conor
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Posts by conor
CHI 2010
Feb 21st
We are delighted to have a strong representation at CHI 2010, with five separate pieces of work that have been accepted to various tracks of the conference. CHI 2010 takes place from April 10th – 15th in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. CHI (ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) is the premier international conference for the field of human-computer interaction. CHI 2010 looks outward to the human experience of computing in the world. “We are HCI†challenges our community to embrace the diversity of HCI in the world and to exclaim our commitment as a profession to empower people from all walks of life.
Ben will present a main conference track paper on social network analysis entitled “Improving Social Game Engagement on Facebook through Enhanced Socio-Contextual Information.” We will present two papers at the alt.chi track of the conference. The first of these examines pervasive gaming in high security environments and is based around an initial evaluation of the Blowtooth game (see http://www.blowtooth.com). The second of our alt.chi papers deals with the possible advantages of analysing feedback delivered by persuasive applications in a way that is influenced by the findings of behavioural science. This paper is entitled “There’s a Monster in My Kitchen: Using Aversive Feedback to Motivate Behaviour Change.”
The two remaining contributions are Work-in-Progress poster presentations. The first of these presents a social tagging-based methodology for determining content of food photographs, while the second, presented by Derek Foster, details the results of a pilot study of an application that combines the use of pedometer data and social networks to motivate users to increase the amount of exercise.
MindTrek 2009
Jul 27th
LiSC are delighted to be attending the 2009 MindTrek Conference in Tampere, Finland, which takes place from 30th September to 2nd October. MindTrek is the leading Nordic digital media and business conference, focusing on social media & Web 2.0. The conference brings together entrepreneurs, researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines that are involved in the development of media in various fields, ranging from sociology and economy, to technology.
Ben Kirman will present a paper entitled “Mario, Luigi and Dave: The Effect of Language on the Social Structure of a Bilingual Online Mobile Game.”
Abstract – In this paper, we explore the structure of a social community built in an online game that was released in two languages, specifically examining the behaviours of players involved in inter-lingual interaction. This asynchronous social game was released simultaneously in Italian and English. The player base was seeded with English and Italian players but allowed to grow organically without restriction. Despite the built-in segregation by language, we found that the entire player-base formed into a single social network and developed strategies for overcoming the challenges faced by a multi-lingual game community.
Using Network Analysis, we break down the community in the game based on language and play style. We demonstrate that the behaviour of both English and Italian players was equivalent, and that play style had no effect on the likelihood of players deliberately engaging in inter-lingual communication.
In the context of the strategies used by the players in our experiment, we discuss game design patterns that provide incentives for users to behave more socially and how to create tools to enable the players to cross the lingual and cultural barriers in online games.
Conor Linehan will be presenting a paper entitled “Developing a serious game to evaluate and train group decision making skills.”
Abstract – The success of a serious game depends on whether the skill being taught and practiced in the game is the same as that which is required in the real world. The current paper describes the building of a serious game designed to teach group decision making skills to a unique audience; people who co-ordinate responses to real-world emergencies such as floods, fires, volcanoes and chemical spills.
Eighteen participants were recruited and videotaped while playing a paper prototype of the game. Players’ actions within the game were analysed in terms of whether the challenges that are present in real world decision-making environments are also present in the game-world decision making environment. It appears that the defining characteristics of group decision making behaviour, especially the mistakes, are evident in groups that play our game. In addition, the round-based game structure allows a tutor the opportunity to deliver in-depth qualitative feedback without interrupting game play. Thus, the game design should prove to be a valid environment in which to train, practice and evaluate the decision making behaviours of groups and function as a valuable and engaging part of a group decision making skills training course.
HCI International 2009
Jul 14th
The 13th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction will be held 19-24 July 09, Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA, USA. This conference is an international forum for the dissemination and exchange of information on theoretical, generic and applied areas of HCI.
Laura Daley will present her paper “Asperger Syndrome and Mobile Phone Behaviour” on Thursday 23 July.
Abstract – This paper introduces the idea of using modern technology to work as an assistive tool for adults with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) and Higher-Functioning Autism (HFA) The study investigated the use of mobile phones by a neurotypical control group. Participants reported their pattern of phone use given specific social scenarios. Results showed that participants were more likely to use the text messaging facility on their phone to contact someone rather than call them. It also showed that their choice of communication mode did not differ given different social scenarios and neither did it when the information was given from the recipients’ perspective. Further investigation is described where this information will be compared to a group of AS individuals.
8th International Conference on Entertainment Computing
Jul 14th
| The 8th International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC) takes place in Paris from 3-5th September 2009. ICEC is the longest established and most prestigious conference in the field of entertainment computing and an international forum for the exchange of experience and knowledge amongst researchers and developers in the field of entertainment computing.
Ben Kirman is presenting a paper entitled “Hardcore Classi cation: Identifying Play Styles in Social Games using Network Analysis.” Abstract – In the social network of a web-based online game, all players are not equal. Through network analysis, we show that the community of players in a online social game is an example of a scale free small world network and that the growth of the player-base obeys a power law. The community is centred around a minority group of “hardcore” players who de fine the social environment for the game, and without whom the social network would collapse. Methods are discussed for identifying this critically important subset of players automatically through analysing social behaviours within the game. |
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2009 IEEE International Conference on Social Computing
Jul 14th
The 2009 IEEE International Conference on Social Computing takes place in Vancouver from August 29-31st, 2009. This conference provides a key forum for researchers and industry practitioners to exchange information regarding advancements in the state of art and practice of social computing. Social Computing can be broadly defined as computational facilitation of social studies and human social dynamics as well as design and use of information and communication technologies that consider social context.
Ben Kirman will present a paper entitled “Gaming on and off the Social Graph: The Social Structure of Facebook Games.”
