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Reigner, Nathan P. "Exploring Visitors: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand Visitor Behavior and Improve the Efficacy of Visitor Information in Haleakalā National Park." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/36048.
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Resource and visitor experience degradation in Haleakalā National Park resulting from recreational use of the Pools of 'Ohe'o has led park officials to discourage visitor use of the pools. This study uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine relationships among visitors' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control with regard to exploring the pools, their intentions to explore, and their actual behaviors while visiting the pools. Further, this study examines the influence of persuasive messages on visitors' behavior at the pools. Persuasive message treatments emphasize either the dangers of exploring the Pools of 'Ohe'o or resource protection and visitor experience impacts of recreational use at the pools. Through regression analysis of attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioral control with intention to explore, TPB is generally found to be an effective model for understanding visitor behavior at 'Ohe'o's Pools, particularly when visitors are exposed to persuasive messages. Results of analysis of variance indicate that the TPB model components of attitudes and subjective norms with regard to traveling companions and National Park Service officials are influenced by exposure to the persuasive treatment messages. Additionally, both intention to explore the pools and observed exploration behavior are significantly lower among those visitors receiving any persuasive treatment message. Thus, results of this research generally support the individual relationships assumed within TPB. With identification of the most influential components of visitor behavior, as understood through the TPB model developed in this study, managers of Haleakalā National Park will be able to develop and apply persuasive interpretive messages that maximize safe and sensitive visitor recreational behavior at the Pools of 'Ohe'o.Master of Science
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Zajaczkowski, Erica Lea. "Information, Design, and Technology:How They Work Together to Inform a Museum Visitor." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1407780595.
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Smith, M. "3D interactive technology and the museum visitor experience." Thesis, Kingston University, 2015. http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/33958/.
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There is a growing interest in developing systems for displaying museum artefacts as well as historic buildings and materials. This work connects with this interest by creating a 3D interactive display for Fishbourne Roman Palace Museum, West Sussex, England. The research aimed to create a reconstruction of the Palace as it would have been at its height, a reconstruction that was interactive in the sense that museum visitors would be able to walk through the buildings and local grounds and experience the site in a way not possible through traditional museum displays. The inclusion of the interactive element prompted the incorporation of game engines as a means of visualising and navigating around the reconstructed 3D model of the Palace. There are numerous game engines available, and the research evaluated a selection with respect to their functionality, cost, and ease of use. It also applied a technology readiness method to assess potential users’ response to the incorporation of different degrees of interactivity. Research was undertaken regarding the appearance of the Palace and, based on the available archaeology and relevant artistic interpretations, a model was created using Autodesk Maya software. This model was exported into each of the possible game engines, and a comparison was made based of each engine’s audio, visual, and functional fidelity, as well as composability and accessibility. The most appropriate engine is chosen based on these results. With reference to the assessment criteria, the hardware and software is in preparation for installation at the Fishbourne Roman Palace Museum. The Technology Readiness Index was applied to determine the effectiveness of such a display compared to a non-interactive representation, a study that concludes that a highly interactive display may not be the most sensible solution for the majority of visitors.
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Smith, Martha Kellogg. "Art information use and needs of non-specialists : evidence in art museum visitor studies /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7182.
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Bukhari, Rizal. "Visitor Use of lnterpretive Facilities at Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming." DigitalCommons@USU, 1996. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/6539.
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Visitors expect to a gain high-quality outdoor experiences at any recreation site they visit. In order to support that effort, most recreation managers utilize interpretive facilities to educate and inform visitors about the site. It is important for interpretive managers to be aware of what kind of interpretive media could best be used in a given setting for the type of visitor anticipated. To accomplish this goal, it is necessary to understand visitors' behavior and incorporate that understanding into the interpretive planning process.
This study looks at visitor use of interpretive facilities provided at Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming. The primary method of data-gathering for this study was observation (participant observation and behavioral mapping). Observations were made at randomly selected times over 63 hours of observation in 1995. Data were collected at three locations: Fossil Butte visitor center, Fossil Lake self-guided trail, and roadside displays. Analysis was made using descriptive statistics for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data.
A 13-minute audiovisual program was the most attractive interpretive facility at the visitor center. Other popular activities in the center include: examing standing displays on paleontology, asking information or directions, taking pictures, making purchases, and certain activities for children. Nature trail hiking usually was done in conjunction with use of nearby picnic facilities. More visitors in vehicles passed by the roadside display than those who stopped to read it. Based on these and other results, several recommendations are made for park managers.
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Taxén, Gustav. "Participatory Design in Museums : Visitor-Oriented Perspectives on Exhibition Design." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Numerisk Analys och Datalogi, NADA, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-221.
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This thesis is about the design of technology for museum exhibitions. More specifically, it explores different ways in which visitors can contribute to museum exhibition design and how technology can support learning-related activities within museum exhibitions. Most contemporary museums collect, preserve, and provide access to important cultural and historical artefacts with the explicit intention of educating and informing the general public about those artefacts. For many exhibition designers, the audience's encounter with the exhibition is of primary concern, and technology is often seen as a means for providing visitors with new experiences and opportunities for learning. However, it appears to be only very recently that researchers have begun to show an interest in how modern technology is actually being used by visitors and many museums are struggling in their efforts to incorporate new technologies in their established exhibition design practices. Thus, on the one hand, many museums are seeking more visitor-focused ways of carrying out design (with the help of, for example, different forms of evaluation or feedback). On the other hand, many museums seem to have limited experience with designing technology in a user-oriented fashion. Consequently, human-computer interaction, with its long tradition of involving users in design, is in a position to provide museums with new ways for audiences to contribute to exhibitions with their knowledge, experience, opinions, and desires. The papers in this thesis explore this topic through a number of case studies where visitors have been invited to contribute to the design and evaluation of exhibitions. The analysis of the results suggests that visitors can provide relevant contributions in all of the main phases of museum exhibition production. This thesis also addresses the issue of how technology can support learning-related activities in museums. It appears that many museums base their notion of learning on epistemologies which suggest that activities such as interpretation, communication, and collaboration are fundamental to most museum learning processes. Consequently, the papers in this thesis explore a number of different techniques for supporting and orchestrating such social activities. The result is a set of design approaches that has the ability to encourage collaboration and dialogue between co-present visitors and allow visitors to create dynamic and evolving contexts for existing exhibits. In summary, the contributions of this thesis explore museum exhibition design from two different, yet interrelated perspectives. From the first perspective, visitors' desires, wishes, experiences, and knowledge are seen as important contributions to museum exhibition design. From the second perspective, different social activities and relationships between visitors in museums become the focus of the design activities. Together, these two perspectives outline an approach to museum exhibition design where visitors are of primary concern, both with respect to the content presented in exhibitions and with respect to the way exhibitions orchestrate and support different forms of social interaction.QC 20101004
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Swart, Lidia. "The impact of social media on the existence of visitor information centres in South Africa." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/60521.
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The visitor information centre (VIC) play a valuable role in the distribution of tourism-related information in most areas in South Africa that are frequented by tourists. They also provide a contact point for human interaction where trust can be built between the VIC staff and visitor, thereby making the destination a more worthwhile and valued experience. The main role of the VIC is to provide information in the form of knowledge also referred to as value-added information. Today, the VIC, as intermediary, could be left behind as the Internet (of which social media is part) has become a powerful source of information for tourists and marketing tool for hotels and tourist attractions without them having to spend millions of Rands on alternative marketing strategies. This study sought to establish whether VICs still have a role to play in the South African tourist industry with the increasing presence of social media.
A mixed method research methodology was applied, combining both qualitative and quantitative techniques. In-depth interviews were conducted with the staff and managers of selected visitor information centres in Cape Town and Johannesburg, respectively. The interviews were transcribed and the findings are presented in Chapter 5. Questionnaires was distributed, online, to a sample of 200 visitors, using Qualtrics.
Overall, the aim of the study is to furnish information about the value of VICs in the tourism industry, including the role played by demographics in respect of social media usage, in order to help improve the functioning of VICs as a knowledge base that adds value to the process of making South Africa one of the top 20 tourism destinations, globally, by 2020.Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Tourism Management
MCom
Unrestricted
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Roberts, Geoffrey C., and n/a. "The collection of visitor use information and its implications for park management planning : Centennial Park case study." University of Canberra. Applied Science, 1986. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20061107.143926.
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This study critically examines the role of visitor use
information in park management planning. Few park planning
documents utilise visitor use information. This is thought
to result from two problems. Firstly, visitor use studies
have been plagued with methodological problems such as
unclear objectives, lack of rigour in the survey design and
lack of synthesis of information needs. These have resulted
in data which are unreliable and at times have no direct
implication for management planning. The second problem
arises from the lack of understanding of the role visitor
use information may play in the planning process.
A case study, the Centennial Park User Survey, was
undertaken to demonstrate how the inadequacies of existing
visitor use studies could be overcome and to provide a base
for future planning of Centennial Park. The survey data
have assisted Management both in day-to-day decision making
and future management planning relating to control of
forthcoming events, responding to public comment, traffic
management, facility provision, staff changeover, park staff
work programmes and rosters, allocation of financial and
staff resources, promotion of the Park, provision of
interpretative material and re-allocation of users.
By comparing the shortcomings of previous studies with the
experience of the case study, specific implications for the
collection and use of visitor use information in park
management planning have been identified.
