Kids Telling Fables Through 3D Animation

Creating 3D animations has traditionally been restricted to adult experts. With the advent of easy-to-use software packages like Alice, we can now imagine animations being created by end users with no formal training in this area. Does this work in practice? Supporting real people in the successful use of complex multimedia authoring environments requires not only quality software, but also a supportive social context. What might such a supportive social context look like? In this paper, we report on a workshop in which seventeen children ages 11-12, working in pairs, were asked to make their own animations using Alice. Students were part of a language arts class studying fables, and were asked to retell a fable of their choice in 3D animation. This assignment proved to be an appropriate size and scope for the time available, skills of the students, and affordances of the software. The students found the assignment motivating, and their teacher was pleased with learning outcomes. We discuss social and technical factors that helped students create successful animated fables

Tabletop Roleplaying Games as Procedural Content Generators

Tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) and procedural content generators can both be understood as systems of rules for producing content. In this paper, we argue that TTRPG design can usefully be viewed as procedural content generator design. We present several case studies linking key concepts from PCG research -- including possibility spaces, expressive range analysis, and generative pipelines -- to key concepts in TTRPG design. We then discuss the implications of these relationships and suggest directions for future work uniting research in TTRPGs and PCG.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation 202

ARIA digital anamorphosis: Digital transformation of health and care in airway diseases from research to practice

Digital anamorphosis is used to define a distorted image of health and care that may be viewed correctly using digital tools and strategies. MASK digital anamorphosis represents the process used by MASK to develop the digital transformation of health and care in rhinitis. It strengthens the ARIA change management strategy in the prevention and management of airway disease. The MASK strategy is based on validated digital tools. Using the MASK digital tool and the CARAT online enhanced clinical framework, solutions for practical steps of digital enhancement of care are proposed

Supporting learning about games

It seems like teaching about games should be easy. After all, students enjoy engaging with course content and have extensive experience with videogames. However, games education can be surprisingly complex. I explore the question of what it means to understand games by looking at the challenges and problems faced by students taking games-related classes. My findings include realizing that extensive prior videogame experience often interferes with students abilities to reason critically and analytically about games, and that students have difficulties articulating their experiences and observations about games. In response to these challenges, my research explores how we can use online learning environments to support learning about games by (1) helping students get more from their experiences with games, and (2) helping students use what they know to establish deeper understanding. I explore these strategies through the design and use of two online learning environments: GameLog and the Game Ontology Wiki. GameLog is an online blogging environment designed to help students reflect on their game playing experiences. The Game Ontology wiki provides a context for students to contribute and participate legitimately and authentically in the Game Ontology Project. The Game Ontology Project is a games studies research project that is creating a framework for describing, analyzing and studying games. GameLog and the Game Ontology Wiki were used in university level games-related classes. Results show that students found that participating in these online learning environments was a positive learning experience that helped them broaden and deepen their understanding of videogames. Students found that by reflecting on their experiences playing games they began to understand how game design elements helped shape that experience. Most importantly, they stepped back from their traditional role of gamers or fans and engaged in reasoning critically and analytically about the games they were studying. With GameLog, I show how blogging about experiences of gameplay can be a useful activity for supporting learning and understanding about games. For the Game Ontology Wiki, I show how it is possible to design learning environments that are approachable to learners and allow them to contribute legitimately to external communities of practice.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Bruckman, Amy; Committee Member: Guzdial, Mark; Committee Member: Juul, Jesper; Committee Member: Kolodner, Janet; Committee Member: Mateas, Michae

Social and Technical Factors Contributing to Successful 3D Animation Authoring by Kids

