Agents for educational games and simulations

This book consists mainly of revised papers that were presented at the Agents for Educational Games and Simulation (AEGS) workshop held on May 2, 2011, as part of the Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems (AAMAS) conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The 12 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized topical sections on middleware applications, dialogues and learning, adaption and convergence, and agent applications

The teen series and the young target. Gender stereotypes in television fiction targeted to teenagers

This paper presents the key results arising from a study about representation of male and female characters of the teen series. The main aim of the study is to build knowledge about the images of young people portrayed in a television show featuring teenagers. The study has consisted in the analysis of the antecedents about gender representation on television fiction and the content analysis of the American teen drama Dawson‟s creek. The content analysis was conducted on a representative sample of 18 episodes of three seasons of the series, measuring 29 variables. The key findings on gender role representation are based on physical and social descriptors, personality traits attributed to the characters, and plot-related variables. Among the principal results, it has to be stressed the presence of traditional gender stereotypes within the socio demographical characteristics of the characters, especially the physical and social traits

The concept of power and its representation in television seriality. The case of «House of Cards»

To study how power is configured, this article analyzes the first and second seasons of the TV Series House of Cards. The behavior patterns of the main character, Frank Underwood, were tracked to analyze his foundations, the means used, the scope and the type of power he wields. The theoretical approaches of Dahl (1957) and French and Bertram (1959) were used for constructing a group of categories that served as a guide in the search for index units. Therefore, the methodology is based on units (Barthes, 1970) identified within the dialogues, the iconic composition, and the actions of the character. The results obtained reveal that in the first season argumentation as a means to exercise power predominates, and manipulation predominates in the second season. Also, the media repertoire is much broader in the first season when the main character builds the scenarios to achieve his goals. These findings contribute to the construction of a broader understanding of power and its exercise.En este artículo se analizan la primera y segunda temporadas de la serie televisiva House of Cards con el objetivo de evaluar cómo se configura la categoría de poder. Se realizó un seguimiento de las pautas de comportamiento del personaje principal, Frank Underwood, para analizar cuáles son sus bases, los medios utilizados, el alcance y el tipo de poder que ejerce. Este trabajo se basa en las aproximaciones teóricas de Dahl (1957) y de French y Bertram (1959) para orientar la construcción de un grupo de categorías que sirvieron como guía en la búsqueda de unidades indiciales. La metodología de análisis, por tanto, se sustenta en la identificación de indicios (Barthes, 1970), en los diálogos, composición icónica y acciones del personaje. Los resultados obtenidos revelan que en la primera temporada predomina el uso de la argumentación como medio para ejercer el poder, mientras que en la segunda predomina la manipulación. Asimismo, el repertorio de medios es mucho más amplio en la primera temporada, cuando el personaje principal construye los escenarios para el logro de sus objetivos. Estos hallazgos abonan la construcción de una comprensión más amplia del poder y de su ejercicio

Las series televisivas juveniles : tramas y conflictos en una «teen series»

Se presentan los principales hallazgos de un estudio sobre las «teen series», es decir las series de ficción televisiva protagonizadas por personajes adolescentes y dirigidas expresamente a una audiencia juvenil. El análisis del retrato de los jóvenes representados en productos específicamente dirigidos a un público juvenil tiene un valor muy significativo tanto por la producción de ficción como por la recepción, ya que los consumidores potenciales se encuentran en un momento clave del proceso de construcción de sus identidades. Después de repasar los principales antecedentes en el estudio de la representación de los jóvenes en la ficción televisiva, se describe el marco conceptual relativo a las «teen series» y se discute su relación con el consumo juvenil. Sucesivamente se presenta un estudio de caso que consiste en un análisis de contenido de la serie norteamericana «Dawson's creek», realizado sobre una muestra representativa de tres temporadas de la serie, para analizar dos grupos de variables: variables relativas a los personajes y variables relativas a las tramas y a los conflictos. Se discuten los resultados relativos al segundo grupo de variables, con particular atención a las características de las tramas y al papel de los personajes en el desarrollo y en la resolución de las mismas. La aceptación de la identidad personal, el amor y la amistad han resultado ser las temáticas más recurrentes. Además, las relaciones sociales entre los personajes han resultado ejercer un papel fundamental en el desarrollo de las tramas y de los conflictos.This paper presents the main findings of a research project on teen series, which are television fiction series featuring teenagers and specifically targeted at a young audience. The analysis of the portrayal of young people in television fictional series specifically targeted at a young audience has a meaningful value both for television production and for audience reception. In fact, the potential consumers of the teen series -the teenagers- find themselves at a key moment in the construction of their identities. First, the article presents a review of the background literature on young people's portrayal in television fiction series. Secondly, it discusses the concept of teen series and their relationship with youth consumption. Finally, the article presents a case study that consisted of a content analysis of the North American teen drama Dawson's Creek. Content analysis was conducted on a representative sample of three seasons of the show, in order to analyse two groups of variables: the variables of the characters' personalities and those of plot and story characteristics. The article discusses the results of the second group of variables, focusing on the main characteristics of the plots and on the characters' roles in the development and resolution of the conflicts. Acceptance of one's personal identity, love and friendship have been identified as the most highly recurring themes. In addition, the importance of social relationships among the characters in the development of plots and conflicts has been highlighted

