109 research outputs found

    Extracting Maya Glyphs from Degraded Ancient Documents via Image Segmentation

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    We present a system for automatically extracting hieroglyph strokes from images of degraded ancient Maya codices. Our system adopts a region-based image segmentation framework. Multi-resolution super-pixels are first extracted to represent each image. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is used to label each super-pixel region with a probability to belong to foreground glyph strokes. Pixelwise probability maps from multiple super-pixel resolution scales are then aggregated to cope with various stroke widths and background noise. A fully connected Conditional Random Field model is then applied to improve the labeling consistency. Segmentation results show that our system preserves delicate local details of the historic Maya glyphs with various stroke widths and also reduces background noise. As an application, we conduct retrieval experiments using the extracted binary images. Experimental results show that our automatically extracted glyph strokes achieve comparable retrieval results to those obtained using glyphs manually segmented by epigraphers in our team

    Visual Analysis of Maya Glyphs via Crowdsourcing and Deep Learning

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    In this dissertation, we study visual analysis methods for complex ancient Maya writings. The unit sign of a Maya text is called glyph, and may have either semantic or syllabic significance. There are over 800 identified glyph categories, and over 1400 variations across these categories. To enable fast manipulation of data by scholars in Humanities, it is desirable to have automatic visual analysis tools such as glyph categorization, localization, and visualization. Analysis and recognition of glyphs are challenging problems. The same patterns may be observed in different signs but with different compositions. The inter-class variance can thus be significantly low. On the opposite, the intra-class variance can be high, as the visual variants within the same semantic category may differ to a large extent except for some patterns specific to the category. Another related challenge of Maya writings is the lack of a large dataset to study the glyph patterns. Consequently, we study local shape representations, both knowledge-driven and data-driven, over a set of frequent syllabic glyphs as well as other binary shapes, i.e. sketches. This comparative study indicates that a large data corpus and a deep network architecture are needed to learn data-driven representations that can capture the complex compositions of local patterns. To build a large glyph dataset in a short period of time, we study a crowdsourcing approach as an alternative to time-consuming data preparation of experts. Specifically, we work on individual glyph segmentation out of glyph-blocks from the three remaining codices (i.e. folded bark pages painted with a brush). With gradual steps in our crowdsourcing approach, we observe that providing supervision and careful task design are key aspects for non-experts to generate high-quality annotations. This way, we obtain a large dataset (over 9000) of individual Maya glyphs. We analyze this crowdsourced glyph dataset with both knowledge-driven and data-driven visual representations. First, we evaluate two competitive knowledge-driven representations, namely Histogram of Oriented Shape Context and Histogram of Oriented Gradients. Secondly, thanks to the large size of the crowdsourced dataset, we study visual representation learning with deep Convolutional Neural Networks. We adopt three data-driven approaches: assess- ing representations from pretrained networks, fine-tuning the last convolutional block of a pretrained network, and training a network from scratch. Finally, we investigate different glyph visualization tasks based on the studied representations. First, we explore the visual structure of several glyph corpora by applying a non-linear dimensionality reduction method, namely t-distributed Stochastic Neighborhood Embedding, Secondly, we propose a way to inspect the discriminative parts of individual glyphs according to the trained deep networks. For this purpose, we use the Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping method and highlight the network activations as a heatmap visualization over an input image. We assess whether the highlighted parts correspond to distinguishing parts of glyphs in a perceptual crowdsourcing study. Overall, this thesis presents a promising crowdsourcing approach, competitive data-driven visual representations, and interpretable visualization methods that can be applied to explore various other Digital Humanities datasets

    Animal Display in Fiction: Clarice Lispector’s “O bĂșfalo” and Other Stories Framing Animal Captivity

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    This paper presents an overview of animal captivity and human-animal relationships in the context of the zoo. It endeavours to contextualize a possible definition of the themes of animal captivity and confinement; at the same time, it analyses how literary fiction portrays such topics. To illustrate the discussion, the study examines the short story “O bĂșfalo” (1960), by Brazilian author Clarice Lispector, which portrays a woman visiting a zoological garden after a heartbreak. While wandering at the zoo, she observes animal behaviour while conducting a thorough excursion into her psychological and emotional self. Reflections on captivity, confinement, and lack of freedom are frequently addressed in Lispector’s work and can also be found in other stories (A paixĂŁo segundo G.H.; “A quinta histĂłria”; “A lĂ­ngua do ‘p’”) that will also be taken into consideration

