Saturation Season: Inclusivity, Queerness, and Esthetics in the New Media Practices of Brockhampton

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.Following the self-release of their Saturation album trilogy in 2017, American hip-hop group Brockhampton broke through to an international audience. The period of the trilogy’s release – known as “Saturation Season” – is notable for the large body of creative content the group produced and released online. In this article, the authors demonstrate how the group’s new media practices query the boundaries that separate amateurs and professionals, consumers and producers, and fans and artists, raising a range of questions concerning digitalization, (social) inclusion, and the democratization of culture. Emphasis is placed on exploring the contradictory effects of the digital turn in popular music.publishedVersio

Why Information Matters: A Foundation for Resilience

Embracing Change: The Critical Role of Information, a research project by the Internews' Center for Innovation & Learning, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, combines Internews' longstanding effort to highlight the important role ofinformation with Rockefeller's groundbreaking work on resilience. The project focuses on three major aspects:- Building knowledge around the role of information in empowering communities to understand and adapt to different types of change: slow onset, long-term, and rapid onset / disruptive;- Identifying strategies and techniques for strengthening information ecosystems to support behavioral adaptation to disruptive change; and- Disseminating knowledge and principles to individuals, communities, the private sector, policymakers, and other partners so that they can incorporate healthy information ecosystems as a core element of their social resilience strategies

Promoting Comprehension Strategies of Primary Grade Students Through Datacasting Materials for Distance Learning

Many online learners especially in resource-challenged schools struggled with learning gaps during the pandemic crisis. This study focuses on using cost effective datacasting learning materials for distance education that promote intermediate grade students’ self-regulation, reading and writing skills. Datacasting is the process of delivering computer (IP) data over a traditional television broadcast signal. Locally, where only some households have Internet access but many have television sets, datacasting affords greater learning opportunities. Guided by structure, interactivity, and the functional language teaching theory, this study used sequential explanatory design to explore the role of datacasting in a public elementary school in Cavite in the academic year 2021 to 2022. Analyses of students’ artifacts reveal that their levels ofautonomy are non-autonomous, semi-autonomous, and autonomous. Moreover, the data also show that when they navigated the materials, they used these types of comprehension strategies: preparational, organizational, elaboration, andmonitoring. Correlations between culminating writing activities and final writing scores were found, but are not statistically significant, which may be attributed to the pandemic-induced sample attrition. The results suggest a need to refine the learning materials following the multimedia principles of personalization and embodiment through judicious text choice and adaptation and task design. Pedagogical recommendations for the use of datacasting materials are also offered

An analysis of jewellery advertising through the lens of feminist theory

Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019The purpose of the study is to examine to what extent mainstream commercial jewellery advertisements construct the perception of gender within their representations. The study focuses specifically on the representation of women and femininity within jewellery advertisements. The way in which these advertisements construct ‘what it is to be a woman’ is studied through the lens of feminist social constructionist theory. In particular, the study focuses on jewellery advertisements of De Beers and Tiffany & Co. The research question the study aims to answer is, firstly: in what manner, as compared to both third- and fourth-wave feminist theories and recent social movements in women’s rights, do mainstream commercial jewellery advertisements reinstate societal gender role expectations, in particular that of the female body and femininity; and subsequently: how contemporary mainstream commercial jewellery advertisements intersect with feminist theories of power, ownership and sexuality and how mainstream commercial jewellery advertising has adopted ‘commodity feminism’ to start presenting femininity as ‘owning/doing’ a sexual body and gaining empowerment from that sexual power. In short the study aims to investigate how mainstream commercial advertising, in particular jewellery advertising, supports or subverts the construction of gender expectations and roles. The advertisements of Tiffany & Co. and De Beers are compared to other ads that reflect third- and fourth-wave feminist thinking, to investigate the possibility of interesting alternative representations of femininity and female bodies. This study makes use of a qualitative research approach, that of critical theory, and in particular feminist theory and textual analysis. The method of research that is employed is that of Semiotic Analysis. The methods of visual/sign analysis and linguistic analysis is used to probe jewellery advertisements. Thus the pictures (setting, framing, pose, composition) as well as the words are analyzed in relation to gender representation

Women Coaches Navigating the Leadership Labyrinth at a Division II Regional Comprehensive University: Queering Discourse and Narratives

