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Financial Forest
Title
Financial Forest.
Creator
Carlson, Karen, Moshell, Michael, Lindgren, Robb, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Regular savings behavior is critical for low-income Americans to achieve financial mobility. New technology tools are being used to improve personal awareness and attention to financial goals. This thesis reviews mobile learning (mLearning) research and leading commercial personal finance smartphone apps, both of which inform the design of Financial Forest, a savings app. Participants in the 4-week Financial Forest savings study are found to have a statistically significant improved...
Show moreRegular savings behavior is critical for low-income Americans to achieve financial mobility. New technology tools are being used to improve personal awareness and attention to financial goals. This thesis reviews mobile learning (mLearning) research and leading commercial personal finance smartphone apps, both of which inform the design of Financial Forest, a savings app. Participants in the 4-week Financial Forest savings study are found to have a statistically significant improved perception of the difficulty of building an emergency fund.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005143, ucf:50682
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005143
Navigating Sociotechnical Power Structures: Dynamics of Conflict in World of Warcraft's Player versus Player Events
Title
Navigating Sociotechnical Power Structures: Dynamics of Conflict in World of Warcraft's Player versus Player Events.
Creator
Root, Rachael, Mishtal, Joanna, Matejowsky, Ty, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
As a result of technological advancement and exponential increases in global access, cross-disciplinary research has recently turned to digital online video games. Most anthropological research within this area has centered around player self-identification, gender construction, and gaming communities. Yet many interactions occur at nodes of dynamic conflict where agentic players navigate intersections of power, which are unaddressed in the scholarly corpus. By utilizing ethnographic methods...
Show moreAs a result of technological advancement and exponential increases in global access, cross-disciplinary research has recently turned to digital online video games. Most anthropological research within this area has centered around player self-identification, gender construction, and gaming communities. Yet many interactions occur at nodes of dynamic conflict where agentic players navigate intersections of power, which are unaddressed in the scholarly corpus. By utilizing ethnographic methods in World of Warcraft's player versus player events, I examine resources, relationships, and tools that underpin player actions and understandings. My findings reveal layered and dynamic patterns of sociotechnical conflict. Players' geographical location impacts access to infrastructure while hardware and software constrain in-game action in fundamental and inescapable ways. Player versus player events add additional restrictions and create fluid situations where players continually negotiate fluctuating social tensions while event-dependent dispersions of power fluctuate between groups and individuals. Players become leaders by legitimizing power in contextually unique ways, and competing imaginaries generate conflicts that are interpreted through game-specific subjectivities. In exploring these occurrences and utilizing theoretical explanations within World of Warcraft contexts, this research contributes to disciplinary understandings and discussions addressing conflict, leadership, and power, and to methodological techniques utilized in virtual world study. By foregrounding how players navigate power differentials in conflict situations, this research informs broader conceptions of how individuals and groups manage social disputes within and outside digital social events, informs game design, and has policy implications for resolving virtual world conflicts in real world courts.
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Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFE0006172, ucf:51140
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006172
MIA-mi: Exploring the Affect of Digital Cinema Through Micro-Budget Production Techniques
Title
MIA-mi: Exploring the Affect of Digital Cinema Through Micro-Budget Production Techniques.
Creator
Lima, Yesenia, Mills, Lisa, Peterson, Lisa, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
MIA-mi is a feature-length, micro-budget, and digital motion picture, produced, written, and directed by Yesenia Lima in pursuit of the Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. The film is a satirical and naturalistic look at the standing global image of a city, Miami, FL, and its inhabitants. The guiding question behind the production is whether a portrayal of a city, outside of its stereotypical portrait in mass media, could spark and...
Show moreMIA-mi is a feature-length, micro-budget, and digital motion picture, produced, written, and directed by Yesenia Lima in pursuit of the Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. The film is a satirical and naturalistic look at the standing global image of a city, Miami, FL, and its inhabitants. The guiding question behind the production is whether a portrayal of a city, outside of its stereotypical portrait in mass media, could spark and affect a dialogue on the global image of the city and its inhabitant's ability to adjust that image rather than conform to it. The film was produced in a micro-budget (under $50,000) model, following the program's guidelines. It was shot on location in Miami, FL, with a volunteer cast and crew. This thesis is a record of the film's development from inception to post-production, in preparation for distribution.
