Peter Ohler

VisRuption: intuitive and efficient visualization of temporal airline disruption data

The operation of an airline is a very complex task and disruptions to the planned operation can occur on very short notice. Already a small disruption like a delay of some minutes can cost the airline a tremendous amount of money. Hence, it is crucial to proactively control all operations of the airline and efficiently prioritize and handle disruptions. Due to the complex setting and the need for ad hoc decisions this task can only be carried out by human operation controllers. In the field of airline operations control there exists already a vast variety of different software in productive use. We analyze the different approaches from two of the market leaders and identify problematic design choices. We take into account this analysis and develop a set of rules for an intuitive visualization of airline disruption data. Finally, we introduce our tool for visualizing such data which complies to these rules. The visualization enables the user to gain a fast overview over the current problem situation and to intuitively prioritize different problems and problem hierarchies. The efficiency of the design is evaluated with the help of a user study which shows that the new system significantly outperforms the current state of the art.

The Effect of Authentic Input Devices on Computer Game Immersion

A key question in the field of computer game studies is the user experience during the gameplay. One of the main factors influencing this experience is the control mechanism that players use to interact with the game system. With the launch of the Wii Console in 2006, Nintendo introduced an innovative concept of controlling computer games that allows users to manipulate and to interact with game elements on the screen by moving and pointing the input device. The usage of game controllers with a high degree of perceptual closeness should influence the gaming experience in such a manner that the degree of immersion is higher compared to the usage of a regular gamepad which eventually leads to a higher entertainment value. We conducted a study to examine the influence of the input device players use to control a game on the immersion and perceived entertainment value. The results of the study show, in accordance with our assumptions, that a more authentic input device results in a higher degree of immersion and entertainment value.

Werbung im Fernsehen

Zusammenfassung. In zwei Experimenten wurde der Frage nachgegangen, wie Kinder die Fahigkeit entwickeln, zwischen Werbung und anderen Programmformaten zu unterscheiden. In der Forschungsliteratur sind bislang im Besonderen zwei Fragen ungeklart: (1) Ab welchem Alter konnen Kinder Werbung von Kinderfilmgenres diskriminieren, wenn keine singularen salienten Merkmale fur Werbung vorliegen? (2) Ab wann wird das Konzept ‘Werbung‘ spontan zur Klassifikation von Programmformaten benutzt? Zur Beantwortung von Frage 1 wurden in einem Experiment mit 5- und 8-jahrigen Kindern kurze Ausschnitte von Werbeclips und Kinderfilmen dargeboten. Die Kinder sollten schnellstmoglich mittels Tastendruck zwischen den beiden Programmformaten unterscheiden. Bereits die 5-Jahrigen wiesen unter dieser Bedingung uberzufallig hohe Trefferquoten auf. Zur Klarung von Frage 2 wurden in einem weiteren Experiment 4-, 6- und 9-Jahrige mit einem Oddity-Problem konfrontiert, das eine Konzeptuberprufung ohne Induktion der zugrundeliegenden kon...

Mediennutzung und Medienwirkung bei Kindern und Jugendlichen

Eine eigene Studie zeigte, dass bereits die funfjahrigen Kinder sehr schnell Kinderwerbeclips von Kinderfilmen zu unterscheiden vermogen (vgl. Nieding, Ohler, Bodeck und Werchan, 2006). Wenn auch nur rund zwei Drittel aller Unterscheidungen in diesem Alter bereits richtig vorgenommen wurden, so liegt dieser Wert dennoch signifikant uber dem Zufallsniveau. Im Schnitt benotigen die Funfjahrigen nur 1,45 Sekunden, um eine richtige Unterscheidung zu treffen. Bei achtjahrigen Kindern steigt dieser Wert noch bedeutsam an (91% richtige Zuordnungen) und sie benotigen im Schnitt nur ca. eine Sekunde, um einen beliebig gewahlten Ausschnitt richtig als Kinderprogramm oder Werbeclip einzuschatzen. Achtjahrige Kinder sind also dazu in der Lage, die typischen Stilmittel von Kinderwerbefilmen auserst schnell zu erkennen. Diese Befundlage spricht dafur, dass achtjahrige Kinder nicht unbedingt die vom Gesetzgeber geforderten Markierungen zwischen Kinderprogramm und Werbung (Seperatoren) benotigen. Kinder erwerben zwischen vier und acht Jahren die Medienkompetenz zu einer wahrnehmungsnahen Genrediskrimination.

