19,400 research outputs found
First-Order Provenance Games
We propose a new model of provenance, based on a game-theoretic approach to
query evaluation. First, we study games G in their own right, and ask how to
explain that a position x in G is won, lost, or drawn. The resulting notion of
game provenance is closely related to winning strategies, and excludes from
provenance all "bad moves", i.e., those which unnecessarily allow the opponent
to improve the outcome of a play. In this way, the value of a position is
determined by its game provenance. We then define provenance games by viewing
the evaluation of a first-order query as a game between two players who argue
whether a tuple is in the query answer. For RA+ queries, we show that game
provenance is equivalent to the most general semiring of provenance polynomials
N[X]. Variants of our game yield other known semirings. However, unlike
semiring provenance, game provenance also provides a "built-in" way to handle
negation and thus to answer why-not questions: In (provenance) games, the
reason why x is not won, is the same as why x is lost or drawn (the latter is
possible for games with draws). Since first-order provenance games are
draw-free, they yield a new provenance model that combines how- and why-not
provenance
Provenance for SPARQL queries
Determining trust of data available in the Semantic Web is fundamental for
applications and users, in particular for linked open data obtained from SPARQL
endpoints. There exist several proposals in the literature to annotate SPARQL
query results with values from abstract models, adapting the seminal works on
provenance for annotated relational databases. We provide an approach capable
of providing provenance information for a large and significant fragment of
SPARQL 1.1, including for the first time the major non-monotonic constructs
under multiset semantics. The approach is based on the translation of SPARQL
into relational queries over annotated relations with values of the most
general m-semiring, and in this way also refuting a claim in the literature
that the OPTIONAL construct of SPARQL cannot be captured appropriately with the
known abstract models.Comment: 22 pages, extended version of the ISWC 2012 paper including proof
Heavy Hero or Digital Dummy? Multimodal Player–Avatar Relations in Final Fantasy 7
This article analyses the player-avatar relation in Final Fantasy 7, drawing on multimodality theory to analyse textual structures both in the game and in the discourse of player-interviews and fan writing. It argues that the avatar is a two-part structure, partly designed in conventional narrative terms as a protagonist of popular narrative, and partly as a vehicle for interactive game-play. The former structure is replete with the traditions and designs of Japanese popular narrative, oral formulaic narrative and contemporary superhero narratives; and is presented to the player as an offer act – a declarative narrative statement. The latter is a construct of evolving attributes and economies characteristic of roleplaying games; and is presented to the player as a demand act – a rule-based command. Though these two functions separate out in the grammar of player and fan discourse, it is their integration which provides the pleasure of gameplay and narrative engagement
Language and mediality : on the medial status of "everyday language"
The medium of (oral) language is mostly disregarded (or overlooked) in contemporary media theories. This "ignoring of language" in media studies is often accompanied by an inadequate transport model of communication, and it converges with an "ignoring of mediality" in mentalistic theories of language. In the present article it will be argued that this misleading opposition of language and media can only be overcome if one already regards oral language, not just written language, as a medium of the human mind. In my argumentation I fall back on Wittgenstein’s conception of language games to try to show how Wittgenstein’s ideas can help us to clear up the problem of the mediality of language and also to show to what extent the mentalistic conception of Chomskyan provenance cannot be adequate to the phenomenon of language
Heritage destruction and videogames:ethical challenges of the representation of cultural heritage
Representations of historical or cultural sites in videogames have always been contested by videogames scholarship, arguing that historical games often court controversy. This paper examines the history of the National and University Library in Sarajevo, particularly the destruction of the site and how it has been represented with different meanings across various media. The second part of the paper will analyze the representation of the library (post-reconstruction) in the videogame, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2’s Act 2 (called ‘Ghost of Sarajevo’), in order to raise issues about the ethical challenges of the representation of a heritage site that has not only been destroyed and reconstructed, but that it is part of a national heritage.The analysis shows that there are important pressures derived from the ways in which videogames represent heritage which has gone through a process of destruction, and how videogames adapt a historical event following formal videogame conventions. The paper concludes by pointing out the benefits of studying cases such as the National and University Library in Sarajevo, as well as new avenues of research regarding the representation of contested cultural sites in videogames
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