Interactive Digital Environment Research Articles

A socially interactive communication skills training for competent health educators

Abstract Background Every contact with expectant and new parents can be a “teachable moment” for promoting the health of mother-baby-family; yet, healthcare providers may not effectively perform their educational role. Previous studies have described various setting-specific challenges. Procedural knowledge, resulting in lack of confidence and avoidance, is a universal theme, challenging current communications skills training. Given the evolving role of midwives under the new Cyprus National Healthcare System, there is need for innovative practices. Objectives “Baby Buddy Communicators” designed, implemented and piloted tested a socially interactive digital environment on the Edubreak platform, where practicing (N = 8) and in-training (N = 7) Midwives completed an 8-week iterative hybrid communication skills course along with service-users. Results Four situational-based scenarios were co-created with ‘holders of the experience’ tapping on key priorities (elective caesarean, breastfeeding challenges, baby in NICU, postnatal depression). Participants produced video artefacts of role-play consultations and engaged in peer-to-peer and service-user feedback via the in-built video annotations and blog writing tools. Deductive content analysis of the rich material using the 18-item Health Professionals Communications Skills (HPCS) scale identified recurrent patterns tapping on both informational aspects (e.g. incomplete information gathering, overload without assessing comprehension) as well as social skills (e.g. agenda setting, early reassurance, assertiveness). Conclusions This cross-sectoral transfer of social video from sports training to healthcare is a “proof of concept”. Inverted (i.e. making current practices visible) and experiential learning (e.g. feedforward) with cross-sectoral (service-user involvement) and cross-module dimensions (i.e. communication skills and evidence-based practice) provided the basis for evaluation and a source of shared learning and reflection. Key messages • Several areas of improvement in communication skills of maternal healthcare providers were identified while peer-to-peer and service-user feedback was a source of reflection. • The use of digital technology and social video allowed immersive role-playing, observation and constructive feedback loops providing a new paradigm in health communication skills training.

StaffsVerse: Building a Metaverse Campus Utilising the Unreal Editor for Fortnite

In pursuit of redefining the conventional campus introductory experience, this paper presents the development and implementation of the StaffsVerse project - a virtual campus immersion tool. Designed as a Metaverse representation, the StaffsVerse project intends to transform the physical campus of Staffordshire University into an interactive digital environment. Its purpose extends to serving as a versatile tool for remote education delivery, virtual campus tours, public science outreach, and facilitating a seamless transition for students into the university community. Through immersive digital engagement, the StaffsVerse project seeks to bridge the gap between remote learners and the campus environment while facilitating a smooth integration into academic and social aspects of university life. In contrast to previous implementations of virtual campuses, the StaffsVerse project is unique in leveraging the capabilities of Unreal Editor in Fortnite (UEFN). This approach enables the development of highly detailed, interactive, and engaging environments within the expansive Fortnite ecosystem. The project's primary objective is to harness the infrastructure and extensive user base of one of the world's most widely played multi-platform games, thereby ensuring a low barrier to access. Therefore, this paper will explore how the UEFN system's adaptability can effectively create an accurate virtual replica of the physical Staffordshire University campus. The key contribution of this paper includes an overview of the design and developmental journey of the StaffsVerse project. The evolution of the project will be outlined by discussing the two pivotal iterations of the game-based implementation and explaining the decision-making process that led to the resulting version. The examination extends to the unique features of the UEFN build, addressing the inherent challenges and opportunities specific to the platform. Furthermore, specific game-based decisions are discussed, such as replicating essential campus locations, integrating interactive features, and incorporating elements unique to the virtual environment. The paper will discuss the specific educational opportunities UEFN offers, including the potential for enhancing student engagement through gamified campus experiences, insights into creating a Metaverse university campus, and contributions to the growing discourse on the intersection of game-based virtual environments in learning.

On the Road to an Automotive Digital Twin

The teaching case describes BMW’s ongoing journey to implement a digital twin at its plant in Spartanburg, SC with the help of NavVis, a reality capture solution provider. Plant Spartanburg has long been an innovation center for BMW’s automotive group, which, since its opening in 1994, has produced 1,500 vehicles each day. The case reflects on the different phases of becoming a virtually enabled plant, starting with point data that captures 3D images of factory halls and floors, to turning these 3D images into interactive digital environments, to thinking about use cases and simulations that can mirror the physical operations taking place at the plant in real-time. The case is written from the perspective of Knudt Flor, former President and CEO of Plant Spartanburg, and his aspirations in his new role as Senior Vice President for Innovation and Industry Engagement at the College of Charleston to utilize what he has observed during BMW’s digital twin journey for bringing higher education into the industry fold again.

