Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item HERE I AM: AN EXPLORATION OF VIRTUAL LIVE PERFORMANCE(2021) Bennett, Jeremy Donnell; Mezzocchi, Jared; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The following thesis is a series of observations and explorations documenting my experiences as both an artistic collaborator and contributor of the Davis Performing Arts Center at Georgetown University’s production of Here I Am. The production opened April 15th, 2021 as a virtual live performance streamed through YouTube. Here I Am was an original performance by Mélisande (Meli) Short-Colomb with direction by Derek Goldman and Nikkole Salter, music composition and vocal performance by Somi Kakoma, multimedia design by Jared Mezzocchi, sound design by Andre Pluess and lighting design by Alberto Segarra.Item Design for Just-In-Time: Resource Design for Self-Teaching Computer Science and Online Learning(2020) Lindeman, Carrie Lucille; Weintrop, David; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The goal of this study is to investigate how just-in-time resources may support self-teaching for adult computer science learners who are new to coding. For people learning computer science on their own, just-in-time resources can be essential for solving problems. A popular online resource that computer scientists of all experience levels rely on is Stack Overflow, a forum that has a question and answer format. Resources like Stack Overflow can help new programmers problem-solve their code without consulting a teacher or professor. However, these resources may be creating barriers in the learning experience that should prepare them for future computer science education. By observing learners using just-in-time resources and interviewing learners about their habits, this thesis provides guidance on potential design suggestions for better supporting users’ future learning. Understanding how just-in-time materials currently support self-teaching for adult novice computer science learners will provide the foundation for these designs.Item Diversity and Novelty: Measurement, Learning and Optimization(2019) Ahmed, Faez; Fuge, Mark; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The primary objective of this dissertation is to investigate research methods to answer the question: ``How (and why) does one measure, learn and optimize novelty and diversity of a set of items?" The computational models we develop to answer this question also provide foundational mathematical techniques to throw light on the following three questions: 1. How does one reliably measure the creativity of ideas? 2. How does one form teams to evaluate design ideas? 3. How does one filter good ideas out of hundreds of submissions? Solutions to these questions are key to enable the effective processing of a large collection of design ideas generated in a design contest. In the first part of the dissertation, we discuss key qualities needed in design metrics and propose new diversity and novelty metrics for judging design products. We show that the proposed metrics have higher accuracy and sensitivity compared to existing alternatives in literature. To measure the novelty of a design item, we propose learning from human subjective responses to derive low dimensional triplet embeddings. To measure diversity, we propose an entropy-based diversity metric, which is more accurate and sensitive than benchmarks. In the second part of the dissertation, we introduce the bipartite b-matching problem and argue the need for incorporating diversity in the objective function for matching problems. We propose new submodular and supermodular objective functions to measure diversity and develop multiple matching algorithms for diverse team formation in offline and online cases. Finally, in the third part, we demonstrate filtering and ranking of ideas using diversity metrics based on Determinantal Point Processes as well as submodular functions. In real-world crowd experiments, we demonstrate that such ranking enables increased efficiency in filtering high-quality ideas compared to traditionally used methods.Item Orchestrating Community: Revitalizing East Frederick through a New Hub for the Arts(2019) Tonkay, Marissa Jayne; Hu, Ming; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis intends to explore placemaking through the introduction of a community arts center. As a historic city filled with art, festivals, and musicians, Frederick is well-known as a trendy destination. The city and its surrounding suburbs host several public venues designated for art performances and individual private lessons; however, the city itself lacks a unified artistic identity and a physical expression of Frederick’s arts culture. The city needs a central, accessible hub for ensemble music and public performance and exhibit space for beginners or small groups that, together, make up Frederick’s arts culture. The thesis examines an artistic hub which includes education, performance, and mixed-use residential spaces for creators to learn, perform, live, and collaborate. Utilizing survey-derived community desires and needs as a design driver, the thesis will study placemaking and investigate the artistic identity of Frederick to strengthen the city’s designation as an Arts & Entertainment District.Item EURYDICE: AN EXPLORATION OF PROJECTION DESIGN IDEAS AND PROCESS FOR THE UNIVERSTIY OF MARYLAND’S DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE, DANCE AND PERFORMING STUDIES, 2018 PRODUCTION(2018) Costello, Mark Alan; Kachman, Misha; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The following thesis navigates the artistic ideas and concepts, design process, and execution of Mark Costello’s projections design for the University of Maryland’s production of Eurydice. The production opened February 9, 2018 in the Kay Theatre at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The play was written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Mitchell Hébert. Matthew Buttrey designed set, Peter Leibold designed lighting, B. Benjamin Weigel designed costumes, and Matthew Nielson designed sound.Item EVALUATING CLUSTERING ALGORITHMS TO IDENTIFY SUBPROBLEMS IN DESIGN PROCESSES(2017) Morency, Michael John; Herrmann, Jeffrey W; Systems Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Design problems are inherently intricate and require multiple dependent decisions. Because of these characteristics, design teams generally choose to decompose the main problem into manageable subproblems. This thesis describes the results of a study designed to (a) explore clustering algorithms as a new and repeatable way to identify subproblems in recorded design team discussions, (b) assess the quality of the identified subproblems, and (c) examine any relationships between the subproblems and final design or team experience level. We observed five teams of public health professionals and four teams of undergraduate students and applied four clustering algorithms to identify the team’s subproblems and achieve the aforementioned research goals. The use of clustering algorithms to identify subproblems has not been documented before, and clustering presents a repeatable and objective method for determining a team’s subproblems. The results from these algorithms as well as metrics noting the each result’s quality were captured for all teams. We learned that each clustering algorithm has strengths and weaknesses depending on how the team discussed the problem, but the algorithms always accurately identify at least some of the discussed subproblems. Studying these identified subproblems reveals a team’s design process and provides insight into their final design choices.Item Waking Darkness. Waiting Light.