Television drama series’ incorporation of film narrative innovation: the case of 24

Joyard (2003) refers to the past decade as the Golden Age of the American series, mostly in connection with their narrative features and their capacity to arouse emotions. 24 (2001) by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran illustrates perfectly these innovative capacities in dramatic series. The series concept is everything, making 24 an instant cult object. It is presented as the nearest to real time that any artistic work can achieve. The continuous flow of events from 24 enters our homes through our TV sets permitting us to follow an apparent reality, projected week by week at the same hour, but making us feel a contemporaneous experience from a use of a space/time that struggles against illusion. Creative liberty has permitted the development of new narrative trends (Thompson, 2003), just as unusual aesthetic forms new to television (Nelson, 2001) have striven to deliver greater degrees of realism. Narrative complexity is increasing, becoming more intricate not only at the plot level but also at the level of character development, which might lead us to believe that television series are positioning themselves in the vanguard of visual media narrative

Representing older people: towards meaningful images of the user in design scenarios

Designing for older people requires the consideration of a range of difficult and sometimes highly personal design problems. Issues such as fear, loneliness, dependency, and physical decline may be difficult to observe or discuss in interviews. Pastiche scenarios and pastiche personae are techniques that employ characters to create a space for the discussion of new technological developments and as a means to explore user experience. This paper argues that the use of such characters can help to overcome restrictive notions of older people by disrupting designers' prior assumptions. In this paper, we reflect on our experiences using pastiche techniques in two separate technology design projects that sought to address the needs of older people. In the first case pastiche scenarios were developed by the designers of the system and used as discussion documents with users. In the second case, pastiche personae were used by groups of users themselves to generate scenarios which were scribed for later use by the design team. We explore how the use of fictional characters and settings can generate new ideas and undermine rhetorical devices within scenarios that attempt to fit characters to the technology, rather than vice versa. To assist in future development of pastiche techniques in designing for older people, we provide an array of fictional older characters drawn from literary and popular culture.</p

Cultures on the Screens: Family, Identity, Gender, and Language in Television Series

Even though the study of television fiction emerged as a relevant field of study in the 1970s, it is especially in the last three decades that attention has increasingly focused on TV series as a sophisticated form of expression and a fertile ground for research into the cultural dynamics that govern the representation of cultural identity, class, race, ethnicity, gender, and the use of language. The present collection originates from a research project, financed by the Department of Humanities of the University of Trieste, whose findings were first shared and debated with scholars from other Italian academic institutions, as well as students and the general public, in the course of a twoday conference held at the “Stazione Rogers” in Trieste, on 15-16 October, 2021. It presents, in amply revised and expanded form, papers which were first presented in that venue and which are representative of a variety of approaches to the study of TV series. The book discusses such acclaimed TV series as The Americans, The Affair, Modern Family, Dragnet, and When They See Us

Manipulating Diversity: A Rhetorical Analysis of Annalise Keating’s Intersectional Portrayal of Race and Sexuality on the Primetime Television Show How to Get Away with Murder

The purpose of this study was to examine the intersectional portrayal of the character Annalise Keating as a black queer woman, navigating complex interracial relationships and highly institutionalized environments of legal and higher education systems throughout the first two seasons of How to Get Away with Murder. Utilizing ideological criticism, this research found that despite her marginalized identities, Keating carefully constructs her image to resemble a white, heterosexual woman in order to alleviate, or completely avoid oppression from the major institutions that govern her life and work. Additionally, Keating’s experiences and actions are unique within the world of How to Get Away with Murder as she simultaneously shares the same struggles as other marginalized characters, but also oppresses those characters to follow her own agenda

The White Lotus TV Series Season 2: Deconstructing Italians Stereotypes

Modern mass media serve as both a "magic window" into the world and a "door" to new ideas. It is important to look at how the steady growth of media affects the way racial and cultural stereotypes are pushed forward. Stereotypes themselves can influence how people view facts and social events and one of many examples of stereotypes is Italian stereotypes. This study analyzes HBO's popular series,&nbsp;The White Lotus season two,&nbsp;employing Fairclough's model critical discourse analysis to deconstruct Italian stereotypes through the characters' portrayals. This study also examines the sociocultural aspect and physical appearances of the Italian characters portrayed by American television. The findings of this study show the physical portrayal of Italians mostly they have the same features and are known for their fashion sense and attention to appearance. Moreover, Italian characters are portrayed with speak loudly and having the urge to cause some disturbance. The last stereotype is quite expected but debatable, which is the portrayal of Italians being middle-class workers and mafia. This stereotype had some audience feeling disappointed and others pleased enough. Western films' mafia stereotypes could affect how people learn about the culture, and think all Italians are dangerous, poor, and do drugs. Mafias exist and should not define Italian identity, especially in mainstream media

Being outside and inside : dialogic identity and intercultural communication through drama in teaching English as an international language

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