Revealing Interaction Dynamics: Multi-Level Visual Exploration of User Strategies with an Interactive Digital Environment.

We present a visual analytics approach for multi-level visual exploration of users' interaction strategies in an interactive digital environment. The use of interactive touchscreen exhibits in informal learning environments, such as museums and science centers, often incorporate frameworks that classify learning processes, such as Bloom's taxonomy, to achieve better user engagement and knowledge transfer. To analyze user behavior within these digital environments, interaction logs are recorded to capture diverse exploration strategies. However, analysis of such logs is challenging, especially in terms of coupling interactions and cognitive learning processes, and existing work within learning and educational contexts remains limited. To address these gaps, we develop a visual analytics approach for analyzing interaction logs that supports exploration at the individual user level and multi-user comparison. The approach utilizes algorithmic methods to identify similarities in users' interactions and reveal their exploration strategies. We motivate and illustrate our approach through an application scenario, using event sequences derived from interaction log data in an experimental study conducted with science center visitors from diverse backgrounds and demographics. The study involves 14 users completing tasks of increasing complexity, designed to stimulate different levels of cognitive learning processes. We implement our approach in an interactive visual analytics prototype system, named VISID, and together with domain experts, discover a set of task-solving exploration strategies, such as "cascading" and "nested-loop', which reflect different levels of learning processes from Bloom's taxonomy. Finally, we discuss the generalizability and scalability of the presented system and the need for further research with data acquired in the wild.

The Impact of Metaverse on Graphic Design

This paper will look at how the metaverse is revolutionizing graphic design by enabling collaborative design processes, creating immersive virtual environments, and introducing unique challenges and opportunities for graphic designers. The metaverse revolutionizes graphic design through collaborative processes and immersive virtual environments, presenting unique challenges and opportunities for designers. Graphic designers can delve into the creation of immersive and interactive digital environments, design virtual avatars and 3D objects, and contribute to the development of visually stunning landscapes that will define the metaverse. They must adapt their skills and techniques to convey information and captivate users within this new medium effectively. In addition, graphic designers working in the metaverse must be mindful of ethical considerations related to inclusivity, accessibility, cultural sensitivity, and privacy. They should strive to create designs that are inclusive, accessible, and culturally sensitive, while also ensuring the privacy and security of user data. Overall, the metaverse presents graphic designers with new challenges and opportunities. They must continuously update their knowledge and skills to stay at the forefront of technological advancements in order to create compelling and impactful designs in the metaverse.

Analysis of Meta-Cosmos Empowering Basic English Teaching and Learning

Metaverse is a virtual, interactive digital environment that provides students with a new learning scenario through technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. In order to provide a more attractive and effective English learning environment, researchers have begun to introduce meta-universe technology into English language teaching. In meta-universe-enabled basic English teaching, students can interact with the virtual world through immersive learning experiences that simulate real-life scenarios and improve their language skills. Metaverse technology can also provide students with personalized learning paths and resources. In addition, social interaction in the metaverse environment promotes the development of students' intercultural communication and cooperation skills. However, metaverse-enabled basic English language teaching also faces some challenges, such as the cost of technological equipment, teacher training and technical support, etc. Future research needs to further explore how to maximize the effect of metaverse technology in English language teaching.

The ECVAM 3D Lab: a laboratory based-learning experience in a three-dimensional and interactive digital environment

L’articolo descrive l’applicazione didattica di un ambiente virtuale interattivo: il laboratorio tridimensionale ECVAM sperimentato nel corso dell’anno scolastico 2021/2022 in classi del biennio di un liceo scientifico, ordinamento tradizionale e Biomedico. La sperimentazione rientra in un progetto pilota, “The three Rs and animal use in Science” (3 Rs), promosso da Scientix, un portale online finanziato dal programma “Horizon 2020” dell’Unione europea per la ricerca e l’innovazione, che raccoglie e presenta progetti europei di educazione STEM e i loro risultati.