(2017) Reeves, Matthew Walker; Phillips, Miriam; Dance; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Waking Darkness. Waiting Light. was an evening-length dance/multimedia event performed October 7-9, 2016 at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Conceived and created collaboratively with Colette Krogol in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, the work evolved from individual research that wove together into one seamless performance. Using the choreographic elements of weight, time, light, and darkness, the work explored the action of transformation and intersections of dance, dream, and mythology. This thesis documents the research and creative process to make Waking Darkness. Waiting Light. The Monomyth Theory of comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell played a pivotal role in the research, laying a foundation for new methods of listening for universal mythic elements within a personal journey. Additionally this paper explores perspectives on how mythmaking and dance-making are similar in process, and the influence this perspective has on choreography.Item Designing the Sick Body: Structuring Illness in the Techno-Material Age(2016) Moesch, Jarah; King, Katie; Farman, Jason; American Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)How might we pivot and turn towards outsider bodily knowledges to learn how bodies come to matter within and through the extended medical industrial complex? Using the concept of the embodied constellation, I examine what it means to know as and through our sick bodies -- in relationship to data, information, knowledge -- and what it means to claim that these kinds of knowing matter. Embodied constellations enable us to recognize that what we perceive as flattened constructs and single systems are instead a multiplicity of pathways and systems that may or may not interact with each other, thus knowing them in one way rather than another. Using a methodology I call AutoEthnoGraphics I put the researcher’s embodiment at the center of the research as analysis itself. Such analysis demonstrates the chemical, biological, and organic processes of the sick body, and includes poetry, images, and drawings from 30 years of my personal graphic journal. AutoEthnoGraphics thus draws our attention to just how we are implicated in the thinking, molding, structuring of end results. I speak to and share methods from ranging forms of trans-disciplinary scholarship. Grounded in my own work as an artist, I add American studies methods of ethnography and discourse analysis, mix in women of color feminisms' narrative storytelling; queer theory's analysis of outsider status, time, and failure; critical race theory's unpacking of institutionalized structures; science and technology studies' questioning of categories and their risks and credibility; and finally, media studies' deconstruction of images and sound. These tools, methods, and concerns come together in Queer Justice Design, my set of counter-practices for pivoting towards the outsider while making these embodied knowledges central to communities of care. The central tenets and values inform how we move through and co-create these practices with others to shape more livable lives. Those who would benefit from a practice of Queer Justice Design are those scholars and community organizers working towards universal or participatory design, and towards feminist and queer justice. Those I invite into these conversations work in such fields as disability studies, digital humanities, queer theory, feminist praxis, and cultural studies.Item ProjectION: Investigation Operative Networks(2016) Louie, Adam Wong; White, Brent D; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Corporations and enterprises have embraced the notion of shared experiences and collective workplaces by incorporating coworking places. A great deal of the methodology carries from the studio culture that architecture schools foster as well as think tank culture. Maker spaces and incubator spaces are prime examples of places that engender creative thought and products. This thesis seeks to explore the impact that architecture has on collaborative spaces with a focus on augmenting to their generated learning and design activities. The investigation explores the collaborative design process as a series of interactions between groups of individuals. This involves the impact of technology and its implications on those interactions. The goal of this thesis is not to further the use of a tool or systematic procedure, but to use architecture as a framing device to form places for collaborative processes.Item "How can you love a work, if you don't know it?": Critical code and design towards participatory digital editions(2015) Visconti, Amanda; Kirschenbaum, Matthew; English Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Scholarly editors are integral to the continuum that keeps the stories of the past available to and understood by the present--but that public of readers beyond the academy whose interest keeps the humanities alive and relevant is just as important. What if we build a digital edition and invite everyone? What if millions of scholars, first-time readers, book clubs, teachers and their students show up and annotate a text with their "infinite" interpretations, questions, and contextualizations? My dissertation pursues this speculative experiment through the creation of the Infinite Ulysses digital edition; I've studied how to improve the design and functionality of a key artifact of the digital humanities--the digital edition--through this unlikely hypothetical. First, I designed, coded, and publicly released an actual digital edition of James Joyce's Ulysses with various experimental interface features. Second, I conducted user testing and analyzed site analytic data with real readers and researchers. Third, I used the results of the experiment to build on knowledge from fields with a stake in digital social reading: literary studies, textual scholarship, information science, and visual design rhetoric. I'm using this speculative experiment to dream big about the public humanities, produce something practically useful, and capture data to support critical responses to the challenges of a more public digital humanities. Three research areas were explored through these methodologies: 1. How can we design digital editions that are not just public, but invite and assist participation in the scholarly love for the nuances of a text's materiality, history, and meaning? Are there ways to design for meaningful participation that don't necessarily scaffold critical participation? 2. How can we design participatory digital editions to handle an influx of readers and annotations? What might we learn about digital editions and their texts from the accompanying influx of site use data? 3. Can we separate the values of textual scholarship from the physical manifestations of these values? How might this clarification help us imagine new types of digital edition that hold true to those values? A whitepaper serves as a report on the dissertation's process and products.
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