The Object of Platform Studies: Relational Materialities and the Social Platform (the case of the Nintendo Wii)

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System,by Ian Bogost and Nick Montfort, inaugurated thePlatform Studies series at MIT Press in 2009.We’ve coauthored a new book in the series, Codename: Revolution: the Nintendo Wii Video Game Console. Platform studies is a quintessentially Digital Humanities approach, since it’s explicitly focused on the interrelationship of computing and cultural expression. According to the series preface, the goal of platform studies is “to consider the lowest level of computing systems and to understand how these systems relate to culture and creativity.”In practice, this involves paying close attentionto specific hardware and software interactions--to the vertical relationships between a platform’s multilayered materialities (Hayles; Kirschenbaum),from transistors to code to cultural reception. Any given act of platform-studies analysis may focus for example on the relationship between the chipset and the OS, or between the graphics processor and display parameters or game developers’ designs.In computing terms, platform is an abstraction(Bogost and Montfort), a pragmatic frame placed around whatever hardware-and-software configuration is required in order to build or run certain specificapplications (including creative works). The object of platform studies is thus a shifting series of possibility spaces, any number of dynamic thresholds between discrete levels of a system

Development of a co-creation model that streamlines the fashion process from the consumer to the manufacture

Nowadays, co-creation, a relatively new concept in the fashion field, is managing to approach consumers directly and thus get a detailed understanding of their needs and desires. Some brands already use this concept as the basis of their business, which is an added value for the product and consequently for its suitability. However, the adoption of this concept has been addressed in the literature in an isolated way concerning consumers or brands, and its impact on the supply chain is still unknown, so its applicability also needs research. There is also no clear idea of the role of the fashion designer in co-creation fashion brands, and its role has also not been taken into account in the literature. In a real business context, the management of the processes of the different brands is done autonomously. There is no pre-defined model for the structuration or application that can serve as a basis for brands that want to adopt this concept. Thus, this research focused on creating a co-creation model that can simplify the process from consumer to production, focusing on fashion design, the product and the fashion designer, and the supply chain, with the aim of creating a co-creation model, so that brands that want to adopt the co-creation concept can apply it in real life. An initial literature review revealed problems in the co-creation process that need a solution and helped to identify the research problems. Subsequently, a comprehensive literature review was carried out on co-creation, other concepts complementary to cocreation, fashion design and the fashion business, consumers and the supply chain. Secondly, a cases study focused on fashion brands already working with co-creation was done to better understand how it works. Finally, a survey to consumers and interviews with fashion designers and supply chain experts were conducted to understand each party's point of view. These contributed to the revelation of important information, subsequently implemented in the new co-creation model that allowed the simplification of the process and its simultaneous suitability to consumers, brands and supply chain. The results obtained allowed answering the research questions, the proposed objectives and structuring a new co-creation model.Atualmente, a co-criação, um conceito relativamente novo no campo da moda, está a conseguir abordar os consumidores diretamente, conseguindo desta forma perceber com detalhe as suas necessidades e desejos. Algumas marcas já utilizam este conceito como base do seu negócio, o que é um valor acrescentado para o produto e para a sua consequente adequação. No entanto, a adoção deste conceito tem sido abordada na literatura de forma isolada relativamente aos consumidores ou marcas, e o seu impacto na cadeia de abastecimento é ainda desconhecido, pelo que a sua aplicabilidade também necessita de investigação. Também não há uma ideia clara do papel do designer de moda em marcas de moda de co-criação, e o seu papel também não foi explorado na literatura. Num contexto empresarial real, a gestão dos processos das diferentes marcas é feita de forma autónoma. Não existe um modelo pré-definido para a estruturação ou aplicação que possa servir de base para as marcas que queiram adotar este conceito. Assim, esta investigação centrou-se na criação de um modelo de co-criação que pudesse simplificar o processo desde o consumidor até à produção, concentrando-se no design de moda, no produto, no designer de moda e na cadeia de abastecimento, com o objetivo de criar um modelo de co-criação para que as marcas que queiram adotar o conceito de co-criação o possam aplicar na vida real. A revisão bibliográfica prévia revelou problemas no processo de co-criação que necessitam de uma solução que ajudaram a identificar os problemas de investigação. Posteriormente foi feita uma revisão bibliográfica completa sobre a co-criação, outros conceitos complementares à co-criação, design de moda e o negócio da moda, consumidores e a cadeia de abastecimento. Segundo, foi feito um estudo de casos centrado em marcas de moda que já trabalham com a co-criação para melhor compreender o seu funcionamento. Finalmente, foi feito um questionário aos consumidores e entrevistas a designers de moda e especialistas da cadeia de abastecimento para compreender o ponto de vista de cada parte. Estes contribuíram para a revelação de informações importantes, posteriormente implementadas no novo modelo de co-criação que permitiram a simplificação do processo e a sua adequação simultânea aos consumidores, marcas e cadeia de abastecimento. Os resultados obtidos permitiram responder às questões de investigação, aos objetivos propostos e estruturar um novo modelo de co-criação

Blur perception: An evaluation of focus measures

Since the middle of the 20th century the technological development of conventional photographic cameras has taken advantage of the advances in electronics and signal processing. One speci c area that has bene ted from these developments is that of auto-focus, the ability for a cameras optical arrangement to be altered so as to ensure the subject of the scene is in focus. However, whilst the precise focus point can be known for a single point in a scene, the method for selecting a best focus for the entire scene is an unsolved problem. Many focus algorithms have been proposed and compared, though no overall comparison between all algorithms has been made, nor have the results been compared with human observers. This work describes a methodology that was developed to benchmark focus algorithms against human results. Experiments that capture quantitative metrics about human observers were developed and conducted with a large set of observers on a diverse range of equipment. From these experiments, it was found that humans were highly consensual in their experimental responses. The human results were then used as a benchmark, against which equivalent experiments were performed by each of the candidate focus algorithms. A second set of experiments, conducted in a controlled environment, captured the underlying human psychophysical blur discrimination thresholds in natural scenes. The resultant thresholds were then characterised and compared against equivalent discrimination thresholds obtained by using the candidate focus algorithms as automated observers. The results of this comparison and how this should guide the selection of an auto-focus algorithm are discussed, with comment being passed on how focus algorithms may need to change to cope with future imaging techniques

Diversity of brain size in fishes: preliminary analysis of a database including 1174 species in 45 orders

Absolule and relative values of brain weight are now available for 1174 species of fishes, representing 45 taxonomic orders. The original FishBase "Brains" data was assembled by the research team of Bauchot and colleagues, to which the present report adds data for species representing several additional major taxonomic groups. This database is part of the FíshBase 97 package which provides researchers with a tool to explore lhe functional meaning of absolute and relative brain size díversily, in comparison with phylogenetic position, life history mode, locomotion, habitat, and other behavioral parameters. Several results are provided as an example of the use of these data. Galeomorph sharks and batoid rays possess the largest brains among fishes. and elongate forms with anguilliform locomotion (e.g.. hagfishes. lampreys, lrue eels, carapids, zoarcids) possess the smallest relative brain sizes. Among teleost fishes, Osteoglossomorphs possess the largest relative brain sizes. Brain size correlations with oxygen consumption suggest that larger brains consume proportionately more oxygen, or that active fish with higher metabolic rates have larger brain