Sonali Morar

Visualizing and tracking the growth of competing paradigms: two case studies

In this article we demonstrate the use of an integrative approach to visualizing and tracking the development of scientific paradigms. This approach is designed to reveal the long-term process of competing scientific paradigms. We assume that a cluster of highly cited and cocited scientific publications in a cocitation network represents the core of a predominant scientific paradigm. The growth of a paradigm is depicted and animated through the rise of citation rates and the movement of its core cluster towards the center of the cocitation network. We study two cases of competing scientific paradigms in the real world: (1) the causes of mass extinctions, and (2) the connections between mad cow disease and a new variant of a brain disease in humans — vCJD. Various theoretical and practical issues concerning this approach are discussed.

Successful IT Outsourcing Engagement: Lessons from Malaysia

The literature on IT outsourcing is well‐developed with clear explanations of what may determine success. The context of IT outsourcing studies has primarily focused upon North American and European companies, seeking low‐cost economies from links with developing nations to gain competitive advantage. These studies may not be generalisable to companies based in developing economies, who may be trying to replicate successful outsourcing approaches. If the focus of outsourcing is primarily one of cost cutting, IT policy makers and managers in Malaysia cannot assume that successful outsourcing determinants are of any significance to them. This article therefore addresses the question of how generalisable the determinants of successful IT outsourcing are to a Malaysian context. The study is based upon a sample survey of companies in the Penang region of Malaysia. It presents and tests hypotheses on the nature of outsourcing relationships. In conclusion, Malaysian managers can take some comfort in that the lessons of outsourcing can be generalised to their context. Of particular note is the value of selective outsourcing in comparison to full outsourcing and the impacts of communication and management commitment.

An investigation of visual cues used to create and support frames of reference and Visual search tasks in Desktop virtual environments

Visual depth cues are combined to produce the essential depth and dimensionality of Desktop Virtual Environments (DVEs). This study discusses DVEs in terms of the visual depth cues that create and support perception of frames of references and accomplishment of visual search tasks. This paper presents the results of an investigation that identifies the effects of the experimental stimuli positions and visual depth cues: luminance, texture, relative height and motion parallax on precise depth judgements made within a DVE. Results indicate that the experimental stimuli positions significantly affect precise depth judgements, texture is only significantly effective for certain conditions, and motion parallax, in line with previous results, is inconclusive to determine depth judgement accuracy for egocentrically viewed DVEs. Results also show that exocentric views, incorporating relative height and motion parallax visual cues, are effective for precise depth judgements made in DVEs. The results help us to understand the effects of certain visual depth cues to support the perception of frames of references and precise depth judgements, suggesting that the visual depth cues employed to create frames of references in DVEs may influence how effectively precise depth judgements are undertaken.

Issues and benefits of using 3D interfaces: visual and verbal tasks

Spatial memory is important for locating objects in hierarchical data structures, such as desktop folders. There are, however, some contradictions in literature concerning the effectiveness of 3D user interfaces when compared to their 2D counterparts. This paper uses a task-based approach in order to investigate the effectiveness of adding a third dimension to specific user tasks, i.e. the impact of depth on navigation in a 3D file manager. Results highlight issues and benefits of using 3D interfaces for visual and verbal tasks, and introduces the possible existence of a correlation between aptitude scores achieved on the Guilford-Zimmerman Orientation Survey and Electroencephalography-measured brainwave activity as participants search for targets of variable perceptual salience in 2D and 3D environments.

Impact of cognitive style on spatial knowledge acquisition

A users cognitive style impacts the way they organize and process information. This paper considers how cognitive style impacts a users ability to acquire spatial knowledge from a range of virtual environments. Our results show that holist (field independent) users acquire spatial knowledge faster in low complex large environments, which support learning of relative visual references. Analytic (field dependent) users acquire spatial knowledge faster in complex environments, which obstruct the field of view and therefore support procedural learning. User specific limitations must be considered when defining required exposure time in virtual training environments.

Cognitive and Environmental Factors Influencing the Process of Spatial Knowledge Acquisition within Virtual Reality Environments

As the fidelity of virtual environments VE continues to increase, the possibility of using them as training platforms is becoming increasingly realistic for a variety of application domains, including military and emergency personnel training. In the past, there was much debate on whether the acquisition and subsequent transfer of spatial knowledge from VEs to the real world is possible, or whether the differences in medium during training would essentially be an obstacle to truly learning geometric space. In this paper, the authors present various cognitive and environmental factors that not only contribute to this process, but also interact with each other to a certain degree, leading to a variable exposure time requirement in order for the process of spatial knowledge acquisition SKA to occur. The cognitive factors that the authors discuss include a variety of individual user differences such as: knowledge and experience; cognitive gender differences; aptitude and spatial orientation skill; and finally, cognitive styles. Environmental factors discussed include: Size, Spatial layout complexity and landmark distribution. It may seem obvious that since every individuals brain is unique-not only through experience, but also through genetic predisposition that a one size fits all approach to training would be illogical. Furthermore, considering that various cognitive differences may further emerge when a certain stimulus is present e.g. complex environmental space, it would make even more sense to understand how these factors can impact spatial memory, and to try to adapt the training session by providing visual/auditory cues as well as by changing the exposure time requirements for each individual. The impact of this research domain is important to VE training in general, however within service and military domains, guaranteeing appropriate spatial training is critical in order to ensure that disorientation does not occur in a life or death scenario.

Cognitive Issues in the Perception of Desktop Virtual Environments

Desktop virtual environments are computer-generated representations of three-dimensional spaces, such as buildings, displayed on a normal desktop monitor. They are used to convey physical world representations in an interactive manner, which makes them ideal for modeling and training applications. The accuracy of the representations is very important as they impact on the way in which users interact with the environment. This paper presents a review of the cognitive issues involved with one key area related to representation and subsequent interaction, the visual perception of the desktop virtual environments. The overall aim of the review is to formulate an agenda for research, which would contribute, through basic empirical investigations, to the further understanding of visually perceiving desktop virtual environments. The review concentrates on visual cues because it is essentially these visual cues that integrate to provide the illusion of depth and the third dimension. The review begins by highlighting the importance of the research through assessing the use of the desktop virtual environment tool in various commercial settings. It then progresses to consider the perceptual theories that underpin perceiving visual cues and theories relating to visual cue combination and conflict. The final aspect of the review attempts to emphasize the idea of individual differences of visual cue perception in the desktop virtual environment context. Individual differences consider cognitive and perceptual capabilities, which is a growing concern in the pursuit of conducive desktop virtual environment displays. {Robert.Macredie}, {Sonali.Morar}@brunel.ac.uk

The Display of Electronic Commerce within Virtual Environments

Abstract: In today’s competitive business environment, the majority of companies are expected to be represented on the Internet in the form of an electronic commerce site. In an effort to keep up with current business trends, certain aspects of interface design such as those related to navigation and perception may be overlooked. For instance, the manner in which a visitor to the site might perceive the information displayed or the ease with which they navigate through the site may not be taken into consideration. This paper reports on the evaluation of the electronic commerce sites of three different companies, focusing specifically on the human factors issues such as perception and navigation. Heuristic evaluation, the most popular method for investigating user interface design, is the technique employed to assess each of these sites. In light of the results from the analysis of the evaluation data, virtual environments are suggested as a way of improving the navigation and perception display constraints.