Dijital Hikaye Geliştirme Etkinliklerinin Ebeveynlerin Dijital Ebeveynlik ve Teknoloji Kullanım Tutumlarına Etkisinin İncelenmesi

A digital story is described as the presentation process of narration in an interactive digital environment based on sound, picture, graphics, motion graphics, images, music, and script. From all these situations forth, this study aims to enable awareness by examining the effect of digital story activities, which is about digital parenting, on parents’ digital parenting attitudes. At the same time, by examining the technology usage of the parents, it aims to put forward their technology usage attitude. This study is designed via a mixed-method research model. The study group of the research is composed of 40 parents. The most significant result of this research is that digital story activities like story development contribute to parents developing awareness of digital parenting.

Gaming and the ‘Parergodic’ Work of Seriality in Interactive Digital Environments

Twentieth-century serial figures enacted a “parergonal” logic by crossing boundaries between various media, slipping in and out of their frames, and showing them—in accordance with a Derridean logic of the parergon—to be reversible. With the rise of interactive, networked, and convergent digital media environments, these medial logics are transformed. A figure like Batman exemplifies the transition from a “parergonal” to a new “parergodic” logic; the latter term builds upon Espen Aarseth’s notion of the “ergodic” situation of gameplay—where ergodics combines the Greek ergon (work) and hodos (path), thus positing nontrivial labor as the aesthetic mode of players’ engagement with games. Ergodic media give rise to new forms of seriality that accompany, probe, and trace the developmental trajectories of the new media environment and the blurring of relations between work and play, between paid labor and the incidental work culled from our leisure and entertainment practices.

Review Pollution: Pedagogy for a Post-Truth Society

Consumer reviews on platforms like Amazon are summarized into star ratings, used to weight search results, and consulted by consumers to guide purchase decisions. They are emblematic of the interactive digital environment that has purportedly transferred power from marketers to ‘regular people,’ and yet they represent the infiltration of promotional concerns into online information, as has occurred in search and social media content. Consumers’ ratings and reviews do promotional work for brands—not just for products but the platforms that host reviews—that money can’t always buy. Gains in power by consumers are quickly met with new strategies of control by companies who depend on reviews for reputational capital. Focusing on ecommerce giant Amazon, this article examines the complexities of online reviews, where individual efforts to provide product feedback and help others make choices become transformed into an information commodity and promotional vehicle. It acknowledges the ambiguous nature of reviews due to the rise of industries and business practices that influence or fake reviews as a promotional strategy. In response are yet other business practices and platform policies aiming to provide better information to consumers, protect the image of platforms that host reviews, and punish ‘bad actors’ in competitive markets. The complexity in the production, regulation, and manipulation of product ratings and reviews illustrates how the high stakes of attention in digital spaces create fertile ground for disinformation, which only emphasizes to users that they inhabit a ‘post-truth’ reality online.

Digital technologies in foreign language learning

This article will examine the digitalization of education, its effectiveness, pros and cons. In addition, digital technologies will be able to affect the performance and motivation of students. Possible educational potential of digital technologies in teaching of foreign languages, recommendations on methods for integrating digital technologies into the educational process for work and independent work organizing of students and pupils are some of their advantages. Digital education offers new learning opportunities as student engagement in an interactive digital environment and educators use hybrid personalized learning courses, innovative, engaging learnng strategies. Looking at student success in the modern conditions they are required to be not only thoughtful digital content users, but also effective digital media creators are able to collaborate their skills and share ideas through dynamic storytelling, data visualization. The article describes the works by both Russian and foreign authors devoted to the advantages and some risks arising in society as a result of the digitalization in education. Advantages and disadvantages of digital education are clearly have been shown in the article. As the latest and most advanced technology is very expensive, at presents digitalization has both defenders and opponents of this phenomenon. It remembers about tremendous expenses on the newest digital tools and software. The final idea of this article is to create a flexible learning environment that encourages innovation.

