Communication and Information Sciences
Communication and information technologies are transforming society, impacting on a cross section of human activity far greater than any innovation since the printing press. Leaders in this nexus of technology and society require interdisciplinary expertise, transcending the individual disciplines from which the underlying technologies and their applications arose. The Communication and Information Sciences (CIS) PhD program at the University of Hawai'i was established to meet this need. This program is a collaborative effort between the School of Communications (COM), Department of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), Department of Information Technology Management (ITM), and the Library and Information Science Program (LIS).
The CIS office, staffed by Cindy Scheopner, is presently located in POST 305G; telephone 1-808-956-3493. Office Hours for summer 2009 are: Monday-Friday 12:30-4:30 p.m. The CIS Chair is Dan Suthers; his contact information and office hours are here.
news & events
CIS Dissertation: Human-Computer Interaction in Extreme Environments
Marc Le Pape defended his dissertation, "Human-Computer Interaction in Extreme Environments: Interaction Effects Between Field Dependency-Independency and Altered Gz Accelerations on End-User Performance" on January 29, 2009. For a flavor of what was involved in this rather unusual and ambitious study, see this You Tube video. For the abstract and committee, open this story.
Abstract: Failure to address extreme environments constraints at the human-computer interaction level may lead to the commission of critical and potentially fatal errors. This dissertation addresses gaps in our current theoretical understanding of the combined impact of an extreme environment stressor and perceptual style on task performance in human-computer interaction. A controlled experimental study investigates the effects of altered Gz accelerations and field dependency independency on human performance in the completion of perceptual-motor tasks on a personal digital assistant (PDA). Results of the experiment, conducted in an aerobatic aircraft at multiple Gz acceleration levels, show that in altered Gz environments perceptual style significantly impacts perceptual-motor task performance in target acquisition. Based on the results, the argument is made that acknowledging individual cognitive differences in design, will help end-users in extreme environments execute perceptual-motor tasks efficiently, without unnecessarily increasing cognitive load and the probability of critical errors. Design guidelines are proposed towards this end.
Daniel Suthers (Chairperson)
Colin Macdonald
Kevin Montgomery
Scott Robertson
Janet Onopa (Outside Member)
Daniel Suthers (Chairperson)
Colin Macdonald
Kevin Montgomery
Scott Robertson
Janet Onopa (Outside Member)
Points of Viewing Theory: 10 Mindful Activities & 7 Design In-Sites for Collaborative Learning
On January 15th, Dr. Ricki Goldman (Associate Professor of Educational Communication and Technology, New York University) presented 10 mindful learning activities and seven design in-sites learned from her twenty years designing video research technologies for computer-supported collaborative research. She discussed how the Points of Viewing theory can be used as a framework for designing learning tools and methods to address the crisis facing education in the 21st Century, and how it can merge individual learning within communities of practice.
10 Mindful Activities & 7 Design In-Sites for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning: The Points of Viewing Theory and a Tool called Orion-beta(tm)
Dr. Ricki Goldman
Associate Professor of Educational Communication and Technology
Co-Director, CREATE Lab
New York University
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/profiles/faculty/ricki_goldman
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/faculty_bios/view/Ricki_Goldman
The points of viewing theory (POVT) of learning is a theory about how the interpretive actions of participants overlap and intersect. To embrace how these points of viewing converge (and diverge) leads to a deeper understanding of not only the event and a video event, but also the actual physical and the recorded context of the topic under investigation. POVT has at its heart the intersecting perspectives of all participants with a stake in the community.
POVT also overcomes the static, isolating, individualized approach to point of view, in favor of the dynamic tension that operates among points of viewing--points that generate intersecting sight-lines, enabling people to catch sight of each other, as interpreters, even as they project their own point of view.
The perspectivity methodological framework (Goldman and Maxwell, 2002) for research in CSCL maintains that advanced video technologies offer a larger range of possible interpretations on what occurred in a given setting, knowing that every stakeholder has a different viewing of the event -- a viewing that affects changes in perception as the video is shared, annotated, and put into new configurations within social networks.
The question is this: How can the POV-ing theory be used as a framework for designing learning tools and methods to address the crisis facing education in the 21st Century? How can it merge individual learning within communities of practice?
In this talk, Dr. Ricki Goldman will propose 10 mindful learning activities and seven design in-sites learned from her twenty years designing video research technologies for computer-supported collaborative research.
Dr. Ricki Goldman -- media and learning theorist, digital video ethnographer, and software inventor -- is Associate Professor and Co-Director of the CREATE Lab at NYU. Her research interests focus on student learning in technology-rich learning environments, "quisitive" research methods, and the design of an online tool for video data analysis. Recently Goldman is exploring how video technologies lie at the interstices of social networking and social justice issues.
Dr. Ricki Goldman
Associate Professor of Educational Communication and Technology
Co-Director, CREATE Lab
New York University
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/profiles/faculty/ricki_goldman
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/faculty_bios/view/Ricki_Goldman
The points of viewing theory (POVT) of learning is a theory about how the interpretive actions of participants overlap and intersect. To embrace how these points of viewing converge (and diverge) leads to a deeper understanding of not only the event and a video event, but also the actual physical and the recorded context of the topic under investigation. POVT has at its heart the intersecting perspectives of all participants with a stake in the community.
