Comments written by me during the course

I’ve made 4 comments each week on blog postings concerning the different themes regarding theory and method for media technology. Below are the comments I’ve made on other peoples postings during the course:

A lot of theories for designing a platform for the user to grasp the theory about a healthy diet. This seems like a good example where it is important to follow up on the users of this computer game and see if the theories used when designing the game did actually work as intended or if the theories have to then be modified. Interesting study.

http://dm2572-maoster.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-2-teory.html?showComment=1352312834640#c5040414750274333957

The theory presented in the article you have chosen is interesting and I think it's true that spending time on online relations rather than in real world could be at the expense of one another. However I also think that there somewhere is a tipping point for how much time one should spend on the relation to a person online. To a certain extent it could surely be beneficial but as explore in your article; it could have negative effects.

http://cheatana.blogspot.se/2012/11/pre-theme-2-use-of-theory-in-media.html?showComment=1352312187061#c2880989961763081914

I think the theories taken up in the paper you have chosen is interesting, mainly because they are very hard to describe and we humans often doesn't think about how they work. There is much going on with our expressions, thereof things we don't think about. It's interesting with explanations for why we sometimes instantly react like we do, without knowing or thinking about why we do it. Here is a YouTube-video about something similar, that maybe could go under facial expressions; http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-qDi7IbYGVY

http://sakeryting.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-2.html?showComment=1352311511761#c1582627474321498435

The idea that the online communities and services can define who we are as a person is fascinating. The thought is a bit scary but true, since we of course turn to the things in the online world that interests us.

http://daneri4.blogspot.se/

Your articles states a very interesting question and I think that many people, myself included are much more selective when choosing media. That is of course because of the vast supplies of different medias compared to let's say 50 years ago when online streaming services and youtube and so on didn't exist. But maybe we take high qulity media more for granted now and have become discerning so to speak. Some may say that it is undermining the business and some may say that it is just part of change, and our behaviors.

http://fredrikrosengrendm2572.blogspot.se/

The topic of your article is interesting and the fact that Facebook has changed the default privacy settings time and again also makes it harder to control our own privacy. I think this can affect many users. It has also happened that people have lost their jobs because they have written inappropriate things about their employer on Facebook and so that it has been seen by them. So I think it's important to maybe think twice about these privacy issues.

http://mikaeljuntti.blogspot.se/

I think the article you have chosen seems very interesting. I like the idea of categorizing music genres. I think Spotify and other music databases could benefit from having this kind of sectioning. Maybe one could go a step further and divide it into music for specific moods etc.

http://clasengstromteoriochmetod.blogspot.se/

I find it somewhat cool to look back at thees kind of notalgic research when it comes to the internet and social medias ( or whatever counterpart they had back in 2001). I think we're being effected more and more of the media, but mostly in a good way. Since there's so many medias to choose from theese days it's easier to get different viewing angles on subjects and there is less chance of persuaded or manipulated by the media.

http://miriamdm2572.blogspot.se/

It's interesting that the article uses "Grounded theory" and actually notes it as a method. Of course, it's a type of qualitative method and one that is in my opinion carried out in many research surveys without being mentioned as a method.

http://sannadm2572.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-4.html

I think that they maybe could have designed and used better suited qualitative methods; I got the feeling that they mostly used quantitative methods and then tried to derive both quantitative and qualitative results from it.

http://joeladm2572.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-3-quantitative-methods.html?showComment=1352472838488#c4310050958764573548

The research methods seem very rigorous in your chosen article and they also gave some interesting results. This got me thinking though, if there could ever be negative aspects of using too many methods without the time-consuming aspect.

http://andreasrehn.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-4-qualitative-methods.html?showComment=1353090266421#c1053700255613713023

An interesting study with interviews as qualitative method. Even though there were only 28 interviews carried out, I think that the study also could deliver some quantitative data although using a qualitative method. Like distribution of political views among the participants etc.

http://jfdm2572.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-4-qualitative-methods.html

I suppose it's true that using mixed methods often give good results! But I also think that one shoud chose methods with care and not spend too much time and resources on something that maybe gives redundant data.

http://joeladm2572.blogspot.se/2012/11/reflections-on-past-week-theme3.html?showComment=1353091323742#c3643712547511910622

Very thorough method here but I think they also could have used close observations as additional qualitative method for when ICT was used.

http://reflectionforpuppies.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-4.html?showComment=1353092190281#c8175298191036601068

Seems like a very appropriate method is chosen in your article. Since the incentives for making podcasts probably can be of very many different kinds, it is natural to use open ended questions as described. But the more open ended questions there is, the more it's leaning towards having a discussion and for that matter it is probably better doing face to face interviews. And maybe it would have been so even for this research, although it of course wasn't possible in this case, since the geographic separation.

