point with confidence curves

Plant traits and vegetation data from climate warming experiments along an 1100 m elevation gradient in Gongga Mountains, China

Functional trait data enhance climate change research by linking climate change, biodiversity response, and ecosystem functioning, and by enabling comparison between systems sharing few taxa. Across four sites along a 3000–4130 m a.s.l. gradient spanning 5.3 °C in growing season temperature in Mt. Gongga, Sichuan, China, we collected plant functional trait and vegetation data from control plots, open top chambers (OTCs), and reciprocally transplanted vegetation turfs. Over five years, we recorded vascular plant composition in 140 experimental treatment and control plots. We collected trait data associated with plant resource use, growth, and life history strategies (leaf area, leaf thickness, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf C, N and P content and C and N isotopes) from local populations and from experimental treatments. The database consists of 6,671 plant records and 36,743 trait measurements (increasing the trait data coverage of the regional flora by 500%) covering 11 traits and 193 plant taxa (ca. 50% of which have no previous published trait data) across 37 families

Plant traits and vegetation data from climate warming experiments along an 1100 m elevation gradient in Gongga Mountains, China

Functional trait data enhance climate change research by linking climate change, biodiversity response, and ecosystem functioning, and by enabling comparison between systems sharing few taxa. Across four sites along a 3000–4130 m a.s.l. gradient spanning 5.3 °C in growing season temperature in Mt. Gongga, Sichuan, China, we collected plant functional trait and vegetation data from control plots, open top chambers (OTCs), and reciprocally transplanted vegetation turfs. Over five years, we recorded vascular plant composition in 140 experimental treatment and control plots. We collected trait data associated with plant resource use, growth, and life history strategies (leaf area, leaf thickness, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf C, N and P content and C and N isotopes) from local populations and from experimental treatments. The database consists of 6,671 plant records and 36,743 trait measurements (increasing the trait data coverage of the regional flora by 500%) covering 11 traits and 193 plant taxa (ca. 50% of which have no previous published trait data) across 37 families