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RESEARCH STUDENTS
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Current Student Research Summaries
[Zafer Bilda] [Edward Chen] [Yohann Daruwala] [Steve Clark] [Chau Giang] [Ning Gu] [Figen Gul] [Carolyn James] [Julie Jupp] [Jeff WT Kan] [Udo Kannengiesser] [Mijeong Kim] [Paul Murty] [Wei Peng] [Ricardo Sosa] [Dirk Schwede] [Hong Jun Song] [Ji Soo Yoon] [Ellina Yukhina]
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THE ROLE OF IMAGERY AND SKETCHING IN DESIGNING |
| Zafer Bilda |
| Supervisor: Prof. John Gero |
The aim of the research is to understand the role of imagery and sketching in the design process. The research questions are whether sketching is essential for designing and if designing is possible with the use of imagery alone. If the latter is possible, how are designers able to use of imagery alone as an effective designing medium? Does it mimic the dynamics of sketching? What does sketching share in common with imagery? Should it be possible to demonstrate cognitive patterns of the interplay between sketching and imagery during designing? |
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TANGIBLE USER INTERFACES FOR 3D VISUALISATION |
| Edward Chen |
| Supervisor: Prof. Mary Lou Maher |
Current interactions with the computer is dominated by the human-computer interaction technique graphical user interfaces, where interacting with and visualising 3D models is poorly supported by current mainstream 3D modelling applications. This research reports on the processes and issues encountered in the design and construction of a tangible user interface for 3D visualisation. A description of the processes involved in the design and construction of a tangible user interface which makes use of a multiple 2D display environment, with the vertical display of the interface acting as a tangible device allowing natural and intuitive interaction to visualising 3D models is described.
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3DT: TANGIBLE INPUT TECHNIQUES USED FOR 3D DESIGN & VISUALISATION |
| Yohann Daruwala |
| Supervisor: Prof. Mary Lou Maher |
Various progress in tangible interfaces for design applications shows a customised HCI for 3D can concentrate on the specific needs of this design task. Using a digital workbench framework, we endeavour to create an unimpeded interface for tangible input interaction with the physical and virtual worlds. Making use of 3D blocks and a pen-based interface as interaction methods for design applications and specifically augmented reality, we move away from traditional inputs of keyboard and mouse and closer to tangible user interfaces through grasping and manipulating physical objects.
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THE ROLE OF PLACE IN A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT |
| Steve Clark |
| Supervisor: Prof. Mary Lou Maher |
The purpose of this research is to identify the role of place in a virtual learning environment by studying how a sense of place affect's the learning experiences of digital media design students. The study is conducted in a 3D Virtual World developed from principles of architecture and learning sciences. The outcome of the research seeks to provide a better understanding and characterisation of place in virtual learning environments.
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EMOTION-BASED SITUATED CONCEPT FORMATION AGENT IN DESIGN |
| Chau Giang |
| Supervisor: Prof. John Gero |
Emotions appear to play an important role in human cognition and affect reasoning, evaluative judgment, decision-making, and other cognitive processes. However, there has been little scientific research into the role emotions play in designing. This research examines a possible role of a computational analogue of emotion in design and behaviour of concept formation agent operating within a design domain.
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DYNAMIC DESIGNS OF VIRTUAL WORLDS USING GENERATIVE DESIGN AGENTS |
| Ning Gu |
| Supervisor: Prof. Mary Lou Maher |
This research aims at establishing a formal foundation for developing virtual worlds that are dynamically designed as needed. The outcomes of the research involve the development of a design agent model that enables dynamic designs of 3D virtual worlds. A design grammar is applied as the generative component in the agent model for capturing a particular style of virtual worlds in terms of visualisation, navigation and interaction.
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UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF AURAL AND VISUAL CUES IN NAVIGATION STRATEGIES IN VIRTUAL WORLDS |
| Figen Gul |
Supervisors: Prof. Mary Lou Maher
and Dr. Kirsty Beilharz |
In virtual worlds the navigation tasks include a goal that is moving from one place to another as well as exploring the environment and searching information without getting lost. The current study employs these types of navigation tasks to study navigation strategies, and particularly focusing on developing an understanding of the role of the visual and aural cues in navigation strategies in 3D virtual worlds. A hypothesis is that the combination of the visual and aural cues supports navigation better than the use of only visual cues as the navigation aids. This research follows an experimental approach to test the role of navigation cues in the development of navigation strategies.
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USER FEEDBACK BASED ON NATURAL LANGUAGE |
| Carolyn James |
| Supervisor: Dr. Andy Dong |
This research envisages knowledge acquisition via machine-learning as a potential solution for enabling autonompus self-adaptation of behaviours in Intelligent Enivronments (IEs). The project defines a system that utilises user feedback based on natural language verbalisations as a source of machine-learning. The system trials Belief Networks, Latent Semantic Analysis and Heuristcs as methods of machine-learning for knowledge acquisition in the aim of obtaining performance measures that will facilitate autonomous self-adaption of behaviours in IEs.
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QUALITATIVE SPATIAL REASONING: 2D REPRESENTATION AND MEASUREMENT OF DESIGN DIAGRAMS |
| Julie Jupp |
| Supervisor: Prof. John Gero |
This thesis defines a computational encoding-analysis (E-A) model for qualitative feature-based differentiation of 2D design diagrams. Design diagrams are encoded using a qualitative coding schemata based on a mixed spatial ontology to derive distinguishing shape and spatial features. During analysis, the E-A model combines the advantages of feature extraction with a variety of data mining techniques such that asymmetric values of similarity can be obtained for designs across independent spatial ontologies. Evaluation of the E-A model is undertaken in cognitive experiments which survey the designer's intuitive similarity assessment of the same design diagrams.