http://mikaeljuntti.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-4.html

I think your question in this posting is very interesting; No matter how you look at it, all research is of course given a more or less subjective mark by the researcher and I also think that it can be more prominent when using qualitative methods. I think it's therefore important to use several different methods for concluding the research. And so the problem is looked at from different angles so to speak.

http://chenwtmmt.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-4-qualitative-methods.html

The research paper you've chosen addresses a very interesting question but maybe television is nowadays replaced by other online media to an extent. However, the research is interesting, another qualitative method to take on the same thought could be to look at what programs there are being broadcasted and maybe analyze them against some key criteria for educational purpose.

http://dm25722012.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-4-qualitative-methods.html?showComment=1353600888707#c3273132823334585136

Funny video! I also think you've chosen a good research paper that is a perfect example of why it's good to use mixed methods. Having a specific target group can have both pros and cons depending on what is trying to be achieved. It can be hard to apply the research in a broader perspective but it can also generate really interesting and useful results. I think however that the research done in the paper you've chosen is applicable to many types of organizations and companies. And it's maybe why the article has many citations and a high impact factor.

http://fcfkth.blogspot.se/2012/11/hit-bell-if-you-know-theme-4.html?showComment=1353601634102#c709493786119492053

I think it's hard to generalize media technology and consequently say it is hard evaluating it. I think it depends on the subject of evaluation and for different things to be evaluated, different methods are needed. But I agree with you that the definition of media technology is a big concern in the question for the theme. I think design research in the form of evaluating a concept or a prototype is one concrete example of how to define the research and also help the possible user's get a better understanding of the technology as well.

http://jacobkth.blogspot.se/2012/11/assignment-5.html

This solution can maybe also be used for collaborative tasks or in public areas where several people are gathered in the same place. This solution I imagine however require quite large screens, so for the applicable area the cost could maybe go up. But the number of people using it and what they are using it for is another good subject for design research, in the certain cases respectively. Interesting!

http://dm2572nicklas.blogspot.se/2012/11/theme-5-before.html

Reflections on the past week (Theme 5: Design research)

Design research has been in focus this week and I’m going to talk about what I’ve learned and what I think the essentials for design research are. The designing part in a research project often consists of constructing some sort of prototype or mockup of a final product; it can be a physical product, software of some sort or a new framework/method for how to do things, or a combination of all that. Design research is a significant step in the research process and is usually used when an idea is close to being finalized although design research can also be carried out from the start, through the whole process of development, for instance in the case when using Lo-Fi prototypes.

Mockups are used for studying or developing the physical aspects or the visual features in some way but typically don’t feature any or very little other functionality whereas prototypes also have some functionality as well. However both of these are used as tools in the design research phase to allow things to be developed that otherwise cannot be evaluated or tested.

In many cases the design research is needed so that people outside the project can get an understanding of the idea or the final outcome.

Design research can of course be done internally within a project for further development but in many cases a mockup or prototype is created to let external parties such as possible users, client or experts test and evaluate the prototype for usability etc.

A perfect example of design research is to be found in the link below, although it doesn’t necessarily is related to media technology, it demonstrates a complete research process, with strong emphasis on design  research; As Horacio Pagani, the founder of Pagani supercars says in the video below: “It is only with a one-to-one scale model you get the complete perception of the shapes”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RGmtvS5WBZM#!

Theme 5: Design research

Research paper:

Journal: IEEE Transactions on systems man and cybernetics part c – applications and reviews. Vol 34 Issue 2. May 2004. Impact factor: 2.009

Article: Involving users in the design of a mobile office robot

Source: Web of knowledge, web of science

The research paper I’ve chosen is about the design process of a fetch-and-carry-robot that was supposed to be used by motion-impaired people in an office environment.

1.       How is theory being used to guide the design process?

The theory used for this project is mainly based on related research done in the field of service robotics. However, there was little to be found regarding user-centered design of mobile service robots. They point a study by “Flynn and Brooks” published in the 1980s about the importance of developing and testing embodied robots in real environments to identify unanticipated research issues in system design and development. And this advocates the methods later used for designing the prototype. They also look at previous research done regarding the diversification of service robots, as separated from industrial robots and this helps them decide upon which type of components to use and the physical aspects of the robot.

2.       Which research method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

At an early stage they performed a questionnaire study to assess people’s attributes towards having robots around there working environment. The targeted users were people who suffered from physical impairments.

They also used a framework for task analysis, to find out about the users’ needs and work tasks.

The findings from using these two methods were used to guide the development of a prototype robot including interface, components etc. They then recruited a small group of potential users for doing user observations to develop the prototype even further in terms of the physical design and user interface. At last, a three month field study was also carried out to evaluate the robot in an office environment.