From Experiences in a Dynamic Environment to Written Narratives on Functions

This study focusses on high school students’ written discourse about their experiences in a dynamic interactive digital environment in which functions were represented in one dimension, as dynagraphs, that are digital artifacts in which the independent variable can be acted upon and its movement causes the variation of the dependent variable. After the introduction of the notion of Dynamic Interactive Mediators within the theory of Commognition, we analyze and classify students’ written productions describing their experience with the dynagraphs. We present this classification as a tool of analysis that allows us to gain insight into how their writing reflects the temporal and dynamic dimensions of their experience with the dynagraphs. This tool is used to analyze 11 excerpts; finally, epistemological, cognitive and didactic implications of this tool are discussed.

Standardization of Design Interfaces Applied to Language Test on-line through Ubiquitous Devices

<p class="0abstractCxSpFirst">Normalization of design rules and guidelines in English language tests to help future instructors and assessment developers in the field of examination of English as a foreign language. have not been defined sufficiently until present days</p><p class="0abstractCxSpMiddle">In fact, there are several experiences and investigations related to the user’s experiences in the handling of computer exams for learning a second language that have been evaluated in, for and through different experimental interactive digital environments.</p><p class="0abstractCxSpMiddle">These interactive scenarios oriented to the user experience, UX in the ubiquitous devices, have allowed to learn technological, functional and design aspects that will be necessary in the future to establish the standards in design and vision for language tests in its online environment.</p><p class="0abstractCxSpMiddle">The lack of effective and realistic regulations has become a functional requirement for the progress of research on digital environments adapted to the needs of competence assessment and more specifically, to the learning environment of second language (L2).</p><p class="0abstractCxSpMiddle">Proliferation of on-line tests of language certification of ls with a structural corpus depends on where there are not really functional and formal guidelines that allow evaluating their quality and adequacy from the experience of the user and according to the level of learning competences acquired in a second language.</p><p class="0abstractCxSpLast">This article describes aspects of design that should be taken into account when defining an online test of languages in a ubiquitous device that will mark verifiable guidelines of a general nature and affect the evaluation task in the formation of languages that need to be checked and evaluated periodically.</p>

Bibliometric study and mapping of a journal in the field of visualization and computer graphics

The study represents the first retrospective bibliometric analysis and mapping of the IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE TVCG), one of the leading journals in the field of visualization and computer graphics, a discipline with expanding literature and emerging new areas. Using descriptive bibliometrics, the dynamics and trend patterns of publications, received citations and the impact factor of the journal were analyzed. The most productive and influential papers, authors, countries and institutions were identified. A mapping analysis, performed with VOSviewer software, visualized bibliometric networks from the perspective of keywords, authors, countries, institutions, cited references and cited journals, using co–occurrence, bibliographic coupling and co–citation analyses. From the results, the IEEE TVCG emerged as one of the leading journals in the field of visualization and computer graphics. The mapping of research themes revealed a range of established and evolving areas, including data visualizations, computer graphics, image synthesis and representation, scientific visualizations, interactive digital environments, such as virtual and augmented realities, human perception, animations and simulations. The rising number of published articles and citations, and a high journal impact factor demonstrated the growing interest of the academic community for the journal IEEE TVCG and the aforementioned area. The results and conclusions can be a valuable reference for academics, researchers and practitioners in computer graphics and visualization, as well as for authors and readers in the area of scientometrics.

Categorizing the Educational Affordances of 3 Dimensional Immersive Digital Environments

