An interactive, generative Punch and Judy show using institutions, ASP and emotional agents

Using Punch and Judy as a story domain, we describe an interactive puppet show, where the flow and content of the story can be influenced by the actions of the audience. As the puppet show is acted out, the audience reacts to events by cheering or booing the characters. This affects the agents’ emotional state, potentially causing them to change their actions, altering the course of the narrative. An institutional normative model is used to constrain the narrative so that it remains consistent with the Punch and Judy canon. Through this vignette of a socio-technical system (STS), comprising human and software actors, an institutional model – derived from narrative theory – and (simplistic) technological interaction artifacts, we begin to be able to explore some of the issues that can arise in STS through the prism of the World-Institution-Technology (WIT) model

Governing narrative events with institutional norms

A narrative world can be viewed as a form of society in which characters follow a set of social norms whose collective function is to guide the characters through (the creation of) a story arc and reach some conclusion. By modelling the rules of a narrative using norms, we can govern the actions of agents that act out the characters in a story. Agents are given sets of permitted actions and obligations to fulfil based on their and the story's current situation. However, the decision to conform to these expectations is ultimately left to the agent. This means that the characters have control over fine-grained elements of the story, resulting in a more flexible and dynamic narrative experience. This would allow the creator of an interactive narrative to specify only the general structure of a story, leaving the details to the agents. We illustrate a particular realisation of this vision using a formalization of Propp's morphology in a normative social framework, with belief-desire-intention agents playing the characters

A Formal Model of Metaphor in Frame Semantics

A formal model of metaphor is introduced. It models metaphor, first, as an interaction of “frames” according to the frame semantics, and then, as a wave function in Hilbert space. The practical way for a probability distribution and a corresponding wave function to be assigned to a given metaphor in a given language is considered. A series of formal definitions is deduced from this for: “representation”, “reality”, “language”, “ontology”, etc. All are based on Hilbert space. A few statements about a quantum computer are implied: The sodefined reality is inherent and internal to it. It can report a result only “metaphorically”. It will demolish transmitting the result “literally”, i.e. absolutely exactly. A new and different formal definition of metaphor is introduced as a few entangled wave functions corresponding to different “signs” in different language formally defined as above. The change of frames as the change from the one to the other formal definition of metaphor is interpreted as a formal definition of thought. Four areas of cognition are unified as different but isomorphic interpretations of the mathematical model based on Hilbert space. These are: quantum mechanics, frame semantics, formal semantics by means of quantum computer, and the theory of metaphor in linguistics

Inclusion of disabled students in higher education in Zimbabwe : from idealism to reality - a social ecosystem perspective

Inclusion of disabled students in higher education has been gathering momentum in various countries, although until recently, it has not been under the spotlight. This study was born because of the absence of research on personal experiences of disabled students in higher education in Zimbabwe. The study's major object was to investigate the current provision for disabled students in higher education in Zimbabwe. Narrative research and ethnography are the methodologies that informed this study. Fifteen University of Zimbabwe disabled students were the main informants of this study. Inevitably, the study took into cognisance, the researcher's vast personal and professional experience, and diverse views from other scholars through a comprehensive literature review. The study established that attitudes and disability awareness could be either catalysts or obstacles to inclusion. Institutional barriers that incorporate physical access, inappropriate application and admission procedures, inappropriate teaching methods, inadequate support services and resources, and most importantly - absence of legislation and political will, hampered participation of disabled students in higher education in Zimbabwe. Lack of coordinated disability activism among disabled people's organisations was also reported in this study. It was from these research outcomes that the researcher constructed the social ecosystem framework, which embodied the theoretical resources, namely, postcolonial theory, globalisation, disability studies and inclusive education. Critical determinants in the applicability and effective use of the social ecosystem framework in promoting the inclusion of disabled students in higher education in Zimbabwe and beyond were identified. These include enabling socio-cultural beliefs, genuine family and community support, stable political and economic climate, appropriate legislation and political will, appropriate/accessible information and technology, self-belief, proactive disability activism, and sustainable partnerships. Conclusions drawn and practical recommendations were made to various stakeholders in the education of disabled students in higher education. Finally, the research study also signposted areas for further research

Inexorable Burden: Rhetoric and Togetherness

This dissertation employs philology and cultural analysis to reassess longstanding notions in rhetorical theory and moral philosophy (via classical rhetoric and technical communication). In particular, I use diachronic analyses of the terms telos, symbouleutikon, and sympheron (from Aristotle to present) as a theoretical springboard to reassess more contemporary issues in rhetoric and technical communication. The technical communication topics this dissertation covers include criticisms of expediency as a motive in technical communication; the changing landscape of instruction manual composition; the role of purpose-completion and stakeholder awareness in visual rhetoric; and the futility of advancing ideology-free technical writing pedagogies. More theoretical topics this dissertation covers include Kenneth Burke\u27s notions of rhetorical war and entelechy; the pluralistic underpinnings of Kantian moral philosophy; and the rhetorical utility of democratic inefficiency