The design process used here was iterative and took a lot of time and resources, on the other hand it was really thorough and the result met the need of the users very well.

3.       What did you learn about conducting design research from reading the paper?

This type of user-focused design process is very well suited for designing a service or a product when the target group is quite small and have specific needs or have some other specific requirements. This is in contrast to the genius design process which is based on previous experience in the same field. The prototype developed in this article however was one of the first of its kind.

Reflections on:

Réhman, S., Sun, J., Liu, L., & Li, H. (2008). Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball: Rendering Live Football Game Using Vibration. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 10(6), 1022-1033.

How can media technologies be evaluated?

Media technologies can be evaluated in many ways, for example by qualitative or quantitative methods but a more specific and appropriate approach is, as described in this article; user testing. By having a prototype and letting the users be involved in the evaluation and development. Another approach is to have experts involved in the evaluation, but that all depends on what kind of media technology is being evaluated.  

What role will prototypes play in research?

A developed prototype makes it possible to perform testing for further development. A prototype is often developed from theories and results from survey methods that lead up to the developed prototype which in hand can be used for further, more practical research.

What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?

Often, they don’t feature the final functionality and usability nor the final physical aspects. They provide a great opportunity for further developing a product or a service through testing.

Reflections on the past week (Theme 4: Qualitative methods)

This week I’ve learned a lot about qualitative methods, how to use them, and the pros and cons with the different methods. I am going to summarize some parts among other things that we discussed on the seminar and that I think is important and interesting when using qualitative methods.

I think there could be a potential risk with relying on just one or two qualitative methods in many cases. Because most qualitative methods are very thorough they are also niched so to speak, in what they are investigate. For instance; performing surveys that aim to investigate some habits or behavior, of let’s say online gamers or alike, via mail or in a way that you as a researcher are geographically separated from the participants in the survey could depict the actuality in a faulty manner. And so if observations were carried out, as another type of qualitative method, you would maybe get another result as you as a researcher analyzes the reality instead of having other people doing that, thinking about what and how they should answer the questions.

Here we come back to the term “sense-data” that Russel wrote about in his book; when performing qualitative research, I think it is best to use your own senses as much as possible for input data and carry out observations as you then often get the most accurate results for your research as possible. Of course, there are many cases where observations isn’t possible, and also cases where doing surveys at a distance are beneficial, as the participants gets time to think about what to answer etc. and that is many times required. But I think however that one should be careful not to rely on just a single qualitative method to conclude the research since the choice of qualitative method will almost certainly reflect the outcome of the result. It is therefore best, if qualitative methods are chosen, to perform several or at least two different methods for a more accurate picture. Or indeed mixed methods with maybe both qualitative and quantitative research. Anyhow, documentation is key when using qualitative methods, especially for observations; such as recording interviews, taking notes while a task is performed, or recording the screen for HCI research or tasks performed on a computer is vital so that a good analysis and reflection on the result can be carried out afterwards. 

Theme 4: Qualitative methods

Reflections on:

Fernaeus, Y. & Jacobsson, M. (2009). Comics, Robots, Fashion and Programming: outlining the concept of actDresses. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Tangible and Embedded Interaction. New York: ACM. 

The article provides an interesting take on HCI development in the form of letting physical elements control a certain device. The “actdresses” is used as a metaphor for how the devices should behave or what the characteristics of the device should be at any given moment, chosen by the user. The idea was founded from using symbols from fashion and comics as a way of controlling digital devices. The method used for creating the actdresses was to put together already existing pieces of code for making programs that described how the device should behave for the different actdsesses. The method was inspired by visual programming but what distinguishes the system is that a physical sign shows the immediate physical context for and that it produces perceivable actions.

I think that the physical approach with this particular HCI development is interesting and somewhat rare these days. I guess this example could be used in educational purpose regarding behaviors. But I think it could also be seen as a step in AI design as human behaviors is applied to describe how digital devices should work. This example with artdresses could also be seen as a further development of toys for children in the style of previous dolls or tamagotchi that are supposed to be “taken care of”.

Research paper:

Journal: Computer Standards & Interfaces, Vol. 29 Issue 2, February 2007. Impact factor: 1.257

Article: An exploratory investigation of two internet-based communication modes

Source: Web of knowledge, web of science

1.     Which qualitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

In this article, a qualitative method is used for comparing instant messaging (IM) and e-mail as communication tools while performing a group task within a team. The method was used to determine what modes of communication IM or E-mail provoked, like; task effectiveness, task satisfaction, playfulness and ease of use. The subjects for the method were graduate business student and had prior experience of e-mail and IM.  The students were divided into two groups; the E-mail group and the IM-group. Each group was then subdivided into small task teams. The persons within the team were geographically separated and only allowed to communicate by the assigned communication method.

