Using EPUB 3 and the open web platform for enhanced presentation and machine-understandable metadata for digital comics

Various methods are needed to extract information from current (digital) comics. Furthermore, the use of different (proprietary) formats by comic distribution platforms causes an overhead for authors. To overcome these issues, we propose a solution that makes use of the EPUB 3 specification, additionally leveraging the Open Web Platform to support animations, reading assistance, audio and multiple languages in a single format, by using our JavaScript library comicreader.js. We also provide administrative and descriptive metadata in the same format by introducing a new ontology: Dicera. Our solution is complementary to the current extraction methods, on the one hand because they can help with metadata creation, and on the other hand because the machine-understandable metadata alleviates their use. While the reading system support for our solution is currently limited, it can offer all features needed by current comic distribution platforms. When comparing comics generated by our solution to EPUB 3 textbooks, we observed an increase in file size, mainly due to the use of images. In future work, our solution can be further improved by extending the presentation features, investigating different types of comics, studying the use of new EPUB 3 extensions, and by incorporating it in digital book authoring environments

Segmentation et indexation d'objets complexes dans les images de bandes dessinées

In this thesis, we review, highlight and illustrate the challenges related to comic book image analysis in order to give to the reader a good overview about the last research progress in this field and the current issues. We propose three different approaches for comic book image analysis that are composed by several processing. The first approach is called "sequential'' because the image content is described in an intuitive way, from simple to complex elements using previously extracted elements to guide further processing. Simple elements such as panel text and balloon are extracted first, followed by the balloon tail and then the comic character position in the panel. The second approach addresses independent information extraction to recover the main drawback of the first approach : error propagation. This second method is called “independent” because it is composed by several specific extractors for each elements of the image without any dependence between them. Extra processing such as balloon type classification and text recognition are also covered. The third approach introduces a knowledge-driven and scalable system of comics image understanding. This system called “expert system” is composed by an inference engine and two models, one for comics domain and another one for image processing, stored in an ontology. This expert system combines the benefits of the two first approaches and enables high level semantic description such as the reading order of panels and text, the relations between the speech balloons and their speakers and the comic character identification.Dans ce manuscrit de thèse, nous détaillons et illustrons les différents défis scientifiques liés à l'analyse automatique d'images de bandes dessinées, de manière à donner au lecteur tous les éléments concernant les dernières avancées scientifiques en la matière ainsi que les verrous scientifiques actuels. Nous proposons trois approches pour l'analyse d'image de bandes dessinées. La première approche est dite "séquentielle'' car le contenu de l'image est décrit progressivement et de manière intuitive. Dans cette approche, les extractions se succèdent, en commençant par les plus simples comme les cases, le texte et les bulles qui servent ensuite à guider l'extraction d'éléments plus complexes tels que la queue des bulles et les personnages au sein des cases. La seconde approche propose des extractions indépendantes les unes des autres de manière à éviter la propagation d'erreur due aux traitements successifs. D'autres éléments tels que la classification du type de bulle et la reconnaissance de texte y sont aussi abordés. La troisième approche introduit un système fondé sur une base de connaissance a priori du contenu des images de bandes dessinées. Ce système permet de construire une description sémantique de l'image, dirigée par les modèles de connaissances. Il combine les avantages des deux approches précédentes et permet une description sémantique de haut niveau pouvant inclure des informations telles que l'ordre de lecture, la sémantique des bulles, les relations entre les bulles et leurs locuteurs ainsi que les interactions entre les personnages

The other art of computer programming: A visual alternative to communicate computational thinking

The thesis will explore the implications of teaching computer science through visual communication. This study aims to define a framework for using pictures within learning computer science. Visual communication materials for teaching computer science were created and tested with Year 8 students. Along with a recent commercial and political focus on the introduction of coding to adolescents, it appears that the computer industry has a large shortfall of programmers. Accompanying this shortfall is a rise among adolescents in the preference for visual communication (Brumberger, 2011; Coats, 2006; Oblinger et al., 2005; Prensky, 2001; Tapscott, 1998) while textual communication currently dominates the teaching materials in the computing discipline. This study looks at the learning process and utilises the ideas of Gibson, Dewey and Piaget to consider the role of visual design in teaching programming. According to Piagetian theory Year 8 is the time a child begins to understand abstract thought. This research investigated through co-creation and prototyping how to creatively support cognition within the learning process. Visual communication theories, comprising the fields of graphic and information design, were employed to communicate computer science to approximately 60 junior high school students across eight schools. Literature in a range of visual communication fields is reviewed along with the psychology of perception and cognition to help create a prototype lesson plan for the target audience of Year 8 students. The history of computer science is reviewed to illustrate the mental imagery within the discipline and also to explore computational thinking concepts. These concepts are . . . the metaphors and structures that underlie all areas of science and engineering (Guzdial, 2008). The participants’ attitudes increased toward learning programming through visual communication. Quantitative questionnaires were used to gather data on cognition and measure the effectiveness of the learning process. Thirteen hypotheses were established concerning learning programming through pictures from the quantitative data. Focus groups further triangulated data gathered in the quantitative stage. Approximately seventy percent of the participants understood seventy percent of the information within the instrumentation. Models of intent to learn programming through pictures were established using structural equation modelling (SEM). Outcomes of the exegesis are a framework for using pictures that demonstrates computational thinking and explains the research

The Image of Rebirth in Literature, Media, and Society: 2017 SASSI Conference Proceedings

Conference proceedings of the 2017 meeting of the Society for the Academic Study of Social Imagery (SASSI). Selected, refereed essays on the conference theme of The Image of REBIRTH in Literature, Media, and Society

Soulful bodies and superflat temporalities: a nomadology of the otaku database of world history at the ends of history

