Context aware guidance for multimedia authoring: harmonizing domain and discourse knowledge

This paper presents an approach to assist authors during the authoring of multimedia presentations. We extend the existing authoring support by integrating processes of topic identification, content collection and discourse structure building in a single environment. This integration allows identification of the context of the authoring process. Our approach combines this process context awareness with explicit domain and discourse knowledge to steer system suggestions. We evaluate our approach with an experimental system prototype.     

Discourse cues to deception in the case of multiple receivers

Behavioral cues to deception are instrumental in detecting deception. As one of the primary sources of deception behavior, text has been analyzed at the level of sub-sentence or message but not the discourse of interaction. Additionally, empirical studies on cues to deception in the case of multiple receivers remain nonexistent. To fill these voids, we propose a discourse framework and six hypotheses about deception behaviors in a multi-receiver environment. The deception behaviors are operationalized by discourse features based on an analysis of real-world data. The results of statistical analysis validate the efficacy of discourse features in discriminating deceivers from truth-tellers.     

Electronic sketching on a multi-platform context: A pilot study with developers

During the past 45 years there has been a recurrence of interest on supporting sketching at electronic devices and interactive surfaces, and despite being sketching recognition fairly well addressed on the literature, the adoption of electronic sketching as a design tool is still a challenge.The current popularization of touch screen devices allows designers to sketch using their device of preference, while the current multi-platform capabilities made possible by HTML5 allows sketching systems to run on many devices at the same time. Those two factors combined might pose new opportunities for researchers to explore how designers use sketching on flexible setups by combining heterogeneous sketching devices for design sessions.This may arise new possibilities in the field of prototyping user interfaces since, by using such multi-platform systems, designers would now be able of designing interfaces for multiple devices by producing and testing them on the device itself.This paper reports a pilot experiment conducted with 6 developers, grouped into pairs on design sessions using Gambit – a multi-platform sketching system that provides a lightweight approach for prototyping user interfaces for many devices at once. We performed a discourse analysis of the professionals based on recorded videos of interviews conducted during and after design sessions with the system and aggregated the data in order to investigate the main requirements for multi-platform sketching systems.     

Collaborative writing in multiple discourse contexts

Research in computer-supported writing has traditionally compared electronic communication with oral, face-to-face communication to identify the benefits and weaknesses of each, as if they entailed dichotomous choices. In this article, we challenge that view and argue instead that any form of communication and its educational usefulness is shaped by the situation in which it is used, the backgrounds and goals of the participants, the institutional and technological setup, and the intended purpose of the medium. Three modes of communication in one graduate course are examined — oral discussion, synchronous written discussion on a local area network, and asynchronous written postings on an email list set up for the class. It was found that patterns of participation, topic introduction, and topic development differed across the three communication modes, but that the three were interwoven with each other and embedded within the larger classroom context and forms of knowledge creation in the class. Thus, rather than examining different communication media separately, researchers interested in understanding computer-supported collaborative writing need to look at how different media are used to create a meta-medium, which is established by the discourse community involved.     

Exploring creative thinking in graphically mediated synchronous dialogues

This paper reports on an aspect of the EC funded Argunaut project which researched and developed awareness tools for moderators of online dialogues. In this study we report on an investigation into the nature of creative thinking in online dialogues and whether or not this creative thinking can be coded for and recognized automatically such that moderators can be alerted when creative thinking is occurring or when it has not occurred after a period of time. We outline a dialogic theory of creativity, as the emergence of new perspectives from the interplay of voices, and the testing of this theory using a range of methods including a coding scheme which combined coding for creative thinking with more established codes for critical thinking, artificial intelligence pattern-matching techniques to see if our codes could be read automatically from maps and ‘key event recall’ interviews to explore the experience of participants. Our findings are that: (1) the emergence of new perspectives in a graphical dialogue map can be recognized by our coding scheme supported by a machine pattern-matching algorithm in a way that can be used to provide awareness indicators for moderators; (2) that the trigger events leading to the emergence of new perspectives in the online dialogues studied were most commonly disagreements and (3) the spatial representation of messages in a graphically mediated synchronous dialogue environment such as Digalo may offer more affordance for creativity than the much more common scrolling text chat environments. All these findings support the usefulness of our new account of creativity in online dialogues based on dialogic theory and demonstrate that this account can be operationalised through machine coding in a way that can be turned into alerts for moderators.     

Using narratives in conferences to improve the CMC learning environment

Abstract This paper reports on the use of short stories in Internet discussions to promote student learning. It describes off-campus teacher education students CMC discussions of short stories concerning issues in human development. The content of students' discussions is analysed, as is their perceptions of the value of the discussion stories. The results indicate that the use of narratives can improve the social environment of online conferences and contribute to collaborative student learning.     

Intervention and strategy analysis for web group-learning

Abstract Owing to the lack of face-to-face interactions, students using a web-based learning system are likely to study alone and with relatively little classmate support and pressure. Teachers in a web-based learning system may apply a group-learning model to overcome this problem. Teachers first need to organise, manage and monitor the group learning and they must take appropriate actions based on teaching strategies to improve the learning achievements of the students. To perform these tasks effectively, teachers must obtain relevant information by analysing the huge volume of web-access logs or by monitoring web interactions. This paper presents novel methodologies for developing instruments to assist teachers in performing intervention and strategy analysis. The proposed methodologies apply data mining tools provided by existing database management systems. Database techniques, including the multi-dimensional cube, are then applied to make student web logs meaningful and helpful to teachers in managing group learning. The associate rule mining tool is finally employed to assist teachers in analysing their pedagogical strategies. These tools relieve teachers of tedious data collection and analysis, allowing them to focus on managing the groups to promote students' learning achievement.     

边境市场跨界民族经济交往研究——基于云南地区边境市场的实证分析

跨界民族是中国边境沿线重要的主体构成,其在边境市场中的经济交往对于边境地区的安全、稳定与发展具有重要的作用。边境市场跨界民族的经济交往处于边境市场特殊的“共振”效应之中,包括国家间关系共振、民族间关系共振、市场间关系共振和区域间关系共振。从跨界民族在边境市场上的镜像看,其仍然具有原初市场的痕迹,并开始浸染现代市场带来的变化,此中转变尚需要时间和过程。如何在共振的效应中并建立现代市场的秩序,除了具备客观理性、主观理性外,也需要跨界民族主体间性的交往理性。     

英语语篇分析与仿写——《新编大学英语》特色初探

本文从英语语篇分析与写作的关系角度探讨《新编大学英语》(浙大版)特色。通过研究和教学实践,作者认为本教材选择的课内文章体现了各种英语体裁的语篇特点,首次进行语篇分析练习和仿写练习的设计是本教材的主要特色。在以学生为中心的模式下,通过教师引导学生对课内阅读文章的语篇进行分析,讨论英语与汉语语篇的差异,使英语学习者掌握英语语篇的知识,通过大量的仿写练习,可以有效地提高中国英语学习者的写作能力。