Engagement in training and educational presentations facilitates learning. This paper describes engagement and proposes that it is conceptually similar to the state of playfulness, a construct increasingly applied to studies of human-computer interactions. It then describes how multimedia technologies can influence listeners' engagement during presentations. Results from pilot and main studies suggest that students' engagement in multimedia presentations can be increased by developing presentations that provide more challenge, feedback, presenter control, and variety. The paper concludes by discussing implications for research and practice.

Audience engagement in multimedia presentations

The technologies and functions of social media have significantly changed interaction on the Internet. These changes affect the perceived attractiveness of websites. Prior research regarding classic Internet offers has only partly considered these specifics. The determinants of attractive social media websites and corresponding online instruments remain under-investigated. Therefore, this study describes a conceptualization of website attractiveness in the context of social media and its relevance for potential usage. The research model was empirically tested by a standardized user survey (n=237) with the help of a structural equation model. The results show that social media website attractiveness is determined by the 2nd-order dimensions interaction orientation, social networking and user-added value. Moreover, a link to the intention to use social media offers can be established. Overall, the results shed light on the key aspects of users' expectations towards the integration of social media into electronic commerce and provide insights into how the corresponding social media instruments are to be evaluated.Keywords: Web 2.0, social media, attractiveness of websites, structural equation modeling1. IntroductionThe user's handling of the Internet as a medium, as well as his own self-image, have undergone major changes in the past few years. The increasing emphasis of interactive, social and networked phenomena of this technology is summarized under the term Web 2.0 [Hoegg et al. 2006, p. 12] or social media, which is used interchangeably [Constantinides & Fountain 2008]. Applications of social media have had an impact on a large variety of areas of life even if they are not directly linked to internet usage like public health surveillance or organizing vacations [Parra-Lopez et al. 2011; Yang et al. 2011]. Furthermore the relevance of social media applications can be verified based on the number of users and the intensity of use. On the one hand, social media platforms are growing at an above-average rate. For example, Facebook shows a monthly increase in users of nearly 10 % in markets not fully penetrated, such as Brazil or India [SocialBakers 2011]. On the other hand, the term of use for social media offers is longer than that of classic web contents [Nielsen 2010], so that, for example, there is a higher potential for online advertising revenues. However, for marketers in the field of electronic commerce an integration of social media features is challenging, since it is often unclear which features are accepted by the users. Furthermore, it is hard to determine which instruments yield corresponding returns in terms of corporate image. To address this knowledge gap is a central motivation of this article.The development of the terms social media and Web 2.0 has been characterized by a lack of conceptual clarity from the start [O'Reilly 2006]. The phenomenon of Web 2.0 which is often interchangeably referred to as social media has been analyzed in various fields of research such as computer science, business management, or sociology. As a result an extensive, uniform and precise definition has hardly yet been made [Song 2010]. It shows, however, that various fundamental dimensions are almost continuously used in relevant scientific literature. This includes concepts like networks, platforms, applications, interaction, user profiles, information distribution and active participation [Boyd & Ellison 2007, p. 210; Koh et al. 2007, p. 68; Park 2007, p. 175; Allen 2008]. In accordance with [Kaplan & Haenlein 2010, p. 61] social media is defined as "a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content". In that regard, web 2.0 refers to the basic technical platform of social media and user generated content refers to its underlying purpose. Therefore, this definition integrates technological, action-theoretical as well as interaction-related aspects which are classified on subject-related, functional as well as teleological levels. …

Determinants of social media website attractiveness

The increasing use of multimedia systems has led to a need for retrieval mechanisms not just for static media (such as text and graphics) but also for the ‘new’ dynamic media (time-variant media such as audio and video). All these media are indexable by physical attributes, but as yet generally only text and graphics are indexable to a further level of granularity by content . This paper explores the issues associated with attaching application-dependent semantics to objects which occur visually (or otherwise) within video sequences. The principles discussed here make particular reference to video, but they should be general enough to be applicable to other dynamic media such as audio, or even smell and tactility. Thus, they describe an extension of the anchor concept common in hypermedia models towards a more general mechanism, applicable to a wide range of media. The paper first describes a general concept for accessing the contents of dynamic media by considering two points of view—those of hypermedia and information retrieval. The paper then introduces the general concept of Sensitive Regions (or ‘hot-spots’) by reverse engineering techniques from established technologies such as computer graphics and traditional cinematic animation. In the final sections, the paper describes three applications being developed at the Computer Graphics Center (ZGDV) which explore a variety of aspects associated with Sensitive Regions: the HyperPicture-System focuses on the management of such data, MOVie experiments with the creation and editing of Sensitive Regions in a cinematically oriented context, while ShareME explores some of the issues associated with the use of Sensitive Regions in the interface to multimedia applications.

Time-varying sensitive regions in dynamic multimedia objects: a pragmatic approach to content-based retrieval from video

Users of hypermedia are known to suffer from confision and loss of overview when navigating within the hyperspace. This is especially serious problem in public information systems where instant acceptance by non– computer+xperts must be ensured. Concrete real-world user interface metaphors can help solve these problems by imposing familiar structures and interaction possibilities and visualizing them to the user. This paper gives guidance to the hypermedia user interface designer in the task of selecting an appropriate metaphor.

User interfaces for hypermedia: how to find good metaphors?

In this book, the authors offer three different arenas of nontrivial information seeking for our consideration: "Submarine Chasing" explores the thoughts of a highly decorated Cold War submarine hunter. "Bounty Hunting" involves a long and convoluted search for a reported bond skipper. "Engineering Design" presents a content analysis of the few works in epistemological foundations of engineering design activity. These stories, told at great length and in considerable detail, are framed within a foundational model that links the simple act of document seeking to the broader issue of making one's way through life in the physical world. In each case, the authors ramble, mull, and stumble upon ideas without the least prior constraint, developing some threads quite fully and leaving others to tease us, but never ever throwing us to the lions.

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Kaisa Väänänen

Papers

Interfaces to hypermedia: Communicating the structure and interaction possibilities to the users

The lust to explore space: The attractiveness of interactive video within multimedia applications