Martina Mara

The (St)Age of Participation: audience involvement in interactive performances

Abstract In todays age of participation, co-creation, user-generated content and social networking have become part of a mass-appeal digital lifestyle. This contribution discusses potential implications for contemporary and future media art in the context of the stage. It reflects on why and how interactive performances could give consideration to this zeitgeist of empowered spectatorship and, moreover, proposes principles for participatory stage pieces that incorporate practice-based experience as well as findings from (social) flow theory, a psychological framework for optimal creative experience that we found to be valuable for fostering audience engagement in interactive dramaturgies.

Tell me your story, robot: introducing an android as fiction character leads to higher perceived usefulness and adoption intention

In a field experiment with N = 75 participants, the android telecommunication robot Telenoid was introduced in three different ways: participants either read a short story presenting the Telenoid as character, a non-narrative information leaflet about it, or they received no preliminary introduction at all before interacting with the robot. Perceived usefulness and behavioral intentions to adopt the robot were significantly higher in the story condition than in both other conditions. In line with the Technology Acceptance Model, reported usefulness additionally served as a mediator between treatment and adoption intention. This study is the first to apply findings from Narrative Persuasion to HRI and can prompt further discussion about stories as means to increase user acceptance of new robotic agents.

Shadowgram: a case study for social fabrication through interactive fabrication in public spaces

This paper describes a case study of Shadowgram as an application of interactive fabrication in public spaces to realize a creative communication environment based on an interactive installation, which generates sticker cutouts of the silhouettes of participants. In this paper, we propose an approach called Social Fabrication that stimulates communication in society. Finally, we assess the potential of our creative catalyst by installing Shadowgram in public events and through observation and analysis we examine the behavior of participants.

On the Eeriness of Service Robots with Emotional Capabilities

The uncanny valley hypothesis suggests that high human-likeness of humanoid robots is associated with feelings of uncanniness (eeriness, creepiness). Based on the literature on mind perception two aspects of human-likeness were distinguished. An experiment showed that a robots capacity to feel (experience) leads to stronger feelings of uncanniness than a robots capacity to plan ahead and to exert self-control (agency), which is still more uncanny than a robots function as a tool. Theoretical and practical implications of this work are discussed.

Intensity of Facebook Use Is Associated With Lower Self-Concept Clarity

Social networking sites such as Facebook provide individuals with opportunities to express and gather information relevant to their self-concept. Previous theoretical work yielded contrasting assumptions about a potential link between individuals’ Internet use and their self-concept clarity, that is, individuals’ perception of a clear and internally consistent self-concept content. Focusing on social networking sites, our aim was to provide cross-sectional as well as longitudinal evidence regarding the relationship between individuals’ feelings of connectedness to Facebook (Facebook intensity) and self-concept clarity. Two cross-sectional studies (N1 = 244; N2 = 166) and one longitudinal study (N3 = 101) are presented. Independent samples of adolescents, adults, and students from Austria participated. The statistical procedures included hierarchical regression analyses (Studies 1 and 2) and a cross-lagged panel analysis (Study 3). The studies provided consistent evidence of a negative relationship between Facebook intensity and self-concept clarity. Moreover, the longitudinal study showed that Facebook intensity predicted a decline in self-concept clarity over time whereas a reverse pathway was not supported. Future research should examine the content of the self-concept and should continue searching for specific Facebook activities that might explain the decline in self-concept clarity. Our results suggest that an intense attachment to Facebook contributes to an inconsistent and unclear self-concept.

SWITCH: case study of an edutainment kit for experience design in everyday life

We introduce a method to stimulate and catalyse the creativity of students and the general public in the field of experience design. The research is centered on a product design called SWITCH: a simple creative prototyping platform for everyday use which can be likened to picture frame containing a picture with two states, an on and an off state. The states are switched by one of three types of adjustable sensors (light, human, sound) and mechanism. The pictures can be easily customized with analogue art materials like pens and brushes. Our core motivation was to design a product that would bypass the inherent complexities of technology as much as possible, and directly engage the student in creating their own experience design concept with SWITCH. In this paper we introduce our motivation, methods, design and workshop strategies, and evaluations from workshops with the general public.

Whom to tell a moving story?: individual differences and persuasion profiling in the field of narrative persuasion

Telling stories can be a powerful way to persuade. This contributions reviews previous research on individual differences in narrative persuasion, with an emphasis on one personality construct: the need for affect. Implications for persuasion profiling are discussed. Moreover, this contribution provides data on correlates of the need for affect which might be useful in applied settings. Finally, ethical issues are addressed.