Browsing by Subject "dialogue"
Now showing items 1-8 of 8
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(2010)The rise of Special education numbers in Finland has caused a situation where Finland's ten largest LEA's so called kymppikunnat (ten communes) have expressed their growing concern of organizing the special education in the current institutional settings. The LEA's started the conversation of redefining special education system in 2004. Their aim was to target the governments attention to the problematics of special education. By the request of the Ministry of Education the LEA's prepared a final report concerning the central questions in the Finnish special education system. On the basis of the LEA's survey it became even clearer that the legislation, funding system and curriculum are tightly linked together. The following LEA's took part into the writing process Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Tampere, Turku and Vantaa. The report was hand over to the Ministry of Education at 18.8.2006. After the delivery the Ministry organized special education development group meetings 17 times in the year 2007. The result of the LEA's report and the development meetings was a new Special Education Strategy 2007. I am observing the dialogue between administrational levels in governmental institutions change process. The research is a content analysis where I compare the "Erityistä tukea tarvitsevan oppilaan opetuksen järjestämisen uudistaminen osana yhtenäistä perusopetusta- kohti laatua ja joustavuutta" (The renewal of the organization of teaching for student with special educational needs as part of unified education for all - towards quality and flexibility) document to "Erityisopetuksen strategia" (Special education strategy) document. My aim was to find out how much of their own interests have the LEA's been able to integrate into the official governmental documentation. The data has been organized and analyzed quantitatively with Macros created as additional parts in Microsoft Excel software. The document material has also been arranged manually on sentence based categorization into an Excel matrix. The results have been theoretically viewed from the special education reform dialogue perspective, and from the angle of the change process of a bureaucratic institution. My target has been to provide a new viewpoint to the change of special education system as a bureaucratic institution. The education system has traditionally been understood as a machine bureaucracy. By the review provided in my pro gradu analysis it seems however that the administrational system in special education is more of a postmodern network bureaucracy than machine bureaucracy. The system appears to be constructed by overlapping, crossing and complex networks where things are been decided. These kinds of networks are called "governance networks . It seems that the governmental administrational - and politic levels, the third sector actors and other society's operators are mixed in decision making.
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(2023)While natural language generation (NLG) and large-language models (LLM) seem to be transforming many industries, video games have yet to be affected. This study investigates the potential of using NLG systems to generate dialogue for non-playable characters (NPCs) in role-playing games (RPGs). For this, dialogue data is extracted from six popular RPGs and is then used to fine-tune Microsoft’s GODEL to create an “RPG chatbot” (RPG-GPT). Motivated by computational creativity frameworks, a survey and an interactive experiment were conducted to evaluate the creativity and the effectiveness of RPG-GPT in generating relevant and engaging responses to player input. Survey respondents rated dialogues on a 5-point agree-disagree Likert scale, with questions related to e.g. the relevance of the NPC answers. Results indicate that RPG-GPT can provide relevant responses with a mean difference of game relevance of 3.93 vs. 3.85 of RPG-GPT (p=0.0364). Also, the participants of the interactive experiment reported engagement when interacting with RPG-GPT. Overall, the results suggest that creative NLG has the potential to enhance gaming experiences through task-oriented game dialogue (TOGD) systems. In this framework, creative TOGD systems could solve a common issue where pre-written NPCs are unable to provide the specific information sought by players. Additionally, the study discusses a concept of how players through their interaction with the NLG models can expand the lore of a game, which is a new consideration for game designers and developers when implementing such systems. Future work could explore ways to incorporate external knowledge and context to improve the performance of a TOGD system.
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(2023)While natural language generation (NLG) and large-language models (LLM) seem to be transforming many industries, video games have yet to be affected. This study investigates the potential of using NLG systems to generate dialogue for non-playable characters (NPCs) in role-playing games (RPGs). For this, dialogue data is extracted from six popular RPGs and is then used to fine-tune Microsoft’s GODEL to create an “RPG chatbot” (RPG-GPT). Motivated by computational creativity frameworks, a survey and an interactive experiment were conducted to evaluate the creativity and the effectiveness of RPG-GPT in generating relevant and engaging responses to player input. Survey respondents rated dialogues on a 5-point agree-disagree Likert scale, with questions related to e.g. the relevance of the NPC answers. Results indicate that RPG-GPT can provide relevant responses with a mean difference of game relevance of 3.93 vs. 3.85 of RPG-GPT (p=0.0364). Also, the participants of the interactive experiment reported engagement when interacting with RPG-GPT. Overall, the results suggest that creative NLG has the potential to enhance gaming experiences through task-oriented game dialogue (TOGD) systems. In this framework, creative TOGD systems could solve a common issue where pre-written NPCs are unable to provide the specific information sought by players. Additionally, the study discusses a concept of how players through their interaction with the NLG models can expand the lore of a game, which is a new consideration for game designers and developers when implementing such systems. Future work could explore ways to incorporate external knowledge and context to improve the performance of a TOGD system.