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides a general-purpose categorization scheme for assessing the utility of new and emerging three-dimensional interactive digital environments (3D-IDEs), along with specific pedagogic approaches that are known to work. It argues for the use of 3D-IDEs on the basis of their ludic appeal and ability to provide intrinsic motivation to the learner, and their openness that allows the learner to gain a more holistic understanding of a topic. Background: Researchers have investigated the affordances, benefits, and drawbacks of individual 3D-IDEs, such as virtual worlds, but teachers lack a general-purpose approach to assessing new 3D-IDEs as they appear and applying them to teaching practice. Methodology: The categorization scheme is based on the analysis, reflection, and comprehension of the research on limitations, challenges, and opportunities for teaching in virtual environments by Angel Rueda, Valdes Godines and Guzmán Flores; the scheme is discussed in terms of an experiment to trial virtual genetics labs in Second Life. Contribution: The paper describes a general-purpose approach to applying existing and new 3D virtual spaces to education, shows a worked example of the use of the categories, and describes six approaches to consider in applying these technologies. Findings: 3D-IDEs are categorized in terms of the way in which they interface with the user’s senses and their ability to provide ‘immersion’; two forms of immersion are examined: digital perceptual immersion – the generated sense of reality – and ludic narrative immersion – a less cognitive and more emotional engagement with the learning environment. Recommendations for Practitioners: Six specific forms of pedagogy appropriate for 3D-IDEs are examined and discussed, in terms of the affordances and technology required, as assessed by the categorization scheme. More broadly, the paper argues for a change in the assessment of new digital technologies from the technology’s features to its affordances and the pedagogies it can support. Recommendation for Researchers: The paper offers a practical approach to choosing and using 3D-IDEs for education, based upon previous work. The next step is to trial the scheme with teachers to ascertain its ease of use and effectiveness. Impact on Society: The paper argues strongly for a new approach to teaching, where the learner is encouraged to use 3D-IDEs in a ludic manner in order to generate internal motivation to learn, and to explore the topic according to their individual learning needs in addition to the teacher’s planned route through the learning material. Future Research: The categorization scheme is intended to be applied to new technologies as they are introduced. Future research is needed to assess its effectiveness and if necessary update the scheme.

Autonomía e imperativo del decir en la web interactiva. Una reflexión sobre el hacer archivo en redes sociales a partir del contexto argentino actual

For a decade and a half, the ways of filing and authorial intervention in web formats have invaded different spheres of action of the subjects, and have fostered behaviors of identity and cultural construction. Ways of registration and documentary organization that until recently seemed restricted to the study of institutional files, writers' files or other ways of preservation of cultural heritage, today model the daily practices of subjects that are involved with relational processes mediated by technologies. Within the framework of this problem, our objective is to reflect on the ways of making files in the context of virtual social networks, which we consider central to understanding the dynamics of intervention of subjects and groups in the interactive digital environment. This reflection is based on a documentary analysis of the publications and user interventions in the most used social network in Argentina, Facebook, taking as empirical reference the last presidential campaign of 2015. The analysis is structured by considering each publication or post as a unit of content, following the principle of digital modularity. We took the 2015 presidential campaign in Argentina because, in its development, the interactive component was a key based on a premise of fundamental action arising from the analysis, which we call the imperative of the saying. This notion, within the framework of a specific publication and filing grammar, is central in order to understand strategies for capturing votes conceived from the supposed autonomy of users.

Online Counselling: The prospect of a therapeutic connection

Over the last few years, Internet has become an integral part of daily life. An abundant source of information and a principal gateway of communication between individuals, Internet has been continuously gaining considerable ground as a tool of awareness and intervention in the area of public health. With regard to the field of mental health, Internet exhibits a credible potential in facilitating dialogue not only between experts and their beneficiaries but also between stakeholders. Moreover and with regard to various aspects of public concern, it can serve as a circulation portal of educational material between students and teachers. The advent of remote support services dates back in the decade of 1970-1980. In the present time, they consist of informative guides and self-help groups or online counselling. The latter is defined as the process in which both parties, namely the therapist and the client, are involved in an oral or written conciliation through means of an internet connection, videoconferencing, live chat or e-mail exchange. The benefits of this practice - accessibility, relocation, convenience, anonymity, facilitation of face-to-face psychotherapy and low cost - could make online counseling, in specific cases, the treatment of choice. While the usage of the World Wide Web seems promising for the rectification of mental health disorders, there is some debate among experts regarding the ethical aspect of practicing psychotherapy in an interactive digital environment. Issues such as technical expertise and the tackling of related problems, difficulties in the diagnostic process, interchange of verbal and nonverbal cues, crisis management, safeguarding the therapeutic alliance, protection of personal data, age restriction, keeping boundaries in relation to the setting, the time and the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship and, finally, training and supervisory process of online therapist, are some subjects of disagreement. Relevant research reveals the effectiveness of online counseling in decreasing the magnitude of reported symptoms, with a direct positive impact on the improvement of daily functioning and on future relapses. However, the usefulness of developing a therapeutic relationship through internet connection is being criticized by a group of clinicians, with their main arguments revolving around spatiotemporal issues and the reliability of incoming information. Some other researchers correlate the therapeutic alliance concluded in the context of electronic communication with a positive therapeutic effect. The data on the effectiveness of online practice are not sufficient to draw a definite conclusion. In an era of direct and rapid communication, it is imperative to encourage further research, for the determination of optimal conditions with respect to the practice of internet-delivered psychotherapy and the patients' well being as a result of treatment.

