The influence of lyrics on the emotions transferred by a song

Emotions and music are intertwined. Current scientists do not doubt that. Still, after looking into research done on this topic, it turned out that it is not clear what causes the emotion: the lyrics or the melody of a song. Therefore, we took a deeper look into this difference for our research course at Tilburg University.

A withing group experiment was set up to look into the difference in emotions perceived by a song without, and the same song with lyrics. Participants were asked to indicate on a 7. Likert scale to what extent they thought the emotion matched the melody, and next the entire song. Results showed that, as long as the emotion was indentifiable, and the song fairly unknown to the audience, participants did differ in the degree to which they thought the emotion to be applicable to the song. In other words, when they heard the lyrics, they thought an emotion was more or was less applicable to the song. Therefore, it can be concluded that a song's lyrics transfer emotions that are not always competible with the emotions of a song's melody.

Four reasons why playing computergames could turn you into an aggressor

I know, it suprised me just as much as it scared the hell out of me. Strange, because here we are, thinking that computer games are as much part of today's life as, let's say, mobile phones. However, Malamuth, Linz & Yao (2005) argue that certain features of the internet that contribute to aggression.

First of all, they argue that because video games are highly active, the players 'become' the aggressive characters, since they are required to take on the identity of a violent player. Next, it is stated that the video game player is directly reinforced for aggressing by the effects of the videogame (verpal praise, receiving points and visual/auditorial effects). Thirdly,  the frequency of violence shown is almost continous, and the scenes of gory death evoke excitement. Finally, video games are becoming more realistic.

Because of these four elements, playing violent video games is expected to be more harmful than violent TV programs and films. Now, what I really want to know is: do you think these scientists are right? Or are these just a bunch of traditional folks who do not have a clue about new media?

A sneak preview on the ClubAid presentation

Another week, another user interface design blog.
Last Thursday we have finalized the evaluation part of ClubAid. It has taken a great deal of work and effort to come up with the application we have so far. However, looking back on the entire project, I am more than happy with the final result.

Today is presentation day. On the one hand, I am a bit nervous for the respons that we will get. On the other hand, I am sure that our madness video is both funny and informative. It must have been hell to edit it, so hereby I would like to give Remco Diks the credits he deserves!

Our poster-presentation will probably attract enough attention as well. That is, I hope it will, because Sandra Augustin has done a brilliant job designing it (together with Rik of course). I would like to invite the lot of you to come and visit our stand and poster in the Dante building at Tilburg University. We will be there from 14.00 pm until 16.15 pm. Of course you are more than welcome to ask questions about the application or the project.

Marie Nilsenova on code-switching in advertising

We made a webvideo! Yes we did! And with 'we' I really mean Irene Krommendijk, Linda Zonderop, Chiel van Helden, Ruben van der Steen, and yours truly. Subject to our video was our BIT lecturer Marie Nilsenova, to whom we own special thanks.

Code-switching is a definition most people are not familiar with. However, with just a short explanation everyone will understand its meaning. When looking up code-switching on Wikipedia, it provides you with the following definition. "In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Multilinguals - people who speak more than one language - sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other."

 Faruk Semerci wrote her masterhesis on the effects of code-switching in Turkish/Dutch advertisements. During the process of writing the thesis, Marie Nilsenova coached her. Marie has also gained expertise in the field of code-switching via her own research. Want to know more about code-switching and its effects? Check out the video! Oh, and don't forget to turn up the volume, because it might be a bit low on sound.

ClubAid: building beautiful solutions

I am sure most of you know the problem. You're having a lot of fun in a bar, but you want to get a drink. In many cases, this results in queueing up in front of the bar and screaming your order in the bartender's ear. Annoying, and not the kind of experience you are looking for when you are out having fun.

The user interface design course at Tilburg University provided us with the opportunity to change this. Fellow projectmember Rens Dietz came up with the idea to develop an application that makes ordering drinks in a bar a lot easier (and more fun!). What started of with some random ideas that came together on a first projectmeeting, has now become a pretty cool , semi-working application for smartphones. Although I am not sure whether my projectmates and I will ever be granted the opportunity to fully develop it, I wanted to share our work with you.

After interviewing both bartenders and bar visitors we gathered enough insights to decide that the application could really work. That's when the development part started. With a lot of enthusiasm we started brainstorming about functions we could integrate and sketching lay-outs of the interface. This resulted in a low-fi prototype, which was really nothing more than a lot of sketches that we showed to our users.

And now we have developed a high-fi prototype. Although with 'we' I really  mean Rik Terpelle. Once it is completely finished I might just post it to my blog as well. Also, we are in the progress of developing a video.I'll make sure I share that with you guys later. Until then, fingers crossed for the final user testings!