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(2021)This thesis examines employee perspectives about the concept of employee engagement and dialogical communication’s role in enacting it. It approaches simplistic and instrumentalist views with scrutiny and explores more complex and profound understandings of the definitions, value, outcomes, and antecedents of employee engagement. Employee voice has been largely absent in engagement discourse, and both engagement and communication research have overwhelmingly ignored communication’s role in enacting engagement. To expand these narrow views, the research questions in this thesis investigate how employees understand the concept of employee engagement, the tensions or problems it may entail, and the role of dialogic communication in enacting it. A case study in a Finnish energy company consisted of semi-structured, individual interviews with 10 employees from different units. Qualitative content analysis combining data-driven and concept-driven strategies functioned as the method of analysis for the interview data. The results of the analysis suggest that in addition to genuine opportunities to influence issues in a work community, employees appreciate transparency and open communication about how their voice had an effect. The interviewees considered features of dialogic communication as important antecedents of engagement, but other antecedents were meaningful as well, such as sufficient resources, clear structures and goals, and formal and informal meetings. In addition, the role of self-determination and autonomy were present in accounts of both the definitions and antecedents of employee engagement. The interviewees recognized both beneficial and adverse outcomes of engagement. Therefore, employee perspectives of engagement are more complex and versatile than suggested by previous research or hyperbolic discourses. However, the multiple meanings attached to the employee engagement concept sustains its previous problems of vagueness and indistinctiveness. The thesis highlights the need for expanding the previously narrow views of employee engagement. Demands for dialogic employee engagement challenges organizations to balance between different priorities, such as providing both agency and guidance, and encouraging diverse views while aiming for unity and shared culture.
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(2021)This thesis examines employee perspectives about the concept of employee engagement and dialogical communication’s role in enacting it. It approaches simplistic and instrumentalist views with scrutiny and explores more complex and profound understandings of the definitions, value, outcomes, and antecedents of employee engagement. Employee voice has been largely absent in engagement discourse, and both engagement and communication research have overwhelmingly ignored communication’s role in enacting engagement. To expand these narrow views, the research questions in this thesis investigate how employees understand the concept of employee engagement, the tensions or problems it may entail, and the role of dialogic communication in enacting it. A case study in a Finnish energy company consisted of semi-structured, individual interviews with 10 employees from different units. Qualitative content analysis combining data-driven and concept-driven strategies functioned as the method of analysis for the interview data. The results of the analysis suggest that in addition to genuine opportunities to influence issues in a work community, employees appreciate transparency and open communication about how their voice had an effect. The interviewees considered features of dialogic communication as important antecedents of engagement, but other antecedents were meaningful as well, such as sufficient resources, clear structures and goals, and formal and informal meetings. In addition, the role of self-determination and autonomy were present in accounts of both the definitions and antecedents of employee engagement. The interviewees recognized both beneficial and adverse outcomes of engagement. Therefore, employee perspectives of engagement are more complex and versatile than suggested by previous research or hyperbolic discourses. However, the multiple meanings attached to the employee engagement concept sustains its previous problems of vagueness and indistinctiveness. The thesis highlights the need for expanding the previously narrow views of employee engagement. Demands for dialogic employee engagement challenges organizations to balance between different priorities, such as providing both agency and guidance, and encouraging diverse views while aiming for unity and shared culture.
