Nadia Gauducheau

Design and evaluation of activity model-based groupware: methodological issues

This article presents methodological issues on evaluation related to the design process of the tool being evaluated. We emphasize the different variables which are important to take into account, and the links between them. We illustrate our approach with the presentation of a groupware for collective sensemaking (Sum it up) based on a theoretical activity model coming from social sciences, and a first evaluation of this groupware.

Practices Analysis and Digital Platform Design: An Interdisciplinary Study of Social Support

People are turning increasingly to the Internet to find support and share their experience and feelings when they are undergoing hardships such as medical problems. The aim of our ongoing research project is to design innovative online social support services. In order to pave the way for this complex undertaking, several interdisciplinary studies were conducted in this framework: discourse analysis was carried out on online discussions focusing on social support, observers attended support group meetings attended by family caregivers, and interviews were conducted with these caregivers. The application of our findings to our design project is discussed.

Mesurer les émotions de l'utilisateur: quels fondements pour une démarche d'évaluation des systèmes interactifs?

For the past 10 years, numerous authors have considered necessary the extension of the evaluation of interactive systems to user experience dimensions, with a special interest on emotions. Nevertheless, measuring emotions raises conceptual and methodological issues. This paper presents a synthesis of studies performed in the domain; as well as the issues raised and makes some suggestions in order to overcome them.

Producing Irony in Adolescence: A Comparison Between Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communication

Abstract The literature suggests that irony production expands in the developmental period of adolescence. We aimed to test this hypothesis by investigating two channels: face-to-face and computer-mediated communication (CMC). Corpora were collected by asking seventh and 11th graders to freely discuss some general topics (e.g., music), either face-to-face or on online forums. Results showed that 6.2% of the 11th graders’ productions were ironic utterances, compared with just 2.5% of the seventh graders’ productions, confirming the major development of irony production in adolescence. Results also showed that adolescents produced more ironic utterances in CMC than face-to-face. The analysis suggested that irony use is a strategy for increasing in-group solidarity and compensating for the distance intrinsic to CMC, as it was mostly inclusive and well-marked on forums. The present study also confirmed previous studies showing that irony is compatible with CMC.

Peer’s mental states in a collaborative setting: Developmental perspective on children’s inferential abilities

The present study investigates the development of children’s ability to make inferences about a peer’s mental state. In this study 48 eight-year-old children, 49 ten-year-old children and 44 adults observed and analyzed short video sequences, extracts from a socio-cognitive interaction between two children working on a mathematical task. The participants inferred mental states of one of the videotaped children while answering questions. Half of the participants watched the different sequences with sound and the other half watched them without sound. The results show that ten-year-old children are nearly as skilled as adults in making inferences but that eight-years-old children make less relevant inferences. The access to verbal information influenced the inferences only for the eight-year-old group.RésuméCette étude porte sur le développement des compétences inférentielles des enfants concernant les états mentaux d’autrui lorsqu’il interagit. Quarante huit enfants de 8 ans, 49 enfants de 10 ans et 44 adultes ont réalisé une tâche d’inférences. Elle concerne les états mentaux d’un garçon filmé lors de la co-résolution d’un exercice de mathématiques. Les participants observent de courtes séquences de cette interaction et produisent des inférences par l’intermédiaire de questions. La moitié des participants regarde les séquences avec le son et l’autre moitié regarde les mêmes séquences privées du son. Les résultats montrent que les enfants de 10 ans sont déjà presque aussi compétents que les adultes. En revanche, les enfants de 8 ans produisent des inférences moins pertinentes. L’accès aux informations verbales a une influence sur la pertinence des inférences uniquement pour le groupe des enfants de 8 ans.