@phdthesis{Mthunzi,
  author    = {Mthunzi, Everett},
  title     = {Interactive Surface Environments: Design and Implementation},
  doi       = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.6406},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20230704-64065},
  school      = {Bauhaus-Universit{\"a}t Weimar},
  pages     = {128},
  abstract  = {This dissertation presents three studies on the design and implementation of interactive surface environments. It puts forward approaches to engineering interactive surface prototypes using prevailing methodologies and technologies. The scholarly findings from each study have been condensed into academic manuscripts, which are conferred herewith. The first study identifies a communication gap between engineers of interactive surface systems (i.e., originators of concepts) and future developers. To bridge the gap, it explores a UML-based framework to establish a formal syntax for modeling hardware, middleware, and software of interactive surface prototypes. The proposed framework targets models-as-end-products, towards enabling a shared view of research prototypes thereby facilitating dialogue between concept originators and future developers. The second study positions itself to support developers with an open-source solution for exploiting 3D point clouds for interactive tabletop applications using CPU architectures. Given dense 3D point-cloud representations of tabletop environments, the study aims toward mitigating high computational effort by segmenting candidate interaction regions as a preprocessing step. The study contributes a robust open-source solution for reducing computational costs when leveraging 3D point clouds for interactive tabletop applications. The solution itself is flexible and adaptable to variable interactive surface applications. The third study contributes an archetypal concept for integrating mobile devices as active components in augmented tabletop surfaces. With emphasis on transparent development trails, the study demonstrates the utility of the open-source tool developed in the second study. In addition to leveraging 3D point clouds for real-time interaction, the research considers recent advances in computer vision and wireless communication to realize a modern, interactive tabletop application. A robust strategy that combines spatial augmented reality, point-cloud-based depth perception, CNN-based object detection, and Bluetooth communication is put forward. In addition to seamless communication between adhoc mobile devices and interactive tabletop systems, the archetypal concept demonstrates the benefits of preprocessing point clouds by segmenting candidate interaction regions, as suggested in the second study. Collectively, the studies presented in this dissertation contribute; 1—bridging the gap between originators of interactive surface concepts and future developers, 2— promoting the exploration of 3D point clouds for interactive surface applications using CPU-based architectures, and 3—leveraging 3D point clouds together with emerging CNN-based object detection, and Bluetooth communication technologies to advance existing surface interaction concepts.},
  subject      = {Mensch-Maschiene-Kommunikation},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchwenkeSoebkeKraft,
  author    = {Schwenke, Nicolas and S{\"o}bke, Heinrich and Kraft, Eckhard},
  title     = {Potentials and Challenges of Chatbot-Supported Thesis Writing: An Autoethnography},
  series = {Trends in Higher Education},
  volume    = {2023},
  journal   = {Trends in Higher Education},
  number    = {Volume 2, issue 4},
  publisher = {MDPI},
  address   = {Basel},
  doi       = {10.3390/higheredu2040037},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20231207-65016},
  pages     = {611 -- 635},
  abstract  = {The release of the large language model-based chatbot ChatGPT 3.5 in November 2022 has brought considerable attention to the subject of artificial intelligence, not only to the public. From the perspective of higher education, ChatGPT challenges various learning and assessment formats as it significantly reduces the effectiveness of their learning and assessment functionalities. In particular, ChatGPT might be applied to formats that require learners to generate text, such as bachelor theses or student research papers. Accordingly, the research question arises to what extent writing of bachelor theses is still a valid learning and assessment format. Correspondingly, in this exploratory study, the first author was asked to write his bachelor's thesis exploiting ChatGPT. For tracing the impact of ChatGPT methodically, an autoethnographic approach was used. First, all considerations on the potential use of ChatGPT were documented in logs, and second, all ChatGPT chats were logged. Both logs and chat histories were analyzed and are presented along with the recommendations for students regarding the use of ChatGPT suggested by a common framework. In conclusion, ChatGPT is beneficial for thesis writing during various activities, such as brainstorming, structuring, and text revision. However, there are limitations that arise, e.g., in referencing. Thus, ChatGPT requires continuous validation of the outcomes generated and thus fosters learning. Currently, ChatGPT is valued as a beneficial tool in thesis writing. However, writing a conclusive thesis still requires the learner's meaningful engagement. Accordingly, writing a thesis is still a valid learning and assessment format. With further releases of ChatGPT, an increase in capabilities is to be expected, and the research question needs to be reevaluated from time to time.},
  subject      = {Chatbot},
  language  = {en}
}