Revamped: Theda Bara, Cultural Memory, and the Repurposing of Star Image

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Communication and Culture, 2015Between 1915 and 1925, Theda Bara, the actress typecast in both cinema and memory as "The Vamp," starred in forty feature films; at present, three are known to survive. Despite this, her star image continues to circulate in popular culture and attract new fans. In examining the reasons for this unusual occurrence, this dissertation presents a cultural history and reception study of Bara's image as it has been adapted, or repurposed, to convey disparate meanings in diverse contexts across a century. Combining archival research and ethnographic interviews, I use Bara as a case study in analyzing the role popular culture plays in people's lives, and how audiences' responses to the media become part of cultural memory. Working with film history, reception, memory, and gender studies methodologies, I argue that repurposings of Bara's image, by the media and by media consumers alike, comprise a historical record, incorporating voices and perspectives often overlooked or unrecorded elsewhere, and revealing a century-long archive of changing values and attitudes about gender, sexuality, ethnic difference, cultural marginalization, and social transgression. By examining how these examples of media consumption function as remembrances, I further make the case that audiences have long served as amateur archivists, curators, and historians of cultural heritage through their interaction with the media and the resultant expressions of taste, knowledge, and affective attachments

Social media use, online political discussion and UK political events 2013-2018: a phenomenographic study

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D.Social media has had observably significant effects on the way many ordinary people participate in politics and appears both symptomatic and causal of a changing landscape. Research, often data-led, has shown marked trends in online behaviour, such as political polarisation, the tendency to form echo chambers and other distinct patterns in the way people debate, share opinions, express their self-identities, consume media and think critically, or otherwise, about political issues. A review of the literature shows that current research in this area across disciplines explores an increasingly wide range of potential influencing factors behind these phenomena, from the social to the psychological to the physiological. However, there have been – far - fewer phenomenological or phenomenographical studies into people’s lived experience of being part of this cultural shift, how their own inclinations, practices and behaviour might be helping to shape the bigger picture, and to what extent they understand this. Starting from an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, and based on in-depth conversations with 84 mostly UK-based adults spoken to one-to-one or in focus groups and webinars over an 18-month period, this study asked people’s about their own perceptions and understanding of their online engagement, focusing on recent major UK political events between 2013 and 2018, (including the Scottish Independence Referendum, The EU Referendum and the Labour Party leadership contests) and considers some of the inferences that might be drawn from people’s own insights. It shows:  People’s experiences are varied, influenced by a range of factors but there is a focus on personal needs and concerns as much as wider political ones  Participants often struggle with behavioural self-awareness and understanding of the motives and actions of others  They can have profound emotional responses owing to the difficulties of using social media but still value it as a medium for political learning and self-expression  A lot of activity takes places in covert, limited or private spaces  Social media itself is an unprecedented learning environment where people begin to understand their own behaviour better and adap

JAEPL, Vol. 22, Winter 2016-2017

Editors’ Message Essays SPECIAL SECTION: DEEP READING STRATEGIES Jane Thompkins - Deep Reading Vajra Watson - Life as Primary Text: English Classrooms as Sites for Soulful Learning Tisha Ulmer - Using Pre-reading Strategies to Provide Historical Context in a Literature Course Grace Wetzel - ‘The Most Peaceful I Ever Felt Writing’: A Contemplative Approach to Essay Revision TEACHING AND LEARNING Kate Chaterdon - Contemplative Neuroscience and the Teaching of Writing: Mindfulness as Mental Training Ondine Gage - Resisting a Restrictive Discourse Policy J. Michael Rifenburg - The Performance of Literate Practices: Rhetoric, Writing, and Stand-up Comedy Rosanne Carlo - Getting Centered: A Meditation on Creating Pottery and Teaching Writing Robbie Clifton Pinter - The Transformative Practice of Writing and Teaching Writing Out of the Box Pamela B. Childers - Rattling Cages Book Reviews Julie Nichols - Threshold Concepts. Brad E. Lucas, et al. - Adler-Kassner, Linda, and Elizabeth Wardle, eds. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2015. Maureen Hall - Waxler, Robert P. The Risk of Reading: How Literature Helps Us to Understand Ourselves and the World. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014. Gae Lyn Henderson--Goodson, Ivor, and Scherto Gill. Critical Narrative as Pedagogy. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014. Connecting Christy Wenger—Risks and Rewards of Purposeful Vulnerability Christina Martorana - Embracing Vulnerability in Teaching Jacquelyn E. Hoerman-Elliot - Writing as a Sea of Oms: A “This I Believe” Essay for Contemplative Writing in First-Year Composition Beth Godbee and Adrianne Wojcik - Decoding Each Other through Coding: Sharing Our Unlikely Research Collaboration Laurence Musgrove—Dress Up Laurence Musgrove—Tree

Radical Roots

While all history has the potential to be political, public history is uniquely so: public historians engage in historical inquiry outside the bubble of scholarly discourse, relying on social networks, political goals, practices, and habits of mind that differ from traditional historians. Radical Roots: Public History and a Tradition of Social Justice Activism theorizes and defines public history as future-focused, committed to the advancement of social justice, and engaged in creating a more inclusive public record. Edited by Denise D. Meringolo and with contributions from the field’s leading figures, this groundbreaking collection addresses major topics such as museum practices, oral history, grassroots preservation, and community-based learning. It demonstrates the core practices that have shaped radical public history, how they have been mobilized to promote social justice, and how public historians can facilitate civic discourse in order to promote equality