Creating 3D animations has traditionally been restricted to adult experts. With the advent of easy-to-use software packages like Alice, we can now imagine animations being created by end users with no formal training in this area. Does this work in practice? Supporting real people in the successful use of complex multimedia authoring environments requires not only quality software, but also a supportive social context. What might such a supportive social context look like? In this paper, we report on a workshop in which seventeen children ages 11-12, working in pairs, were asked to make their own animations using Alice. Students were part of a language arts class studying fables, and were asked to retell a fable of their choice in 3D animation. This assignment proved to be an appropriate size and scope for the time available, skills of the students, and affordances of the software. The students found the assignment motivating, and their teacher was pleased with learning outcomes. We discuss social and technical factors that helped students create successful animated fables

LoCoL: Encouraging Social Interaction and Exploration Through a Distributed, Multi-Media, Location-Based Mobile Game

We present a mobile collector card game called LoCoL, which uses a GPS-enabled mobile phone with a built-in camera to collect, trade, and create digital artifacts from landmarks and places that players have visited. When a player carrying the phone with LoCoL enabled passes within a half-mile radius of a landmark, he or she collects a "card" for that location. Players may then trade with other co-located players to try and build a large collection of unique cards from places they have been or places their acquaintances have been. Additionally, if they discover new, interesting landmarks, they may share it with others by taking a picture with their phone's built-in camera and submit the location to the game as a new card which others may collect. There is an element of competition in that players compete worldwide to collect the highest number of unique cards or the most number of approved cards submitted. We hope to encourage players to learn about and explore new, interesting locations and promote social interaction by allowing users to trade cards and initiate conversations as a result of the game

CHLSOC: the Chilean Soil Organic Carbon database, a multi-institutional collaborative effort

A critical aspect of predicting soil organic carbon (SOC) concentrations is the lack of available soil information; where information on soil characteristics is available, it is usually focused on regions of high agricultural interest. To date, in Chile, a large proportion of the SOC data have been collected in areas of intensive agricultural or forestry use; however, vast areas beyond these forms of land use have few or no soil data available. Here we present a new SOC database for the country, which is the result of an unprecedented national effort under the framework of the Global Soil Partnership. This partnership has helped build the largest database of SOC to date in Chile, named the Chilean Soil Organic Carbon database (CHLSOC), comprising 13 612 data points compiled from numerous sources, including unpublished and difficult-to-access data. The database will allow users to fill spatial gaps where no SOC estimates were publicly available previously. Presented values of SOC range from 6 x 10(-5) % to 83.3 %, reflecting the variety of ecosystems that exist in Chile. The database has the potential to inform and test current models that predict SOC stocks and dynamics at larger spatial scales, thus enabling benefits from the richness of geochemical, topographic and climatic variability in Chile.Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) CONICYT FONDECYT 11160372 Convenio CONAF-UDeC 2015 Perturbaciones Araucaria ERANet-LAC joint program ELAC2014/DCC-0092 Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) CONICYT FONDECYT 1161492 Global Soil Partnership - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) South America Soil Partnership - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO

CHLSOC: The Chilean Soil Organic Carbon database, a multi-institutional collaborative effort

One of the critical aspects in modelling soil organic carbon (SOC) predictions is the lack of access to soil information which is usually concentrated in regions of high agricultural interest. In Chile, most soil and SOC data to date is highly concentrated in 25 % of the territory that has intensive agricultural or forestry use. Vast areas beyond those forms of land use have few or no soil data available. Here, we present a new database of SOC for the country, which is the result of an unprecedented national effort under the frame of the Global Soil Partnership that help to build the largest database on SOC to date in Chile named “CHLSOC" comprising 13,612 data points. This dataset is the product of the compilation from numerous sources including unpublished and difficult to access data, allowing to fill numerous spatial gaps where no SOC estimates were publicly available before. The values of SOC compiled in CHLSOC range from 6×10−5 to 83.3 percent, reflecting the variety of ecosystems that exists in Chile. Profiting from the richness of geochemical, topographic and climatic variability in Chile, the dataset has the potential to inform and test models trying to predict SOC stocks and dynamics at larger spatial scales.ISSN:1866-359