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Marr, Shuna A. "Work process knowledge in Scottish visitor attractions." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/254.
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Work process knowledge (WPK) is a concept for systems-level knowledge of the workplace and has been shown to be most important in organisations requiring multi-functional working. Most of the previous body of knowledge on WPK has focussed mainly on manufacturing industries; there has been less investigation of WPK in the service sector and none in the visitor attraction (VA) industry, an important employer in Scotland. The VA industry is extremely dynamic and many businesses are rapidly moving towards multi-functional team working, driven by an urgent need to develop quality, customer-focussed strategies to survive in an over-supplied and very competitive market. This study identifies the nature of WPK in Scottish VAs, what relationship WPK has to customer service, how WPK in this service sector differs from selected published studies in manufacturing and other service sector contexts and what factors affect the development of WPK in VAs. Following recruitment of a number of VAs using an online questionnaire and subsequent site visits, six sites were selected for case study, on the basis that they demonstrated most evidence of multi-functional working and staff with developed WPK. The research design was comparative case studies of the work processes and knowledge within these six VAs, based on a social constructivist framework, using the methods of key informant interviews and shadowing. Although these six sites represent a cross-spread of attractions in terms of types, location and size, they nonetheless show strong similarities in their basic business structure. The data show that WPK is an essential element of workers’ roles and a vital requirement in providing good customer service. Although VA managers do not use the term ‘work process knowledge’, they nonetheless recognise the importance of having staff with a wider view of their business and are actively encouraging its rapid development. Multi-functionality and job rotation are main ways of developing WPK but sites also use key workers with job roles that help develop high levels of WPK, who are then used as a staff resource. The main factor contributing to the development of WPK is communication, especially of systems-level information. Cultural information-sharing is an essential pre-condition for the development of WPK in this context. Other determining factors are flexibility, employee biographies, seasonality issues, how weddings and functions are handled on-site and the size and complexity of the site. WPK is the foundation on which good customer service is based and elements of it deliver customer service. It is the closely integrated nature of the employee-customer relationship that has such a profound effect on WPK development in this service sector industry and is essentially what differentiates it from previously published studies. The identification of the customer as a hitherto unrecognised key driver of WPK is the most important contribution to knowledge made by this work.
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Shaw, Haley N. "Exploring the Role of In-Gallery Technology-Based Interactives on Visitor-Object Experience." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1574365068794488.
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Booth, Benjamin Keith Willoughby. "An investigation of museum data storage and access technologies including case studies on archaeological records at the National Maritime Museum and visitor information at the Science Museum." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1996. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317527/.
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This dissertation investigates the technology for storage and access to data in museums, focusing on requirements for collections management and the information needs of visitors. The various components of museum information systems, including data structures and terminology, recording media, computer software and hardware, manual systems, and management procedures are comprehensively examined through case studies at the National Maritime and Science Museums. The first case study describes and assesses manual and computer based techniques developed for the storage and retrieval of records in the Archaeological Research Centre at the UK National Maritime Museum. The types of data which the system encompasses were derived from a wide range of sources, including both land based and underwater fieldwork; archaeological, historical and ethnographic research; routine curatorial activities, including conservation; and research into the conservation of waterlogged materials. Further aspects considered included the collection of data in the field, and the development of a framework on which the analysis of boat finds could be based. Archaeological and museum record keeping, and contemporary developments in computer technology are reviewed. The design, development and use of the system are described, and the system is assessed against the initial specification and in the light of users' experience. The second case study builds on the experience of the first, and examines the requirements for a visitor information system at the Science Museum in London.Sources which are used include an analysis of overall visitor needs, specific requirements for object based information and public interest in information as exhibited through the use of the Museum's World Wide Web pages. Building on these studies and the experience of other museums providing such a facility, a model system is outlined, including visitor orientation and information points within the Museum and external access to information.The data requirements of this system are tested against the types of information which are already available in the museum. An overall approach to designing the system is described. In conclusion a comparison is made between the information requirements for collection management and visitor information. Technological issues including data structures and database design are reviewed, and the costs of various options are considered.
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Hanzlíková, Blanka. "Hodnocení přínosu informačního centra pro podporu cestovního ruchu." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2014. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-192997.
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The Master's Thesis focuses on the ways of tourist information centres contribution to the support of the tourism. The analysis is demonstrated on the tourist information centre of CzechTourism. The chapters contain tourist information centre's activities, the information about the Association of Tourist Information Centres in the Czech Republic, about CzechTourism, basic facts about state-funded institutions and methods of effectiveness evaluating in the non-profit sector. The practical part provides knowledge about the activities of the information centre on the Old Town Square, assesses its present situation and its contribution to the tourism support.
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Larsen, Sofie, and Camilla Spång. ""Man vill inte bli en mänsklig version av en digital tjänst" : en studie om turistbyråns avveckling i Uppsala och Malmö." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för organisation och entreprenörskap (OE), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-91165.
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Abstract The study began out of curiosity to research stakeholders perception about decommissioning visitors centers in Sweden. Decommissioning visitors centers is an ongoing trend caused by the change in visitor behaviour. A major cause to this change is the new information- and communication technologies such as more advanced digital platforms. Through an inductive research approach and a qualitative research method have we studied the phenomenon decommissioning of visitor centers. The empirical material is gathered through unstructured telephone interviews with relevant stakeholders. We concluded that stakeholders at both destinations have experienced a greater responsibility for the hospitality given. They also got the impression that visitors do not gain enough essential information upon arrival and gets baffled by this lack of information. In addition to this, the result of the study indicates a blurred line around who is responsible for the personal and the digital hospitality at the destinations. The confusion about who's in charge for handing out tourism information is present at both destinations.
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Kupka, Stanisław. "Informační systém pro filmový festival." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta podnikatelská, 2009. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-222272.
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Film is cultural piece which has quickly become as phenomena of Twentieth Century. Film festivals are celebration of all spectrum of works and theirs authors. Festivals contributes to development of film industry and cinematography. Endeavor to improve organization's effectiveness of this social event can be done by establishing an information system which can help to reach higher attendance and satisfaction of visitors.
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Jutant, Camille. "S'ajuster, interpréter et qualifier une pratique culturelle : Approche communicationnelle de la visite muséale." Phd thesis, Université d'Avignon, 2011. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00819239.
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La thèse contribue à comprendre le rapport qui peut s'établir entre expérience spécifique de la culture et relation à la culture, dans le cas particulier de la visite muséale. C'est la notion d'ajustement qui est proposée pour rendre compte de ce rapport. Celle-ci désigne un régime d'interaction au cours duquel, l'acteur social s'engage dans un corps-à-corps avec un dispositif de communication et interprète la situation en mobilisant des représentations de cette situation et de son rôle de visiteur. Aussi la première partie montre - grâce à un détour par les théories de l'ethnométhodologie, des représentations sociales et de l'interaction médiatisée - comment le cadre méthodologique de la thèse a été construit pour appréhender la pratique du visiteur en train de se déployer. Deux terrains ont été choisis pour cette analyse : une exposition temporaire, dans les salles du musée du Louvre, qui engage une situation postulée comme une expérience de visite ; et un jeu pédagogique sur téléphone portable, mené dans les salles du musée des arts et métiers, qui ébranle, précisément, ce prérequis. La deuxième partie présente ainsi une analyse qui met en regard l'étude de la préfiguration des situations de communication par les dispositifs pour chacun des terrains, et la dynamique de leur redéfinition par les visiteurs, dans un ajustement progressif. L'exemple du texte, en tant qu'il est un opérateur de médiation aux objets et aux savoirs, permet de voir comment le visiteur s'ajuste à une double anticipation (l'activité de lecture et l'activité de visite), dans une tension entre la caractérisation de ses postures de lecture, la retextualisation des propositions et la reformulation permanente du projet général de la visite. La troisième partie consiste alors à regarder comment le visiteur caractérise la situation qu'il est en train de vivre, non plus seulement à partir de son expérience de lecture, mais à partir de sa compréhension de son activité générale de visite. On observe alors que les visiteurs vivent profondément une situation d'interaction médiatisée, c'est-à-dire qu'à la fois ils postulent une forme de dialogue avec un concepteur qui leur " parle " et en même temps ils identifient en permanence le geste expographique qui consiste à mettre en scène un espace. Cette situation est vécue dans un jeu d'attention très forte aux caractéristiques sémiotiques de l'exposition et de suspension volontaire de l'incrédulité. Pour terminer, l'analyse a permis de mettre au jour trois formes d'ajustement caractéristiques : (1) la mobilisation et construction de figures de parcours et de figures de visiteurs qui médiatisent le rapport de l'acteur à sa propre pratique et qui lui permettent de juger la situation de communication qu'il est en train de vivre. (2) La prise de rôle qui s'élabore à partir de la nécessité de trouver un cadre pertinent d'interprétation pour l'activité. (3) Et enfin, le jeu entre description de l'activité et cadre général d'interprétation qui permet au visiteur de construire un rapport plus général à la culture.
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Andrade, Marta Melo de. "Design de Comunicação no Parque Natural da Arrábida." Master's thesis, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Arquitetura, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/20141.
