Resonance and Post-Otherness in Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers (2020)

Influenced by colonial relations and post-colonialism, the contrast between Irish and (Anglo-) Irish or English characters has been a focal point in twentieth century Irish literature. From racist nineteenth cartoons in Punch magazine depicting the Irish as monkeys, to the themes of isolation that pervade the work of Anglo-Irish writers, otherness has been central to these representations. Political and economic developments have created new contexts for representation in recent decades: the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and subsequent end to a period of violent sectarian conflict known as the Troubles, the Celtic Tiger period of economic growth and prosperity, and modern social developments that include referenda on abortion and gay marriage, have changed both the experience of living in Ireland and the expression of Irish identity. Consequently, contemporary Irish identity seeks to include an increasingly diverse population and focuses less on Irish/English binaries, instead considering urban/rural differences, environmental concerns, and the impact of globalisation. Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers (2020) presents one opportunity to consider ‘post-otherness’ within Irish storytelling and cinema. Its key protagonists, Mebh Óg MacTíre and Robyn Goodfellowe, strongly resonate with one another despite their cultural differences, forging a bond on their quest to validate their sense of self. They neither share a cultural background nor identify entirely with their respective communities but, in coming together to face existential challenges, the pair become more comfortable with their own identities. Blurring the definition of and distinction between groups, it becomes difficult to establish who is the Other. Wolfwalkers presents characters and themes akin to Anglo-Irish literature, but responding to their lived experience as earlier writers did theirs, the directors rework Irish tropes for a contemporary audience. By presenting historically inspired narratives, the film shows new perspectives on character development, utilising child heroes in a way that differs from earlier approaches. Representations of colonialism and English-Irish duality from nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature are re-imagined here, influenced by post-nationalist thinking and the efforts of a transnational team of artists targeting an international audience. There are also elements of the film that reflect postcolonialism and orientalism, complicating the film’s depictions of Irishness. An analysis of Wolfwalkers demonstrates that otherness is highly subjective, and when Robyn and Mebh cross the boundary between their two worlds, they reject the illusion of difference

"The accordionist's very own examining-system": The British College of Accordionists

The aim of this research is to chart the promotion of the classical accordion through academic enquiry into its development in Britain during the 20th century. This is primarily achieved by documenting the history of the British College of Accordionists (BCA), an examining board and educational institution dedicated specifically to institutionalizing, promoting, and standardizing the accordion on a national and international scale. Founded in 1935, the BCA leaders played a significant role in promoting and validating the accordion throughout the 20th century. This historiographical project incorporates archival research, interviews with key accordionists, analysis of primary and secondary data, descriptive analysis, thematic analysis, and source triangulation. This study contextualizes how the accordion was promoted through the three key themes of institutionalization, promotion, and standardization. Institutionalization as a theme is examined from the 18th to the 20th century with specific focus on Britain; this will provide a socio-political contextualization for understanding the BCA’s emergence and institutional formation from 1935 onwards. Through the theme of promotion, the various marketing attempts made by the BCA leaders during the 20th century are considered. Furthermore, the BCA’s standardization of accordion pedagogy and performance through examination, and the formation of additional syllabi and educational courses are reviewed. Overall, this research provides a template for considering the role of under-researched instruments in music standardization and institutionalization

Much More Than ‘Danny Boy’: Bringing Irish Traditional Music to the USA

Performances in the USA during the 1970s by three semi-professional groups - The Chieftains, the Siamsa Céilí Band, and Siamsa Tíre - present opportunities to understand developments in Irish traditional music during that period. These developments led to increased commercialisation of the music and tours by Irish performers to the USA in subsequent decades, providing access to a significantly larger market for the genre, within and beyond the diaspora. Underpinning the study is a critical consideration of audiences’ understanding of Irish identity and culture and the reception of Irish cultural performances in the USA at this time. These tours contributed to a reconceptualization of Irish traditional music that engaged new audiences in the USA and incorporated repertoire beyond what American audiences typically associated with Ireland at the time. Developing a professional approach, the groups presented repertoire from the dance music and harp music traditions, Irish language song, and traditional styles of dance. We examine the motivations for the tours, the itineraries and venues, and the material presented, as well as the impact of Northern Ireland politics on each of the groups and their performances