POVT also overcomes the static, isolating, individualized approach to point of view, in favor of the dynamic tension that operates among points of viewing--points that generate intersecting sight-lines, enabling people to catch sight of each other, as interpreters, even as they project their own point of view.
The perspectivity methodological framework (Goldman and Maxwell, 2002) for research in CSCL maintains that advanced video technologies offer a larger range of possible interpretations on what occurred in a given setting, knowing that every stakeholder has a different viewing of the event -- a viewing that affects changes in perception as the video is shared, annotated, and put into new configurations within social networks.
The question is this: How can the POV-ing theory be used as a framework for designing learning tools and methods to address the crisis facing education in the 21st Century? How can it merge individual learning within communities of practice?
In this talk, Dr. Ricki Goldman will propose 10 mindful learning activities and seven design in-sites learned from her twenty years designing video research technologies for computer-supported collaborative research.
Dr. Ricki Goldman -- media and learning theorist, digital video ethnographer, and software inventor -- is Associate Professor and Co-Director of the CREATE Lab at NYU. Her research interests focus on student learning in technology-rich learning environments, "quisitive" research methods, and the design of an online tool for video data analysis. Recently Goldman is exploring how video technologies lie at the interstices of social networking and social justice issues.
CIS Dissertation: Effects of Culture on Online Initial Trust: Individual Level Analysis
Congratulations to Claire Ikumi Hitosugi, who successfully defended her dissertation, "Effects of Culture on Online Initial Trust: Individual Level Analysis" on December 5th, 2008. Her chair is Dr. Reums. Click for the abstract and dissertation committee.
Abstract: This is an exploratory work on the relationship between online initial trust and culture. Little work has been done on how culture influences one’s online trust perceptions. In IS research, culture is mostly studied either at the national or at the organizational level. This study captures culture at the individual level on a website. Four culture dimensions (masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) proposed by Hofstede (1980) are investigated. The McKnight et al. trust model (2002) is used as the basis of this study. Subjective norm (SN) is also integrated in the trust and culture model. Structural equation modeling was used in the model analysis.
First, the initial online trust model of McKnight et al. was successfully replicated in a tourism context. Then, the McKnight et al. trust model was augmented by subjective norm. I propose from the ‘Theory of Reasoned Action’ (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) that SN is a critical variable in trust formation and trust intention. My data showed that SN directly impacted all four trust constructs (disposition to trust, institutional trust, trusting beliefs, and intention to trust). Furthermore, SN is found to be a positive covariate of all culture variables; thus, all culture variables indirectly affect trust formation and intention through SN. Two culture dimensions (power distance and uncertainty avoidance) also directly affected three trust constructs, but not intention to trust. The dimensions of masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism had no direct effects on trust formation.
My results showed that SN, in particular peer perception, has the most significant effects on initial online trust formation. Furthermore, a person high in uncertainty avoidance (UA) has the strongest association with SN. Thus, not only does s/he take cues from others more, but also has a more trusting disposition and forms trusting beliefs more easily than a person low in UA.
The unequivocal properties of the UA construct were also discussed. Two types of UA are proposed; "UA need for structure" and "UA need for avoiding uncertainty". The UA construct that the most literature refers to is analyzed as "UA need for structure". Further investigation of UA construct is suggested.
Dissertation Committee: William Remus (Chairperson), David Ashworth, Dharm P. Bhawuk, Kentaro Hayashi, Dan Wedemeyer
First, the initial online trust model of McKnight et al. was successfully replicated in a tourism context. Then, the McKnight et al. trust model was augmented by subjective norm. I propose from the ‘Theory of Reasoned Action’ (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) that SN is a critical variable in trust formation and trust intention. My data showed that SN directly impacted all four trust constructs (disposition to trust, institutional trust, trusting beliefs, and intention to trust). Furthermore, SN is found to be a positive covariate of all culture variables; thus, all culture variables indirectly affect trust formation and intention through SN. Two culture dimensions (power distance and uncertainty avoidance) also directly affected three trust constructs, but not intention to trust. The dimensions of masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism had no direct effects on trust formation.
My results showed that SN, in particular peer perception, has the most significant effects on initial online trust formation. Furthermore, a person high in uncertainty avoidance (UA) has the strongest association with SN. Thus, not only does s/he take cues from others more, but also has a more trusting disposition and forms trusting beliefs more easily than a person low in UA.
The unequivocal properties of the UA construct were also discussed. Two types of UA are proposed; "UA need for structure" and "UA need for avoiding uncertainty". The UA construct that the most literature refers to is analyzed as "UA need for structure". Further investigation of UA construct is suggested.
Dissertation Committee: William Remus (Chairperson), David Ashworth, Dharm P. Bhawuk, Kentaro Hayashi, Dan Wedemeyer