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Dissertação de Mestrado em Design, com a especialização em Design de Comunicação apresentada na Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre.O Parque Natural da Arrábida desempenha um papel ativo na conservação da biodiversidade e do ambiente, tendo como missão informar, consciencializar e educar os seus visitantes. Visto receber anualmente milhares de visitantes, é essencial cumprir e transmitir claramente os seus objetivos e razão de existir. Dado a comunicação visual do Parque Natural não se enquadrar nestes parâmetros, não cumprindo totalmente os objetivos da organização, esta foi objeto de estudo da investigação. A finalidade desta investigação foi, através do design de comunicação, criar uma comunicação visual coerente e a produção dos seus elementos gráficos, de um modo eficaz, proporcionando um melhor cumprimento dos propósitos da entidade e uma melhor experiência para o visitante. Para alcançar a meta definida, foram utilizados métodos não intervencionistas na realização do Enquadramento teórico, entrevista exploratória e questionários, estudando matérias relevantes, avaliando necessidades e eficácia da atual comunicação do Parque. Posteriormente, foram utilizados métodos intervencionistas no desenvolvimento do projeto de design de comunicação. Espera-se que o projeto desenvolvido beneficie o Parque e os seus visitantes. A preocupação de informar e consciencializar o público, se partilhada com outras entidades, poderá potenciar mudanças no modo de vida da população, melhorando atitudes coletivas para com a Natureza, beneficiando o planeta.
ABSTRACT: The Arrábida Natural Park plays an active role in the conservation of biodiversity and the environment, having as its mission to inform, raise awareness and educate its visitors. As it receives thousands of visitors annually, it is essential to clearly fulfill and communicate its goals and purpose. Since the visual communication of the Natural Park does not fit these parameters, not completely fulfilling the goals of the organization, it was chosen as the object of study of this investigation. The investigation purpose was to create, through communication design, coherent visual communication and the production of its graphic elements effectively, providing a better fulfillment of the entity’s purposes and a better experience for the visitor. In order to achieve these goals, non-interventionist methods were used to accomplish the theoretical framework, exploratory interview and questionnaires, studying relevant subjects, assessing needs and effectiveness of the current Park communication. Subsequently interventionist methods were used in the development of the communication design project. It is expected that the project will benefit both the Park and its visitors. This concern to inform and raise public awareness, if shared with other entities, may enhance changes in the population’s lifestyle, improving collective attitudes towards nature, benefiting the planet.
N/A
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Fahlstedt, Hedvig. "Principles of a Gamification Concept in a Museum Using AR for Enhancing the Engagement in Children." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-289221.
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Museums are not only public repositories of culture, but also educational institutions striving to emotionally stimulate visitors with an explorative educational experience. However, it is stated knowledge that museums can be considered boring, especially by the younger visitors. The purpose of this study was to investigate how a museum exhibition can become more engaging by combining gamification with the museum's course of action to enhance visitor engagement in children. The goal was to identify distinct principles in the dimensions of gamification, the museum context, the target group of 10-13 year olds and Augmented Reality. With a Research Through Design approach, a concept study and design study was conducted, and a prototype was developed as a representation of the principal findings. The prototype was evaluated in a user study conducted with participants within the target group. The result of the user study indicated that the gamification concept was engaging but due to few participants as well as lack of usability data, the concept could not be fully validated to enhance visitor engagement in a museum. However, evaluation of the findings and the defined distinct principles of the dimensions can serve as guidelines for other research conducted within the same dimensions or with similar conditions.Ett museum är inte bara en offentlig förvaring av kultur utan även en utbildningsinstitution som strävar efter att emotionellt stimulera sina besökare genom att erbjuda en stimulerande utbildningsupplevelse. Dock finns det en allmän uppfattning att museer ibland anses vara tråkiga, särskilt hos de yngre besökarna. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur en utställning i ett museum kan bli mer engagerande genom att kombinera spelifiering med museets handlingssätt för att förbättra besökarnas engagemang hos barn. Målet var att identifiera distinkta principer i de fyra dimensionerna spelifiering, museum som kontext, målgruppen 10-13-åringar och teknologin Augmented Reality. Genom att använda Research Through Design metodologin genomfördes en konceptstudie och designstudie. En prototyp utvecklades som en representation av de definierade principerna som utvärderades i en användarstudie med deltagare inom målgruppen. Användarstudiens resultat visade att spelifieringskonceptet var engagerande, men med anledning av få deltagare såväl som brist på användardata kunde konceptet inte validera att besökarnas museumrelaterade engagemang förbättrades. Däremot kan resultatens utvärdering och de principer som definierats i denna studie fungera som riktlinjer för annan forskning som utförs inom samma dimensioner eller med liknande förhållanden.
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Chambers, Martin. "“Daddy”, from Vision to Video." Thesis, Umeå University, Informatics, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-1739.
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”A designer rarely works alone”. The first sentence of Jonas Löwgren and Erik Stolterman's chapter on design as a social process made me curious. What if a designer worked alone? What are the actual differences between working on a project alone and as part of a group? How would it influence the creative process? What would be different when coming up with ideas, meeting with clients and setting deadlines? Does the influence of another designer stifle the individual creativity or does it actually nurish it? This paper is written to answer these and other questions as well as take you through the creative process of the production of ”Daddy” - the music video.
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Kravchyna, Victoria. "Information Needs of Art Museum Visitors: Real and Virtual." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2004. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4692/.
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Museums and libraries are considered large repositories of human knowledge and human culture. They have similar missions and goals in distributing accumulated knowledge to society. Current digitization projects allow both, museums and libraries to reach a broader audience, share their resources with a variety of users. While studies of information seeking behavior, retrieval systems and metadata in library science have a long history; such research studies in museum environments are at their early experimental stage. There are few studies concerning information seeking behavior and needs of virtual museum visitors, especially with the use of images in the museums' collections available on the Web. The current study identifies preferences of a variety of user groups about the information specifics on current exhibits, museum collections metadata information, and the use of multimedia. The study of information seeking behavior of users groups of museum digital collections or cultural collections allows examination and analysis of users' information needs, and the organization of cultural information, including descriptive metadata and the quantity of information that may be required. In addition, the study delineates information needs that different categories of users may have in common: teachers in high schools, students in colleges and universities, museum professionals, art historians and researchers, and the general public. This research also compares informational and educational needs of real visitors with the needs of virtual visitors. Educational needs of real visitors are based on various studies conducted and summarized by Falk and Dierking (2000), and an evaluation of the art museum websites previously conducted to support the current study.
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Harrison, Joan P. "The information and planning needs of health visitors." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 1988. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/20694/.
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Rationale: The health visiting service is not planned on the basis of the health needs of the local population. Although relevant information is available it has not been made accessible for use. This study aims to: 1. Obtain baseline data regarding aims, planning methods, health goals and information needs of health visitors in selected practices in Sheffield. 2. Provide information concerning the health visitors' potential caseload and monitor its impact on the production of community profiles and identification of health goals. 3. Evaluate whether health visitors perceive positive change in their planning abilities and whether information provided meets their information needs. 4. Evaluate the social and political effects on the organisation of the health visiting service relating to the information provision. Nature. Scope and Method: An action research approach is used. The sample included, health visitors (N = 31) and their managers (N = 8), who were interviewed with an audiotaped interview schedule, piloted (N = 11). The health visitor sampled attended information workshops resulting in their building community profiles, negotiating practice with managers and producing an innovative method of planning. Workshop discussions and interview results were relayed back to all participants. The health visitor sample completed an evaluation questionnaire. Organisational changes during the research period were recorded. Contribution to knowledge: Community profiles can be used to assist community diagnosis relating the planning of the health visiting service to the health needs of the population. Profiles can fill information gaps existing in the service. Organisational changes to aid profile effectiveness include implementing, an information policy and system, appraisals, clear general policy statements, management training, and addressing a series of changes sought by health visitors. Alternative sources of funding for the service are suggested, as is grassroots representation in the planning process. The study provides an insight into the information and planning needs of health visitors in their organisational setting.
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Sokl, Karel. "Informační systém návštěvnického centra." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta informačních technologií, 2014. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-236135.
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Thesis is focused on creation of an information system for a visitor center in Olomouc. This document describes whole lifecycle of that reservation system, including requirements specification, system design, its implementation and testing. Final system will be deployed in museum, where it will handle the control of turnstiles, ticket reservations and sales.
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Harrison, Andre V. "Information content models of human vision." Thesis, The Johns Hopkins University, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3572710.
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From night vision goggles, to infrared imagers, to remote controlled bomb disposal robots; we are increasingly employing electronic vision sensors to extend or enhance the limitations of our own visual sensory system. And while we can make these systems better in terms of the amount of power they use, how much information they capture, or how much information they can send to the viewer, it is also important to keep in mind the capabilities of the human who must receive this visual information from the sensor and display system. The best interface between our own visual sensory system and that of the electronic image sensor and display system is one where the least amount of visual information is sent to our own sensory system for processing, yet contains all the visual information that we need to understand the desired environment and to make decisions based on that information. In order to do this it is important to understand both the physiology of the visual sensory system and the psychophysics of how this information is used. We demonstrate this idea by researching and designing the components needed to optimize the compression of dynamic range information onto a display, for the sake of maximizing the amount of perceivable visual information shown to the human visual system.
