From Linearity to Circulation. How TV Flow Is Changing in Networked Media Space

This article discusses the evolution of the concept of flow from the producer-controlled phase to the user-controlled phase, thus proposing the concept of circulation as a new framework for understanding the new TV ecosystem. The multiplication of screens (from the traditional TV set to handheld mobile devices) has made TV content accessible anytime and anywhere and, furthermore, has provided an interactive space where the digital life of content is managed by the audiences on social media. Such multiplication of screens has created forms of TV consumption that lead to the deconstruction and subsequent reformulation of the concepts of space, time and medium. This article examines this ongoing process, beginning with observations of audience consumption practices that are analysed using Osservatorio Social TV 2015, an Italian research project

‘A Swarm of Sound’ : Audiovisual Immersion in Björk’s VR Video ‘Family’

Author's accepted manuscript.This article explores the idea of audiovisual immersion through the portal of the virtual reality music video. Our focus falls on a close reading of Björk’s video, ‘Family’, which addresses questions of immersion in relation to user-experience, staging, and technological innovation. This article draws on the authors’ responses to the video by considering the implications of VR immersion in a new generation of music video productions. As part of the methodology on offer, a model for music analysis is devised for conceptualising virtual audiovisual space (VAVS) and the inextricable relationships between production and compositional design.acceptedVersio

Immersed in Pop! Excursions into Compositional Design

Recent changes in consumer audio and music technology and distribution - for example the addition of 3D audio formats such as Dolby Atmos to music streaming services, the recent release of “Spatial Audio” on Apple and Beats products, the proliferation of musical content in virtual reality and 360º videos, etc. - have reignited a public discourse on concepts of immersion and interactivity in popular music and media. This raises questions and necessitates a deepening of popular musicological discourse in these areas. This thesis thus asks: what is the relationship between so-called immersive media and immersive experience? How are immersive and interactive experiences of audiovisual popular music compositionally designed? And to what degree do interpretations of immersion and interactivity in popular music imply agency on part of the listener/viewer? To address these questions, Bresler has authored or co-authored four articles and book chapters on music in immersive and interactive media with a focus on compositional design and immersion in pop music. In the framing chapter, these articles are contextualized through the coining of the term immersive staging, which is a framework for understanding how the perceived relationship between the performer and listener is mediated through technology, performativity, audiovisual compositional design, and aesthetics. Additionally, the chapter makes a case for the hermeneutic methodologies employed throughout.publishedVersio

Literacy for digital futures : Mind, body, text

The unprecedented rate of global, technological, and societal change calls for a radical, new understanding of literacy. This book offers a nuanced framework for making sense of literacy by addressing knowledge as contextualised, embodied, multimodal, and digitally mediated. In today’s world of technological breakthroughs, social shifts, and rapid changes to the educational landscape, literacy can no longer be understood through established curriculum and static text structures. To prepare teachers, scholars, and researchers for the digital future, the book is organised around three themes – Mind and Materiality; Body and Senses; and Texts and Digital Semiotics – to shape readers’ understanding of literacy. Opening up new interdisciplinary themes, Mills, Unsworth, and Scholes confront emerging issues for next-generation digital literacy practices. The volume helps new and established researchers rethink dynamic changes in the materiality of texts and their implications for the mind and body, and features recommendations for educational and professional practice

Foregrounding agency in interactive-narrative based HIV interventions

The HIV epidemic has severely affected many parts of the world, especially Sub­ Saharan Africa. There is clear evidence suggesting that computer-based HIV prevention interventions are efficient. Interactive‐narrative is just beginning to be explored for Technology-Based Learning. I inspect the concept of agency afforded by interactivity and participation to determine the possibilities of interactive-narrative in HIV interventions. By scrutinising three noteworthy instances of interactive-narrative based HIV interventions, I extract evaluative criteria that this format facilitates, in the way that it can preference user choice. I conclude that while platform and content may form a significant element of a successful intervention, it is the elements of navigability, identification, co-creation, immersion and transformation that direct the agency When these are interwoven successfully, interactive-­narrative becomesA research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Digital Arts (Interaction Design), 2017MC201

A Model for Mapping Interactivity in Learning Experiences

This research is situated at the intersection of technology, education, and design. A design methodology was applied to examine the issues relating to interactivity within these disciplines. The result of this research is a working definition of interactivity aesthetics that can be used across multiple disciplines, and a model of interactivity as a practical means of evaluating the interactivity in any given learning experience

Reconfiguring the reader : convergence and participation in modern young adult fantasy fiction

PhD ThesisThis thesis explores digital-age literary and reading practices as they were influenced by participatory culture at the turn of the century. Participatory culture is analysed here through the work of Henry Jenkins, Hans Heino Ewers, Margaret Mackey and Katy Varnelis and is recognised as one in which individuals are socially connected to each other in an environment that offers support for creating and sharing interpretations and original works. It has relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic participation, and fosters the sense of community growing around people’s common interests and ideologies, as expressed through performative manifestations such as gaming and fandom. Because juvenile fantasy fiction generally, and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (1997-2007) specifically, were at the centre of significant developments in response to participatory culture, Rowling’s books are used as a case study on the basis of which changing practices of reading, writing and interpretation of story, principally by children and young people, are mapped and appraised. One aim of this thesis is to evaluate how far participatory culture has affected what it means to be a reader of a text that exists in multiple formats: how each version of the text constructs and addresses its readers/viewers/players/co-creators, and the dynamics and interdependence between the different versions. A second but related aim is to test the claims of new media theorists, including Janet Murray, Pierre Lévy and Marie-Laure Ryan, among others, to establish how far texts, readers and the processes of reading have in fact changed. Specifically, it looks at how far the promises of reader participation and co-creation have been fulfilled, especially within the genre of children’s literature

How Could Children’s Storybooks Promote Empathy? A Conceptual Framework Based on Developmental Psychology and Literary Theory

This conceptual paper proposes a framework for understanding the developmental mechanisms and literary characteristics that bind children’s storybooks with empathy. The article begins with a taxonomy of empathy composed of three key continuous dimensions: cognitive/emotional empathy, empathy for in-group and out-group members and empathy with positive and negative consequences. Insights from developmental psychology and literary theory form the basis for an interdisciplinary framework based on three premises: (1) book-reading can support empathy if it fosters in-group/out-group identification and minimizes in-group/out-group bias; (2) identification with characters who are dissimilar from the readers is the most valuable contribution of children’s storybooks to cognitive empathy; and (3) the quality of language positions children’s storybooks as an exceptional, but not exclusive, empathy-building form of fictional narratives. Implications for future intervention and empirical work are provided