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Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFE0005649, ucf:50182
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005649
Beyond Panels Interactive Storytelling: Developing a Framework for Highly Emotive Narrative Experiences on Mobile Devices
Title
Beyond Panels Interactive Storytelling: Developing a Framework for Highly Emotive Narrative Experiences on Mobile Devices.
Creator
Eakins, Michael, McDaniel, Rudy, Fanfarelli, Joseph, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Balancing passive and interactive experiences within a narrative experience is an area of research that has broad applicability to the video game, cinematic, and comic book industries. Each of these media formats has attempted various experiments in interactive experience. The goal of this research was to better understand how to construct an interactive narrative experience that preserves the integrity of the author's story, but allows for inspired interaction by a willing audience. A study...
Show moreBalancing passive and interactive experiences within a narrative experience is an area of research that has broad applicability to the video game, cinematic, and comic book industries. Each of these media formats has attempted various experiments in interactive experience. The goal of this research was to better understand how to construct an interactive narrative experience that preserves the integrity of the author's story, but allows for inspired interaction by a willing audience. A study was designed to test three different conditions. The two control conditions were examples of passive narrative storytelling: the Comic Book Condition and the Cinematic Condition. The experimental condition was a hybrid format of interactive and passive storytelling, wherein the participant had the opportunity to interact with the story to further engage with the narrative world. Participants used a mobile tablet to experience each format, geared toward minimizing the separation of the participant from the story. Touch / swipe interactions were used for the hybrid format to create as intuitive of an experience as possible. Narrative Transportation, engagement, and flow were the primary evaluators of the narrative's effectiveness for each participant. An analysis of the data showed that, in general, the current Beyond Panels framework was not effective in producing higher levels of reported Narrative Transportation, engagement, or flow. However, of those participants in the Beyond Panels condition, those that interacted more consistently throughout the experience did report higher Narrative Transportation compared to those that had minimal interaction. Data was collected to better understand the relationship that optional interactivity has with these factors. The results of this study will help to further research in the areas of interactive storytelling for mobile platforms. The results will be used to continue to evolve a framework for this hybrid storytelling format called Beyond Panels.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0007281, ucf:52154
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007281
School Has a Bad Storyline: Gamification in Educational Environments
Title
School Has a Bad Storyline: Gamification in Educational Environments.
Creator
Pynn, Irene, Brenckle, Martha, Janz, Bruce, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, Hopp, Carolyn, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
School often has low engagement and frustrating or absent options for the kind of agency the Federal Government's 2016 National Education Technology Plan now recommends educators include in their curriculum. Video games offer opportunities for people to participate in critical problem solving through creative projects. From balancing character statistics, to collaborating with other players, to making ethical and tactical decisions that can change the outcome of the story, successful games...
Show moreSchool often has low engagement and frustrating or absent options for the kind of agency the Federal Government's 2016 National Education Technology Plan now recommends educators include in their curriculum. Video games offer opportunities for people to participate in critical problem solving through creative projects. From balancing character statistics, to collaborating with other players, to making ethical and tactical decisions that can change the outcome of the story, successful games draw on the player's interest in learning and analyzing numbers, locations, visual clues, narrative elements, people, and more. One useful example may be found in visual novels (VNs), a medium that pulls from narrative structures found in Choose Your Own Adventure Novels. These interactive narratives are a largely untapped resource (for educational uses) of guided critical thinking. My ongoing research explores the efficacy of implementing VNs into digital pedagogies to encourage the development of (")creatigational skills.(") This term is a response to the problematic wording already in use for skills such as creative thinking and collaborative abilities, skills encouraged by and developed through interactive activities, such as gaming and many of the arts. Current terminology labels them (")soft(") or (")non-cognitive(") skills, which are clear misnomers that passively diminish the importance of creative thought. This research explores how gaming, specifically so-called (")narrative(") gaming, of which VNs are one example, might contribute to the development of creatigational skills in students. Through the creation of VNs for this study, I examine both the ability of this genre to engage and encourage imaginative thought, as well as the practicality of designing and developing VNs for classroom use.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006906, ucf:51728
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006906
From Ashes To Ash(&)#233;: Memorializing Traumatic Events Through Participatory Digital Archives
Title
From Ashes To Ash(&)#233;: Memorializing Traumatic Events Through Participatory Digital Archives.