An idea that is repeated in the construction of our optimal system is the link between designing, modeling, and validating both the design and the model through human testing. Compressing the dynamic range of images while trying to maximize the amount of visual information shown is a unique approach to dynamic range cornpression. So the first component needed to develop our optimal compression method is a way to measure the amount of visual information present in a compressed image. We achieve this by designing an Information Content Quality Assessment metric and we validate the metric using data from our psychophysical experiments [in preparation]. Our psychophysical experiments compare different dynamic range compression methods in terms of the amount of information that is visible after compression. Our quality assessment metric is unique in that it models visual perception using information theory rather than biology. To validate this approach, we extend our model so that it can predict human visual fixation. We compare the predictions of our model against human fixation data and the fixation predictions of similar state of the art fixation models. We show that the predictions of our model are at least corn-parable or better than the predictions of these fixation models. We also present preliminary results on applying the saliency model to identify potentially salient objects in out-of-focus locations due to a finite depth-of-field [in preparation]. The final component needed to implement the optimization is a way to combine the quality assessment model with the results of the psychophysical experiments to reach an optimal compression setting. We discuss how this could be implemented in the future using a generic dynamic range compression algorithm. We also present the design of a wide dynamic range image sensor and a mixed mode readout scheme to improve the accuracy of illumination measurements for each pixel over the entire dynamic range of the imager.
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Rocharungsat, Pimrawee. "A study of travel counselor training programs of state traveler information centers." Online version, 1998. http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/thesis/1998/1998rocharungsatp.pdf.
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Ismaili, Imdad Ali. "Natural image segmentation using colour information." Thesis, Imperial College London, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/8010.
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Andrews, Michael J. "An Information Theoretic Hierarchical Classifier for Machine Vision." Digital WPI, 1999. https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-theses/807.
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A fundamental problem in machine vision is the classifcation of objects which may have unknown position, orientation, or a combination of these and other transformations. The massive amount of data required to accurately form an appearance-based model of an object under all values of shift and rotation transformations has discouraged the incorporation of the combination of both transformations into a single model representation. This Master's Thesis documents the theory and implementation of a hierarchical classifier, named the Information Theoretic Decision Tree system, which has the demonstrated ability to form appearance-based models of objects which are shift and rotation invariant which can be searched with a great reduction in evaluations over a linear sequential search. Information theory is utilized to obtain a measure of information gain in a feature space recursive segmentation algorithm which positions hyperplanes to local information gain maxima. This is accomplished dynamically through a process of local optimization based on a conjugate gradient technique enveloped by a simulated annealing optimization loop. Several target model training strategies have been developed for shift and rotation invariance, notably the method of exemplar grouping, in which any combination of rotation and translation transformations of target object views can be simulated and folded into the appearance-based model. The decision tree structure target models produced as a result of this process effciently represent the voluminous training data, according rapid test-time classification of objects.
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Wang, Xingchen 1976. "Palmera : an information augmented museum visit device." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70742.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-46).
This thesis tries to develop a new museum guide device with the combination functions of digital cameras and palms as a tool that maps information onto digital images to support a real-time contextualized learning that goes beyond separate out-of-task-context learning and existing museum guide modes. In order to perform a self-directed, interest-triggering learning process, one needs to gain information from both personal experiences and museum databases. By keeping a continuous personal experience between different journeys, an individual could bring his own knowledge and history into relation with museum databases to support a dynamic information access during museum visits and after the visits. However, existing guide devices and their applications do not fully exploit the potential of real-time learning generated by wireless and mobile technology. This study proposes a tool, which encourages personal-controlled learning during museum visits by mapping dynamic information layer into physical space. The visitor " gets object-oriented knowledge and a coherent experience through the exploration into the information space with the movement in the physical space both real-time and after the visit.
by Xingchen Wang.
S.M.
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Dolbear, Catherine. "Personalised information filtering using event causality." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2004. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:31e94de4-5dda-4312-968b-d0ef34dea8e2.
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Previous research on multimedia information filtering has mainly concentrated on key frame identification and video skim generation for browsing purposes, however applications requiring the generation of summaries as the final product for user con- sumption are of equal scientific and commercial interest. Recent advances in computer vision have enabled the extraction of semantic events from an audio-visual signal, so it can be assumed for our purposes that such semantic labels are already available for use. We concentrate instead on developing methods to prioritise these semantic elements for inclusion in a summary which can be personalised to meet a particular user's needs. Our work differentiates itself from that in the literature as it is driven by the results of a knowledge elicitation study with expert summarisers. The experts in our study believe that summaries structured as a narrative are better able to convey the content of the original data to a user. Motivated by the information filtering problem, the primary contribution of this thesis is the design and implementation of a system to summarise sequences of events by automatic modelling of the causal relationships between them. We show, by com- parison against summaries generated by experts and with the introduction of a new coherence metric, that modelling the causal relationships between events increases the coherence and accuracy of summaries. We suggest that this claim is valid, not only in the domain of soccer highlights generation, in which we carry out the bulk of our experiments, but also in any other domain in which causal relationships can be iden- tified between events. This proposal is tested by applying our summarisation system to another, significantly different domain, that of business meeting summarisation, using the soccer training set and a manually generated ontology mapping. We introduce the concept of a context-group of causally related events as a first step towards modelling narrative episodes and present a comparison between a case based reasoning and a two-stage Markov model approach to summarisation. For both methods we show that by including entire context-groups in the summary, rather than single events in isolation, more accurate summaries can be generated. Our approach to personalisation biases a summary according to particular narrative plotlines using different subsets of the training data. Results show that the number of instances of certain event classes can be increased by biasing the training set appropriately. This method gives very similar results to a standard weighting method, while avoiding the need to tailor the weights to a particular application domain.
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Kamal, Ahmed Tashrif. "Information Weighted Consensus for Distributed Estimation in Vision Networks." Thesis, University of California, Riverside, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3600575.
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Due to their high fault-tolerance, ease of installation and scalability to large networks, distributed algorithms have recently gained immense popularity in the sensor networks community, especially in computer vision. Multi-target tracking in a camera network is one of the fundamental problems in this domain. Distributed estimation algorithms work by exchanging information between sensors that are communication neighbors. Since most cameras are directional sensors, it is often the case that neighboring sensors may not be sensing the same target. Such sensors that do not have information about a target are termed as ''naive'' with respect to that target. State-of-the-art distributed state estimation algorithms (e.g., the Kalman Consensus Filter (KCF)) in the sensor networks community are not directly applicable to tracking applications in camera networks mainly due to this naivety issue. In our work, we propose generalized distributed algorithms for state estimation in a sensor network taking the naivety issue into account.
For multi-target tracking, along with the tracking framework, a data association step is necessary where the measurements in each camera's view are associated with the appropriate targets' tracks. At first, under the assumption that the data association is given, we develop distributed state estimation algorithms addressing the naivety issue. In this process, first, we propose the Generalized Kalman Consensus Filter (GKCF) where an information-weighting scheme is utilized to account for the naivety issue. Next, we propose the Information-weighted Consensus Filter (ICF) which can achieve optimal centralized performance while also accounting for naivety. This is the core contribution of this thesis. Next, we introduce the aspect of multi-target tracking where a probabilistic data association scheme is incorporated in the distributed tracking scheme resulting the Multi-Target Information Consensus (MTIC) algorithm. The incorporation of the probabilistic data association mechanism makes the MTIC algorithm very robust to false measurements/clutter.
The aforementioned algorithms are derived under the assumption that the measurements are related to the state variables using a linear relationship. However, in general, this is not true for many sensors including camera sensors. Thus, to account for the non-linearity in the observation model, we propose non-linear extensions of the previous algorithms which we denote as the Extended ICF (EICF) and the Extended MTIC (EMTIC) algorithms. In-depth theoretical and experimental analysis are provided to compare these algorithms with existing ones.
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Hallum, Luke Edward Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty of Engineering UNSW. "Prosthetic vision : Visual modelling, information theory and neural correlates." Publisher:University of New South Wales. Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, 2008. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/41450.
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Electrical stimulation of the retina affected by photoreceptor loss (e.g., cases of retinitis pigmentosa) elicits the perception of luminous spots (so-called phosphenes) in the visual field. This phenomenon, attributed to the relatively high survival rates of neurons comprising the retina's inner layer, serves as the cornerstone of efforts to provide a microelectronic retinal prosthesis -- a device analogous to the cochlear implant. This thesis concerns phosphenes -- their elicitation and modulation, and, in turn, image analysis for use in a prosthesis. This thesis begins with a comparative review of visual modelling of electrical epiretinal stimulation and analogous acoustic modelling of electrical cochlear stimulation. The latter models involve coloured noise played to normal listeners so as to investigate speech processing and electrode design for use in cochlear implants. Subsequently, four experiments (three psychophysical and one numerical), and two statistical analyses, are presented. Intrinsic signal optical imaging in cerebral cortex is canvassed appendically. The first experiment describes a visual tracking task administered to 20 normal observers afforded simulated prosthetic vision. Fixation, saccade, and smooth pursuit, and the effect of practice, were assessed. Further, an image analysis scheme is demonstrated that, compared to existing approaches, assisted fixation and pursuit (but not saccade) accuracy (35.8% and 6.8%, respectively), and required less phosphene array scanning. Subsequently, (numerical) information-theoretic reasoning is provided for the scheme's superiority. This reasoning was then employed to further optimise the scheme (resulting in a filter comprising overlapping Gaussian kernels), and may be readily extended to arbitrary arrangements of many phosphenes. A face recognition study, wherein stimuli comprised either size- or intensity-modulated phosphenes, is then presented. The study involved unpracticed observers (n=85), and showed no 'size' --versus--'intensity' effect. Overall, a 400-phosphene (100-phosphene) image afforded subjects 89.0% (64.0%) correct recognition (two-interval forced-choice paradigm) when five seconds' scanning was allowed. Performance fell (64.5%) when the 400-phosphene image was stabilised on the retina and presented briefly. Scanning was similar in 400- and 100-phosphene tasks. The final chapter presents the statistical effects of sampling and rendering jitter on the phosphene image. These results may generalise to low-resolution imaging systems involving loosely packed pixels.
