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Citizens everywhere have the right to be well-informed. Yet, with the high complexity of many contemporary issues, such as global warming and migration, our means of information need to mutually adapt. Narrative has always been at the core of information exchange - regardless of whether our ancestors sat around a fire and exchanged stories, or whether we read an article in a newspaper, or watched a TV news broadcast. Yet, the narrative formats of the newspaper article, the news broadcast, the documentary, and the textbook are severely limited when it comes to representing highly complex topics which may include several competing - and sometimes equally valid - perspectives. Such complexity contributes to a high level of uncertainty due to a multitude of factors affecting an outcome. Fortunately, with Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN), there is a novel media format which can address these challenges. IDNs can present several different perspectives in the same work, and give audiences the ability to explore them at will through decision-making. After experiencing the consequences of their decisions, the audience can replay to revisit and change these decisions in order to consider their alternatives. IDN works enable deep personalization and the inclusion of live data. These capabilities make IDN a 21st century democratic medium, empowering citizens through the understanding of complex issues. In this white paper, we discuss the challenge of representing complexity, describe the advantages offered by IDNs, and point out opportunities and strategies for deployment.

This white paper introduces Interactive Digital Narratives (IDN) as a powerful tool for tackling the complex challenges we face in today's society. In the scope of COST Action 18230 - Interactive Narrative Design for Complexity Representation (INDCOR), a group of researchers dedicated to studying media selected five case studies of IDNs, including educational games and news media, that confront and challenge the existing traditional media landscape. These case studies cover a wide range of important societal issues, such as racism, coloniality, cultural heritage, war, and disinformation. By exploring this broad range of examples, we aim to demonstrate how IDN can effectively address social complexity in an interactive, participatory, and engaging manner. We encourage you to examine these cases and discover for yourself how IDN can be used as a creative tool to address complex societal issues. This white paper might be inspiring for journalists, digital content creators, game designers, developers, educators using information and communication technologies in the classroom, or anyone interested in learning how to use IDN tools to tackle complex societal issues. In this sense, along with key scientific references, we offer key takeaways at the end of this white paper that might be helpful for media practitioners at large, in two main ways: 1) Designing IDNs to address complex societal issues and 2) Using IDNs to engage audiences with complex societal issues.

This study examines the effect of Including Neurodiversity in Computational Thinking (INFACT), a collection of material for teaching Computational Thinking (CT) in grades 3-8. CT has many definitions, but all borrow concepts from computer science to structure problem-solving processes more generally. The materials are designed for use in inclusion classrooms, where neurodivergent students learn alongside their neurotypical peers. The study examines performance on a measure of CT proficiency for elementary school students who received INFACT instruction over a 10-week period, compared to students who received "business-as-usual" CT instruction. CT performance at baseline was equivalent for both groups, and correlated with performance on a measure of executive function. The INFACT group performed better on the post-intervention CT assessment than their peers in the comparison condition. Post-intervention CT scores for both groups were not correlated with executive function at this time, suggesting that CT instruction in general may help to "even the playing field" for neurodivergent students. Additional research is needed to identify the mechanisms by which this may occur. A separate validation study for the CT assessment used is appended. [This report was published by Knology.]

Many Web sites and professional journal articles address professional burnout in helping professions. Professional organizations in social work, psychology, and medicine have identified stressors and developed effective coping strategies, allowing helping professionals to alleviate stress and burnout via a reactive approach. This pilot study assessed knowledge of burnout in 72 undergraduates majoring in social work, psychology, and premedicine. The relationships between this knowledge and self-efficacy, provision of social support, and self-esteem were also assessed. Results reveal that students had high self-esteem, efficacy, and good social relationship skills, yet lacked the necessary understanding and appreciation of burnout and its possible effects on their future work environments. Faculty may use these data to promote more proactive curricula in the area of professional burnout. (Contains 6 tables and 18 references.) (Author/SLD)

A brief overview of the transient dynamics capabilities at Sandia National Laboratories, with an emphasis on recent new developments and current research is presented. In addition, the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Engineering Analysis Code Access System (SEACAS), which is a collection of structural and thermal codes and utilities used by analysts at SNL, is described. The SEACAS system includes pre- and post-processing codes, analysis codes, database translation codes, support libraries, Unix shell scripts for execution, and an installation system. SEACAS is used at SNL on a daily basis as a production, research, and development system for the engineering analysts and code developers. Over the past year, approximately 190 days of CPU time were used by SEACAS codes on jobs running from a few seconds up to two and one-half days of CPU time. SEACAS is running on several different systems at SNL including Cray Unicos, Hewlett Packard PH-UX, Digital Equipment Ultrix, and Sun SunOS. An overview of SEACAS, including a short description of the codes in the system, are presented. Abstracts and references for the codes are listed at the end of the report.