Creator
Carlton, Patricia, Kamrath, Mark, Janz, Bruce, Mauer, Barry, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, Bedwell, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Traumatic, cataclysmic events, whether caused by man-made or natural forces, threaten the safety, stability, and resilience of a community or state. Additionally, massive media exposure given to documenting and providing information, place the media consumers at psychological risk. As an alternative to broadcast news reports, online memorials and disaster archives provide the public the means and central locations for witnessing catastrophic events, as well as collectively commemorating and...
Show moreTraumatic, cataclysmic events, whether caused by man-made or natural forces, threaten the safety, stability, and resilience of a community or state. Additionally, massive media exposure given to documenting and providing information, place the media consumers at psychological risk. As an alternative to broadcast news reports, online memorials and disaster archives provide the public the means and central locations for witnessing catastrophic events, as well as collectively commemorating and mourning the tragic losses. According to psychological and ethnographic research, narrativizing the trauma through shared memories and artifacts of mourning produce multiple therapeutic benefits, including the likely development of cognitive awareness, empathy, and catharsis.Complicating these benefits, however, are psychological risks of secondary trauma resulting from archiving and curating disaster collections, and the potential for economic and political exploitation. The participatory disaster archives are embedded in trauma culture, serving as public witnesses to survivors of trauma and reinforcing the medical, social, and civic infrastructures associated with a community's recovery from and resilience to calamities. Ironically, the confluence of public archive/memorials with medical and other socio-technical institutions that facilitate recovery from crises, also contribute to trauma culture's sustenance. This dissertation investigates the effects of digitally archiving and memorializing traumatic events through an interdisciplinary methodology of critical cultural studies and ethnography. I argue that participatory disaster archives may both mitigate psychological risks and augment social benefits through adopting protocols of best practice.
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Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFE0006277, ucf:51599
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006277
AR Physics: Transforming physics diagrammatic representations on paper into interactive simulations.
Title
AR Physics: Transforming physics diagrammatic representations on paper into interactive simulations.
Creator
Zhou, Yao, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, Lindgren, Robb, Moshell, Jack, Peters, Philip, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
A problem representation is a cognitive structure created by the solver in correspondence to the problem. Sketching representative diagrams in the domain of physics encourages a problem solving strategy that starts from 'envisionment' by which one internally simulates the physical events and predicts outcomes. Research studies also show that sketching representative diagrams improves learner's performance in solving physics problems. The pedagogic benefits of sketching representations on...
Show moreA problem representation is a cognitive structure created by the solver in correspondence to the problem. Sketching representative diagrams in the domain of physics encourages a problem solving strategy that starts from 'envisionment' by which one internally simulates the physical events and predicts outcomes. Research studies also show that sketching representative diagrams improves learner's performance in solving physics problems. The pedagogic benefits of sketching representations on paper make this traditional learning strategy remain pivotal and worthwhile to be preserved and integrated into the current digital learning landscape.In this paper, I describe AR Physics, an Augmented Reality based application that intends to facilitate one's learning of physics concepts about objects' linear motion. It affords the verified physics learning strategy of sketching representative diagrams on paper, and explores the capability of Augmented Reality in enhancing visual conceptions. The application converts the diagrams drawn on paper into virtual representations displayed on a tablet screen. As such learners can create physics simulation based on the diagrams and test their (")envisionment(") for the diagrams. Users' interaction with AR Physics consists of three steps: 1) sketching a diagram on paper; 2) capturing the sketch with a tablet camera to generate a virtual duplication of the diagram on the tablet screen, and 3) placing a physics object and configuring relevant parameters through the application interface to construct a physics simulation.A user study about the efficiency and usability of AR Physics was performed with 12 college students. The students interacted with the application, and completed three tasks relevant to the learning material. They were given eight questions afterwards to examine their post-learning outcome. The same questions were also given prior to the use of the application in order to comparewith the post results. System Usability Scale (SUS) was adopted to assess the application's usability and interviews were conducted to collect subjects' opinions about Augmented Reality in general. The results of the study demonstrate that the application can effectively facilitate subjects' understanding the target physics concepts. The overall satisfaction with the application's usability was disclosed by the SUS score. Finally subjects expressed that they gained a clearer idea about Augmented Reality through the use of the application.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005566, ucf:50292
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005566
Reimagining Composition I as a Study in Storytelling Across Disciplines and Media
Title
Reimagining Composition I as a Study in Storytelling Across Disciplines and Media.
