Brett Stevens

Linked Data for libraries Benefits of a conceptual shift from library-specific record structures to RDF-based data models

Contemporary metadata principles and standards tended to result in document-centric rather than data-centric; human-readable rather than machine-processable metadata. In order for libraries to create and harness shareable, mashable and re-usable metadata, a conceptual shift can be achieved by adjusting current library models such as Resource Description and Access (RDA) and Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) to models based on Linked Data principles. In relation to technical formats, libraries can leapfrog to Linked Data technical formats such as the Resource Description Framework (RDF), without disrupting current library metadata operations. This paper provides six key recommendations for libraries and standards agencies. These include rising to the challenges and embracing the opportunities presented by current technological trends, adopting minimal requirements of Linked Data principles, developing ontologies, deciding on what needs to be retained from current library models, becoming part of the Linked Data cloud, and developing mixed-metadata (standards-based and socially-constructed) approaches. Finally, the paper concludes by identifying and discussing five major benefits of such metadata re-conceptualisation. The benefits include metadata openness and sharing, serendipitous discovery of information resources, identification of zeitgeist and emergent metadata, facet-based navigation and metadata enriched with links.

Emotional body language displayed by artificial agents

Complex and natural social interaction between artificial agents (computer-generated or robotic) and humans necessitates the display of rich emotions in order to be believable, socially relevant, and accepted, and to generate the natural emotional responses that humans show in the context of social interaction, such as engagement or empathy. Whereas some robots use faces to display (simplified) emotional expressions, for other robots such as Nao, body language is the best medium available given their inability to convey facial expressions. Displaying emotional body language that can be interpreted whilst interacting with the robot should significantly improve naturalness. This research investigates the creation of an affect space for the generation of emotional body language to be displayed by humanoid robots. To do so, three experiments investigating how emotional body language displayed by agents is interpreted were conducted. The first experiment compared the interpretation of emotional body language displayed by humans and agents. The results showed that emotional body language displayed by an agent or a human is interpreted in a similar way in terms of recognition. Following these results, emotional key poses were extracted from an actors performances and implemented in a Nao robot. The interpretation of these key poses was validated in a second study where it was found that participants were better than chance at interpreting the key poses displayed. Finally, an affect space was generated by blending key poses and validated in a third study. Overall, these experiments confirmed that body language is an appropriate medium for robots to display emotions and suggest that an affect space for body expressions can be used to improve the expressiveness of humanoid robots.

Putting the virtual into reality: assessing object-presence with projection-augmented models

A projection-augmented model is a type of nonimmersive, coincident haptic and visual display that uses a physical model as a three-dimensional screen for projected visual information. Supporting all physiological depth cues and two sensory modalities should create a strong sense of the objects existence. However, conventional measures of presence have been defined only for displays that surround and isolate a user from the real world. The idea of object-presence is thus suggested to measure the subjective experience that a particular object exists in a users environment, even when that object does not (Stevens & Jerrams-Smith, 2000). A correlation study was conducted to demonstrate the reliability and validity of objectpresence as a construct. The results of a modified Singer and Witmer Presence Questionnaire suggest the existence of a reliable construct that exhibits face validity. However, the Presence Questionnaire did not correlate significantly with a users tendency to become immersed in traditional media, which would support the assertion that this construct was object-presence. Considering previous work, the results of the current correlation study exhibited a pattern evident in previous studies of presence suggesting that object-presence and presence could be gender biased by the task to be completed or by the presence measure.

Towards a conceptual framework for user‐driven semantic metadata interoperability in digital libraries: A social constructivist approach

Purpose – With the aim of developing a conceptual framework which aims to facilitate semantic metadata interoperability, this paper explores overarching conceptual issues on how traditional library information organisation schemes such as online public access catalogues (OPACs), taxonomies, thesauri, and ontologies on the one hand versus Web 2.0 technologies such as social tagging (folksonomies) can be harnessed to provide users with satisfying experiences.Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews works in relation to current metadata creation, utilisation and interoperability approaches, focusing on how a social constructivist philosophical perspective can be employed to underpin metadata decisions in digital libraries. Articles are retrieved from databases such as EBSCO host and Emerald and online magazines such as D‐Lib and Ariadne. Books, news articles and blog posts that are deemed relevant are also used to support the arguments put forward in this paper.Findings – Current metadata approaches ...

