Designing to support impression management

This work investigates impression management and in particular impression management using ubiquitous technology. Generally impression management is the process through which people try to influence the impressions that others have about them. In particular, impression management focuses on the flow of information between a performer and his/her audience, with control over what is presented to whom being of the utmost importance when trying to create the appropriate impression. Ubiquitous technology has provided opportunities for individuals to present themselves to others. However, the disconnection between presenter and audience over both time and space can result in individuals being misrepresented. This thesis outlines two important areas when trying to control the impression one gives namely, hiding and revealing, and accountability. By exploring these two themes the continuous evolution and dynamic nature of controlling the impression one gives is explored. While this ongoing adaptation is recognised by designers they do not always create technology that is sufficiently dynamic to support this process. As a result, this work attempts to answer three research questions: RQ1: How do users of ubicomp systems appropriate recorded data from their everyday activity and make it into a resource for expressing themselves to others in ways that are dynamically tailored to their ongoing social context and audience? RQ2: What technology can be built to support ubicomp system developers to design and develop systems to support appropriation as a central part of a useful or enjoyable user experience? RQ3: What software architectures best suit this type of appropriated interaction and developers’ designing to support such interaction? Through a thorough review of existing literature, and the extensive study of several large ubicomp systems, the issues when presenting oneself through technology are identified. The main issues identified are hiding and revealing, and accountability. These are built into a framework that acts as a reference for designers wishing to support impression management. An architecture for supporting impression management has also been developed that conforms to this framework and its evolution is documented later in the thesis. A demonstration of this architecture in a multi-player mobile experience is subsequently presented

Reggae to Rachmaninoff: How and Why People Participate in Arts and Culture

Provides the results of a telephone survey conducted to help inform those whose aim is to broaden and diversify cultural participation, and promote the role of arts and culture in strengthening American communities

Into the wild: challenges and opportunities for field trial methods

Field trials of experimental systems `in the wild' have developed into a standard method within HCI - testing new systems with groups of users in relatively unconstrained settings outside of the laboratory. In this paper we discuss methodological challenges in running user trials. Using a `trial of trials' we examined the practices of investigators and participants - documenting `demand characteristics', where users adjust their behaviour to fit the expectations of those running the trial, the interdependence of how trials are run and the result they produce, and how trial results can be dependent on the insights of a subset of trial participants. We develop three strategies that researchers can use to leverage these challenges to run better trials

Into the wild: challenges and opportunities for field trial methods

Field trials of experimental systems `in the wild' have developed into a standard method within HCI - testing new systems with groups of users in relatively unconstrained settings outside of the laboratory. In this paper we discuss methodological challenges in running user trials. Using a `trial of trials' we examined the practices of investigators and participants - documenting `demand characteristics', where users adjust their behaviour to fit the expectations of those running the trial, the interdependence of how trials are run and the result they produce, and how trial results can be dependent on the insights of a subset of trial participants. We develop three strategies that researchers can use to leverage these challenges to run better trials

The West: slowing, but still strong

Federal Reserve District, 12th

Gaming on the edge: using seams in ubicomp games

Outdoor multi-player games are an increasingly popular application area for ubiquitous computing, supporting experimentation both with new technologies and new user experiences. This paper presents an outdoor ubicomp game that exploits the gaps or seams that exist in complex computer systems. Treasure is designed so that players move in and out of areas of wireless network coverage, taking advantage not only of the connectivity within a wireless ‘hotspot’ but of the lack of connectivity outside it. More broadly, this paper discusses how the notion of seamful design can be a source of design ideas for ubicomp games

Internet-based pharmacy and centralised dispensing: an exploratory mixed-methods study of the views of family practice staff

Background Over the last decade, technological advances, market competition and increasing pressures for efficiencies across health care systems have resulted in changes to the processes and policies involved in medicines prescribing and dispensing. The aim of this study was to explore the views of family practice staff, including GPs, on the perceived impact of changes associated with remote dispensing and the increasing availability of distance-selling pharmacies. Methods Exploratory mixed methods study using qualitative focus groups and an online cross-sectional survey distributed to a non-probability sample of staff from family practices across England. Survey items were developed based on existing literature and initial thematic analysis from the focus groups and adapted using cognitive interviewing techniques. Results Findings suggest that family practice staff believe that where and how prescriptions are dispensed impacts on their practice and patients. Frequent contact with distance-selling pharmacies is not common, however, highlighted concerns included patient safety issues and the potential threat to the loss of valued elements and sustainability of community pharmacy and dispensing practices. Identified concerns and experiences are unlikely to be routinely discussed within or between practices, limiting opportunities for shared learning and consideration of the potential impact of changes to dispensing processes and policies. Conclusions Further research is needed to confirm these exploratory findings, due to the low response rate and sample size. Findings, nevertheless, highlight how wider changes in dispensing processes may have unintended consequences on other aspects of the healthcare system

BIBLE A whole-air sampling as a window on Asian biogeochemistry

Asian trace gas and aerosol emissions into carbon, nitrogen, and other elemental cycles will figure prominently in near term Earth system evolution. Atmospheric hydrocarbon measurements resolve numerous chemical species and can be used to investigate sourcing for key geocarriers. A recent aircraft study of biomass burning and lightning (BIBLE A) explored the East Asian atmosphere and was unique in centering on the Indonesian archipelago. Samples of volatile organics taken over/between the islands of Japan, Saipan, Java, and Borneo are here examined as a guide to whole-air-based studies of future Asian biogeochemistry. The midlatitude onshore/offshore pulse and tropical convection strongly influence concentration distributions. As species of increasing molecular weight are considered, rural, combustion, and industrial source regimes emerge. Methane-rich inputs such as waste treatment and rice cultivation are evidenced in the geostrophic outflow. The Indonesian atmosphere is rich in biomass burning markers and also those of vehicular activity. Complexity of air chemistry in the archipelago is a direct reflection of diverse topography, land use, and local economies in a rapidly developing nation. Conspicuous in its absence is the fingerprint for liquefied petroleum gas leakage, but it can be expected to appear as demand for clean fossil fuels rises along with per capita incomes. Combustion tracers indicate high nitrogen mobilization rates, linking regional terrestrial geocycles with open marine ecosystems. Sea to air fluxes are superimposed on continental and marine backgrounds for the methyl halides. However, ocean hot spots are not coordinated and suggest an intricate subsurface kinetics. Levels of long-lived anthropogenic halocarbons attest to the success of international environmental treaties while reactive chlorine containing species track industrial air masses. The dozens of hydrocarbons resolvable by gas chromatographic methods will enable monitoring of upcoming Asian modernization. Crucial uncertainties are underscored. Signatures for Asian combustion processes and megacities have been obtained only indirectly or at a distance. Detailed fingerprinting must be combined with regular aircraft and ground station measurements to maximize utility of the database

Overcoming the compensation of acceptors in GaN:Mg by defect complex formation

In GaN:Mg, the MgGa acceptor is compensated extensively by the formation of nitrogen vacancies (VN) and Mg interstitials (Mgi). However, we show that such compensation can be overcome by forming two kinds of Mg-rich complexes: one that contains VN and the other that contains only MgGa and Mgi. Such complexing not only neutralizes VN and Mgi but also forms better complex acceptors that have lower formation energies and smaller hole localization energies than isolated MgGa. Our results help explain the different doping behaviors in samples grown by different methods