    Otherness’ in Space and Architecture

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    This conference proceeding (Sessions on "Otherness in Space and Architecture", International Medieval Conference, Leeds, 2017 and 2018) is a compilation of articles written by both young and senior scholars, who are working on the question of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ in Christian, Jewish and Islamic cultures. The articles examine how material, ‘oriental’ objects and knowledge originating in non-Western communities helped building and strengthening the identity of Iberia’s, southern France and northern Italian nobility and its lineages. It is shown how, in the perception of Christians, the public image of Jews and Moslems became constructed as that of adversaries, while their cultural knowledge, at the same time, would be integrated into Christian culture in a paradox manner, in which the ‘self’ necessarily depends on the ‘other’ and how visual tensions in art and space have been used as symbols of power

    Iconymology : origins and development of icons and their meanings

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    [no abstract

    Austin Osman Spare: the artist's books (1905-1927)

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    This thesis constitutes a complete analysis of the following five books: Earth: Inferno (1950), A Book of Satyrs (1907 and 1909), The Book of Pleasure (1913), The Focus of Life (1921), and The Anathema of Zos (1927). Emphasis is placed throughout upon the interpretation of the drawings within the context of the accompanying text. All allegorical nomenclature has been interpreted and putative identification given to all significant characters and their functions. The basic thesis is that the books constitute an interconnected developmental sequence; that the artist pursues and refines certain major themes and exhaustively explores allegorical method. In addition thta this leads to the evolution of a method of symbolic automatism. This is presented as the praxis of the evolving cosmology, mysticism and world-view developing directly from Earth: Inferno. The argument is that Earth: Inferno and A Book of Satyrs establish Spare's method of synthesizing influences such as Dante and Blake to evolve effective pictorial and textual tropes. The Book of Pleasure is interpreted as part allegory within the major drawings, and part automatism with symbolic adjuncts in others. All symbolism is interpreted and given putative identification and its function as praxis fully discussed in relation to magical and creative method. The fourth and fifth books are affirmed as mature articulations of Spare's mysticism and magical theory, textually expressed in more emotive persuasive narrative forms through protagonists originating in name and function in Earth: Inferno. The illustrations of The Focus of Life are identified as thematic developments of major concerns of The Book of Pleasure with evidence of considerable influence of Goethe's Faust. Earth: Inferno is considered as the initiation of Spare's method of incorporating both revealed and concealed thematic aspects both textually and pictorially, as well as his prevailing syncretistic approach. Diverse components from Dante, Blake, the Kabbalah, Blavatsky and Egypt are identified. It is argued that Dante and Blake are cast in Kabbalist roles through contemporary scholarship; with Blavatsky as a precedent for synthesis and fusion of seemingly diverse concepts. A Book of Satyrs is construed as complex textual pictorial work functioning on four Dantean levels: Satirical, Biblical / Christian, Kabbalist and Greek Tragic. The Book of Pleasure is present as part allegorical but mainly a didactic work concerned with Spare's symbolic automatism. The Focus of Life is defined as maintaining the Faust theme, whilst the two images of The Anathema of Zos are briefly examined; one in relation to occult influences discussed as influential upon A Book of Satyrs

    The semantic and pragmatic comprehension of visual rhetorical codes by literate and illiterate adults in a health communication setting