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Fookes, Clinton Brian. "Medical Image Registration and Stereo Vision Using Mutual Information." Queensland University of Technology, 2003. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15876/.
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Image registration is a fundamental problem that can be found in a diverse range of fields within the research community. It is used in areas such as engineering, science, medicine, robotics, computer vision and image processing, which often require the process of developing a spatial mapping between sets of data. Registration plays a crucial role in the medical imaging field where continual advances in imaging modalities, including MRI, CT and PET, allow the generation of 3D images that explicitly outline detailed in vivo information of not only human anatomy, but also human function. Mutual Information (MI) is a popular entropy-based similarity measure which has found use in a large number of image registration applications. Stemming from information theory, this measure generally outperforms most other intensity-based measures in multimodal applications as it does not assume the existence of any specific relationship between image intensities. It only assumes a statistical dependence. The basic concept behind any approach using MI is to find a transformation, which when applied to an image, will maximise the MI between two images. This thesis presents research using MI in three major topics encompassed by the computer vision and medical imaging field: rigid image registration, stereo vision, and non-rigid image registration. In the rigid domain, a novel gradient-based registration algorithm (MIGH) is proposed that uses Parzen windows to estimate image density functions and Gauss-Hermite quadrature to estimate the image entropies. The use of this quadrature technique provides an effective and efficient way of estimating entropy while bypassing the need to draw a second sample of image intensities (a procedure required in previous Parzen-based MI registration approaches). It is possible to achieve identical results with the MIGH algorithm when compared to current state of the art MI-based techniques. These results are achieved using half the previously required sample sizes, thus doubling the statistical power of the registration algorithm. Furthermore, the MIGH technique improves algorithm complexity by up to an order of N, where N represents the number of samples extracted from the images. In stereo vision, a popular passive method of depth perception, new extensions have been pro- posed in order to increase the robustness of MI-based stereo matching algorithms. Firstly, prior probabilities are incorporated into the MI measure to considerably increase the statistical power of the matching windows. The statistical power, directly related to the number of samples, can become too low when small matching windows are utilised. These priors, which are calculated from the global joint histogram, are tuned to a two level hierarchical approach. A 2D match surface, in which the match score is computed for every possible combination of template and matching windows, is also utilised to enforce left-right consistency and uniqueness constraints. These additions to MI-based stereo matching significantly enhance the algorithms ability to detect correct matches while decreasing computation time and improving the accuracy, particularly when matching across multi-spectra stereo pairs. MI has also recently found use in the non-rigid domain due to a need to compute multimodal non-rigid transformations. The viscous fluid algorithm is perhaps the best method for re- covering large local mis-registrations between two images. However, this model can only be used on images from the same modality as it assumes similar intensity values between images. Consequently, a hybrid MI-Fluid algorithm is proposed to compute a multimodal non-rigid registration technique. MI is incorporated via the use of a block matching procedure to generate a sparse deformation field which drives the viscous fluid algorithm, This algorithm is also compared to two other popular local registration techniques, namely Gaussian convolution and the thin-plate spline warp, and is shown to produce comparable results. An improved block matching procedure is also proposed whereby a Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) sampler is used to optimally locate grid points of interest. These grid points have a larger concentration in regions of high information and a lower concentration in regions of small information. Previous methods utilise only a uniform distribution of grid points throughout the image.
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Habe, Hitoshi. "Geometric information processing methods for elaborating computer vision algorithms." 京都大学 (Kyoto University), 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/136028.
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Newman, Rhys A. "Automatic learning in computer vision." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.390526.
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Katta, Pradeep. "Integrating depth and intensity information for vision-based head tracking." abstract and full text PDF (UNR users only), 2008. http://0-gateway.proquest.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1456416.
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Zaman, Tanwir. "Vision Based Extraction of Nutrition Information from Skewed Nutrition Labels." DigitalCommons@USU, 2016. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4893.
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An important component of a healthy diet is the comprehension and retention of nutritional information and understanding of how different food items and nutritional constituents affect our bodies. In the U.S. and many other countries, nutritional information is primarily conveyed to consumers through nutrition labels (NLs) which can be found in all packaged food products. However, sometimes it becomes really challenging to utilize all this information available in these NLs even for consumers who are health conscious as they might not be familiar with nutritional terms or find it difficult to integrate nutritional data collection into their daily activities due to lack of time, motivation, or training. So it is essential to automate this data collection and interpretation process by integrating Computer Vision based algorithms to extract nutritional information from NLs because it improves the user’s ability to engage in continuous nutritional data collection and analysis. To make nutritional data collection more manageable and enjoyable for the users, we present a Proactive NUTrition Management System (PNUTS). PNUTS seeks to shift current research and clinical practices in nutrition management toward persuasion, automated nutritional information processing, and context-sensitive nutrition decision support.
PNUTS consists of two modules, firstly a barcode scanning module which runs on smart phones and is capable of vision-based localization of One Dimensional (1D) Universal Product Code (UPC) and International Article Number (EAN) barcodes with relaxed pitch, roll, and yaw camera alignment constraints. The algorithm localizes barcodes in images by computing Dominant Orientations of Gradients (DOGs) of image segments and grouping smaller segments with similar DOGs into larger connected components. Connected components that pass given morphological criteria are marked as potential barcodes. The algorithm is implemented in a distributed, cloud-based system. The system’s front end is a smartphone application that runs on Android smartphones with Android 4.2 or higher. The system’s back end is deployed on a five node Linux cluster where images are processed. The algorithm was evaluated on a corpus of 7,545 images extracted from 506 videos of bags, bottles, boxes, and cans in a supermarket. The DOG algorithm was coupled to our in-place scanner for 1D UPC and EAN barcodes. The scanner receives from the DOG algorithm the rectangular planar dimensions of a connected component and the component’s dominant gradient orientation angle referred to as the skew angle. The scanner draws several scan lines at that skew angle within the component to recognize the barcode in place without any rotations. The scanner coupled to the localizer was tested on the same corpus of 7,545 images. Laboratory experiments indicate that the system can localize and scan barcodes of any orientation in the yaw plane, of up to 73.28 degrees in the pitch plane, and of up to 55.5 degrees in the roll plane. The videos have been made public for all interested research communities to replicate our findings or to use them in their own research. The front end Android application is available for free download at Google Play under the title of NutriGlass. This module is also coupled to a comprehensive NL database from which nutritional information can be retrieved on demand. Currently our NL database consists of more than 230,000 products.
The second module of PNUTS is an algorithm whose objective is to determine the text skew angle of an NL image without constraining the angle’s magnitude. The horizontal, vertical, and diagonal matrices of the (Two Dimensional) 2D Haar Wavelet Transform are used to identify 2D points with significant intensity changes. The set of points is bounded with a minimum area rectangle whose rotation angle is the text’s skew. The algorithm’s performance is compared with the performance of five text skew detection algorithms on 1001 U.S. nutrition label images and 2200 single- and multi-column document images in multiple languages. To ensure the reproducibility of the reported results, the source code of the algorithm and the image data have been made publicly available. If the skew angle is estimated correctly, optical character recognition (OCR) techniques can be used to extract nutrition information.
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Barrett, John Martin. "Information transmission in normal vision and optogenetically resensitised dystrophic retinas." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/3182.
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The retina is a sophisticated image processing machine, transforming the visual scene as detected by the photoreceptors into a pattern of action potentials that is sent to the brain by the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), where it is further processed to help us understand and navigate the world. Understanding this encoding process is important on a number of levels. First, it informs the study of upstream visual processing by elucidating the signals higher visual areas receive as input and how they relate to the outside world. Second, it is important for the development of treatments for retinal blindness, such as retinal prosthetics. In this thesis, I present work using multielectrode array (MEA) recordings of RGC populations from ex-vivo retinal wholemounts to study various aspects of retinal information processing. My results fall into two main themes. In the rst part, in collaboration with Dr Geo rey Portelli and Dr Pierre Kornprobst of INRIA, I use ashed gratings of varying spatial frequency and phase to compare di erent coding strategies that the retina might use. These results show that information is encoded synergistically by pairs of neurons and that, of the codes tested, a Rank Order Code based on the relative order of ring of the rst spikes of a population of neurons following a stimulus provides information about the stimulus faster and more e ciently than other codes. In the later parts, I use optogenetic stimulation of RGCs in congenitally blind retinas to study how visual information is corrupted by the spontaneous hyperactivity that arises as a result of photoreceptor degeneration. I show that by dampening this activity with the gap junction blocker meclofenamic acid, I can improve the signal-to-noise ratio, spatial acuity and contrast sensitivity of prosthetically evoked responses. Taken together, this work provides important insights for the future development of retinal prostheses.
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Ma, Ka-yiu Eric, and 馬家耀. "Effect of scene information on path perception and steering control." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2013. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B50434469.