One benefit of this method could be that the target group is specified as students and not more general so conclusions may be drawn from that specific target group and could maybe be applied to other similar groups of people (students). The communications were logged for close analysis and the data from the survey was measured by variables of interest. The narrow target group of the study is of course also a limitation as a generalization of the result can’t be done beyond the target group.

2.     What did you learn about qualitative methods from reading the paper?

That there are many different ways to attack a research problem and that generalization and that qualitative method sometimes can be quite useful. As in this case where thorough documentation and analysis is carried out.

3.     Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the qualitative method or methods have been improved?

They could have included additional measurements for determine the modes of communication, for instance they could have included facial expressions and physical behaviors while the communication was carried out instead of just analyzing the text.

Reflections on the past week (Theme3 Quantitative methods)

The past week has been about quantitative methods. It has made me think about how to collect data when doing research. But more importantly, it has made me think about that the incentives for doing data collection should be of high importance when choosing and performing quantitative methods. Many times the method used for collecting data is something that is taken for granted. We often know what kind of data we want to gather but often do not think about how to do it in the best way possible. And so the method is something that is explained in retrospect rather than chosen from the beginning. The chosen method should be considered with care because the method is often the part that requires the most time and resources in a research project. However, if resources isn’t an issue it can be useful to use a  rigorous method or mixed methods for getting accurate and appropriate data.

I’ve also taken a look at the SPSS software for managing quantitative data. I like the practical approach with this; actually get to learn or at least take a look at software that we could have use for after the education as well. It seems similar to excel in many ways but more specialized on statistics and managing data from surveys etc. It would have been useful if the use of this software was integrated in some course earlier in the media technology program. It could maybe have been useful for doing the bachelor thesis. However I don’t know to what extent it is widely used and by what companies. Good to now know that it exists at least.

We have also specified our group project further and divided the tasks and different parts within the subject that each group member should work on.

Theme 3: Quantitative methods

Reflection on:

Lowenthal, P. R. & Leech, N. (2009). Mixed research and online learning: Strategies for improvement.

* What is the main question or hypothesis in this project?

The paper addresses that the research done about online education is generally of low quality and because online education is continuously growing there needs to be a change is how the research is done. They bring up the importance of this topic for research and make suggestions for what the researchers in this area need to consider.
* What is the purpose of this study - exploratory, descriptive or explanatory?

The purpose of the paper is to hopefully increase the rigor and quality of online research studies and help other researchers in that field. It proposes that qualitative and quantitative research methods should be used together where the researcher’s needs a better understanding of how sample scheme and sample size impact their research.
* What are the main concepts?

The main concept or message in this case is that most of the research that has been done about online education is based on survey data, which is self-reported data which in this case is insensitive to changes over time is not appropriate to use solely for this type of research and that mixed research should be used.   

Reflection on:

Cleveland-Innes, M. & Campbell P. (in press). Emotional presence, learning and the online learning environment.

* What is the main question or hypothesis in this project?
The aim of this study is to present evidence of emotional presence in online environments.
 In comparison to traditional learning, online learning that uses new technologies may in some cases require new competencies from the users and this in itself may elicit an emotional response. The paper studies what impact  these emotional responses could have for the experience of online learning.

* What is the purpose of this study - exploratory, descriptive or explanatory?

The purpose is mainly exploratory, to see how online learning evokes emotions and how that translates into the whole user experience for online learning.

* Is the presentation of argument relevant and logical?

The paper presents some background information about previous research and mentions that emotion is sometimes mistaken as a deterrent that impedes effective teaching and learning.
* Is there a clear progression through support for key ideas to the value of the research question?
Thus, kind of a hypothesis is made; that emotion is likely to play a far more dynamic role in learning. And that is what’s being investigated.
* What collection methods are used?

The research was based on a survey of questions regarding his/her online experience. Conference discussion transcripts were also collected.
* Is the data quantitative or qualitative data?

The data is to be seen as quantitative data because the large number of participants. However they also claim to have qualitative data from the open questions in the survey.

* Are the data valid and reliable representations of the empirical reality they attempt to capture?
Yes, sort of. But they are not taking into consideration what genders and so on from their target group is represented in the findings.
* Is the data presentation comprehensive or are selected aspects presented?
Data is selected from the surveys and they then look for emotional content in the text

* What conclusions are drawn from the data?
Learners need to understand the role of emotion in life and in learning to realize their benefits. One can then make use of the emotional state in a learning situation. Learning should be set up so it arouses learners’ feelings of security, well-being, and self-confidence.