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In addition to peer-reviewed papers, Impact also publishes
master theses and PhD dissertations.
Theses eligible for publication are:
M.A. theses written by students of Humanistic
Informatics at Aalborg University, awarded the highest
marks. This means that the thesis was awarded either 11 or
13 using the Danish
13-scale grading system.
PhD dissertations completed and defended by candidates from
the doctoral school in Human
Centered Informatics.
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been published.
Published Theses:
Abstracts:
Game and GamerAuthor: Stine Ejsing-DuunPublished:
Abstract:
Let's look into the future: Imagine you
enter a store wanting to buy a digital game. You quickly
find the section with multitudes of captivating game covers,
all with reviews promising hours of absorbing game play.
Indeed you find yourself in difficulty. What game will
provide the optimal game experience? Do not worry, because
in the future all games will be "customer experience
assured": You just pick a game with the description of the
experience you want, and you are assured of an enjoyable
time. The trend of the future is “experience economy”. In
order to stand out on the market, companies need to offer
not just material goods and services, but experiences. A
number of experts emphasize that we must be prepared in
order to gain the most from this new economic possibility.
One proposal is to educate students in “Customer Experience
Assurance”: To teach them how to assure the optimal
experience for the customer. Nonsense I say - it is not
possible to assure an experience. Throughout this thesis,
both from a theoretical and an empirical point of view, I
argue that the only way a game experience can arise is as a
result of a gamers continued participation in a games
context. In other words I argue that a game experience not
only depends on the game, but also on the gamer. Thus it is
the relationship between the gamer and the game that this
thesis examines.
Englefald - sekulariseringens
indvirkning på gysergenrens religionsfremstilling i lyset af
amerikanske og danske vampyrfilmAuthor: Søren Søberg PoulsenPublished:
Abstract:
This thesis deals with the impact of
secularization on the horror genre’s portrayal of religion
and religious beliefs. Religiousness is a recurring element
in horror fiction. But the genre’s portrayal of religion
evolves in time, since the demonic, frightening the
percipient, and the divine, which the percipient awaits
rescuing him/her are not static but dynamic phenomena.
The horror genre
speaks a language of archetypes, which exist subliminal in
the individual as well as in its surroundings. Sigmund Freud
describes the sense of the uncanny as the experience of the
repressed returning to the individual’s consciousness in a
masked and distorted form. The archetypes are to be found in
and surround all individuals and horror fiction appeals to a
large population since it draws upon an archetypical
language visualizing the repressions of the unconsciousness
in all individuals.
The development of
the genre is driven by the speculation of the recipient in
ways to trig the percipient’s emotional and cognitive
dispositions for experiencing the uncanny sensation. The
position is religiousness and the demonic in society is part
of these dispositions. Consequently, secularization plays a
role in the development of the horror genre, and this role
is the primary subject to examine in the thesis. The thesis
deals with horror fiction from Western, Christian societies,
and the research question states as follows: How does
secularization of Western, Christian societies influence the
portrayal of religion in horror film?
Through analysis of
the American movies Dracula 1931 and Bram Stoker’s
Dracula from 1992 and Vampyr from 1932 directed
by the Dane Carl Th. Dreyer and Nattens Engel
directed by the Dane Shaky Conzales I have concluded that
secularization from the 1930ies to the 1991ies has resulted
in a splitting and a fragmentation of religiousness in the
horror fiction portrayal. The movies from the 1930ies
contain a Christian optic (Dracula) and a
rationalistic view (Vampyr) while the films from the
1990ies both put together a subjective religious
perspective, which differs from the traditional religious
belief in their countries of origin.
Secularization has
obviously had a larger impact in the Danish movies than on
the American movies. Vampyr is sceptical towards
Christianity, while the optic of Dracula is indeed
Christian, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula reflects a
cultural clash between the traditional religious ideologies
and individual and religious emancipation, but Nattens
Engel reflects a society in which the development
presents a concept of religion, where the individual and the
cultural production subjectively sample religious values
into a unity from the fragmented spectrum of religious
beliefs present in society.
Den dialogiske magt - et Foucault-inspireret
magtanalytisk blik på træning i dialogiske kompetencerAuthor: Steffen B. BraünerPublished:
Abstract:
The starting point of this thesis is the growing focus on
the training of interpersonal, communicative competencies of
organizational members with the aim of developing human
resources in organizations. In the literature of Human
Resource Management this growing focus is described as a
shift of paradigm in the management of people - a shift from
mistrust, control, confrontation, and giving orders to
management by dialogue, trust, self management, equality,
solidarity and even love. It is a shift from a repressing
brutality of power to a loving, emancipating dialogue.