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Human observers can perceive self-motion from optic flow for both circular paths and straight paths. However, when view does not rotate during travel on a circular path, observers often show significant bias in path judgments from optic flow. A proposed explanation is that human observers use the velocity field of optic flow for perception of self-motion and assume that path curvature is accompanied by body rotation.
Use of a scene-based strategy, as opposed to optic flow, could potentially reduce the bias in judgments of circular path with no view rotation. It has been shown that human observers can judge heading direction from a sequence of static pictures of a scene, suggesting that observers can perceive self-motion from change in observer position relative to a scene. Another previous study found that showing the same configuration of landmarks repeatedly improved performance in a steering task, suggesting that familiarity of a scene may further improve perception of self-motion and steering control.
In this thesis, I explored the effect of scene information on judgments of circular path and steering control. Experiments 1 and 2 tested path judgments for simulated travel along a circular path. Observers viewed 1 s presentations of optic flow and adjusted a response pole to lie on their future path, i.e. where they would intercept the pole if they keep travelling on the current path. Precision and accuracy of judgments were compared across conditions that varied in the presence and consistency of landmarks. I found no effect of landmarks on precision and accuracy, and curvature underestimation remained present in all conditions.
Experiment 3 tested whether familiarity with a scene can improve steering control. I used the same steering task by Andersen and Enriquez (2006). During a trial, heading direction was perturbed horizontally in a smooth, pseudo-random manner, as if unexpectedly wind perturbed a car and caused it to slide to the left and right while driving straight ahead. Observers were instructed to counteract these perturbations and steer to maintain a straight path of travel. Contrary to previous findings, I found no effect of scene familiarity on steering control.
I found no benefit from landmarks in any of the conditions tested in this thesis. These results suggest that scene information has a limited role for path judgments and steering control.published_or_final_version
Psychology
Master
Master of Philosophy
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Abrahamsson, Henrik, and Anders Nilsson. "Meetia : Framtiden för utbyte av digital information." Thesis, Halmstad University, School of Business and Engineering (SET), 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-4749.
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I dagens affärssamhälle är utbytet av vanliga visitkort i papper enormt. Det är utan tvekan det ledande sättet för människor som träffas första gången att utbyta information i en affärsrelation. Det finns brister gällande uppföljning och hantering av vanliga visitkort och projektgruppen började då fundera på alternativ till pappersvisitkorten.
I dagens samhälle flyttas alltmer teknik till mobiltelefoner. En mobiltelefon kan idag användas till allt från att göra bankärenden till att läsa tidningen på nätet, vilket för 15 år sedan skulle låta helt orimligt. Det dyker dagligen upp nya mobilapplikationer som ska underlätta och effektivisera vardagen på något sätt och marknaden är enorm. På denna snabbt växande marknad har projektgruppen valt att ta fram ett koncept som de kallar Meetia.
Meetia är i huvudsak en mobilapplikation framtagen för att trådlöst utbyta digitala visitkort och förenkla bokning av möten genom att synka användarnas kalendrar. Applikationen har även funktioner som låter användaren enkelt och snabbt skapa nya visitkort direkt i telefonen.
Projektgruppen har även tagit fram en kompletterande hemsida till mobilapplikationen där användare har möjlighet att lagra och hantera de digitala visitkort som mottagits, för att sedan genom smarta sökfunktioner enkelt hitta de visitkort man söker.
Meetia kommer vara ett optimalt verktyg för att skapa nya kontakter då hela vägen från första kontakt till möte eller lagring av visitkort enkelt sköts med konceptet Meetia. Meetia kommer framför allt inrikta sig mot mässor där visitkort är vanligt förekommande och mängder affärskontakter skapas. För att nå ut till de stora mässorna i Sverige kommer applikationen finnas med mässfunktioner.
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Iannaggi, Corina M. "Exploring Visitors’ Lived Experiences in Memorial Museums." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1448829436.
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Kovesi, Peter. "Invariant measures of image features from phase information." University of Western Australia. Dept. of Computer Science, 1996. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2003.0006.
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If reliable and general computer vision techniques are to be developed it is crucial that we find ways of characterizing low-level image features with invariant quantities. For example, if edge significance could be measured in a way that was invariant to image illumination and contrast, higher-level image processing operations could be conducted with much greater confidence. However, despite their importance, little attention has been paid to the need for invariant quantities in low-level vision for tasks such as feature detection or feature matching. This thesis develops a number of invariant low-level image measures for feature detection, local symmetry/asymmetry detection, and for signal matching. These invariant quantities are developed from representations of the image in the frequency domain. In particular, phase data is used as the fundamental building block for constructing these measures. Phase congruency is developed as an illumination and contrast invariant measure of feature significance. This allows edges, lines and other features to be detected reliably, and fixed thresholds can be applied over wide classes of images. Points of local symmetry and asymmetry in images give rise to special arrangements of phase, and these too can be characterized by invariant measures. Finally, a new approach to signal matching that uses correlation of local phase and amplitude information is developed. This approach allows reliable phase based disparity measurements to be made, overcoming many of the difficulties associated with scale-space singularities.
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Jeong, Su Keun. "Flexible visual information representation in human parietal cortex." Thesis, Harvard University, 2014. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:13068539.
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In many everyday activities, we must visually process multiple objects embedded in complex real world scenes. Our visual system can flexibly extract behaviorally relevant visual information from such scenes, even though it has a severely limited processing capacity. This dissertation proposes that human superior intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) plays a central role in this flexible visual information processing. In Chapter 1, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with univariate analysis, I found that distractor processing in superior IPS was attenuated when target locations were known in advance. In Chapter 2, using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), I showed that superior IPS encoded object shapes, but only when such information was required by task. In Chapter 3, I showed that, given a set of perceptually distinct, but semantically grouped visual inputs, superior IPS could represent abstract object identity. The neural similarity of identities in superior IPS significantly correlated with perceived similarity between identities, confirming the representation in this region indeed reflected identity. Taken together, these results suggest that human superior IPS encodes a wide range of visual information, from simple features to abstract identities, in a task-dependent manner, enabling flexible goal-directed visual information processing in the human brain.Psychology
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STREIT, MATTHEW S. "Visual Perception of Heaviness: Influence of Kinematic Information." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1212164480.
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Grech, Raphael. "Multi-robot vision." Thesis, Kingston University, 2013. http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/27790/.
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It is expected nowadays that robots are able to work in real-life environments, possibly also sharing the same space with humans. These environments are generally considered as being cluttered and hard to train for. The work presented in this thesis focuses on developing an online and real-time biologically inspired model for teams of robots to collectively learn and memorise their visual environment in a very concise and compact manner, whilst sharing their experience to their peers (robots and possibly also humans). This work forms part of a larger project to develop a multi-robot platform capable of performing security patrol checks whilst also assisting people with physical and cognitive impairments to be used in public places such as museums and airports. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of a model which makes robots capable of handling visual information, retain information that is relevant to whatever task is at hand and eliminate superfluous information, trying to mimic human performance. This leads towards the great milestone of having a fully autonomous team of robots capable of collectively surveying, learning and sharing salient visual information of the environment even without any prior information. Solutions to endow a distributed team of robots with object detection and environment understanding capabilities are also provided. The way in which humans process, interpret and store visual information are studied and their visual processes are emulated by a team of robots. In an ideal scenario, robots are deployed in a totally unknown environment and incrementally learn and adapt to operate within that environment. Each robot is an expert of its area however, they possess enough knowledge about other areas to be able to guide users sufficiently till another more knowledgeable robot takes over. Although not limited, it is assumed that, once deployed, each robot operates in its own environment for most of its lifetime and the longer the robots remains in the area the more refined their memory will become. Robots should to be able to automatically recognize previously learnt features, such as faces and known objects, whilst also learning other new information. Salient information extracted from the incoming video streams can be used to select keyframes to be fed into a visual memory thus allowing the robot to learn new interesting areas within its environment. The cooperating robots are to successfully operate within their environment, automatically gather visual information and store it in a compact yet meaningful representation. The storage has to be dynamic, as visual information extracted by the robot team might change. Due to the initial lack of knowledge, small sets of visual memory classes need to evolve as the robots acquire visual information. Keeping memory size within limits whilst at the same time maximising the information content is one of the main factors to consider.
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Guaiana, Mauricio Taufic. "O processo de institucionalização do XBRL no Brasil: um estudo utilizando o modelo organizing vision (ov)." Universidade de São Paulo, 2013. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12136/tde-22112013-192405/.