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(2008)Goals This study aims to map the effect of interrogative function on the intonation of spontaneous and read Finnish. Earlier research shows that the most prominent feature in Finnish question intonation is an appeal to the listener. Question word questions typically start with a high peak which is followed by falling intonation. In yes/no questions, F0 remains on a high level until the word carrying sentence stress and then falls. Final rises are mainly found in intonation clichés such as "Ai mitä?" ("What?") These earlier results are based on read speech and enacted dialogues. In this study, questions and statements found in spontaneous dialogues were compared. These utterances were also compared with read versions of the same utterances. Fundamental frequency values were compared using a mixed model. Contours were also grouped using auditory and visual inspection. Thus it was possible to compare frequencies of contour types according to utterance type and speech style. The position of questions in the F0 distribution of the whole material was also investigated in this study. Method he material consisted of four spontaneous dialogues and their read versions. The speakers were young adults from the Helsinki metropolitan area, four females and four males. The whole material was first divided into broad dialogue function categories arising from the material and F0 curves were calculated for each category. After this, 277 questions and 244 statements were selected for closer inspection. Values reflecting F0 distribution and contour shape were measured from the F0 contours of these utterances. A mixed model was used to analyse the differences. Utterance type, question type, speech style and speaker gender were used as fixed effects. The frequencies of F0 contour types were compared using a Chi square test. Additional material in this study came from eight young female speakers in central Finland. Results and conclusions In the mixed model analysis, significant differences were found both between questions and statements and between spontaneous and read speech. Generally, utterance type affected the variables reflecting contour type while speech style affected the variables reflecting F0 distribution. The effect of question type was not clearly visible. In read speech the contours resembled earlier results more closely. Speakers had different strategies in differentiating between questions and statements. In the whole material, F0 was slightly higher in questions than in statements. The effect of dialectal background could be seen in the contour types. The results show that interrogative function affects intonation in both spontaneous and read Finnish.
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(2016)Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan tiettyjen puhekielen piirteiden (informal language) ja epämääräisyyden ilmauksien (vague language) käyttöä kirjoitetussa dialogissa. Tutkimuksen aineistona on 12 jaksoa amerikkalaisesta televisiosarjasta The Sopranos, jota esitettiin vuosina 1999-2007. Tutkimuksessa laskettiin, kuinka monta kertaa kukin piirre esiintyi dialogissa ja millaisissa konteksteissa niitä käytettiin pyrkimyksenä identifioida erityispiirteitä. Tutkimuksen osittaisena mallina ja vertailukohtana toimi Paulo Quaglion vuonna 2009 julkaisema tutkimus Television Dialogue: The Sitcom Friends vs. Natural Conversation, jossa tutkittiin diskurssianalyysin avulla puhekielen eri piirteiden esiintymistä kirjoitetussa dialogissa ja näitä tuloksia verrattiin aidon puheen korpukseen. Analyysin perusteella selvästi eniten dialogissa esiintyi slangitermejä, jotka ovat puhekielelle tyypillisiä ilmaisuja ja idiomeja, joita ei tavallisesti käytetä kirjoitetussa kielessä. Dialogissa esiintyneet slangitermit olivat pääsääntöisesti yleisessä käytössä olevia, eli niitä käytetään yleisesti englannin kielessä ympäri maailmaa. Paikallisia slangitermejä oli dialogissa varsin vähän. Toiseksi eniten dialogissa esiintyi voimasanoja (expletives), joita käytettiin negatiivisiin tilanteisiin reagoidessa ja läheisten sosiaalisten suhteiden osoitukseen. Kolmanneksi eniten oli tuttavallisia kutsumanimiä (vocatives), joilla merkittiin läheistä suhdetta keskustelukumppaneiden välillä. Neljänneksi eniten dialogissa oli puhekielisiä tervehdyksiä ja hyvästelyjä. Vähiten puhekielen piirteistä dialogissa käytettiin toistoja ja huomionilmaisuja (backchannels). Epämääräisyyden ilmauksia käytettiin dialogissa selvästi vähemmän kuin puhekielen piirteitä. Epämääräisyyttä ilmaisevia substantiiveja (nouns with vague reference) esiintyi näistä eniten. Toiseksi eniten dialogissa esiintyi diskurssimerkkejä you know ja I mean, jotka viittaavat puheenvuorossa edeltävän sanoman epämääräisyyteen. Kolmanneksi eniten dialogissa oli asennemerkkejä maybe, probably ja perhaps, jotka merkitsevät sanoman epävarmuutta tai siihen liittyvää epäilystä. Niitä käytettiin dialogissa merkitsemään ehdotuksia ja epäilevää asennetta. Vähiten esiintyi epämääräisyyttä ilmaisevia rinnastusliitteitä (vague coordination tags) ja epämääräisyyttä ilmaisevia liitteitä (hedges). Tutkimus osoitti, että aineistossa käytettiin selvästi enemmän puhekielen piirteitä kuin epämääräisyyden ilmauksia ja että näitä piirteitä käytettiin rajoitetummissa merkityksissä kuin aidossa keskustelussa. Quaglion laajemmassa tutkimuksessa näiden piirteiden osalta tulokset olivat samansuuntaisia ja korpusvertailu osoitti, että aidoissa keskusteluissa epämääräisyyden piirteitä käytettiin enemmän kuin puhekielen piirteitä.
Now showing items 1-8 of 8