Comments, comments, and more comments

I produced four comments per theme as follows:

Theme 1

Mikael J

I think your article is very relevant considering the recent SPAM postings by people who were concerned with the privacy of their content and information. However, Facebook has become part of a daily routine for most of us and I think we try to push those terms and conditions we agreed to in the back of our mine and continue using the service even if it is compromising our privacy. Do you think that these privacy issues will get to the point that people will quit using Facebook?

Markus W

Do you see a similar type of technology possibly being implemented in cars in the future as a safety feature? It seems to me that if the prototype could incurred fairly accurate results that this could be very useful in preventing car accidents due to drowsiness. I used to have to leave for work at 2:30AM and would have loved to have technology like this included in my car to see if it was actually safe for me to be driving to work at this time. Very interesting article.

Gerald H

I had never seen the word "propinquity" before, way to make the native speaker feel stupid. So I googled it a bit more. Apparently it is a term most commonly used in reference to social psychology but that virtual propinquity is increasing with the use of instant messaging and video conferencing. So I see why in your article they were interested in testing how electronic propinquity is changing communication experiences.

Joel A

This is definitely an interesting article but I agree that we are far from seeing this implemented. Especially in the United States it is hard for financial institutions to change their ways. We do not use smart chip (RFID) debit/credit cards in the US because many banks and also stores find the change in equipment is too much of an expense and I feel they would think the same about mobile payment. Though my bank does have a very nice smartphone app that not only allows me to check my accounts but to also deposit money. 

Theme 2

Carl S

I also agree that explanation and prediction is a good way to express the theory behind the research. I was wondering what were their predictions in regards to implementing mobile learning to help special education students? I know that many children suffering from Autism have now been given a great opportunity to learn and also communicate with technology like Ipads so I am interested if they are predicting the same type of results.

Joel F

What's funny is as I was reading your post, I was attempting to multitask. I find I try to do this a lot even though I know it must be causing more harm then good. Maybe I will read further into your article so that I might possibly stop trying to multitask (doubt it). I agree that there was limitations within their choice of theory and that they could not analyze if the data was outside of what they were looking for.

Viktor H

I also had a hard time understanding Gregor's classifications of theory as many papers I read did not have such an obvious trait. I agree with it seeming that possibly the more classifications might make the theory better.

Johan O

I think your article explained a very interesting topic but I am disappointed that they did really offer no predictions as to what the future could hold for this technology. I recently purchased a smartphone earlier this year and have really never thought about it being capable of leaving notes that where location based.

Theme 3

In response to Katya K

I've had different teachers use different methods of teaching for each online class I've taken. I even took physical education class on-line because I was not capable of taking it at school. I've had teachers that just download powerpoint slides and readings but I've also had teachers who record audio lectures and youtube videos. So I think each experience was different in terms of involvement and dialog.

In response to Marina B

I started to actually decline taking online classes because of the new rule in the US that mandates that you must spend a small amount of time in the classroom. I choose online classes to make myself more available for other things since you can almost make your own pace and adding mandatory classroom time, to me, took away the attractiveness of e-learning.

In response to Media Manager Master (Florian)

That is totally correct. In my experience of on-line learning, my teachers always made themselves available for phone calls and I think they were actually more attentive to your needs than a face-to-face teacher.

In response to Katerina 

For many of y online instructors I felt I had an intimate connection with them. They always gave feedback on each assignment and were always open and quick to respond to emails and even phones calls. In many of my classes it was actually mandatory to have a phone interview with them at least once during the course.

Theme 4

 Fernanda

I have to agree with you that coming from a social science background I was slightly confused on the ActDresses article. I understood the concept in regards to children's toys but I wasn't sure if the concept was a good idea when applied to appliances like the vacuum cleaner. How can a vacuum act shy? I prefer my electronics without "emotions."

Media Manager Master (Florian)

I think the research in the paper you choose was very thorough considering it was using triangulation to collect the data. This helps increase the credibility and validity of the results. I am wondering if they can some sort of conclusion they gathered from their data?

Love L.

You might not have learned much new material about qualitative research from this paper, but I did learn that there was a communication problem between Directors and Composers. I agree that a larger number of participants in the study would have helped the readers of this paper take it more "seriously." Even possibly adding  another composer so that we weren't just getting the reactions of one could have made the study better.

In response to Joel A.

I don't think television is being replaced by online content but the medium of television has changed. Many people now view television content on-line as well. My bachelor's was in television production and my passion in that was always to not only entertain but to educate as well. Television can be an extremely effective learning tool and I think this article was trying to get producers and directors of the content to pay more attention to this.

Theme 5

Tian

Not all prototypes need user testing but, I think for the type of technology they were testing that the focus group test was an important step.  I'm wondering though what sort of ASR type technology needs to be used at a cocktail-party? Seems like an odd location to me.

Bartosz

I think your choice of article went very well with Haibo Li's lecture since he discussed similar vision tracking technology. However, I am wondering did they implement any type of prototype? What kind of experiments were tested by users?

 In response to Media Manager Master (Florian)

The only problem with having higher expenses on a more functional prototype is the possibly of failure within that prototype. However, I do agree with your point. If you are going to spend the money on a prototype might as well make sure you get the most bang for your money.

 Beau A

As you know from the seminar, I found your article interesting. Again, I think it's quite funny that I had seen a short video about this exact robot the week prior. I think it was a very clear and straightforward approach to design research and the creation of prototypes and besides the chemistry and engineering part, quite easy for us to understand the concept of design research. And as promised, a link to the video of the robot in motion. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DsbS9cMOAE