Full textAbstract:
Em meados de 1998, Charles Hoffman, contador americano, conseguiu desenvolver um novo conceito para a transmissão e gestão da informação financeira em meio digital. Posteriormente denominada de XBRL, sua essência era simples: tentar criar uma forma de comunicação que fosse inteligível e comum tanto para os homens quanto para o computador, sem que para isso fosse necessário imobilizar os conceitos e terminologias financeiras. Sua inovação ganhou respaldo e interesse de diversas instituições responsáveis pela regulação e fiscalização do mercado de capitais norteamericano, assim como de empresas públicas e privadas, que em conjunto, iniciaram medidas a fim de incentivar seu desenvolvimento e sua apreciação prática. No Brasil, seus reflexos ocorreram a partir de 2001, por meio de estudos pioneiros realizados pelo Prof. Edson Luiz Riccio e o TECSI (Laboratório de Gestão da Tecnologia e Sistemas de Informação) do Departamento de Contabilidade e Atuária da FEA/USP, bem como com a publicação de livros e artigos que explicavam ao público o funcionamento e como a inovação se mobilizava entre outros países. Em 2011, o interesse nacional em efetivar sua implantação e adoção ganhou força pela cooperação de diversos agentes interessados, de diversas instituições e com interesses distintos, por meio da criação da taxonomia local. Apesar dos benefícios prometidos, diversos países tiveram dificuldades na aplicação da tecnologia no ambiente interorganizacional, em contraposição com outros tantos que serviram como cases de sucesso para a implementação da XBRL. Grande parte da literatura acredita que, inicialmente, a adoção de uma tecnologia é baseada em escolhas racionais e, posteriormente, sua difusão entre as organizações é explicada pelo processo institucional. Neste trabalho, optou-se pela teoria institucional revisada do modelo conceitual de Swanson e Ramiller (1997), denominado visão organizacional. Por meio dessa perspectiva, o processo institucional é exercido já no período anterior à adoção e difusão de uma tecnologia de sistemas de informações pela criação da visão das diversas organizações institucionais que formam o ambiente. A finalidade do modelo da visão organizacional é entender o processo de interpretação, legitimação e mobilização de recursos para a tecnologia estudada. Ao considerar o XBRL um componente da tecnologia de sistemas de informações, este trabalho apresenta os seguintes problemas de pesquisa: como os arranjos e forças institucionais formam a visão organizacional do XBRL no Brasil? Qual a situação dessa visão organizacional? Por meio de pesquisa qualitativa, foram realizadas, entre dezembro de 2012 a maio de 2013, 9 entrevistas semi-estruturadas com agentes institucionais, de diferentes tipos de organizações, que possuíssem conhecimentos sobre o XBRL. Para análise das entrevistas, optou-se pela categorização semântica seguindo as classes predefinidas no modelo conceitual da visão organizacional. Conclui-se que as organizações com interesse na tecnologia trabalham em estado de cooperação para sua promoção. Avanços foram realizados para a adoção e difusão do XBRL, principalmente na área pública. Entretanto, a visão organizacional precisa demonstrar maior plausibilidade e importância para atrair novos participantes na formação de seu discurso, pois a interpretação, legitimação e mobilização ocorrem em ritmos distintos entre as organizações institucionais.Around 1998, Charles Hoffman, an American accountant, developed a new concept for the transmission and management of the financial information in digital media. Named XBRL afterwards, its essence was simple: try to create an intelligible and ordinary way of communication both for men and the computer, without the need of hard concepts and financial terminology. This innovation called the attention of many institutions responsible for the regulation and supervision of the American capital market, as well as of public and private companies. Together, they started measures so as to encourage its development and practical appreciation. In Brazil, its repercussions started in 2001, through pioneer studies developed by Prof Edson Luiz Riccio and TECSI (Information Systems and Technology Management Lab) at the Accounting Department of the School of Business, Economics and Accounting - FEA/USP, as well as edition of books and articles that explained the society how it worked and how such an innovation was happening among other countries. In 2001, the national interest to actualize its implementation and adoption enhanced by means of the cooperation between many agents from diverse institutions and with different interests, through the creation of the local taxonomy. Although the promised benefits, many countries had difficulties when applying this technology in the interorganizational environment, if compared with so many others that were success cases for the implementation of XBRL. Great part of literature believes that, initially, the adoption of a technology is based on rational choices and, afterwards, its spread among organizations can be explained by the institutional process. In this research, we chose the revised institutional theory from Swanson & Ramiller (1997) conceptual model, called organizing vision. Through this perspective, the institutional process can be exerted in the period before the adoption and spread of an information systems technology, by creating the vision of the so many institutional organizations taking part in the environment. The aim of the organizing vision is to understand the resources interpretation process, legitimation and mobilization for the studied technology. As we consider XBRL a component of information systems technology, in this research, we present the following problems: how can the institutional strengths and arrangements form the XBRL organizing vision in Brazil? What is the situation of this organizing vision? Through qualitative research, between December 2012 and May 2013, 9 semi-structured interviews were made with institutional agents from different types of organizations, with knowledge of XBRL. To analyse the interviews, we chose the semantic categorization, following the predefined classes of the organizing vision conceptual model. It can be concluded that the organizations interested in technology work in cooperation for its promotion. Progress was made for the adoption and spread of XBRL, mainly in the public area. However, the organizing vision needs to demonstrate more importance and plausibility to attract new participants when forming its discourse, because the interpretation, legitimation and mobilization occur differently among institutional organizations.
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Rao, Nathan A., and Oscar W. Simmons. "Koinonia: the requirements and vision for an unclassified information-sharing system." Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/34725.
Full textAbstract:
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedThis thesis examines requirements necessary to build a collaborative information-sharing system for future war or actions other than war with international, coalition, and Non-Government Organization partners. Theater Special Operations Commands, and more specifically, Special Operations Command Europe, constantly work with partner nations and desire this capability. Much of this work is relevant for NATO Special Operations Forces. Additionally, this thesis examines potential solutions for a collaborative ISR system.
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Švedaitė, Lina. "Audimo technologijos informacinė sistema." Master's thesis, Lithuanian Academic Libraries Network (LABT), 2008. http://vddb.library.lt/obj/LT-eLABa-0001:E.02~2008~D_20080811_151021-02252.
Full textAbstract:
Temos aktualumas. Inovacijos audinių projektavime yra aktualios tiek privačioms, tiek ir valstybinėms įmonėms, kadangi jos visos kasdieninėje veikloje susiduria su naujų technologijų ir medžiagų taikymo galimybių įvairove, finansavimo šaltinių trūkumu, profesionalių audimo specialistų parengimo ir jų adaptavimosi įmonėse problemomis.
Audinių gamybos procesas orientuojamas į naujas technologijas, gamybinių ir vadybinių galimybių paiešką ir jų panaudojimą. Tai reiškia, kad siekiant patenkinti vartotojo poreikius nebūtinai reikia kurti kažką radikaliai naujo; pritaikymą naujiems pasiūlymams galima rasti kasdieninėje audimo įmonių veikloje ir naujame požiūryje į specialistų paruošimą, jų kvalifikacijos kėlimą.
Temos aktualumas siejamas su audimo technologinių veiklos procesų modernizavimu, kuris turi padėti kompiuterizuoti kasdieninius audimo technologo darbus, suteikiant galimybę juos atlikti efektyviau, kokybiškiau ir sparčiau bei patenkinti esamus poreikius.
Tiriama problema – kaip galima būtų palengvinti audimo technologo darbą kompiuterizuojant audimo technologinius skaičiavimus, pateikiant išsamią ir aiškią informaciją klientams bei darbuotojams apie atliktas paslaugas. Ši problema optimaliausiai išsprendžiama sukuriant naują informacinę sistemą, kuri atitinka keliamus reikalavimus bei patenkina informacinius poreikius.
Darbo objektas – audimo fabriko veikla.
Siekiant užsibrėžto tikslo, yra sprendžiami tokie uždaviniai:
- Išanalizuoti audimo fabriko veiklą, aplinką ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]The aim of the work – to project and implement weaving technology enterprise service information system. The main tasks are to analyze the activities, environment and structure of the weaving technology enterprise, to perform the analysis of internal and external information streams of the enterprise, to form the requirements for the new system and its functions after evaluating the defects of the current system, to compare the created IS with the already existing software packs, to project and establish weaving technology enterprise service information system, to test its operation using real data and to provide the instructions for a user of the system. The methods used in the work are the following: general identification method, comparison, deduction, designing, analysis of alternatives, analysis of documents, synthesis, generalization, conversation methods, observation. Obtained results: a new weaving technology enterprise service system was created. It computerizes technologist‘s work, helps to perform it faster and easier, provides clear and structured information in accordance with the requirements. After analyzing of the activities, functions, environment of the enterprise, the structure of the organization, and after analyzing of the processes that require IS and of the current features that do not meet the requirements of the user, a new information system was designed using the MS Visio 2000 pack. MS Access was chosen for the implementation of the system. The... [to full text]
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Moffette, Olivier. "Extraction des informations nutritionnelles d'une étiquette alimentaire par vision artificielle." Mémoire, École de technologie supérieure, 2011. http://espace.etsmtl.ca/869/1/MOFFETTE_Olivier.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Ce projet à pour but le développement d’une application, basée sur un moteur de
reconnaissance de caractères, qui permet l’acquisition de l’information contenue dans des
photographies représentant des boites d’informations nutritionnelles. Beaucoup de projets de
recherche et d’articles traitent de différentes composantes de la reconnaissance de caractère,
mais très peu portent sur l’intégration globale de ces différentes composantes afin de former
un tout. En plus de la reconnaissance de caractères, ce projet porte également sur le
traitement et l’analyse des données une fois l’extraction de l’information complétée.
Pour notre problématique, nous n’avons trouvé aucune banque d’images de test. Nous avons
donc développé une banque d’images de boites d’informations nutritionnelles avec l’aide de
l’entreprise GS1 Canada. Par la suite, nous en avons extrait manuellement toutes les
informations pertinentes. Cette banque d’images sert de référence pour l’évaluation des
performances des différentes configurations du système développé. Notre projet n’a pas pour
objectif d’évaluer les diverses composantes d’un système de reconnaissance de caractères
mais plutôt d’optimiser les résultats du système dans son ensemble. Dans le même ordre
d’idée, le principal critère d’évaluation de la performance de notre système est le pourcentage
des boites qui sont extraites sans aucune erreur; ce qui est assez différent de l’approche qui
est normalement utilisé pour évaluer les moteurs de reconnaissance de caractères soit
d’évaluer le pourcentage de caractères adéquatement reconnus.