Sounding better: Fast audio cues increase walk speed in treadmill-mediated virtual rehabilitation environments

Music or sound effects are often used to enhance Virtual Environments, but it is not known how this audio may influence gait speed. This study investigated the influence of audio cue tempo on treadmill walking with and without visual flow. The walking speeds of 11 individuals were recorded during exposure to a range of audio cue rates. There was a significant effect of audio tempo without visual flow, with a 16% increase in walk speed with faster audio cue tempos. Audio with visual flow resulted in a smaller but still significant increase in walking speed (8%). The results suggest that the inclusion of faster rate audio cues may be of benefit in improving walk speed in virtual rehabilitation.

Treadmill interface for virtual reality vs. overground walking: a comparison of gait in individuals with and without pain

A treadmill (TR) interfaced with a virtual reality (VR) system can provide an engaging environment that could improve activity adherence and walking function for individuals with pain. Furthermore, inclusion of discrete visual and auditory cues into the VR environment (e.g. manipulation of optic flow speed or audio beat frequency) could improve walking. This study compared gait characteristics (speed and cadence) of a baseline over ground walk (OVR) with a TR walk as part of a project to develop gait referenced visual and auditory frequency cues. Thirty-six participants aged between 22 and 80 years, with pain (n=19) and without pain (n=17) took part. A 2 x 2 MANOVA conducted on the speed and cadence for all participants showed a significant difference between pain and control groups for speed (F1,34=9.56, p<0.01) and cadence (F1,34=5.75, p<0.05), as well as a significant decrease from overground to treadmill conditions for both speed (F1,34=81.39, p<0.01) and cadence (F1,34=25.46, p<0.01). Differences between OVR and TR walking indicate that visual or auditory cues for VR walk training should be referenced according to TR baseline measures.

Static/Animated Diagrams and their Effect on Students Perceptions of Conceptual Understanding in Computer Aided Learning (CAL) Environments

This study investigated the affect of static/animated diagrams on conceptual understanding. Conceptual understanding was defined as the objective accuracy of reported test answers and confidence estimates for perceived understanding. Subjects were asked to view either a static or animated diagram of a toilet flushing and refilling and were later asked to answer three questions and provide confidence estimates of their performance for each question. There was no significant difference between the two conditions for two test questions, the final test question found significantly higher scores for the static condition. Confident estimates reported by users were however affected by the diagrammatic display. Those in the animated condition consistently overestimated their test performance whilst those in the static condition consistently underestimated. These results suggest that the use of animated/static diagrams in educational environments should be treated with caution and that measures of confidence estimates may provide an insight into subjects’ perceptions of their own conceptual learning in a CAL environment.

The Effect that the Visual and Haptic Problems Associated with Touching a Projection Augmented Model Have on Object-Presence

A projection augmented model (PA model) is a type of haptic augmented reality display. It consists of a real physical model, onto which a computer image is projected to create a realistic looking object. Thus, a PA model creates the illusion of actually being the object that it represents, as opposed to a white model and a projected image. Users can physically touch the surface of a PA model with their bare hands, which has experiential value for the types of applications for which they are being developed. However, the majority of PA models do not provide haptic feedback for material properties such as texture, and hence feel incorrect when they are touched. In addition, most PA models are front-projected which means the projected image appears on the back of the users hand, and their hand casts a shadow on the display. Previous research has found that touching this type of PA model reduces a users sense of object presence. The empirical study reported in this paper investigated which of the problems had a greater effect on object presence. It was found that object presence was significantly higher when correct haptic feedback for material properties was provided; however eliminating the visual projection problems rarely affected object presence. These results have implications for the direction in which PA model technology should be developed. They also have implications for theory on how the haptic and visual senses contribute to a persons sense of object presence, and indeed presence.

The Social Space of Metadata: Perspectives of LIS Academics and Postgraduates on Standards-Based and Socially Constructed Metadata Approaches

This article aims to contribute to the discussion on user-generated metadata. It presents the perspectives of eleven purposefully selected library and information science (LIS) academics and postgraduates on optimality of standards-based versus socially constructed metadata approaches and develops conceptual themes that emerged, which include the obsolescence of the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) in relation to web search engines, the preference of users for searching versus browsing, and the proliferation of extant metadata standards resulting in interoperability challenges. This study also reveals the role ascribed to Web 2.0 and to semantic web technologies in libraries and the importance of enriching information objects with metadata that better conveys the various perspectives of users. Finally, the importance of underpinning metadata decisions with sound theoretical foundations is identified.

The effect that haptically perceiving a projection augmented model has on the perception of size

This paper reports on a study that investigated the effect touching a projection augmented model, and interacting with it using a spatially-coincident device, has on the perception of size. It was found that touching increased the accuracy of size estimates, however interaction using a spatially-coincident device did not.