Abstract—Games built on Online Social Networks (OSNs) have become a phenomenon since 3rd party developer tools were released by OSNs such as Facebook. However, apart from their explosive popularity, little is known about the nature of the social networks that are built during play. In this paper, we present the findings of a network analysis study carried out on two Facebook applications, in comparison with a similar but stand-alone game. We found that games built both on and off a social graph exhibit similar social properties. Specifically, the distribution of player-to-player interactions decays as a power law with a similar exponent for the majority of players. For games built on the social network platform however, we find that the networks are characterised by a sharp cut-off, compared with the classically scale-free nature of the social network for the game not built on an existing social graph.
SAGSET 2009 – 39th Annual Conference “Coaching and Learning Through Gamesâ€
Jul 13th
July 22nd to 24th, 2009
Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, Yorkshire, UK
Formed in 1970, SAGSET is a voluntary professional society dedicated to improving the effectiveness and quality of learning through the use of interactive learning, role-play, simulation and gaming – in all aspects of education and training, from Primary School to University – and in all levels of adult, lifelong learning from the shop floor to the board room. The Coaching and Learning Through Games ’09 Confererence promises to be an interesting event for all those interested in serious games.
Conor Linehan will be presenting a paper entitled “There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Emergency Management Team:’ Designing and evaluating a serious game for training emergency managers in group decision making skills” on Thursday July 23, 2009.
ABSTRACT – Serious games are games that are designed to educate rather than entertain. The game outlined and evaluated here was commissioned and designed as a tool to improve the group decision making skills of people who manage real-world emergencies such as floods, fires, volcanoes and chemical spills. The game design exploits research on decision making groups and applies pedagogically sound games design principles. An evaluation of the game design was carried out based on a paper prototype. Eight participants were recruited and assigned to two groups of four participants each. These groups were video recorded while playing the game and the video was analysed in terms of game actions and member participation. Results indicate that the group who behaved in a more appropriate manner for a decision making group were rewarded with more positive feedback from the game state. These findings suggest that the game itself delivers appropriate feedback to players on their collaborative behaviour and is thus fit for the purposes intended in the current project.
See further details here
Future and Reality of Games Conference (F.R.O.G.) 2009
Jul 13th
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3rd Vienna Games Conference Future and Reality of Games (F.R.O.G.) 2009 “Exploring the Edge of Gaming” Vienna, Austria, Friday 25 to Sunday 27 September 2009 Vienna’s annual Games Conference FROG brings together leading game studies researchers, game designers, players, and education professionals from around the world. The main objective of FROG 09 is to explore the edge of gaming and discuss insights into how to reach beyond the limits of theory and practice of game play. LiSC are contributing to two sessions at this event. Ben Kirman is presenting a paper on “Gaming on the Edge of Good Taste: Playful Misconduct in Social Games” on Friday 25th September, Conor Linehan is presenting “A behavioural framework for designing educational computer games” on Saturday 26th. Abstract – Research has indicated that computer games can be innovative and powerful tools for education. Combining psychological research and games design principles offers a framework for developing educational games that promote learning while maintaining high motivation of the players. However, there has yet to be consensus on the most effective method of combining psychological research with games design principles. The current paper proposes that behavioural teaching methodologies already resemble game structures in some respects, and thus may be ideally suited to inform the design of educational computer games. Indeed, designing games based on behavioural teaching principles would have the reciprocal benefit of providing a medium through which these highly successful teaching programmes can be rolled out on a much larger scale than is currently possible. For more details click here |
Play our new Facebook games!
Jul 13th
We have created three games designed to utilise facebook in order to investigate the role of social networking in game playing and the effect of facebook games on subsequent social interactions. All three games – Familiars, Magpies and Beachcombers – are free to play and are currently available to all facebook users.
Familiars (http://apps.facebook.com/familiar) is a game that assigns an animal companion to the player based on an analysis of their Facebook activity, along with votes from friends and output from facial analysis of users’ photographs.
The animal companions – or ‘Familiars’ – change form primarily according to the social behaviour displayed by the player on facebook. For example, a user may be very socially active one week, commenting on friends’ walls and photos and receiving many comments from their friends. In this case, the familiar will reflect this by becoming a social creature such as a rabbit or a wolf. On the other hand, if a user is particularly inactive in a week the familiar may reflect this by becoming a less social creature, such as a bear or lobster. The player can tell their familiar what kind of animal they would like it to be, but it knows how you behave, so will always reflect this.
‘Familiars’ is based on PASION technology and is designed to provide players and their friends with intuitive visual feedback on underlying social behaviours – thus enhancing their experience of using social networking sites such as facebook.
Magpies are birds that are famous for collecting shiny objects. ‘Magpies’ (http://apps.facebook.com/magpiemagpie) is a game based on collecting ‘shiny objects’ – cool stuff! Players create collections – or stashes – based around themes and other players can contribute pictures, locations and internet links to the stash if they like the theme. For example, players have created stashes based on cute animals, best films and odd inventions. Players can also band together in groups in order to compete together. The quality of the stashes and the social interactions displayed by players in the game are analysed in order to find out who is King of the Magpies!
Beachcombers are people who search beaches for hidden treasures. ‘Beachcombers’ (http://apps.facebook.com/beachcombers) is similar to Magpies, as it is also a game about creating collections of cool stuff such as pictures, locations and internet links. However, Beachcombers provides a simpler scoring mechanism that does not involve social network analysis. Simply the quality of stashes is calculated in order to find out who is King of the Beachcombers!
All three games are free to use and completely open to all Facebook users, so please pass on this invitation to anyone you think would be interested.
Hello!
Jul 10th
Welcome to the Lincoln Social Computing (LiSC) Research Centre blog. We intend to update the site with information on conferences we are attending, papers we have published and interesting articles we have come across.