Communication Technology and New Media Commons^™

Eliciting Behavior From Interactive Narratives: Isolating The Role Of Agency In Connecting With And Modeling Characters, Francesca R. Dillman, Ryan Rogers, Lisa Barnard

Ryan Rogers

A key component differentiating interactive storytelling from non-interactive media is agency, or control over character choices. A series of experiments show that providing agency over a character increased the user-character connection, which then increased engagement in a character-consistent charitable act. Findings were observed in technologically simple online narratives that controlled for navigation/controller differences, graphics, sounds, lengthy play, and avatar customization. Effects emerged even though users did not practice these acts by making their character behave charitably. Findings were robust across happy and unfortunate endings and across first-, second-, and third-person narrative perspectives. Findings suggest promise for developing inexpensive ‘‘storygames’’ to …

Fun Versus Meaningful Video Game Experiences: A Qualitative Analysis Of User Responses, Ryan Rogers, Julia Woolley, Brett Sherrick, Nicholas David Bowman, Mary Beth Oliver

Ryan Rogers

Emerging research on video games has suggested that feelings of both enjoyment and meaningfulness can be elicited from gameplay. Studies have shown enjoyment and meaningfulness evaluations to be associated with discrete elements of video games (ratings of gameplay and narrative, respectively), but have relied on closed-end data analysis. The current study analyzed participants’ open-ended reviews of either their “most fun” or “most meaningful” video game experience (N = 575, randomly assigned to either condition). Results demonstrated that “fun” games were explained in terms of gameplay mechanics, and “meaningful” games were explained in terms of connections with players and in-game characters.

Video Games As Meaningful Entertainment Experiences, Mary Beth Oliver, Nicholas David Bowman, Julia K. Woolley, Ryan Rogers, Brett I. Sherrick, Mun-Youn Chung

Ryan Rogers

We conducted an experiment to examine individuals’ perceptions of enjoyable and meaningful video games and the game characteristics and dimensions of need satisfaction associated with enjoyment and appreciation. Participants (N = 512) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups that asked them to recall a game that they found either particularly fun or particularly meaningful, and to then rate their perceptions of the game that they recalled. Enjoyment was high for both groups, though appreciation was higher in the meaningful- than fun-game condition. Further, enjoyment was most strongly associated with gameplay characteristics and satisfaction of needs related to competency …

It’S Not The Model That Doesn’T Fit, It’S The Controller! The Role Of Cognitive Skills In Understanding The Links Between Natural Mapping, Performance, And Enjoyment Of Console Video Games, Ryan Rogers, Nicholas David Bowman, Mary Beth Oliver

Ryan Rogers

This study examines differences in performance, frustration, and game ratings of individuals playing first person shooter video games using two different controllers (motion controller and a traditional, pushbutton controller) in a within-subjects, randomized order design. Structural equation modeling was used to demonstrate that cognitive skills such as mental rotation ability and eye/hand coordination predicted performance for both controllers, but the motion control was significantly more frustrating. Moreover, increased performance was only related to game ratings for the traditional controller input. We interpret these data as evidence that, contrary to the assumption that motion controlled interfaces are more naturally mapped than …

The Public Sphere As Site Of Emancipation And Enlightenment: A Discourse Theoretic Critique Of Digital Communication, David Ingram, Asaf Bar-Tura

David Ingram

Habermas claims that an inclusive public sphere is the only deliberative forum for generating public opinion that satisfies the epistemic and normative conditions underlying legitimate decision-making. He adds that digital technologies and other mass media need not undermine – but can extend – rational deliberation when properly instituted. This paper draws from social epistemology and technology studies to demonstrate the epistemic and normative limitations of this extension. We argue that current online communication structures fall short of satisfying the required epistemic and normative conditions. Furthermore, the extent to which Internet-based communications contribute to legitimate democratic opinion and will formation depends …

The Use Of A Virtual Online Debating Platform To Facilitate Student Discussion Of Potentially Polarising Topics, Paul D. Mcgreevy, Vicky Tzioumis, Chris Degeling, Jane Johnson, Robert Brown, Mike Sands, Melissa J. Starling, Clive J. C. Phillips

Paul McGreevy, PhD

The Perfect Storm: The Convergence Of Social, Mobile And Photo Technologies In Libraries, Wendy Abbott, Jessie Donaghey, Joanna Hare, Peta J. Hopkins

Wendy Abbott

The intersection of mobile and photographic technologies with social networks has produced platforms such as Instagram. The way libraries are using these platforms has not been investigated in depth. This research aims to discover trends in the use of Instagram by libraries, reporting on selected libraries’ experiences and intentions behind capturing and sharing images on Instagram. Recommendations will be made on how librarians can transform relationships and engagement with their communities through mobile photo sharing, taking advantage of ‘the perfect storm’ of technological convergence.