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    ThesisThe focus of the study was on the comprehension of visual rhetoric in printed health learning visuals by literate and illiterate adults. The broad aim of the study was to establish whether visual rhetorical codes, which usually perform a strong phatic function, constitute a significant readability barrier in an illiterate adult target group. The literature investigation of the study covered (1) a semiotic perspective of the distinction between visual and verbal texts, (2) visual rhetorical articulation for closed visual texts and (3) the readability of development visuals with the emphasis on health education. The design of the empirical component of the study involved the production of three health education posters with a Tuberculosis theme which were encoded with varying degrees of visual rhetoric taking existing guidelines for the design of development visuals into account. In order to measure the semantic (or literal) and pragmatic (or figurative) comprehension of the visual rhetoric, 300 voluntary, confidential, structured interviews were conducted with clinic patients attending Primary Health Care clinics in the greater Bloemfontein area following the refinement of the test visuals and questionnaires during a pilot phase. The mainly Sesotho speaking and pre-dominantly female study population consisted of 150 literate adult patients (>21 years of age, 12 years of formal schoo.ling or higher) and 150 illiterate adult patients (>21 years of age, 6 years of formal schooling or lower and the demonstrated inability to read and understand the full text of an acronym). The working hypotheses of the study, which read that (1) on the semantic level, the comprehension of visual rhetorical codes in a closed visual text does not differ between literate and illiterate adults, and that (2) on the pragmatic level, the comprehension of visual rhetorical codes in a closed visual text differs between literate and illiterate adults, were both accepted following chi-square analysis which tested for independence of the literate and the- illiterate study population groups. Flowing from the result obtained, design guidelines for the utilisation of visual rhetorical codes in a development communication context, as well possibilities for further research, were formulated

    Superhybridity and the Swallowing of Subculture: Collisions of Afro-Asian Cross-Cultural Production and Consumption in Post-Internet American Popular Culture

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    Responding to a recent resurgence in Afro-Asian imagery in the American consciousness, this paper examines the meaning and direction of the contemporary Afro-Asian relationship in post-Internet American popular culture. To investigate these questions, this paper constructs a brief history of the American Afro-Asian relationship through the performance of racial identity and cross-cultural production and consumption from the 1850s through the 2000s. An increase in American Afro-Asian imagery has not come from a place of abstraction, but rather stems from a lengthy and complex history of cross-cultural collisions, collaboration, and convergence along with a post-Internet that allows for the ready flow of cultural origin and loose identity policing. In the contemporary moment, the instability and dislocation of cybernetics meets the transnational, transcultural character of technocapitalism to paint a picture of the swallowing of subculture and cultural difference through an increasingly superhybrid Internet. This paper works through the formulations of these histories and theories to create a context for present-day cross-cultural intersections of American Blackness and East Asianness. Using the case studies of the video work of African-American rapper Kendrick Lamar and Asian-American music label 88rising, this paper argues that this contemporary moment offers room for both the continuation of hegemonic, non-resistant, racist practices and oppositional counterculture

    ​​The Wind in the Burlap Trees: Vachel Lindsay’s Utopian Film Theory ​

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    This thesis argues that Vachel Lindsay’s utopian film theory has new relevance today. In 1915 in his first book of film theory, The Art of the Moving Picture, Lindsay put forward a concept of film as an intermedial art form which could restore an imagistic consciousness and revive regional cultures. While out of step with the mechanised concept of film which dominated early 20th century film theory, his work can now be seen to anticipate the breakdown of medium essentialism, the ascent of the image in modern life, the amateurisation of media, and the rise of maker culture. Lindsay’s film theory is best understood within the context of his utopian vision of American modernity in which preindustrial sensibilities are sustained alongside urbanisation and industrialisation and this thesis draws heavily on his utopian writings. In approaching his film theory from this vantage point, the cultural eclecticism and strains of antimodernism which inform it are no longer problems to be overcome but, on the contrary, are revealed to be central to his concept of film as a hybrid, intermedial technology which can revive important elements of pre-modern life. Moreover, central to Lindsay’s utopian social programme was the democratisation of culture and the localisation of artistic production and viewing his film theory in this context illuminates the relevance of his aesthetic theories to contemporary developments in digital technology and maker culture.  While interest in Lindsay has increased in recent years his work still exists on the margins of film theory. This thesis seeks to show not only the prescience of his ideas, but the various contributions he makes to key debates in aesthetic theory, including the relationship between text and image, the value of amateur aesthetics, and the politics of artifice. Too long neglected, Lindsay’s work enriches the field of film theory by providing a unique vision of film’s relationship to modernity, while also illuminating the utopian possibilities of the contemporary media landscape
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