This thesis is a philosophical engagement with the popular, low, and vernacular theories of History performed and expressed within contemporary Japanese manga (‘comics’) and anime (‘limited animation’), and most importantly, in the global production and consumption of otaku (‘manga and anime fan’) cultural and media ecologies. My project is rooted in a reading of the post-structural theoretical inquiries of Gilles Deleuze in parallel with what media theorist McKenzie Wark calls ‘otaku philosophy’ to examine how both high and low theories articulate anxieties and fascinations with the global theoretical discourses on ‘the ends of History’ and the imminent demise of industrial modernity. The first portion of the thesis is dedicated to a reading of the Japanese counter-cultural manga movement called gekiga (‘dramatic pictures’). In traversing gekiga’s post-war lineages to its revival in the medievalism of otaku artists Miura Kentarō and Yukimura Makoto, the first part postulates on what an anti-modern, anti-historical approach – or what Deleuze and Guattari call a nomadology – might look and feel like as it is mediated in the manga form. The second portion of the thesis examines the way in which Japanese anime mobilises the philosophies of nomadology in its filmic form and transmedial properties. In a critical assessment of the anime works of the otaku-founded media corporation Type-Moon, this section explores the Fate series alongside Deleuzian film and media philosophies to explore the infinite potentialities and recursive limitations of otaku nomadologies as they materialise beyond the screen. By reassessing the rise of otaku culture as a vernacular, global, and cosmopolitan rise in the critique of modernity and History, this thesis hopes to explore how transcultural and transmedial fan philosophies of historicity, memory, and temporality can be recontextualised within current academic debates about the efficacy of post-national historiographic pedagogies explored in the fields of postcolonial studies, comparative studies, global studies, and media studies

Consumer-based Application Customization for Mobile Phones

There is an interest among users for customization of mobile phones, as is indicated by several companies and websites which offer themes, ringtones, backgrounds and games. However, unless the users possess programming experience, this customization rarely goes beyond simple look-and-feel and into the actual functionality. In the other end of this spectrum, lies End User Development (EUD), where end users with programming expertise make modifications to programs themselves. In their work of designing a system for Sony Ericsson – meant to enable end users without programming knowledge to customize applications and functionality for mobile phones – the authors identified this gap between users and developers – the EUD gap. The authors believed this was the cause of frustration among some users, who perhaps did not have the motivation to learn how to program, but nonetheless wished for more control of applications and functionality in their cell phones. With the main purpose of designing a system meant to support users in such a task, this thesis has also looked at how such a solution could function in a larger, EUD-related perspective. Apart from presenting a final design proposition, the authors find indications for that there is, indeed, an interest among users to customize the functionality of mobile phones. Findings, possible implications, and recommendations based on the authors' own experience of developing the system, are finally presented, both out of an academic and a commercial perspective

Cyborg Art: An Explorative and Critical Inquiry into Corporeal Human-Technology Convergence

This thesis introduces and examines the undervalued concept of corporeal human-technology interface art, or 'cyborg art', which describes literal, figural and metaphorical representations of increasing body and technology integration. The transforming (post)human being is therefore the focus; who we are today, and who or what we may become as humanity increasingly interfaces with technology. Theoretical analysis of cyborg imagery centres on the science fiction domain, in particular film and television, as opposed to art. Yet a profusion of cyborg art and art practices abound within contemporary society; each differing art form (for example, performance, interactive, digital, sculpture or painting), offering possible 'symbolic function' and 'critical potential' concerning increasing cyborgisation. I therefore argue in this thesis that cyborg art has social value, and reveal throughout the way this artistic focus depicts key ontological and sociological themes of body-technology merger. Seventy-two artworks are examined in total, each demonstrating relevant concerns and aspirations regarding present and envisioned impacts of technoscience. The cyborg-inspired artworks included in this study are primarily situated within four fundamental dimensions of humanity: birth, death, gender and ethnicity; and within three main spheres of corporeal-technological developments: prosthetics, telematics and genetics. Key concepts and themes explored within these realms include ectogenesis, post-genderism, necrotic and ethno-cyborgs, augmentation and reconstruction, tele-erotics and tele-puppets, and transgenics. In addition, three new cyborgian concepts are introduced: the udopian cyborg, which is an aesthetic representing technology's paradoxical dimension - technology as evoking fear and yearning, and having the potential to benefit and harm humanity; the permeative gaze of technoscience, which is a new technologised gaze focusing on how human skin no longer serves as a boundary and barrier to the inner corporeal realm; and lastly, triadic convergence, which denotes the way artists are increasingly creating entities which are a melding of animal, technological and human components. Multimethod research serves as the methodological base for this thesis, as both qualitative and quantitative methods are incorporated into the research design. Hermeneutics is adopted as the analytical/interpretive perspective and approach. The empirical research includes semi-structured in-depth interviews, qualitative (artists') email questionnaires, and structured quantitative questionnaires. Triangulation is employed in order to obtain varied responses to, and perspectives on, technology and the technological epoch, art and cyborg art, and the cyborg. A theory of cyborg art is constructed by interweaving the collated findings with interview participants' responses to a selection of cyborg artworks, and theorists' perspectives on the aforementioned concepts, derived from visual culture, cyborg theory, and critical postmodern theory. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to present the underlying theoretical breadth and creative depth of cyborg art, and to demonstrate that cyborg art can act as a catalyst for increasing societal awareness of, and interest in, corporeal human-technology merger. I analyse the critical relevance of this under-examined artistic focus, and address why cyborg art should be recognised as a new postmodern art genre, and complementary to theoretical discussions of cyborgisation. I argue overall that cyborg art is a valid and critical sphere of inquiry into the increasing integration which exists between humanity and technology