Creator
O'Keeffe, Angel, Janz, Bruce, Flammia, Madelyn, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, Adams, JoAnne, Malala, John, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This dissertation focuses on the role that College Composition courses can and should play in addressing the digital divide and the literacy divide. For this project, digital divide refers to the space between those students who have opportunity to participate in online discourse communities and to contribute to the collective intelligence described by Henry Jenkins and those who have not had this opportunity even though they do have access to current technology. The literacy divide discussed...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the role that College Composition courses can and should play in addressing the digital divide and the literacy divide. For this project, digital divide refers to the space between those students who have opportunity to participate in online discourse communities and to contribute to the collective intelligence described by Henry Jenkins and those who have not had this opportunity even though they do have access to current technology. The literacy divide discussed is created when literacy is defined simply as the ability to read and write. Students need to be visually, digitally, and technologically literate.In response to these gaps, I propose reimagining the first-year writing course as a course in storytelling across disciplines and media. Story, oral storytelling, digital narrative, and transmedia narrative are explained. An analysis of several stories including a canonical comic book, a commercial, and a long-term narrative television show are analyzed using Aristotle, Propp, Saussure, Jenkins, Birkerts, and other theorists important to work in Texts and Technology. The guiding question for this project is How can a focus on storytelling using new and digital media in the first-year English composition course create an authentic and relevant learning experience for contemporary students while bridging the digital divide created by the lack of opportunity to participate in the collective intelligence of the convergence culture?Finally, the dissertation includes a research protocol which describes and justifies future research to test the claims made in this dissertation.
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Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0007350, ucf:52082
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007350
Exploring a Three-Dimensional Narrative Medium: The Theme Park as "De Sprookjessprokkelaar," The Gatherer and Teller of Stories
Title
Exploring a Three-Dimensional Narrative Medium: The Theme Park as "De Sprookjessprokkelaar," The Gatherer and Teller of Stories.
Creator
Baker, Carissa, McDaniel, Rudy, Salter, Anastasia, Underberg-Goode, Natalie, Hover, Moniek, Dickson, Duncan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This dissertation examines the pervasiveness of storytelling in theme parks and establishes the theme park as a distinct narrative medium. It traces the characteristics of theme park storytelling, how it has changed over time, and what makes the medium unique. This was accomplished using a mixed methods approach drawing data from interviews with creative professionals, archival research, fieldwork, and an analysis of more than eight hundred narrative attractions.The survey of narrative...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the pervasiveness of storytelling in theme parks and establishes the theme park as a distinct narrative medium. It traces the characteristics of theme park storytelling, how it has changed over time, and what makes the medium unique. This was accomplished using a mixed methods approach drawing data from interviews with creative professionals, archival research, fieldwork, and an analysis of more than eight hundred narrative attractions.The survey of narrative attractions revealed the most common narrative expressions to be dark rides and stage shows. Source material tends to be cultural tales (legends, fairy tales) or intellectual properties (generally films). Throughout major periods and world regions, setting, scenes, and visual storytelling are the most ubiquitous narrative devices. Three dozen techniques and technologies are detailed in this project. Significant impetuses for narrative change over time are the advent of technologies, formalization of the industry, explicit discourse on storytelling, formation of design philosophies, and general convergence of media. There are at least a half dozen key distinctions in theme park narratives compared with other mediums: dimensionality, scale, communality, brevity, a combinatory aspect, and a reiterative nature. Also significant is that creative professionals view themselves as storytellers, purposefully design with narrative systems, embed them in spaces, and participate in public dialogue surrounding narrative and design principles.This study was initiated to expand the literature on emerging media and narratives within the Texts and Technology approach and to fill a gap in the scholarship, as designer standpoint is rarely considered in analysis. This is the first large-scale study of storytelling in the global theme park industry. It uses underrepresented creative voices as participants and recognizes their contributions as storytellers. Finally, the project lays the groundwork for future inquiries into theme parks as storytellers and spatial narrative mediums.
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Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0006973, ucf:51626
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006973