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THE EFFECTS OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COLLABORATIVE DESIGN TOOLS ON TEAM DESIGN ACTIVITIES |
| Jeff WT Kan |
| Supervisor: Prof. John Gero |
This research is concerned with the effects of computer collaborative tools on ideal development and individual's cognitive activities during early stage of designing. It will involve empirical studies in two situations - face-to-face collaboration and computer-mediated collaboration. Participants will be paired up to work on two similar design tasks in the two situations at different times, immediately followed by a reporting task where the participants will be asked to "retrospect" their design collaboration process with the aid of recorded video. Both the design and reporting sessions will be recorded and analysed; the results will form the basis of future specifications for tool development.
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USING AGENTS IN THE EXCHANGE OF PRODUCT DATA |
| Udo Kannengiesser |
| Supervisor: Prof. John Gero |
Most approaches to product data exchange use standard data models such as STEP or IFCs to translate between the different native formats of the design tools. This research uses computational agents to achieve interoperability when the standard model is not available. A cognitively-based model of communication constructs a common ontology on the fly during the conversation. Experiments with an example implementation have shown how a set of agents can flexibly and efficiently exchange product data in the form required by the tools.
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THE ROLE OF TANGIBLE USER INTERFACES IN ENHANCING SPATIAL COGNITION |
| Mijeong Kim |
| Supervisor: Prof. Mary Lou Maher |
This research focuses on the role of tangible user interfaces (TUIs) in structuring the cognitive processes in terms of conceptualizing the three dimensions and spatial relationships of a building. Thus, we explore the utility of design cognition as the primary means for better understanding of TUIs to associate the computing with human's cognitive activities. The overall aim of this research is to obtain evidence about the impact and potential benefits of using tangible interfaces in collaborative design.
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DISCOVERY PROCESSES IN DESIGN |
| Paul Murty |
| Supervisor: Prof. Terry Purcell |
This is an interview study of architects which considers how these individuals design, focusing on breakthroughs and unexpected discoveries made throughout conceptual design. The study considers creative outcomes that occur while these individuals are not intentionally designing, as well as when they are, with the intention of identifying and evaluating evidence of latent creative activity. Issues of insightfulness, based on a Gestalt perspective, are also considered in the study.
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AN ADAPTIVE DESIGN TOOL THAT LEARNS |
| Wei Peng |
| Supervisor: Prof. John Gero |
This research is to develop an approach that enables a design tool to learn by its use to assist designers. A situated agent extends an existing design tool to model interactions, from which the agent is able to learn from its "experiences". The agent learns the regularities of how designers use the design tool to design, and how these patterns of usage are reflected in the concepts that represent the agent's interpretation of the design interaction situation. Based on the learnt concepts, the agent can provide assistance during the use of the tool.
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THE SOCIAL NATURE OF CREATIVITY IN DESIGN |
| Ricardo Sosa |
| Supervisor: Prof. John Gero |
What types of phenomena may be associated to creativity in design and what principles may be at work behind these phenomena? We approach these questions by formulating and conducting experimentation with a computational framework of design as a social activity to inspect the interaction between designers and their societies. A key implication from our studies is that the isolated characteristics of designers are insufficient to formulate conclusions about the nature and effects of their role as change agents of our society. Instead, causality is at least partially attributed to situational characteristics that have received little attention in the study of creativity.
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INTEGRATED SIMULATION OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES TO PREDICT THE OCCUPANTS' COMFORT PERCEPTION |
| Dirk A. Schwede |
| Supervisor: Bruce Forwood |
This research is leading towards digital design environments in which physical phenomena can be 'measured', analysed and evaluated in the virtual world as if the design object was already built in the physical world, while the advantages of digital representation and computational simulation (low-cost, low-risk and time effectiveness) can be utilized. Means to augment digital design representations (3D-CAD models) with simulated information about the physical phenomena necessary to assess overall comfort of occupants in buildings are developed.
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SOME STRATEGIES FOR CLEAR AUDITORY DIFFERENTIATION IN INFORMATION SONIFICATION |
| Hong Jun Song |
| Supervisor: Dr. Kirsty Beilharz |
Sounds-driven sonification is fast becoming a tool for deciphering and augmenting information representation, by which users are able to extract meaning from sounds. It is particularly regarded as an alternative to visually presented data, where the user deals with auditory rather than visual images. This work responds to the need to better represent and understand large-scale sonification and the increasing scale of data assimilation in modern society.
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WAYFINDING IN VIRTUAL WORLDS USING SWARM INTELLIGENCE |
| Ji Soo Yoon |
Supervisors: Prof. Mary Lou Maher
and Dr. Andy Dong |
The fundamental problem in current usage of virtual world technology is that there is no intuitive wayfinding capability. Researches in wayfinding have been focused primarily on static worlds. Consequently any wayfinding information designed becomes obsolete as it does not reflect the changes made in the world. Hence my research focuses on resolving this issue using swarm intelligence.
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EXPLORING THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL DESIGN ABILITIES IN ARCHITECTURE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE |
| Ellina Yukhina |
| Supervisor: Prof. John Gero |
The study explores relationships and correlations between individual cognitive styles, learning strategies, a number of visualisation and ideation factors (chosen on the basis of their roles in design ability) and design reasoning and academic performance. The methodology draws on knowledge and experimental techniques from several research domains and has a strong interpretative orientation focusing on gaining insight and understanding. The study combines quantitative and qualitative methods to establish initial tentative links and connections between individual design abilities, design process and design product, that could further be analysed and interpreted in more depth.
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