Get Visible Or Vanish : Using New Media To Raise Your Research Profile, Peta J. Hopkins, Wendy Abbott, Daniel Brennan, Katrina A. Bramstedt, Tracy Whitelaw, Jeffrey Brand, Michael J. Rees

Wendy Abbott

This is a video recording of a panel session hosted by Bond University Library during Bond Research Week 2013 on the topic of using new media (social media) for raising research profiles. The panel session was organised by Peta Hopkins and Wendy Abbott of Bond University Library. The speakers in the session are: Daniel Brennan, Katrina Bramstedt, Tracy Whitelaw, Jeffrey Brand, Michael Rees and Peta Hopkins. All the speakers are from Bond University. The session took place on the 6 of September 2013, Bond University.

Internet Studies: Past, Present And Future Directions By Panayiota Tsatsou [Book Review], Marilyn Mitchell

Marilyn Mitchell

Book Review: Tsatsou Panayiota , Internet Studies: Past, Present and Future Directions. Farnham: Ashgate Pubishing, 2014; 279 pp. ISBN: 9781409446415, AUD$245.95.

Extract: Panayiota Tsatsou’s Internet Studies: Past, Present and Future Directions is an ambitious work that reviews two decades of research on the Internet. Tsatsou’s goals were to provide an improved understanding of the nature of the Internet, explain how researchers have historically approached and studied the Internet and consider how the Internet’s structures and functions relate to its use in individual and social settings. This is a large undertaking and while the author acknowledges the book inevitably represents a …

Accounting For Culture In Instructional Design., Casey Frechette

Casey Frechette

No abstract provided.

Accounting For Culture In Instructional Design., Casey Frechette, Charlotte N. Gunawardena

Casey Frechette

No abstract provided.

Print Versus Digital: How Medium Matters On 'House Of Cards', Patrick Ferrucci, Chad Painter

Chad Painter

This study utilizes textual analysis to analyze how journalists are depicted on the Netflix drama House of Cards. Through the lens of orientalism and cultivation, researchers examine how depictions of print and digital journalism would lead viewers to see digital journalists as less ethical and driven by self-gain, while also viewing technology as an impediment to quality journalism. These findings are then discussed as a means for understanding how these depictions could affect society.

Alternative Media And Normative Theory: A Case Of Ferguson, Missouri, Mark Anthony Poepsel, Chad Painter

Chad Painter

This paper, based on in-depth interviews with journalists at alternative and advocacy papers in St. Louis as well as interviews with live streaming protestors, a new breed of citizen journalist, applies six characteristics commonly associated with the alternative press to coverage of the protests and police crackdown in Ferguson, Missouri, between August 9, 2014, and March 2015. Journalists from the alternative newspaper in St. Louis focused on progressive or radical values less than the literature predicted. The African-American newspaper in St. Louis found itself influencing the national and global agenda regarding Ferguson and the ongoing oppression of blacks in the …

All In The Game: Communitarianism And 'The Wire', Chad Painter

Chad Painter

Communitarian ethicists argue that social identity is formed by community relationships, emphasizing the connection between an individual and his or her community. News organizations are part of that community. Indeed, journalism only functions properly in terms of the public and public life, and as part of a larger community. This textual analysis study focused on the breakdown of the fictional Baltimore community depicted in the television series The Wire. Five institutions—the police force and justice system, the labor force, local and state politicians and government, the educational system, and the daily newspaper—have failed, and, in turn, the city is failing. …

Irresistible Bargains: Navigating The Surveillance Society, Robert M. Pallitto

Robert M Pallitto

Writing To Have No Face: The Orientation Of Anonymity In Twitter, Les Hutchinson

Les Hutchinson