Dans ce projet, nous utilisons le moteur de reconnaissance de caractères Tesseract qui est
parmi les plus performants dans la catégorie des logiciels libres. Le projet a tout de même été
conçu de façon à permettre l’interchangeabilité du moteur de reconnaissance de caractères.
Ce projet est séparé en deux grandes phases. La première phase permet de comparer les
différentes versions de l’OCR ainsi que de vérifier la pertinence de l’utilisation de certains
modules de correction. La deuxième, quant à elle, permet d’ajuster divers paramètres de
l’application afin d’optimiser les résultats.
Grâce à cette approche, nous avons réussi à traiter 58% des images sans générer la moindre
erreur et au total plus de 83 % des images traitées ont généré deux erreurs ou moins. Ces
résultats ne permettent malheureusement pas d’automatiser totalement le procédé, mais ils
confirment la possibilité d’utiliser cette application afin d’effectuer un premier traitement
massif de l’information avant d’être validée et peaufinée par un utilisateur.
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Alorwu, A. (Andy). "Android-based customizable media crowdsourcing toolkit for machine vision research." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2018. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201812063247.
Full textAbstract:
Smart devices have become more complex and powerful, increasing in both computational power, storage capacities, and battery longevity. Currently available online facial recognition databases do not offer training datasets with enough contextually descriptive metadata for novel scenarios such as using machine vision to detect if people in a video like each other based on their facial expressions. The aim of this research is to design and implement a software tool to enable researchers to collect videos from a large pool of people through crowdsourcing means for machine vision analysis. We are particularly interested in the tagging of the videos with the demographic data of study participants as well as data from custom post hoc survey. This study has demonstrated that smart devices and their embedded technologies can be utilized to collect videos as well as self-evaluated metadata through crowdsourcing means. The application makes use of sensors embedded within smart devices such as the camera and GPS sensors to collect videos, survey data, and geographical data. User engagement is encouraged using periodic push notifications. The collected videos and metadata using the application will be used in the future for machine vision analysis of various phenomena such as investigating if machine vision could be used to detect people’s fondness for each other based on their facial expressions and self-evaluated post-task survey data.
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Haeling, Jonas [Verfasser]. "Immersive Automotive Stereo Vision / Jonas Haeling." Tübingen : Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen, 2021. http://d-nb.info/1229916261/34.
Full text
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Reimer, James Allen. "On the recovery of images from partial information using [delta]²G filtering." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29169.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis considers the recovery of a sampled image from partial information, based on the 'edges' or zero crossings found in ∇²G filtered versions of the image. A scheme is presented for separating an image into a family of multiresolution images, using low pass filtering, subsampling, and ∇²G filtering. A scheme is also presented for merging this family of ∇²G filtered images to rebuild the original. The recovery of each of the ∇²G filtered images from their 'edges' or zero crossings is then considered.
It has been suggested that ∇²G filtered images might be characterized by their zero crossing locations. It is shown that ∇²G filtered images, filtered in 1-D or 2-D are not, in general, uniquely given within a scalar by their zero crossing locations. Two theorems in support of such a suggestion are considered. The differences between the constraints of Logan's theorem and ∇²G filtering are considered, and it is shown that the zero crossings which result from these two situations differ significantly in number and location. Logan's theorem is therefore not applicable to ∇²G filtered images. A recent theorem by Curtis on the adequacy of zero crossings of 2-D functions is also considered. It is shown that the requirements of Curtis' theorem are not satisfied by all ∇²G filtered images. Further, it is shown that it is very difficult to establish if an image meets the requirements of Curtis' theorem. Examples of different ∇²G filtered images with the same zero crossings are also presented.
While not all ∇²G filtered images are uniquely characterized by their zero crossing locations, the practical recovery of real camera images from this partial information is considered. An iterative scheme is developed for the reconstruction of a ∇²G filtered image from its sampled zero crossings. The zero crossing samples are localized to the original image sample grid. Experimental results are presented which show that the recovered images, while retaining many of the features of the original, suffer significant loss. It is shown that, in general, the full recovery of these images in a practical situation is not possible from this partial information.
From this experimental experience, it is proposed that ∇²G filtered images might be practically recovered from their zero crossings, with some additional characterization of the image in the vicinity of each zero crossing point. A simple, non-iterative scheme is developed for extracting a characterization of the ∇²G filtered image, through the use of an image edge model and a local estimation of a contrast figure in the vicinity of each zero crossing sample. A redrawing algorithm is then used to recover an approximation of the ∇²G filtered image from its zero crossing locations and the extracted characterizations. This system is evaluated using natural scene and synthetic images. Resulting image quality is good, but is shown to vary depending on the nature of the image. The advantages and disadvantages of this technique are discussed.
The primary shortcoming of the implemented local estimation technique is an assumption
of edge independence. A second approach is developed for characterizing the ∇²G filtered image zero crossings, which eliminates this assumption. This method is based on 2-D filtering, and provides a new technique for the recovery of a ∇²G filtered image from its sampled zero crossings. The method does not involve iteration or the solution of simultaneous equations. Good image reconstruction is shown for natural scene images, with the ∇²G filtered image zero crossings localized only to the original image sample grid. The advantages and disadvantages of this technique are discussed.
The application of this recovery from partial information technique is then considered
for image compression. A simple coding scheme is developed for representing the zero crossing segments with linear vector segments. A comparative study is then considered,
examining the tradeoffs between compression tuning parameters and the resulting recovered image quality.Applied Science, Faculty of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of
Graduate
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Gerrard, David M. "Does the way museum staff define inspiration help them work with information from visitors' Social Media?" Thesis, Loughborough University, 2016. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/22350.
Full textAbstract:
Since the early 2000s, Social Media has become part of the everyday activity of billions of people. Museums and galleries are part of this major cultural change - the largest museums attract millions of Social Media 'friends' and 'followers', and museums now use Social Media channels for marketing and audience engagement activities. Social Media has also become a more heavily-used source of data with which to investigate human behaviour. Therefore, this research investigated the potential uses of Social Media information to aid activities such as exhibition planning and development, or fundraising, in museums. Potential opportunities provided by the new Social Media platforms include the ability to capture data at high volume and then analyse them computationally. For instance, the links between entities on a Social Media platform can be analysed. Who follows who? Who created the content related to a specific event, and when? How did communication flow between people and organisations? The computerised analysis techniques used to answer such questions can generate statistics for measuring concepts such as the 'reach' of a message across a network (often equated simply with the potential size of the a message's audience) or the degree of 'engagement' with content (often a simple count of the number of responses, or the number of instances of communication between correspondents). Other computational analysis opportunities related to Social Media rely upon various Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques; for example indexing content and counting term frequency, or using lexicons or online knowledge bases to relate content to concepts. Museums, galleries and other cultural organisations have known for some time, however, that simple quantifications of their audiences (the number of tickets sold for an exhibition, for example), while certainly providing indications of an event's success, do not tell the whole story. While it is important to know that thousands of people have visited an exhibition, it is also part of a museum's remit to inspire the audience, too. A budding world-class artist or ground-breaking engineer could have been one of the thousands in attendance, and the exhibition in question could have been key to the development of their artistic or technical ideas. It is potentially helpful to museums and galleries to know when they have inspired members of their audience, and to be able to tell convincing stories about instances of inspiration, if their full value to society is to be judged. This research, undertaken in participation with two museums, investigated the feasibility of using new data sources from Social Media to capture potential expressions of inspiration made by visitors. With a background in IT systems development, the researcher developed three prototype systems during three cycles of Action Research, and used them to collect and analyse data from the Twitter Social Media platform. This work had two outcomes: firstly, prototyping enabled investigation of the technical constraints of extracting data from a Social Media platform (Twitter), and the computing processes used to analyse that data. Secondly, and more importantly, the prototypes were used to assess potential changes to the work of museum staff information about events visited and experienced by visitors was synthesised, then investigated, discussed and evaluated with the collaborative partners, in order to assess the meaning and value of such information for them. Could the museums use the information in their event and exhibition planning? How might it fit in with event evaluation? Was it clear to the museum what the information meant? What were the risks of misinterpretation? The research made several contributions. Firstly, the research developed a definition of inspiration that resonated with museum staff. While this definition was similar to the definition of 'engagement' from the marketing literature, one difference was an emphasis upon creativity. The second set of contributions related to a deeper understanding of Social Media from museums' perspective, and included findings about how Social Media information could be used to segment current and potential audiences by 'special interest', and find potential expressions of creativity and innovation in the audience's responses to museum activities. These findings also considered some of the pitfalls of working with data from Social Media, in particular the tendency of museum staff to use the information to confirm positive biases, and the often hidden biases caused by the mediating effects of the platforms from which the data came. The final major contribution was a holistic analysis of the ways in which Social Media information could be integrated into the work of a museum, by helping to plan and evaluate audience development and engagement. This aspect of the research also highlighted some of the dangers of an over-dependency upon individual Social Media platforms which was previously absent from the museums literature.