Representation by female head coaches in the NCAA is at an all-time low. This study analyzed an institution (LSU) where women’s representation and gender equity is higher than average. Using a qualitative inquiry approach applying Critical Narrative and Foucauldian Dispositive Analyses in a queering fashion, the study explored ways in which institutional (macro) discourses shaped individual (micro) daily narratives. The overarching goal for this study was to reveal themes, language and discourse informing women’s coaches’ recruitment, retention and persistence at an NCAA Division II and Regional Comprehensive University excelling in gender equity and inclusivity. Findings indicated power-knowledge connections via Foucauldian Dispositive Analysis of documents including coach self-evaluations, the 360 evaluation process, athletic strategic plan and department meetings. Findings also illustrated six women coaches’ narratives about their recruitment, hiring and onboarding experiences and their sense-making of LSU discourse through a collective narrative of the athletic evaluation and promotion process, spaces, department meetings and written/non-written discourse. Implications and recommendations focused on how specific stakeholders can improve the recruitment, retention and persistence of collegiate women coaches by employing lessons learned from the LSU athletic department. These lessons include: senior institutional leaders foster gender equity within athletic departments and must be intentional with recruitment and hiring practices; athletic administrators need to create clear procedures and provide support (e.g., assigned mentors) for onboarding/orientation of new women coaches; evaluation and promotion should be holistic tied to institutional type/mission and Division II status; physical spaces create discourse and power dynamics especially within department meetings and finally, that people act as embodied forms of discourse. Embodied discourse is especially effective when positively and carefully utilized to cultivate inclusive departmental cultures leading to the success of women coaches. Areas of future research could incorporate queer theory especially with research on neoliberal cultures in higher education. Future research also might focus on the potential ways women coaches’ narratives shape the institutional discourse, organizational saga and inform quantitative evaluation tools. Potential implications from these future areas of research might positively affect athletic and institutional culture and the evaluation of faculty and administrative staff to improve student learning outcomes

Representativeness and face-ism: Gender bias in image search

Implicit and explicit gender biases in media representations of individuals have long existed. Women are less likely to be represented in gender-neutral media content (representation bias), and their face-to-body ratio in images is often lower (face-ism bias). In this article, we look at representativeness and face-ism in search engine image results. We systematically queried four search engines (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex) from three locations, using two browsers and in two waves, with gender-neutral (person, intelligent person) and gendered (woman, intelligent woman, man, intelligent man) terminology, accessing the top 100 image results. We employed automatic identification for the individual’s gender expression (female/male) and the calculation of the face-to-body ratio of individuals depicted. We find that, as in other forms of media, search engine images perpetuate biases to the detriment of women, confirming the existence of the representation and face-ism biases. In-depth algorithmic debiasing with a specific focus on gender bias is overdue

Game Production Studies

Video games have entered the cultural mainstream and in terms of economic profits they now rival established entertainment industries such as film or television. As careers in video game development become more common, so do the stories about precarious working conditions and structural inequalities within the industry. Yet, scholars have largely overlooked video game production cultures in favor of studying games themselves and player audiences. In Game Production Studies, an international group of established and emerging researchers takes a closer look at the everyday realities of video game production, ranging from commercial industries to independent creators and cultural intermediaries. Across sixteen chapters, the authors deal with issues related to labour, game development, monetization and publishing, as well as local specificities. As the first edited collection dedicated solely to video game production, this volume provides a timely resource for anyone interested in how games are made and at what costs

Video Gaming As A Gendered Pursuit

As video game technology has evolved, so too has the gendered nature of the video gaming subculture. This chapter characterizes the broad cultural context of gaming and the shifting social patterns of gendered game play. By reviewing existing research at the intersection of gender, gaming, and consumption, we identify three primary research opportunities to build upon existing research: understanding consumers’ lived experiences in the gendered gaming subculture, exploring the gendered gaming marketplace (e.g., shopping, advertising), and investigating the systemic, structural, and cultural underpinnings of gaming. Existing research in the field is not exhaustive nor complete; rather, opportunities for research identify gaps that should be examined more fully by building on existing foundational research. We also address potential challenges of conducting gender-based research in the context of gamin

A framework for the adoption of digital terrestrial television - the case of Ethekwini municipality.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) brings many benefits to viewers compared to regular analogue televisions. Although many countries around the world introduced DTT with such benefits in mind, the rates of DTT adoption have been slow compared to other developing nations, and consequently, many countries, including South Africa, had to postpone the analogue switch-off date. Given the lagging consumer adoption of DTT in Ethekwini Municipality, The purpose of this study is to apply the UTAUT model in predicting the citizens’ intention to adopt DTT and to determine the possible reasons for the slow adoption of DTT in Ethekwini Municipality. This study is exploratory and employs a mixed methods approach, combining a quantitative approach using a survey questionnaire as a data collection tool, and a qualitative research approach, using interviews to collect data from industry experts. A total of 138 out of 267 respondents participated in the quantitative study, resulting in a 52% response rate, while 10 industry experts were interviewed as part of the qualitative study. The structural equation model (SEM) was employed to measure and analyse the relationships of observed values and latent variables, resulting in a new developed model. The findings indicate that the effect of the moderator variables on the relationship between the exogenous constructs and the dependent variable was found not to have a significant impact. The exogenous constructs of the UTAUT model that were investigated are Performance expectancy, The results from the quantitative study showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the exogenous construct constructs and the behavioural intention to adopt, meaning that the citizens have intention to adopt DTT if it is made available. The qualitative results showed that leadership instability, policy inconsistencies, political interference and self-serving interest from some stakeholders were some of the factors behind the slow adoption of DTT.No IsiZulu abstrac