The Contribution of Rosetta Tharpe and Bonnie Raitt to the Blues Genre

This thesis addresses the contribution of Rosetta Tharpe and Bonnie Raitt as pioneering women in blues music in the twentieth century. Through two case studies of repertoire analysis, this thesis aims to highlight reasons for the gap in knowledge and appreciation for women in blues music. This analysis will use guiding theoretical concepts including intersectionality, masculine domination, signifyin(g), blues canon and crossover to explore their reception and appreciation. Through the case studies and repertoire analysis, which examines the cultural importance of women in blues music, this research highlights how Tharpe and Raitt contributed significantly to the blues genre. This study investigates how Tharpe and Raitt contributed to the interpretation of the blues, and how they challenged genre boundaries and evolved their performance styles in live recordings and performances. This is analysed through a cultural lens and performance perspective via lecture recitals. The themes of reception, gender and music are investigated as decisive factors in the appreciation of Tharpe and Raitt. Research methodologies utilised include practice-based research and music analysis, taking a sociocultural perspective, incorporating close analysis of specific songs. The lecture recitals address how influential they were in formulating their musical identities and performing personas. The thesis highlights their importance as cultural expressions within the blues genre, which culminates as two outputs: a thesis that comprises cultural reception study and three lecture recitals that interrogate, analyse and re-imagine the artists’ live performance styles. My own practice-based lecture recital demonstrates the influence of both artists in my own development as a performing blues artist. This research traces the influential careers of both artists, their achievements, key musical events, and their reception and legacy as female blues artists, contributing to the burgeoning field of women in popular music and the role of female guitarists in blues and modern music

Risks and opportunities from artificial creativity

There has been an explosion of generative algorithms and tools in recent years; applications such as ChatGPT for generating text, Midjourney for generating images or AIVA for generating music have become very popular. As the years pass, we can see an ever-increasing number of generative algorithms and applications being released. Part of their appeal is that such applications are highly accessible to the general public and require little, if any, computational expertise. The ease with which people can generate creative artefacts, such as music, does come with some drawbacks however. There are practical drawbacks to not being able to determine if an artefact was created by a human or not. If we are unable to determine if an artefact is human or computer generated, such methods may cause disruption and difficulties for amateur musicians, artists and creators and for sites or publications who aim to highlight, publish or promote independent artists. Furthermore, many artists within creative domains have shown concern and outright disdain at the notion of generative algorithms being applied to creative tasks. Some of this anger may be attributed to the notion of the humanity of creativity – that machines cannot possibly generate things of genuine beauty, art or creativity. This paper considers a number of practical and ethical questions that are pertinent to the new reality whereby algorithms can be easily used to generate creative artefacts: How can it be determined if an artefact was created by a person or an algorithm? Can an evaluation of the Creativity within an artefact help determine its authorship? Is it necessary to ascertain human versus machine authorship or should the quality of the output be the only issue that matters? What are the repercussions of a person attempting to pass an artefact as human-generated when it was in fact created by an algorithm? While it may not be possible to definitively answer all questions at this time, it is vital to consider these questions and consider the impact and repercussions that such autonomous methods can have on creative authorship

Evaluating Fairness Metrics

Artificial Intelligence systems add significant value to decision-making. However, the systems must be fair because bias creeps into the system from sources like data and preprocessing algorithms. In this work, we explore fairness metrics discussing the shortfalls and benefits of each metric. The fairness metrics are demographic, statistical, and game theoretic. We find that the demographic fairness metrics are independent of the actual target value and hence have limited use. In contrast, the statistical fairness metrics can provide the thresholds to maximize fairness. The Minimax criterion was used to guide the search and help recommend the best model where the error among protected groups was minimum

Book Review: Handbook of Niche Tourism by: Marina Novelli, Joseph M. Cheer, Claudia Dolezal, Adam Jones and Claudio Milano (Editors)

Tourists travel for a huge variety of reasons, some of which are highly specialized and involve relatively small numbers, but their activities, understood as niche tourism, contribute to economic, social and cultural sustainability in many parts of the world. Niche tourism is often viewed as a panacea or virtuous counterpoint to mass tourism, sometimes neglecting the diversity and complexity of tourism activities that might be considered under this heading. People have a desire to do something different and achieve memorable experiences but these activities must be considered in the context of sustainable development and may also consider potential increases in domestic tourism in the aftermath of COVID-19

Identifying Agile Practices to Reduce Defects in Medical Device Software Development

Medical Device Software (MDS) defects have caused death of patients and continue to be the major cause of recalls of medical devices in the US and Europe. Despite various approaches proposed to address defects, dealing with defects in MDS is an increasingly difficult task as MDS has become more complex to support a growing number of functions. To increase quality in any software development project, it is essential that defects are identified and addressed quickly in the early stages of the software development life cycle. Agile methods have been advocated to increase software quality by minimising defects through their agile practices. However, agile methods on their own are deficient in satisfying the regulatory requirements for the MDS domain. Instead, the common approach is to integrate agile practices into the plan driven methods. Consequently, frameworks have been developed to help developers in the MDS domain to accrue the benefits of agile development while fulfilling regulatory requirements. Despite the adoption of agile practices in MDS development, it is still unclear as to which agile practice(s) is effective and how it is applied to address MDS defects. The purpose of this research is to identify agile practices that can assist in addressing defects in MDS development. This will help MDS developers to select the appropriate agile practice(s) to address defects