However, drawing upon the understanding of power put forward
by the French theorist Michel Foucault, this thesis sets up
an alternative scenario that is more critical than that. It
suggests that power is not "on retreat" in organizations,
but merely that it has taken another form and relies on
other means. Based on this scenario, the paper put forward
the thesis that the training of dialogical competencies can
be seen as an exercise of power, and the questions asked are:
how is this power exercised and with what effects?
Oplevelsesrummets poetik - oplevelse og social
interaktion i digitalt forstærkede rum
Author: Signe Schou and Réne Toft
Published:
Abstract:
Our work centres on digitally enhanced environments and the
idea of bringing computer power and digital means into use
in physical space. We explore the foundation of creating a
potential for experience based on social interaction and
interaction with a digitally enhanced environment. The
environment in question is a physical environment, enhanced
by digital technology, which discernibly reacts on and
integrates the actions of, and interaction between, the
participants. Social interaction is a pivotal element in our
work, as we seek to find new ways for social experiences
within a frameset of play and games in a physical setting,
supported by digital technology. We are investigating a new
form of experiential space which is a hybrid between the
physical space and the virtual space and includes elements
from fictional representations and social dynamics. Perhaps
this experiential space is best described as a sort of
immersive theatre, where actants through their actions and
interactions can take part in creating the course of events.
Our aim has been to seek a way of formalising the
construction of experiences – or the potential for
experiences – in a digitally enhanced environment. We have
identified some decisive elements in relation to experience
in digitally enhanced environments and developed a set of
principles for formalisation containing those elements,
which can act as a tool in the creation of experiential
potential in a digitally enhanced environment. This
potential is to be realised through social interaction
between participants and interaction with the environment.
Author: Tanja Jensen and Christél NielsenPublished:
Abstract:
By outlining the underlying intentions for this dissertation,
the first step is to approach a deeper understanding of the
group by looking into two theoretically diverging theories,
namely a psychodynamic and a social psychological theory,
respectively. Based on the knowledge that these two theories
generate, the second and wider purpose is to develop new theoretical
perspectives for understanding of diversity within a group
context. As a parallel to this, a number of meta theoretical
discussions are implemented in which the comparison of the
two theoretical perspectives is held subject to further reflections.
The interest in this problem field as regards the group and
diversity arises partly from theoretical knowledge of the
group theoretical field and own experiences with the group
and partly from knowledge of the Danish concept of diversity
management – “mangfoldighedsledelse”. The combination
of those theoretical and pragmatic conditions, upon divergent
premisses represent different aspects regarding diversity
within a group context, has formed our desire to direct a
theoretical investigative eye at this combination
Author: UIrik Petersen
Published:
Abstract:
The main goal of this MA thesis is to develop a method for
automatically transforming natural language text into a formalization
of a possible meaning of the text, expressed in the conceptual
graphs of John Sowa.The method developed is that of syntax-directed,
ontology-guided, rule-based, step-wise transformation. The
method takes as input a piece of text, a syntactic analysis
of the text, a formal ontology, some rules, a relation hierarchy,
and a few small lexicons. First, the syntax is refined into
more traditional syntax trees. Second, the syntax trees are
transformed to “Intermediate” graphs, using syntax-driven
rules. Third, the “Intermediate” graphs are transformed
into “Fully semantic” graphs, using rule-based CG-matching.
These graphs are “good enough”: their meaning is
recognizable and they have no syntax left. An important byproduct
of the first step is a phrase-structure grammar of the input
text. Using the method in step 1, we show empirical evidence
that the number of phrase-structure rules needed to analyze
a given body of text is a root function in the number of words.
The method is demonstrated to work on three verses from the
book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible
Author:
Published:
Abstract:
This thesis deals with the integration of Information Technology
(IT) in the Danish upper secondary school, seen in a learning
perspective. The object of the thesis is to understand the
developmental dynamics of IT, pedagogy and learning, and how
IT can facilitate qualitative changes in the upper secondary
school. This is examined through the construction of a theoretical
outlook, and through analysis of an empirical investigation,
which is ethnographically inspired. In the thesis a theoretical
perspective combining Activity Theory, and Social Learning
Theory, is presented and discussed. The theoretical outlook
aims at presenting an understanding of learning and of the
developmental dynamics between IT, pedagogy and learning.
This is expressed through different categories of development
and change that IT can facilitate. Also it is stressed that
IT does not necessarily leads to the desired qualitative changes,
but requires that we re-conceptualise our current out-looks
and perspectives. Through an analysis of two school projects
integrating IT, it is exemplified and analysed how IT can
become an artefact of qualitative change. It is concluded
that IT has potential to facilitate qualitative changes as
IT allows new possibilities for participation, production
and identity building in real societal and cultural contexts,
but it requires that we simultaneously work actively with
our current perspective and outlooks on learning.
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