Complex conditional control by pigeons in a continuous virtual environment.

We tested two pigeons in a continuously streaming digital environment. Using animation software that constantly presented a dynamic, three-dimensional (3D) environment, the animals were tested with a conditional object identification task. The correct object at a given time depended on the virtual context currently streaming in front of the pigeon. Pigeons were required to accurately peck correct target objects in the environment for food reward, while suppressing any pecks to intermixed distractor objects which delayed the next object's presentation. Experiment 1 established that the pigeons' discrimination of two objects could be controlled by the surface material of the digital terrain. Experiment 2 established that the pigeons' discrimination of four objects could be conjunctively controlled by both the surface material and topography of the streaming environment. These experiments indicate that pigeons can simultaneously process and use at least two context cues from a streaming environment to control their identification behavior of passing objects. These results add to the promise of testing interactive digital environments with animals to advance our understanding of cognition and behavior.

Rub trees, crittercams, and GIS: the wired wilderness of Leanne Allison and Jeremy Mendes’ Bear 71

This article analyses Leanne Allison and Jeremy Mendes’ 2012 interactive documentary, Bear 71. Supported by the National Film Board of Canada, Allison and Mendes made use of thousands of hours of National Park crittercams footage of wildlife to inform audiences that, in Banff, ‘bears and humans live closer to each other than any place in the world’. According to Sundance, this multimedia work is a ‘poignant interactive documentary about a bear in the Canadian Rockies [that] illuminates the way humans engage with wildlife in the age of networks, satellites, and digital surveillance’. Although Bear 71 has received no scholarly attention, it explicitly engages concerns that are central to animal studies, interdisciplinary environmental humanities, critical geography, and eco-media studies. The navigable digital environment that the text simulates and produces, represented through GIS technology, the videogame-like interactivity of that space with your own ‘avatar’, and the crittercam access to intimate, everyday animal life, all raise questions about how new media produces knowledge about nature, the role of mapping tools such as Geographic Information Systems and scientific technologies like radio telemetry and crittercams in shaping human–animal relations, and the viability of an environmental ethic that bemoans the loss of nature ‘out there’. Drawing on scholarship about crittercams and wildlife, such as Benson’s Wired Wilderness and Donna Haraway’s Crittercam, and critical animal geography – especially what Sarah Whatmore calls ‘hybrid geography’ – I argue that the film’s use and representation of interactive digital environments reveal the ways that humans and nature are entangled. The film forces us to imagine that we always already live in ‘material-semiotic’ worlds and asks us to consider how ‘the wild and the domestic get swept up in the volatile eddies and flows of socio-technical networks that bring people, living organisms and machines together in new and particular ways’ (Whatmore, 344). The implications for understanding Bear 71 as articulating a hybrid geography demonstrate the contribution of critical eco-media studies to environmental thinking: space is not material, fixed, or objectively knowable; the human and the wild constitute and attenuate each other; and technology is central to – as opposed to corrupting or only mediating – our ability to perceive how we already participate with and within nature.

Analysing multimodality in an interactive digital environment: software as a meta-semiotic tool

The present paper discusses issues arising from the use of an interactive digital software tool to analyse multimodal communication. The focus is on the ways in which such technical resources and associated techniques enable the analyst of social semiosis to apply different types of analysis, and provide the site for critical reflection upon the results of such analyses. The aim is to present an argument for the use of an interactive digital software application as a meta-semiotic tool. Three major challenges for scholars engaged in multimodal social semiotics are addressed in pursuing this aim, specifically with reference to the development of digital interactive analytical resources. Firstly, scholars are faced with the task of not only accounting for an increasing range of semiotic resources, but also for the way different semiotic phenomena interact to produce meaning. Secondly, the multimodal semiotician has a broad range of analytical approaches potentially relevant to any task to draw upon. Thirdly, the nature of contemporary media forms offer challenges themselves in terms of access, analysis and presentation of analysis.