Der Einfluss von Protagonisten-Zielstrukturen auf räumliche mentale Modelle beim narrativen Textverstehen von Kindern

Zusammenfassung: Die Ausgangsfragen von drei Experimenten lauten, ob 6-jahrige Kinder beim Verstehen von Geschichten raumliche mentale Modelle aufbauen und welche Elemente der beschriebenen Situation darin reprasentiert sind. Die Probanden erlernten zunachst Raumanordnungen und horten anschliesend durch einen Sprecher im Film Geschichten, worin Protagonisten durch die Anordnung laufen. Die Geschichten wurden unterbrochen, und die Probanden hatten die Aufgabe zu entscheiden, ob zwei dargebotene Objekte, bzw. ein Objekt und ein Protagonist sich im selben Raum oder in verschiedenen Raumen befinden. Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 1 zeigen, dass Kinder mentale Modelle aufbauen, die sich von einer textbasierten Reprasentation unterscheiden. Experiment 2 zeigt, dass Kinder den Aufbau mentaler Modelle an globalen Textinferenzen ausrichten, speziell an Protagonistenzielhierarchien. Unsere Annahme, dass auch Aufenthaltsorte von relevanten Objekten berucksichtigt werden, konnte in Experiment 3 nicht bestatigt werden.

The Development of Media Sign Literacy—A Longitudinal Study With 4-Year-Old Children

In a longitudinal study, 137 children at the age of 4 years were tested for media sign literacy, intelligence, and several precursors of academically relevant skills, such as phonological awareness and preschool quantity-number competencies. The children were tested four times over two years, measuring the development of these skills every six months. The purpose of the study was to explore whether children’s level of media sign literacy helps them acquire academically relevant symbolic skills like reading and mathematical competencies. The results indicate that media sign literacy as well as intelligence predict mathematical and linguistic competencies. Longitudinal findings indicate that children with higher levels of media sign literacy also achieve higher scores in precursors of mathematical and reading and writing skills, and structural equation modeling revealed a rich interconnectedness between media sign literacy and intelligence. Media sign literacy had a direct and significant effect on mathematical competencies at measurement point 2 and indirect effects on the precursors of reading and writing skills at measurement point 4.

Sexual selection, evolution of play and entertainment

This paper briefly introduces the principles of evolutionary biology with a main focus on the process of sexual selection. This is followed by an outline of evolutionary psychology. First an introduction to the classical approach to evolutionary psychology is given. This is followed by DONALDs (1991, 2002) model of co-evolution of cognition and culture. The behavior system “play” is reconstructed by referring to our own behavior-diversification proto-cognition theory of play which tries to establish an unified evolutionary theory of play in animals and humans. It is argued that play was crucial for the higher cognitions and consciousness of humans. On the basis of these different models, three evolutionary approaches concerning the evolutionary origins of entertainment are presented. They differ in their perspective on whether entertainment is really an adaptation of our species or only a by-product of other adaptations.

Continuous Measurement of Breaks in Presence: Psychophysiology and Orienting Responses

Assessing presence using questionnaires can yield interesting insights into the user experience in virtual environments, but is also limited both in terms of reliability and validity. Breaks in presence (BIPs) are an interesting alternative, given that the researcher can assess them correctly. Prior studies on the psychophysiology of BIPs followed an exploratory approach by not providing a cognitive mechanism for BIPs and lacking in external validity. We argue that BIPs can be considered a special form of orienting responses involving both the real and the virtual world. In the first of the presented studies, we investigated which types of BIPs can be differentiated and to what degree they affect the user experience. In the second study, we modified a commercial video game by introducing the previously identified BIPs and recorded psychophysiological measurements. The results are in line with findings on orienting responses and should provide fertile ground for future research.

Proactive Functions of a Pedagogical Agent – Steps for Implementing a Social Catalyst Function

The development of pedagogical agents has been focused on the empirical relevance of outward appearance and the voiced conveyance of information. Rather than following these steps of analysing agents’ looks, the following paper is focused on having pedagogical agents function proactively in regard to the environment the learner is situated in. This means agents are able to listen and react to noise disturbances or obvious attention diversion by the learner. Furthermore, the agent is enhanced by a social catalyst routine, enabling the system to facilitate cooperative learning through the use of narrative techniques for the retention of information.

Spatial Mapping of Physical and Virtual Spaces as an Extension of Natural Mapping: Relevance for Interaction Design and User Experience

Natural user interfaces are designed to be intuitive, and quick to learn. With the use of natural mapping, they rely on previous knowledge or skills from users by employing spatial analogies, cultural standards or biological effects. Virtual environments with a high interaction fidelity also use rich spatial information in addition to natural mapping, e.g. stereoscopy or head-tracking. However, an additional factor for naturalism is the relationship of perceived interaction spaces: We propose to examine the Spatial Mapping of the perceived physical and virtual spaces as an extension of Natural Mapping. Similarly to NM, a high degree of spatial mapping using an isomorphic mapping should result in more intuitive interactions, reducing the mental workload required. However, the benefits of Spatial Mapping on user experience and task performance are only evident for complex spatial tasks. As a consequence, many tasks do not benefit from complex spatial information (e.g. stereoscopy or head-tracking).